When June is here – what art have we to sing

The whiteness of the lilies midst the green

On noon-tranced lawns? Or flash of roses seen

Like redbirds’ wings? Or earliest ripening

Prince-Harvest apples, where the cloyed bees cling

Round winey juices oozing down between

The peckings of the robin, while we lean

In under-grasses, lost in marveling? – James Whitcomb Riley

The Phases of the Moon

June 8: The Moon enters its final quarter.

June 14: The Firefly Moon is new.

June 21: The Moon enters its second quarter.

June 29: The Moon is full.

The Weather of the Week Ahead

The first week of June brings an end to the likelihood of highs in the 50s and 60s at average elevations along the 40th Parallel. Chances of that kind of cold were around 30 percent last week; this week chances of 60s fall to only 15 percent, and 50s are rare. Temperatures for the days of this week rise into the 70s on 35 percent of the afternoons, into the 80s on 40 percent, and into the 90s on ten percent. After June 6th, the likelihood of highs reaching into the 90s jumps to 20 percent, and reaches 35 percent by the middle of the month. About 15 percent of the nights bring temperatures in the 30s or 40s. Rainfall is usually lighter this week and the sun shines more. 

Natural Calendar

Not long after peonies and the exotic flowers of the yellow poplar end their seasons, just past the end of poppies, the last leaves of the canopy cover the land.  When the high foliage is complete, then the wild multiflora roses and the domestic tea roses are in full bloom, the last Osage and black walnut flowers fall, clustered snakeroot loses its pollen in the shade, and parsnips, goat’s beard and sweet clovers take over the roadsides. Rare swamp valerian blossoms by the water, and common timothy pushes up from its sheaths in alleyways.

Delicate Miami mist, pink yarrow, yellow moneywort, silver lamb’s ear and the rough Canadian thistle bloom. Wild onions and domestic garlic get their seed bulbs. Poison ivy and tiger lilies and catalpas are budding. Daisies, golden Alexander, groundsel, sweet rocket and common fleabane still hold in the pastures, but garlic mustard and ragwort are gone. The bright violet heads of chives decay.  Petals of mock orange, honeysuckle, scarlet pyrethrum, blue lupine and Dutch iris have dropped to the garden floor.

In the Field and Garden

When goslings leave the nest, mulberry season peaks, and when you see the first monarch butterfly, watch for young coyotes.

And when May apples have fruit the size of a cherry and honeysuckle flowers have all come down, look for cucumber beetles to reach the economic threshold on the farm and in the garden.

When fireflies fly at night, chinch bugs hatch in the lawn, and powdery mildew becomes a problem in the garden phlox.

When yucca plants send up their stalks, young grackles leave their nests, and nettles have grown up to your chest. Then, Japanese beetles start to attack roses and ferns. Azalea bark scale eggs hatch, too.

Check for foot rot in your livestock, especially if the weather has been rainy and the pastures and runs are muddy.

Don’t let your rams and bucks get overheated (which can affect their sperm count) when the temperature rises into the 80s and 90s. Be sure shade is available.

ALMANACK LITERATURE

Papa’s Horse

By Naomi Bliss, 

Switzerland County, Ind.

When Papa had a grocery store in Scottsburg, Ind., he often enjoyed going to Churchill Downs for the races and to see old friends.

One day Papa bought a racehorse in a Claiming Race for a few hundred dollars.  He brought the horse the 30 miles to our home by himself.  How he ever made it, I don’t know; Papa wasn’t much of a rider.

When he and the horse arrived at our home, he called to Mama: “Ida, Ida, I’ve a surprise!”

We all gathered, and we all were surprised. Mama looked at poor tired Papa and at the horse. Finally she asked: “Henry, what will you do with a horse?”

Papa excitedly said: “I’ll deliver groceries.” And that he did. He bought a small flat wagon and hitched the racehorse to it. The horse stood still for being harnessed and hitched to the wagon, and then he just stood and stood.

Papa tried everything to get the horse started. But still the horse stood. With the grocery orders in the wagon, Papa needed to get moving. Finally he went into the store and returned with a tall wooden stool. He called to Mama to come help him.  She came and held the horse while Papa climbed up on the stool and straddled the horse. He grabbed the reins; Mama stood back and away went Papa and the horse.

Our town was little more than a crossroads, and on that day every soul was out and enjoying Papa on the racehorse. And they must have been quite a sight. Papa in his black hat and three-piece blue serge suit, his feet and legs flapping because he was riding bare back, the horse shaking his head and running.

Well, Papa did take the groceries to where they belonged. The horse did stop, but Papa couldn’t get off the horse, so he called his customer’s name until he came out to the wagon, and Papa told him to look in the wagon for his groceries.

It took Papa and the horse almost all day to deliver a few groceries, but at last Papa returned to the store. Mama was waiting with the stool, but she first tied the horse to a tree and then she helped Papa down from the horse. Help came running out, and Papa was almost carried into our home in the back of the store.

I never knew what became of the horse, but Papa couldn’t walk for more than a week.

Mama cleaned and pressed Papa’s suit and brushed his black hat. Finally he appeared in public, but he never allowed anyone to mention his horse. If they did, he would fly into a fit of anger, his face red, and he would swear dreadful curses.

I still remember: “Hell’s fire and brimstone,” he would shout as he stomped up the stairs. Awful.

***

Follow the summer with Bill Felker’s A Daybook for June in Yellow Springs, Ohio. The daybook contains all the nature notes used to create Poor Will’s Almanack. Order yours from Amazon.