By Bill Felker

 Out of its little hill faithfully rise

the potatoes dark green leaves,

out of its hill rises the yellow maize-stalk,

the lilacs bloom in the dooryards. – Walt Whitman

The Moon, Planets and Shooting Stars

The Second Week of Late Spring

The Warbler Migration Moon reached apogee, its position farthest from Earth) at 8 a.m. on May 5, and then it enters its second quarter at 7:21 on May 8. Rising in the morning and setting at night, this moon passes overhead in the afternoon, influencing the feeding patterns of many creatures at that time, especially as the barometer falls in advance of the cold fronts of May 7 and 12.

Saturn in Capricorn is the earliest of the major planets to rise from the east this month, followed by Mars in Aquarius. Then, together in Pisces (and later in Aries), Venus and Jupiter emerge to dominate the pre-dawn sky (Venus always the brighter of the two) as Saturn and Mars disappear into the sunlight.

The Eta Aquarid meteor shower began in the third week of April and runs through May 28. Its peak will occur on the night of May 6 - 7, when you may be able to see up to 30 shooting stars in an hour low in the eastern sky after midnight. The moon should not interfere with your viewing.

 Weather Trends

With the arrival of the second major high-pressure system of the month, there is a slight possibility of a return of Lilac Winter, and frost is frequent around May 8. The May 12 cold front is ordinarily one of the last frost-bearing fronts to move across the nation, but a near-Supermoon on May 15-17 will bring frost to the northern tier of states and threaten the country to the 40th Parallel.

Zeitgebers: Events in Nature that Tell the Time of Year:

The center of late spring is already closing the forest and woodlot canopy. Sycamores, Osage, cottonwoods and oaks are leafing out, and white mulberries and buckeyes blossom. Along the sidewalks, purple iris, orange poppies, sweet William, bridal wreath spirea and snowball viburnum have blossomed.

The delicate Korean lilacs join the fading standard lilac varieties now, and bright rhododendrons replace the azaleas. Birders may sight willets, nighthawks, Eastern kingbirds, catbirds and a great wave of all kinds of warblers and vireos.

Serviceberry trees have small green berries. In the alleys, scarlet pimpernel comes in beside the thyme-leafed speedwell. Daisies unravel, and the bells of the lily-of-the-valley emerge from their green sheaths. Wood hyacinths and star of Bethlehem are at their best.

Columbine is open on the cliffs. Solomon’s seal, false Solomon’s seal, bellwort, wild phlox, trillium grandiflorum, wild geraniums, golden Alexander, wood betony, early meadow rue, swamp buttercups, wild ginger, Jacob’s ladder, water cress and golden seal are blooming. Garlic mustard and sweet Cicely still dominate the deep woods; violet sweet rockets increase throughout the fields and glades.

In the Field and Garden

After May 20, when you see tea roses and privets blooming, then you can plant your tomatoes with hardly a thought for a damaging freeze (but keep protection handy), and when the high tree line is alive with green and golden budburst, then plant your soybeans.

The waxing moon and rising soil temperatures this late spring invite commercial cabbage planting and completion of the planting of oats and other spring grains. Asparagus is fresh for cutting as it shoots up in the sun. And strawberry time spreads across the Ohio River, setting fruit throughout the region.

Mother’s Day on May 8 brings an increase in bedding plant and herb sales at your roadside stands. Cut flowers are also in demand. After Mother’s Day sales are over, get ready for the next opportunity for marketing bouquets and bedding plants: Memorial Day, May 30.

Pasture recipe: Mix sheep and cows; add a donkey for protection from coyotes; blend in chickens to eat the worm eggs of the parasites.

Plant fruit trees as a step toward self-sufficiency. And consider digging or expanding your fishpond before the Dog Days of July.

Bring your rabbits indoors to air conditioning or provide deep shade for them outside. Place plastic bottles filled with frozen water in their pens. Of course, provide liquid water, too.

Mind and Body

The S.A.D. Index (which measures on a scale from 1 to 100 the forces thought to be associated with Seasonal Affective Disorder) remains in the mild 20s this week. You may suffer from Spring Fever, but not the standard Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Almanack Classics

The Sprit’s Message

By Virgil L. Downs

Mansfield, Ohio

I mowed the Spring Mill Cemetery for 28 years. It is halfway between Mansfield and Shelby on State Route 39.

There was one spot where the ground had settled. I put in two wheelbarrows of soil to level it off and planted seed, and the grass came on very heavy.

There was a father with two sons buried in the cemetery. This one day he parked his car, walked across to his sons’ graves, and on his way, he crossed the place where I had planted the seed.

He said it looked like someone had lain on the grass – the grass was flat in that spot and had the shape of a body. There wasn’t any headstone at that particular grave (which was not the grave of his sons), and as he walked on he got to thinking that the body’s spirit wanted a grave marker, and he told me what he thought.

There were pieces of old markers at the corner of the cemetery. So, I got a piece and placed it on this grave. The next day, the man came back to check it. The grass was as normal as could be and very green.

I told two different pastors this story and they said it was a bunch of hogwash. They didn’t believe in spirits? But I told this account to the people on a tour bus on the way home from Toronto. Needless to say, after I told it, the people never said a word for a hundred miles.

Send your memory stories to Poor Will, P.O. Box 431, Yellow Springs, OH 45387. Five dollars will be paid to any author whose story appears in this column.

ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK’S 

SCKRAMBLER

In order to estimate your SCKRAMBLER IQ, award yourself 15 points for each word unscrambled, adding a 50-point bonus for getting all of them correct. If you find a typo, add another 15 points to your IQ.

NASKC                                 SNACK

CAJK                                     JACK

KARC                                    RACK

CCRKA                                 CRACK

AAKCTT                              ATTACK

AATCRTSB                          ABSTRACT

KOCUATB                           OUTBACK

KIHJAC                                HIJACK

LODHBKCA                        HOLDBACK

KLCUMAJBRE                    LUMBERJACK

THIS WEEK’S RHYMING SCKRAMBLER

RANY                                               

ACSYR                                             

RYRHES                                          

ADIYR                                             

AYRM                                              

NTOCRRYA                                  

DINROYAR                                   

YSEDTNRYE                                

IUIAYPTTR                                   

RTNLPYAEA                                

TILRAYSO                                    

AUIOYRTB

Copyright 2022 – W. L. Felker