Ken Lassman has been keeping this almanac for over a decade, He invites you to share your observations and photos in the comments section. You can find his book Wild Douglas County at The Raven Bookstore and The Community Mercantile in Lawrence.
Deer Mating Moon – October
The Osage called this time Deer Mating Moon to commemoratee the very noticeable ree-appearance of the bucks, who are beginning to “rut,” which they literally do with their hooves. They find a prominent place and scrape the groundcover clear of vegetation as part of their mating ritual.
Hackberry, ash, box elder and elm trees are the first to turn yellow this month, providing nice contrast to the reds of sumac, poison ivy and Virginia creeper as their green chlorophyll plays out leaving either the yellow or red chlorophylls to collect the shorter day’s sunlight. Mid-late month spells the end of the growing cycle for annuals with the first killing frosts coming then most years. Mid-month is a great time to find native prairie patches, looking for the coppery colored grasses that distinguish them from the greens of cool season grasses such as brome, fescue and, of course, wheat.
Bird migration is building all month, with seagulls that breed in Canada passing through the area, along with pelicans, geese, and various ducks. A trip to Clinton or any other area reservoir, or the Wakarusa Wetlands is almost always a rewarding outing, whether it be for the migrating fowl around sunrise or sunset, or the changing colors of fall. This is the favorite time of year for many folks who like to be outdoors–what are you waiting for?
Kaw Valley Almanac 
We skated on less than 6 inches. Lighter then. Some of the best times I can remember. Hardly felt cold until it came time to unlace the skates, then the fingers didn’t work properly.
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My folks would always have us cut a hole in the ice to make sure it was that thick before they turned us loose and I believe that there were times 6 inches were not measured with a ruler. When it snowed on the ice, we would shovel a spoked circle and play goose and fox, a kind of game of tag where the fox would tag the geese and send them to the middle space where they could be freed by other geese–unless the fox tagged them first. Great fun until you could no longer feel the toes on your feet!
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Hi Ken, I can hardly believe the healthy stand of bittersweet in your photo. Our stand (a well-guarded secret) was just a smidgeon of what it was last year. The entire vine that usually trails up into a tall tree was completely dead. We had to satisfy ourselves with a sparse gangly showing along the side of the road. Thanks for nourishing my connection to Kansas on a weekly basis with your observations for the Kaw Valley Almanac!
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Someone else said that their bittersweet was scragglier this year, too. I don’t know what to account for it being so healthy here, other than around here, almost all plants look so much better than they were doing the last couple of years. The drought might have knocked back some bittersweet and killed others outright, just as it did with some trees which survived the dry spells only to die this year. As an aside, my stands are American bittersweet; there is a chinese variety that has been introduced and is much more aggressive than the native version.
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