Poor Will's Almanack

Middle Spring cedes to Late Spring, and under the closing canopy and the Eta Aquarid shooting stars: the wild phlox are purple and the swamp ragwort is gold. May apples and spring cress flower. Wild ginger, meadow rue, bellwort, bluets, Jack-in-the pulpit, nodding trillium, larkspur and thyme-leafed speedwell are still blossoming. The sticky catchweed replaces chickweed. Thyme and horseradish open in the herb garden. Lily-of-the-valley and star of Bethlehem push out from their buds. But if a

When the Sun comes into Taurus, then it is Late Spring almost everwhere along the 40th Parallel. Even though the chill of the full Swarming Termite Moon increases the likelihood of frost, chances for a high above 70s degrees are now 50/50 or better for the first time this year all across the nation’s midsection. The season of Late Spring usually has five gentle cool fronts that occur from the end of April until the end of May. Most spring woodland flowers complete their bloom during this time,

Keeping a notebook of what happens every day in the small world around me, I often think about the cyclical quality of events in nature. The repeating quality of the sky and the landscape, is something similar to what sociologist Charles Taylor describes, in his book, A Secular Age, as "Higher Time" (as opposed to linear, “Secular Time”). In Secular Time, things happen in sequence, and the past always recedes like an expanding universe, and when something is past, it's past. Higher Time, on the

The Golding Goldfinch Moon wanes throughout the week, becoming the new Swarming Termite Moon on April 15. And as daffodils and tulips come to bloom and the pale winter feathers of goldfinches turn gold, it is not uncommon to see swarms of ant-like creatures (termites) flying in search of new breeding and feeding grounds. When termites swarm, carpenter bees emerge to invade home siding and eaves, usually returning to the same places they were the year before, drilling and making nests, often

The Golding Goldfinch Moon weakens and wanes throughout the week, reaching benign apogee (its position farthest from Earth) and entering its final phase on April 8. Rising at night and setting in the morning, this Moon is still round enough to light the predawn sky. Walking below the moon these early mornings find the Summer Triangle deep in the center of the sky, and the Milky Way accompanies that starg roup, stretching from Sagittarius due south to Capella in the north. The Great Square is

This week marks the arrival of Middle Spring, a four-week period during which almost all the field crops are planted and gardeners set out onion sets, broccoli, cabbage, collards and kale. The Golding Goldfinch Moon is full on March 31. This is the second Blue Moon (that is, the second full Moon in a single month) of 2018. Rising in the evening and setting in the morning, this Moon brightens the night sky wildflower walks in the dark. If you walk the moonlight before dawn, find Jupiter in the

So much is happening, it’s hard to even imagine it all. Equinox occurs at 11:15 a.m. on March 20 and the Sun enters the Middle Spring sign of Aries on March 21. The Golding Goldfinch Moon, slowly turning the feathers of goldfinches gold, enters its second phase on March 24 and reaches perigee, its powerful position closest to earth on the March 26. When you get up before dawn to exercise, do chores or listen to birds, find giant Jupiter along the southern horizon in Libra. Walk with Venus in the

The Ducks-Scouting-for-Nests Moon wanes through it fourth phase this week, becoming the new Golding Goldfinch Moon on March 17. Rising in the morning and setting in the evening, this Moon passes overhead near midday, then sets near Venus. At midnight, the Big Dipper is overhead, Orion sets in the west, and Libra (along with Jupiter) rises in the east. Under the darkling Golding Goldfinch Moon, goldfinches begin to lose their winter beige, the first mosquito bites and the box elders and silver

The Ducks-Scouting-for-Nests Moon wanes throughout the week, entering its final quarter on March 9 and reaching gentle apogee, its position farthest from Earth, two days later. Rising near midnight and setting in the morning, this Moon moves overhead throughout the darkest hours before daylight. And if you spring your clocks ahead an hour for Daylight Saving Time just before dawn on the 11th, you might see the Moon rising in the east, not far from Jupiter and Mars in the southeast. When you go

March had come in like a lion. And in the morning, I walked through town along the road to the songs of sparrows and crows, southeast into woods of Osage and scrub black walnuts and box elders. All their branches were coated with ice, were shining in the sun, the world bright, steaming from the melting water. I moved out of the open road and the noise of the city, into a protective hive of reflected light and a kind of bee-like murmuring that grew stronger as I entered the woods and took away