Hunter’s Moon

Mother Nature looks–well, a bit tired. And her wardrobe somewhat confused. The greens of summer remain. Oaks, cottonwoods, ash. Red tips grace the tupelos. It’s raining today. A cold hard Autumn rain. And leaves hang like limp wet gloves. The crabapple is naked and the crimson maples drop leaves like dying butterflies. Perhaps discouraged, in their final desperate grip on the last remnants of–summer?

Pope Gregory would argue. But some of us would like to see those warm summer months drawn out just a bit longer. Before Mother Nature’s glorious Autumn regalia steals the scene. Perhaps we grow old with the seasons. As good an excuse as any.

Late October marks the waning days of the harvest season. But many vegetables and fruits are still available for picking. Apples, pears, root vegetables, beans. And pawpaws!

Available from August through October, pawpaws are one of the few fruits exclusively native to North America. Difficult to ship because of their fragility, they are rarely found in grocery stores. But apparently not so in nature. Some people forage for them. Or go pickin’ pawpaws, if you will, “way down yonder in the pawpaw patch”. They are at their best when ripe (and ugly). It’s said that we often walk past a pawpaw bush without recognizing it. A shame, because they’re delicious. They taste like a cross between a mango, pineapple and a banana. And they make an excellent cocktail. {;-\ Or so I’m told.

October’s full moon, if you can still see it after the Mabon, is called the “Hunter’s” moon. Algonquin, Mohawk and other northeastern tribes often used its light to hunt by. This is the time of year when animals store fat and pack on weight in anticipation of the long winter hibernation season. Good hunting.

Small critters skitter around the yard, up and down trees looking for nuts, berries, acorns and preparing winter nests. Bears are measuring caves for curtains. Female deer with this year’s fawns are plentiful.

The fish now enter their annual winter torpor and sink to the coldest, darkest depths of the pond. Some fish have all the luck.

And two beautiful six point bucks, still in velvet, have been hanging around the neighborhood all summer. Hunting and rutting seasons are just around the corner so they had better decide soon between fight and flight.

A waxing crescent moon has sailed over the Hudson Valley for the past several days. She will become full in a week and begin to wane on to November.

A winter gem in the Catskill Mountain skies.
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