New moon: In Libra, Sunday, Oct. 18
Full moon: In Aries, Sunday, Oct. 4
Astrological sign: Libra, Sept. 23 to Oct. 22; Scorpio, Oct. 23 to Nov. 21
Gem stone: Opal
Flower: Marigold
Harvard history snippet:
“The colonists who brought to New England their heritage of Saxon virtues and energies did not leave behind them all the ancestral vices or passions. Though a simple-hearted folk, leading lives of loving domesticity, these grandsires of ours and their good wives, it must be confessed, lacked refinement. ... When hot with irritation they used a very vulgar vernacular. Gross lapses in moral rectitude were regularly made the subject of oral confession in the presence of the congregated church, and duly recorded by the pastor.”
—from Directions of a Town, by Robert C. Anderson (1976)
Household tips:
- To deodorize animals that have been sprayed by a skunk, wash them with a mixture of 4 cups of hydrogen peroxide, with 4 tablespoons of baking soda, and 1 teaspoon of dish-washing soap.
- Clean copper by coating with ketchup. Let sit for a few minutes, then wash off.
Going green:
- Insulate around windows to keep out the coming cold
- Re-think buying decisions: is that purchase something you really need?
- Reduce junk mail by asking to be removed from catalog mailing lists, at www.catalogchoice.org.
What to do in the garden:
- Plant garlic
- Remove dead plants and weeds
- Apply compost
- Plant winter cover crop or add a layer of mulch to protect the soil
- Organize the tool shed
- Clean and sharpen garden tools.
Thought for the month:
“There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots may be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on the feelings, as now, in October.”
—Nathaniel Hawthorne, American novelist (1804–1864)
Do you have an almanac tidbit you’d like to share? E-mail to editor@harvardpress.com.