WHEN THE EARTH MEETS THE SKY / THE BUCK MOON

STEP RIGHT UP! - Step right up, folks, to Father Sky and Mother Earth’s Magical, Mystical, Midsummer Madness! See the Night-sky shimmer with Light and Life! Feel the heat and humidity smack you in your face with the very Force of Life itself! Watch Earth and Sky in their yearly Dance - teeming with multitudinous life- forms! Make Hay while the Sun Shines! Hurry, hurry, hurry! (Sounds like Summer to me.)

MAKING HAY - What a great old saying: “make hay while the sun shines”. How appropriate for this season. It seems that everyone is continually overtired from trying - almost manically - to do EVERYTHING, which is very natural when we have so much light. This is probably so with many creatures. I know numerous species of birds are on their second brood of young now. The Hawks are probably sleeping well after a long day of watching the youngsters fledge. So many animal parents are probably going through this at this point.

HIGH-TIDE OF LIFE - WHERE EARTH MEETS SKY - There is no place more mystical on a Mid- Summer’s Eve than our beautiful Comeau, with Guardian and Overlook in the full-moon - and star-lit - distance - with the intervening distance crammed with life. Heat-lightning shimmers and Fireflies flicker to a chorus of Cicadas, Crickets, Katydids and Tree-frogs. Accompanying the aural and visual feast of this magical time is the raw sensuality of wading through the thick, superheated air. At this season one can feel the sky pressing down as the earth rises to meet it. To my Pagan self, it is as if the Earth is giving birth and the Sky is leaning closer, attending to Her. If Mid-Winter is the time of dormant life and inner reflection, when the tide of Life is at its ebb, this must be the peak of the Season of Life, our seasonal high-tide - when the Earth meets the Sky.

A VERITABLE LIFE-STORM - We are past mid-summer now, the days are shorter (just by a few minutes right now, but this will gradually accelerate) as the season inexorably turns. In our corner of the Catskills, in terms of burgeoning life-forms, this is a rich, rich time of year - a veritable Life-Storm. We are literally surrounded by the fruitfulness of the season. The heavy, humid air we wade through is thick with insect-life (though not as thick with them as it used to be), including mosquitos now, nurtured by recent rains. So far, only the Cricket and Tree Frog parts of our yearly “Cricket Chorus” are present, with the Seasonal Cicadas and Katydids (hopefully) soon to join in. The fireflies are off to a good start, activity waxing and waning with ups and downs of the dew-point (an indicator of humidity-levels). Every species of animal is busily reproducing their kind and raising their young. Myriad trees and other plants are simultaneously racing for the sun, sending out new green shoots, making seeds and sending new roots down deep. The very topsoil under our feet is seething with countless forms of life - animal, insect and microbe. New little Bambis are ecstatically gamboling about, completely unable to contain their excitement about being alive (a lesson for us all?). Bear-cubs are growing fast, learning from Mom about the ursine world, but occasionally running afoul of automobiles and older bears. Wild Turkeys may have started their season with a dozen or more poults, as their young are called, but by now are down to about half that many, mostly because of Coyotes and Hawks. Same with Mallard young, due to Eagles and Snapping Turtles. It’s a tough reality for wild creatures that sometimes we don’t want to admit to. We love to idealize the natural world, but Nature is not about to be idealized so easily. Even experienced, lifelong outdoorsmen like myself fall into the trap of loving these wonderful creatures, setting ourselves up for a fall. But how can we not? Great Blue Herons will be back soon and arriving shortly will be the gorgeous Great Egrets.

