Poor Will's Almanack is a traditional guide to living in harmony with the Earth

YELLOW SPRINGS, Ohio - Oct. 16, 2014 - PRLog -- Sunbury Press has released Bill Felker's 2015 edition of Poor Will's Almanack, since 1984, a traditional guide to living in harmony with the Earth.

About the Book:
Contents of the 2015 Edition:
Using the Floating Calendar for the Twelve Moveable Seasons
A Note on the Beginning of the Natural Year
The Weather in Poor Will’s Almanack
The Almanack as a Fishing, Hunting and Dieting Guide
About the S.A.D. Index
Farming and Gardening with the Almanack
A Note about Almanack Literature
Contents of the Monthly Chapters
Time of Day in Poor Will’s Almanack
Index of Seasonal Essays by Bill Felker
Index of Almanac Literature
A Floating Calendar of Bloom for Selected Wildflowers, Weeds, Garden Perennials, Shrubs and Trees
Markers for the Progress of Spring at Average Elevations along the 40th Parallel
An Incomplete Chronology of Leafturn Along the 40th Parallel During Early and Middle Fall in an Average Year

Monthly Almanack Chapters:
November 2014
December 2014
January 2015
February 2015
March 2015
April 2015
May 2015
June 2015
July 2015
August 2015
September 2015
October 2015
November 2015
December 2015

Excerpt:
Throughout the continental United States and Canada, the seasons follow the standard calendar less than they do the dictates of elevation and latitude. Although almost all deciduous trees between Maine and Florida have lost their leaves by January 1, the variation in temperature between the northern and southern states at the beginning of the year can be more than fifty degrees. Within that broad geographical context, the advance of the seasons is highly varied; nevertheless, certain patterns are visible that are applicable to much of the country.

One way to delineate these patterns is to characterize them by what is going on in nature. Under this kind of organization, a season such as early spring has certain traits, may occur in Louisiana in January but take place in northern Minnesota as late as the beginning of May. A floating calendar, one that is generally applicable to events rather than to specific dates, allows the observer to identify the season by what is actually going on in the local habitat rather than by the standard Gregorian calendar.

Under such a floating system, the seasons truly are moveable in that they advance at different rates in different parts of the country. And within the broad guidelines sketched here, the Almanack traveler can watch not only the landscape change with the passage of the miles, but the time of year and seasons, too.

In Poor Will’s Almanack for 2015, I have divided the year into twelve seasons and have noted how they take place in different ways and at different times in the different parts of the country. Although I have kept the basic monthly sequence in the organization of information, I have noted the months during which a specific season might be likely to occur in different regions. These are broad strokes of the phenological pen, but they allow Almanack readers to not only see what is going on in their area but in other areas, as well.

About the Author:
Bill Felker has been writing nature columns and almanacs for regional and national publications since 1984. His Poor Will’s Almanack has appeared as an annual publication since 2003. His organization of weather patterns and phenology (what happens when in nature) offers a unique structure for understanding the repeating rhythms of the year.

Exploring everything from animal husbandry to phenology, Felker has become well known to farmers as well as urban readers throughout the country.  He is an occasional speaker on the environment at nature centers, churches and universities, and he has presented papers related to almanacking at academic conferences, as well. Felker has received three awards for his almanac writing from the Ohio Newspaper Association. "Better writing cannot be found in America's biggest papers," stated the judge on the occasion of Felker’s award in 2000.

Currently, Bill Felker lives with his wife in Yellow Springs, Ohio. He has two daughters, Jeni, who is a psychologist in Portland, Oregon, and Neysa, a photographer in Spoleto, Italy.

Poor Will's Almanack 2015: Since 1984, a Traditional Guide to Living in Harmony with the Earth
Authored by Bill Felker
List Price: $14.95
5.5" x 8.5" (13.97 x 21.59 cm)
Black & White on Cream paper
148 pages
Sunbury Press, Inc.
ISBN-13: 978-1620064924
ISBN-10: 1620064928
BISAC: Reference / Almanacs

For more information, please see: http://www.sunburypressstore.com/Poor-Wills-Almanack-2015...