by Larry-Michael and Becky Lynn Hackenberg
A Weekly Almanac Guide
Plan, Do, Finish, Rest.
Living in Harmony With Earth
Weekend of February 24-25, 2024
Earth-Sun-Moon Notes
In A Nutshell…
The Full/Doing Moon occurs Friday, February 24 at 7:30 a.m. EST. The Potawatomi named it Mnokesis, Moon of the Rabbit.
The Algonquin name for February Moon Cycle is Wapicuummilcum, “Ice in River is Gone”. When you live along the St. Joseph River and hear what sounds like thunder in February, it may well be ice cracking and falling from the shore’s edge. Dam gates opening downriver cause a precipitous drop in river water height, resulting in exquisite crystalline sculptural structures cantilevering along the banks.
Remember to be listening for owls calling, especially early mornings and evenings, as nesting is in progress. Great Horned, Screech, and Barred Owls are common in S.W. Michigan.
Last Weekend
February 17-18, 2024: Planning
It was time to tap into creative imagination, picture the desired end result clearly in the mind, and begin early planning.
This Weekend
February 24-25, 2024: Doing
Many will be happy for a Doing weekend right about now because it lifts their spirits out of doldrums mode. Doldrums are not just that area in the Atlantic near the Equator where winds vary between lulls and squalls. The word also means stagnation, boredom, lethargy, sluggishness, melancholy; a state or period of inactivity or depression (sigh…).
While those of us who get low in Vitamin D from lack of sun know this state very well, anyone can fall into this mode during a long Michigan Winter. Doing weekends as we near Winter’s end are welcome and vital to our mental, physical, emotional, and even spiritual health. Pull yourself out of your favorite chair, go outside, breathe, and move!
If you have rested and taken good care of yourself all Winter, you have been building up reserves. Give them a good trial run by visiting a park, going on a favorite neighborhood walk, exploring a museum; whatever makes you feel invigorated and gets the juices flowing. It will pull you out of those doldrums and help you see clearly all the way to Spring.
Next Weekend
March 2-3, 2024: Finishing
End Winter Cycle with an introspective review, releasing all you do not wish to carry forward into Spring, 16 days away.
Musing…from Larry’s journal
The Land, the River, and Us
Becky and I married in 2002 and bought land on the west bank of the St. Joseph River and found there were many plants that grew very well on or near the riverbanks. I began buying a few plants and explored planting some along the river. When I tried to plant anything near the bank, I found the land was wild with roots.
It seemed to me that in between the bank roots there was almost no room to plant new plants. There always seemed to be very small grains of earth loosely held in place by thousands of roots (maybe many millions, billions of roots). I felt that if I started to dig any holes to plant new plants in the bank near the water, it wouldn’t work – I would actually be causing riverbank weakness and damage.
Some people along the river-built walls along the river (I guess to create root-free land to plant normal land plants). I did not like that idea.
I eventually built a small platform on the edge of the river. No holes were caused for any foundation support. I installed a small grid structure of steel rods which I connected to wood supports about six to eight inches above the land to support a small 10×15 foot deck for a small 6×4 foot storage building to hold my rocker. Almost every day I pull my rocker out of the tiny building and sit on the deck, peacefully.
We have created no other damage to the riverbank for 20 years. I simply examine and record existing plants along our riverbank, saying praise to them for their beautiful, natural existence; often writing about them while sitting in my rocker, on my platform.
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