Now comes the time of rich purple in the fields and meadows, denoting not only a time but a maturity. It is as though the whole Summer had been building toward this deep, strong color to match the gold of late sunlight and early goldenrod. – Hal Borland

The Moon: The Sweet Peach Moon waxes throughout the period, becoming a Supermoon, full and reaching perigee, its powerful position closest to Earth, on August 30. This is the most potent moon of the summer, thanks to being full and at perigee at the same time. It will bring frost to the northern tier of states and is likely to stir a hurricane in the Caribbean, say nothing about storms across the continental United States.

The Sun: After Cross-Quarter Day and the sun’s entry into Virgo on August 23, the summer’s leisurely progress towards winter quickens, and the sun moves twice as quickly toward the horizon as it did in July.

The Stars: The house-shaped star group, Cepheus, has moved right into the middle of the sky by midnight, forecasting the start of Early Fall. To the east of Cepheus, find the zig-zag formation of Cassiopeia, followed by Perseus (looking vaguely like a horse) rising in the northeast. The Big Dipper continues to hug the northern horizon throughout the night.

Weather Trends: This is the week that frost becomes likely in the Northern states; snow even occurs at the upper elevations out west and in Canada. In the Midwest, the third major high-pressure system of the month brings chances of highs in the cool 70s a full 40 percent of the time on August 24, the first time since July 6 that odds have been so good for milder weather.

As that cool front moves east, the period between August 25 and August 27 usually brings a return of warmer temperatures in the 80s or 90s. On the 28th, however, the final cool wave of August approaches, and even though chances of 90s remain strong, the likelihood for chilly highs in the 60s or 70s jumps to 30 percent. The 28th also brings a 55 percent chance of completely overcast conditions and soaking rain, the highest chance of that since August 4. Then on the morning of the 29th, under the influence of the Supermoon, there will be a 5 percent chance of very light frost on your roof; and the 30th brings a 50 percent chance of a high just in the 70s, the first time chances of that have been so good since the last day of June.

The Natural Calendar: Wild plums are ready for jelly. Greenbrier berries turn blue-black. Rare autumn violets bloom. Except in Northern states, ragweed pollen disappears with the last of the garden phlox. The year’s final tier of wildflowers is budding: beggarticks, bur marigolds, asters, zigzag goldenrod. Puffball mushrooms emerge in moist woodland areas. Burs from the panicled tick trefoil stick to your pants legs and to your pets, sheep and goats. 

Telephone wires fill with birds as migrations accelerate. Flickers, redheaded woodpeckers, red-winged blackbirds, scarlet tanagers, indigo buntings, Eastern bluebirds, robins, grackles and black ducks move south. The last firefly larvae blink in the grass.

In the Field and Garden: Soybean leaves are turning gold from Georgia to North Dakota, and pods could be set on almost all of the acreage. Pickle season is usually over by now. A third of the field corn is often mature, and denting has occurred on about half of all the region’s fields. After harvest, test the soil of your fall and winter garden as well as the ground of the fields in which you intend to sow winter wheat, rye, alfalfa, canola, clover and timothy. Make corrective lime and fertilizer applications for August and September seeding. And pick wild grapes. Collect hickory nuts and black walnuts, too.

Do your pre-winter maintenance of garage, barn and outbuildings. Complete painting and repairs, and clean out bedding, water containers and feeders. Use a good dairy disinfectant and let the area dry out before allowing the animals back in. Don’t forget to include winter bedding material in with your herd’s supply requirements for the coming months.

Mind and Body: September’s relatively pleasant temperatures and clear skies usually keep seasonal affective disorder at bay. In addition, hormonal energy may increase at this time of year, creating an “autumn surge” that combats S.A.D.

Almanack Literature

A Lamb at School

By Jamie Room

I teach animal science at an elementary school, so I can take my bottle lambs to work. The diapered lambs wander around my classroom, and soon their individual personalities are apparent. Some are shy; others want to nap on kids’ laps. Many are clowns.

One lamb, Grace, discovered the kindergarten room next door. She liked the short desks with papers at nose level. So easy to pull out and nibble. Even better was the big blue reading rug in the front of the class. Unlike the tile floors everywhere, the rug was perfect footing for a happy lamb dance of kicks and spins.

Most days Grace visited other rooms before school, but one afternoon she slipped quietly out of my room. As soon as I heard a chorus of shrieks from next door, I realized where she must be.

Grace was doing her wild dance on the rug with a fully loaded diaper. The kindergarten students were having their afternoon nap. They awoke when their teacher screamed for me. Teacher and students watched in frozen horror as Grace’s diaper slipped down more and more with each spin.

Just as I reached the door to retrieve the lamb, she kicked her diaper cleanly out into the hall. Not a single lamb berry spilled out. Everyone was relieved at disaster averted. I fetched the naked, dancing Grace and her heavy diaper resting in the hall.

Grace continued her raids on the kindergarten class, but in clean diapers her surprise visits were welcome.

ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK’S SCKRAMBLER

UEEYBLBRR BLUEBERRY

YRREBYAB BAYBERRY

REBYRAWSRT STRAWBERRY

SAREBPRERY RASPBERRY

KCALBYRERB BLACKBERRY

BERYRULM             MULBERRY 

YOBNESEBRYR      BOYSENBERRY

YRBRLKHCUEE     HUCKELBERRY

WBEDRERY           DEWBERRY

OOEEYRRBSG       GOOSEBERRY

THIS WEEK’S RHYMING SCKRAMBLER

HSIULB  

YIOHSB  

DLHHCIIS  

VLHSIA  

NABHSI

HIANSV

FHSMAI

DADIKHS

NINSAMH

ERIPHS

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. Yes, you are a genius.

Follow the days of September with Bill Felker’s A Daybook for September that contains all of his daily almanack notes for that month. Order that book and all of Bill’s essays on Amazon.

Copyright 2023 – W. L. Felker