Poor Will's Almanack 2011: Since 1984, a Traditional Guide to Living in Harmony with the Earth

By Bill Felker

Poor Wills Almanack for 2011 offers essays by naturalist, Bill Felker; a meteorological guide for fishing, hunting and dieting; a description of the twelve seasons of the year (applicable to all regions of the United States); the only Seasonal Affective disorder index ever devised; suggestions for finding the major planets and stars; reflections on farming and gardening by the moon; a description of every major cold front that will that strike the nation in 2011; a marketing calendar for sheep and goat owners, and an anthology of Almanack Literature, stories by Poor Wills readers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 13, 2010
• ISBN: 9781453569016

Bill Felker

Bill Felker has been writing nature columns for regional and national publications since 1984. His Poor Will’s Almanack has appeared as an annual publication since 2003, and his weekly radio essays are broadcast on National Public Radio’s WYSO from Yellow Springs, Ohio (available by podcast at www.wyso.org). His organization of weather patterns and phenology (what happens when in nature) offers a unique structure for understanding the repeating rhythms of the year. Bill’s website, www.poorwillsalmanack.com provides excerpts from his daybook as well as weekly updates to the annual version of the Almanack.

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An Introduction to the Floating

Calendar for the Twelve Moveable

Seasons of the Natural Year

Here are no stories told you of what is to be seen at the other end of the world, but of things at home, in your own Native Country, at your own doors, easily examinable with little travel, less cost, and very little hazard. This book doth not shew you a Telescope, but a Mirror, it goes not about to put a delightful cheat upon you, with objects at a great distance, but shews you yourselves.

Joshua Childrey, 1660

Throughout the continental United States and Canada, the seasons follow the standard calendar less than they do the dictates of elevation and latitude. Although almost all deciduous trees between Maine and Florida have lost their leaves by January 1st, the variation in temperature between the northern and southern states at the beginning of the year can be more than fifty degrees. Within that broad geographical context, the advance of the seasons is highly varied; nevertheless, certain patterns are visible that are applicable to much of the country.

One way to delineate these patterns is to characterize them by what is going on in nature. Under this kind of organization, a season such as Early Spring has certain traits, but may occur in Louisiana in January but take place in northern Minnesota as late as the beginning of May. A floating calendar, one that is generally applicable to events rather than to specific dates, allows the observer to identify the season by what is actually going on in the local habitat rather than by the standard Gregorian calendar.

Under such a floating system, the seasons truly are moveable in that they advance at different rates in different parts of the country. And within the broad guidelines sketched here, the Almanack traveler can watch not only the landscape change with the passage of the miles, but the time of year and seasons, too.

In the Poor Will’s Almanack for 2011, I have divided the year into twelve seasons and have noted how they take place in different ways and at different times in the different parts of the country. Although I have kept the basic monthly sequence in the organization of information, I have noted the months during which a specific season might be likely to occur in different regions. These are broad strokes of the phenological pen, but they allow Almanack readers to not only see what is going on in their area but in other areas, as well.

A NOTE ON THE BEGINNING

OF THE NATURAL YEAR

Most people realize that winter no more actually starts at December solstice than summer starts at June solstice. Seasons are fluid constructs in which take their own direction from multiple factors.

In this Poor Will’s Almanack for 2011, I have designated the beginning of what I call the natural year to be the point at which most of the leaves have fallen from most of the trees in most of the continental United States. Most years, that natural year begins at the end of November when Early Winter starts the new year of growth. Consequently, the natural year of 2011 begins in December of 2010 and ends at the end of November of 2011.

The Weather

In POOR WILL’S ALMANACK

The weather of a district is undoubtedly part of its natural history.

Gilbert White

A modern calendar measures passage and movement in months, weeks and days, neglecting other gauges like star time, sun time, moon time and weather time. Among those alternate systems, the last one may be the most neglected.

The elements of weather time are the 70 high-pressure systems (give or take a few) that traverse the country, like deep breaths of the planet, between one winter and the next. These weather fronts move more quickly in the colder months (October through March bringing up to eight waves of high pressure in each month). The warmer months between April and September are more likely to have six or fewer fronts apiece.

Every season and every year bring a similar number of cold or cool waves, and these are usually predictable within a few days.

Changes in plants, animals and even people keep pace with those weather systems events and can be measured by them. The natural year unfolds, then, as a dynamic metronome, a resource of cadence and balance.

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When all 70 fronts of the year have passed across your property, the seasons are set to come back again. Of course, the calendar can easily tell you what day it is, but it can’t really let you feel your place in the turning clock of the world. The weather—if you will only count and keep track of its breaths—can!

Each monthly chapter of Poor Will’s Almanack lists the dates that the major fronts of the year will cross the Mississippi River in its WEATHER PATTERNS section.

THE ALMANACK AS A FISHING,

HUNTING & DIETING GUIDE

Although successful fishing is influenced primarily by the type of bait used and the location of the bait in the water, the times of day, month and year are also significant. Lunar position has been shown in some studies to be a contributing factor to fish and game activity, but the approach of weather systems (high-pressure systems typically preceded by low-pressure systems) is usually a more decisive factor than the moon in influencing fish to bite and animals to feed.

