Tonight is the Full Harvest moon. Last night it was so very clear and beautiful out that i watched the almost full Harvest Moon from the comfort of my favorite chair until sleep overtook me. There is alot to do at this time of year, so today in celebration, and it part because the frost killed the vines, I picked the remaining tomatoes. That leaves my garden to the aspargus, walking onions, and any potatoes that escaped being dug up, they will be "volunteers" next year as the "Old Farmer" would say.
Neil Young's "Harvest Moon" keeps running thru my head, sometimes , if there are no people around, i sing along. Easily the best love song of all time, a love that is long, strong and occasionally loud, yah , that's a "good thing'.
Sometime i like to ramble back in time, and these following clips from the Farmer's Almanac reminded me, of a very different time. Yes, i really can remember gathering beechnuts, black walnuts, butternuts(yuck!) and hickory nuts. Love the smell of hickory nut husks, used to pike a canning jar and lid and fill it up with them, but soon learned that all they did was get moldy.
There were apples and the remaining vegetables needed to be picked, sometimes by the light of the tractor' headlights. That same tractor would turn the ground in the next day. That was putting the garden to bed for the winter.
I don't remember anyone hunting by moonlight, I'm old but not that old. The first licenses were issued on April 17,1914, Governor Tenner charges each PA resident who bought a license one dollar. Anyway, hunting season was earlier in the year at that timestarting often in September.
The harvest moon was sometimes called the Hunters moon. Was sometime given the name "Blood Moon" because of it's deep read appearance, and that it and the fall leaves were advantages to the hunters.
This October supermoon will drift over the horizon around sunset and the illusion of a larger and brighter orange color moon will appear because of how close it is to the earth.
Why is it called the harvest moon?
The harvest moon came to be called that because of the abundance of bright moonlight in the early evening hours when farmers harvested their crops. They worked well into the night as autumn began, before electricity.
Unlike other full moons, the harvest moon rises at nearly the same time for the few nights surrounding it, just 25 to 30 minutes later each day, versus the average 50 minutes later each day throughout the year. It will also rise very near sunset for those few nights, appearing like a full moon for three days in a row.
The hunter’s moon name comes from the traditional hunting season, as the brighter lunar light allowed hunters to track and gather game in preparation for the frigid days and nights of the winter to come.
According to the Farmer's Almanac, October marked the season in the Northern Hemisphere, where the falling leaves and lasting moonlight made it easier to see and hunt animals at night and the brush is not as thick making hunting and tracking easier.
my thanks to the Farmers Almanac!
As the Harvest Moon, rises it's shines thru the darkness, a silvery light thru the pine boughs.
And now gentle readers, it is time for me to wish you all Good Night, Good Slumbers and return to my favorite chair to enjoy the beauty of this full moon.