MEADOWS AND FIELDS FLOWERING - Most of the flowering has now switched solidly from forest to meadow and field. Present now in our open spaces are: Beebalm; Buttercups, regular and Long-stem; Clovers, Red- and White- ; Goldenrods (not an allergen); Ragweed (the real allergy-culprit); Wild Blackberries -Raspberries and -Strawberries; Queen Anne’s Lace, and many others - most notably, Milkweed. Also, in the verges between forest and field is where we find Poison Ivy, which is often accompanied by Jewelweed somewhere nearby (a natural antidote to PI). PI is so wildly proliferating right now because of Climate Change, since it thrives on carbon in the atmosphere. So much so that it is the first native plant officially designated as an Invasive. While our meadows right now are home to so many butterflies and moths: Black- and Tiger Swallowtails; Brushfoots; Dusky-wings; Fritillaries (commonly mistaken for Monarchs); Hairstreaks (great name!); Hop Merchants; Metalmarks; Mourning Cloaks; Nymphs; Questionmarks (but why?); Satyrs; Skippers; Snouts; Spring Azures; Sulphurs; Viceroys and Whites - yet the reigning kings and queens of them all - the Monarchs - have only arrived in limited numbers. Hopefully, more are on the way (Good news! According to monarchwatch.org the Eastern Migratory Monarch population increased by 64% in the ‘25-‘26 winter season - though we haven’t seen that increase here, yet.). In the winter, as they huddle en masse on Oyumel fir-trees in the cool mountains of Michoacan, do Monarchs dream of our Milkweed-rich sunny leas? Their intertwined, symbiotic dependence on - and with - Milkweed should teach us about our interdependence on the varied elements of the world around us.

THINGS TO DO - Please visit the tremendous Catskills Visitor Center (CVC) on Rt. 28 in Mt. Tremper (catskillsvisitorcenter.org). It is the best place to introduce newcomers to our wonderful area, with interesting educational, high-tech displays and a full-scale firetower, as well as a helpful staff that are knowledgeable about everything recreational in the region. This is a great jumping-off place for visitors to many places, including the nearby, spectacular Ashokan Rail-Trail (ART) (ashokanrailtrail.com). Also, for an excellent online source of local information I highly recommend insideandoutupstateny.com .

BE EXTRA CAREFUL - This is the season of great - sometimes frenzied - outdoor activity, so please be extra careful in whatever you do. If on the trail, keep an eye peeled (what a great saying!) for exposed tree-roots, waiting for the unwary. Watch out for the stone accidentally turned up by the walker ahead of you who wasn’t paying attention. Please have a

Safe and Enjoyable Summer.

WHAT MAKES HIGH SUMMER?

LIGHT - Maybe it is the all-penetrating light which comes at you from every direction. It surrounds you, reflecting from the dark, rich green of leaf, off branch and twig, rock and sky. This light is the light of Life because this is the season of life, when everything is growing, growing, growing and all of this fecundity is fed by, nurtured by, loved by - light. We in the northern hemisphere are closest to our very source of life and light - the Sun - in this time and because of that its rays beat down incessantly, dominating our existence much more obviously than in other seasons.

PLANTS - Maybe it is the incredible plant-growth. While it is true that the sun is setting a little earlier each day now and rising a tad later than at the recent Summer Solstice, you’d be hard put to prove that to any and all of the creatures and plants in our neck of the woods. All the plants, shrubs and trees are still reaching as high into the sky as they can, turning raw sunlight (energy) into life (true magic of the most powerful, everyday kind), all while simultaneously digging their roots as deep into the earth as they possibly can. How much we are (or should be) like them - heads in the sky and feet on the earth - true Stewards of the Earth. Making hay while the sun shines, indeed.

ANIMALS - Could it be the out-of- control animal life? Everywhere you look there is life - birds cavorting, flying, doing their thing. Bald Eagles swooping down on fish, which the streams and ponds are thick with. Intrepid, tiny Hummingbirds bravely fending off other avians five times their size. White-tail Deer fawns and Black Bear cubs frolicking. Millions upon millions of rodents feeding on plants and insects, in turn being preyed upon by hawk, coyote, fox and owl. The air itself is thick with the incredible richness of summer insect life. Sometimes it seems that all those bugs are just floating on the thick, super-dense summer air.

