By Bill Felker Between the end of summer and the shortest day of the year, I battle a constant feeling of disbelief. All things come to a halt rapidly; the garden is all brown stalks and the ground is tightening. What continues to grow and bloom does so in isolation. – Jamaica Kincaid The Fourth Week of Early Fall The Moon, the Stars and the Sun The Blackbirds in the Cornfields Moon, new on Sept. 25, waxed throughout the period, entering its second quarter at 7:14 p.m. on Oct. 2. Two days later, on the 4th, it reaches lunar perigee, its position closest to earth, at noon. The sun now advances quickly toward winter, moving from a declination of –3 degrees, 11 minutes, to –13 degrees, 46 minutes, by the end October. It reaches –23 degrees, 26 minutes, on winter solstice. Taurus, foretelling winter, has emerged from the east, preceded by the Pleiades. As the Summer Triangle moves into the west, it takes Hercules, Ophiuchus, Sagittarius and Capricorn with it. The Big Dipper hugs the northern horizon, its pointers pointing not only to Polaris, but also all the way across to the southern horizon and bright Fomalhaut. Venus moves retrograde once again, rising too close to sunup in Virgo for viewing. Jupiter remains in Pisces, emerging out of the east at dusk. Mars leads Orion into the sky later in the evening and crosses the heavens with Aldebaran, the red eye of Taurus, through the night. Of the two red objects in Taurus, Aldebaran will twinkle. Mars will not. Saturn is the evening star in Capricorn after sundown. Weather Trends The danger of frost becomes greater as October progresses, and the Oct. 2 front often combines with lunar perigee to redouble the risk to tender pasture and garden plants. Skies remain generally clear, but the afternoons are almost always cool. The first week of October should be favorable for harvest, but precipitation increases (along with the chances of snow in the Lower Midwest) as the moon waxes full on the 9th, and the Oct. 13 system approaches (threatening frost). Zeitgebers: Events in Nature that Tell the Time of Year Maple leaves begin to fall to the streets. Jumpseed is yellowing, and rose hips are darkening. Poison ivy is gold, and blackberries have purple leaves. Milkweed pods are straining, ready to open. Scattered golden coneflowers hang on. More crickets move indoors. Monarch butterflies occasionally visit the late zinnias and butterfly bushes in the afternoon sun; other insects, however, become less common in the field and garden as the number of pollen-bearing flowers dwindles. Migration of toads and frogs takes place throughout the Lower Midwest. Bird migrations increase. Scout for squirrels in areas where black walnut trees are common. The leaves of the black walnut fall earlier than those of most trees, and squirrels are partial to the nuts. Box elder and buckeye trees sometimes lose their foliage early, as well. In the Field and Garden Before the moon turns full, harvest honey from your hives (leaving plenty for the bees). Also bring in pumpkins and winter squash before the weather gets much colder. Plants and bulbs intended for spring forcing indoors should be placed in light soil now and stored in a place where temperatures remain cool (but not freezing). All around the region, leaves have turned yellow on most of the soybeans; they blend right in with the full-blooming goldenrod. In a typical year, two out of every three ears of silage corn have been cut, and one out of 10 ears of grain corn. Some years, fall apples and grapes are half picked; most of the corn and half of the soybeans are mature. The third cut of alfalfa is typically complete. A fourth of the winter wheat has often been planted by the last day of September, and a fourth of the soybean crop has been cut. The processing tomato harvest is over. The fields may be regreening now with secondary growth and fall varieties. Provide plenty of free choice hay to livestock in order reduce the chance they will gorge themselves on fresh growth. Late pastures often contain less nutrition when soil temperatures drop near 40 degrees. Consequently, late autumn feeding can be tricky; your animals may have plenty to eat, depending on the weather, but their grazing may give them less nutrition and energy than in the summer months. Almanack Classics A Learning Experience by John Zachrich, Cloverdale, Ohio When one is bow hunting in an early morning tree stand, one should always watch out for flying objects. No, not the UFO kind, although this sample might actually qualify. I was perched in an ancient oak tree that was overlooking a well-used deer trail. As I was waiting for the first golden rays of dawn, the woods around me were waking up with the sounds of morning birds. I was enjoying the otherwise tranquil setting, when all of a sudden a great horned owl decided to swoop my head (my loving wife always told me that I acted a little squirrely and now this bird must have thought so too). At any rate, the big bird came so close that its wing tip knocked off my camouflage hunting hat and startled me so bad that I accidentally dropped my bow, and that isn’t all I accidentally done! Needless to say, that the bow smashing on ground ruined the morning’s hunt. But you know, maybe I’ve been a little hard on Murphy (Murphy’s Law - that if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong). I mean after all, that same afternoon he did place a wide-racked eight-pointer just 10 yards from my lofty perch, and to let Old Murphy know hope grateful I was, I showed him some of my expert bowman ship and perfectly placed a 2116 XX75 shaft right dead center in the 2-inch sapling in front of the broad side buck’s chest. *** Send your memory stories to Poor Will, P.O. Box 431, Yellow Springs, OH 45387. Four 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. NWONK KNOWN OEZN ZONE AOELN ALONE ENOBMORT TROMBONE UONWNKN UNKNOWN EONRP PRONE OESTN STONE NOWGR GROWN EEEONHPLT TELEPHONE IODSWN DISOWN THIS WEEK’S RHYMING SCKRAMBLER EREB AREY REIT EEAHDR RIMA ETRA EREV REILAVAC EARPAPDIS ERETNULOV EEERRV Copyright 2022 – W. L. 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