In addition to the moon and the weather, water temperature and other seasonal factors play a role in how fish respond to your bait. One of the best ways to measure those factors is to keep a journal of conditions and of what is happening during your outings. And an almanack may be helpful in making you aware of what is going on in nature. This is especially true for hunting, since conditions in the fields or woods have a direct impact on creatures living there. For both fish and game, however, your personal observations, connected to your results in the wood or on the water, form the true baseline for future activities.

All that being said, the monthly section, PEAK ACTIVITY TIMES FOR LIVESTOCK, FISH, GAME & DIETERS, provides a list of pivotal dates for the arrival of high-pressure systems, which can be helpful in planning your outings. Fish, game, livestock and people tend to feed more and are more active as the barometer is falling one to three days before these weather systems.

In addition, many people find that fish and game are more active (and dieting is more difficult) when the moon is overhead: at midday when the moon is new, in the afternoon and evening when the moon is in its first quarter, at night when the moon is full and in its third quarter, in the morning when the moon is in its fourth quarter. Second-best lunar times occur when the moon is below your location, 12 hours before or after those times noted above.

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About the S.A.D. Stress Index

The S.A.D. Stress Index in each monthly chapter of the Almanack is one way of measuring those natural phenomena which are assumed to be related to seasonal affective disorder (S.A.D.)—the day’s length, the percentage of probable sunlight, and the weather. In order to create the Index, each of those factors was given a value from zero to 25, and then the three values were combined onto a scale of one to 75. Interpretation is simple: the higher the number, the greater the stress.

Index readings are most useful in combination with a record of your own moods. Reference to the Index when you feel out of sorts may be a way of getting a feel for how seasonal affective disorders influence your life.

FARMING AND GARDENING WITH

THE ALMANACK

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Of course if one hasn’t the necessary knowledge and ambition to succeed at farming there is no disgrace in moving to town to study law or

medicine or become a policeman.

Farm and Ranch, 1912

Each monthly segment of Poor Will’s Almanack contains notes on the application of lunar lore to farming and gardening. In general, planting crops that bear their fruit above the ground is recommended when the moon is waxing. Plant root crops, flower bulbs, trees and shrubs to promote root growth when the moon is waning.

According to a number of studies, the moon exerts less influence on ocean tides and on human and animal behavior when it comes into its 2nd and 4th quarters. Therefore, it might make more sense to perform routine maintenance on your flock or herd near the date on which the moon enters its second or fourth quarter

On the other hand, tidal lunar influences have been proven to be greater at full moon and new moon times. You might expect more trouble with your animals, therefore, on or about new moon and full moon.

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The Naming of Moons

The moon brings order to the days:

It marks their use for work and fortune.

Virgil

In the United States, the naming of moons was traditionally associated with the early inhabitants of the continent, and newcomers learned some of those names from the peoples they encountered. Although different groups used different names for different moons, depending on their location (and the accompanying weather and sources of food), the following list has survived as representative of what was used by some Native American nations:

January: WOLF MOON, February: SNOW MOON, March: WORM MOON, April: PINK MOON, May: FLOWER MOON, June: HOT MOON or STRAWBERRY MOON, July: BUCK MOON, August: STURGEON MOON, September: HARVEST MOON, October: HUNTER’S MOON, November: BEAVER MOON, December: COLD MOON.

Even though some of these names are still in use today among people who read almanacs, I believe the tradition of naming is best continued by identifying lunar times within a more personal and local context.

To some, I suppose, that might mean the creation of names like the SUPERBOWL MOON or the WORLD SERIES MOON. And such tags would certainly be more appropriate for sports fans than the WOLF MOON or HARVEST MOON. Corporations might name moons for the different phases of the production and sales year. On a more intimate level, lovers might pick their moons from certain milestones in a relationship, the FIRST KISS MOON and so on.

My personal preference is to go to the local landscape to find some event in nature that coincides with the full moon of a particular month. Since those events are virtually infinite, the names of the moons can be so also. In the spring and summer months, the blooming of flowers and trees provide any number of suggestions. In fall and winter, other events such as leaf turn, leaf fall, migratory activity, and indoor activities, such as the forcing of bulbs or the seeding of flowers and vegetables, offer ample variety for selection.

The most important thing about moons or any other natural phenomenon is that we notice them, and that we take them inside ourselves and allow them bring some balance and harmony. Among all the changes of our lives, the changes of sky and of the seasons may be the least radical and disruptive. The stability of their rhythms can offset the instability of other parts of our lives. Naming can be a reminder to take part in that gift of compensation.

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THE NATURAL YEAR

DECEMBER of 2010

Each of us carries an inward map on which are inscribed, as on Renaissance charts, the seas and continents known to us. On my own map, the regions where I have lived most attentively are crowded with detail . . . .

Scott Russell Sanders

SEASONAL TOPOGRAPHY

The temporal countryside takes on its autumnal contours from the increasingly violent movements of the Earth’s atmosphere as