HEAT - Maybe it is the overwhelming heat, surrounding us, bathing us in its humid breath. This is the very breath of Life, infusing all around it with the inherent richness of this time, imparting the water-wealth of the earth even into the air itself, nurturing so many plants and creatures with its great power. Walking through the thickness that is our summer air can sometimes seem more like wading. It is so easy to break a sweat now. Any exertion will do it. Some (granitic?) rocks will sweat as well, and they seem to be just sitting there! I understand. To watch the humid air rise after a warm summer rain is to observe the Earth-Mother exhaling, creating the very essence of life.

SOUND - Possibly it’s the cacophony of multitudinous sounds? The myriad birds who start their day (and ours, as well) so much earlier than the rest of the year. The incredible chorus of seasonal Cicada, Cricket and Katydid, joyously piercing the air with their incessant, rhythmic calls, in their yearly mating ritual. Such rich sounds, pitched just high enough for all to hear, but not so high as to bother (almost) anyone - like millions of little bells ringing, rasping rhythms of foreleg rubbed on abdomen. Probably directly correlating to the human body-language of the wink of an eye or subtle turning up of the corner of a mouth or eyebrow.

WATER - Maybe it is the clear, fresh water. The joy of feeling the cool water wrap around you after walking on a hot day, covering your entire body, trying to invade each and every pore. To lie suspended on the surface, relaxed, knowing you’ve returned to where you came from - in the very life-blood of the Mother. For now, you can let the stream take you for a moment, drifting along in time, ‘til your body touches the stony bottom waking you from your summer reverie, to go back to the seasonal heat once more - but refreshed.

EARTH - Also, it is how the rich, brown earth feels on bare feet walking, directly communicating with the earth in some ancient way, with nothing between you and her. Summer is a time to FEEL the light around us, to FEEL the life surrounding us, to FEEL the very air, even to FEEL the intensity of the season’s sounds. Such a visceral, in your face - not subtle by any means - intense time of year. I always love it and never want it to end, but I know it must - in order to come back again.

ALL OF THE ABOVE - It is likely that all of these things together - the light, the heat, the rain, the fauna and flora of midsummer, the clear, cool water and rich, dark soil (itself brimming with bacterial-, microbial-, and insect- life). Perhaps it is all of these things that - together - add up to the mid- point of our summer, the Peak of Life, as it were. Summer memories are shared

all the rest of the year, a kind of group “thought- and feeling- harvest” that we can glean and remember to help warm us in the cold season to come, as we all swing around the Sun on this incredible journey - together. Thank you all for sharing it with me.

TIME OF GREAT CHANGE - Summer is a time of great change, phenomenal transformation, the Milkweed plant of early summer is not the same plant now. The Red-tail that builds its nest in the spring is very different from the one that watches its young leave the same nest. This is also a time of change and growth for people. Summer gives us the chance to get outside (of ourselves?) more than we generally do. We travel more, to the shore, to visit relatives, etc. By getting outside into our world we meet people we normally would not have and we do things we normally wouldn’t do. All of these activities make us learn and grow (sometimes whether we like it or not). In this season we get a chance to see ourselves reflected in others, whereas in winter, because there is less light and we’re “cooped up” more, we tend (need?) to delve more inside our own self in an introspective, self-reflective, manner. Like the Milkweed and the Red-tail, it could be that by the end of this season none of us will be exactly the same person we were at the beginning of the summer. Of course, some of us weren’t the same to begin with (?).

THE BUCK MOON - throughout much of Turtle Island (North America) this is the time when the male White-tail Deer start to regrow their antlers which they would have shed in January or February. Another name for this moon (to Indigenous people a “moon” is the period between full moons and used the same as a “month”) is the Thunder Moon because of summer storms. The Full Buck Moon is on Wednesday, July 29 at 10:36 EDT.

Thank you all. Please Summer safely and well.

Take Care, “Ranger” Dave Holden (845) 594-4863 / woodstocktrails@gmail.com / Dave Holden on Facebook / rangerdaveholden on Instagram / www.woodstocknytrails.com