The Hunger Moon of February

Across the velvet bowl of night,
we are hunting the rising moon.
With our brushes and lenses we go,
longing to catch her radiant face
in a net of dreaming trees.

The Moonhunters (excerpt)
C. Kerr, February 2009

On clear winter nights, the stars are so bright and close one can almost reach up and touch them. Usually the second moon of the calendar year, February's full orb is a cold one up there in the inky night sky attended by guardian stars and delicate feathery snow clouds. Photographing this moon is an icy business, so what am I doing outside with camera and tripod after dark, at least when Lady Moon is not hidden by cloud?

Around this time, the Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus), having taken a mate a few weeks earlier, crafts a nest and settles down to the happy business of raising an unruly brood. The great "hornies" are among my favorite birds, and I adore their soft songs - it's a lovely thing to hear a couple calling companionably to each other across the snowy woods in winter's (hopefully) closing pages. Quintessential northern residents, the great owls thrive on the tough northern climate - the further north one travels, the bigger they grow. The Saw-whet Owl (or sugar bird) will not be far behind the hornies in courtship rituals, and nor will the other owls of the Lanark highlands. Strange as it may seem, springtime is already on its way. Love and fertility are in the air, among the owls anyway.

Life is a little more stressful for those of us who lack feathers and fur and choose not to dine on mice and voles. The Wolf Moon was last month, but the wolves are still howling at village gates, and hunger is a beast well known in the wild as days grow longer and winter (hopefully) draws to a close. We count the sticks of firewood in our woodsheds, the vegetables in our bins and the jars in our larders, hoping to hang on to last autumn's gathering for a little while longer. If we can manage to hang on, the full moon of March promises relief and sweetness, for the wild sylvan alchemy of the maple syrup season will be in full swing when the next full moon makes its appearance.

For a fine trove of moon and food lore and thoughtful observations about the ways in which humanity have traditionally hunted, gathered, cooked and "put things by" for the long nights, dip into Jessica Prentice's Full Moon Feast.  Her book follows the thirteen moons of an agricultural year from this month's Hunger Moon to January's Wolf Moon, and each of the thirteen chapters contains recipes tune with nature's own rhythms.  I am rereading it myself at the moment and finding it as much a treat as it was in earlier readings.

We also know this moon as the: Ash Moon, Big Winter Moon, Bone Moon, Bony Moon, Budding Moon, Chestnuts Moon, Cold Winds Moon, Coyotes Frighten Moon, Crow Moon, Dark Red Calves Moon, Death Moon, Eagle Moon, Fish Running Moon, Frost Sparkling in the Sun Moon, Gray Moon, Horning Moon, HUnger Moon, Ice in River Is Gone Moon, Ice Moon, Index Finger Moon, Little Bud Moon, Long Dry Moon, Makes Branches Fall in Pieces Moon, Mimosa Moon, Moon of Ice, Moon of Purification and Renewal, Moon of Rabbit Conception, Moon of the Cedar Dust Wind, Moon of the Raccoon, Moon of the Frog, Moon When Geese Come Home, Moon When Bear Cubs are Born, Moon When Spruce Tips Fall, Moon When Trees Pop, Moon When Trees Are Bare and Vegetation Is Scarce, Narcissus Moon, No Snow in Trails Moon, Peach Blossom Moon, Pink Moon, Plum Blossom Moon, Primrose Moon, Quickening Moon, Raccoon Moon, Rain and Dancing Moon , Red and Cleansing Moon, Second Moon, Snow Crust Moon, Snow Moon, Solmonath (Sun Moon), Squint Rock Moon, Staying Home Moon, Storing Moon, Storm Moon, Sucker Fish Moon, Sucker Moon, Trapper’s Moon, Treacherous Moon, Violet Moon, Wexes Moon, Wild Moon, Wind Moon, Wind Tossed Moon, Winter Moon

Among the many names for this monrh's moon, I am rather fond of Quickening Moon and Wild Moon.