lunar phases

Good fodder for Oxen: No. 1

It wasn't that long ago, in the overall scheme of things, that most folks used the cycles of the moon to keep track of things. Only a mere one hundred and fifty years ago, that is about five generations ago, North America was by and large an agrarian place that worked just fine without appointment memos and daily reminders. All one had to do was glance up at the night sky to make sense of things.  If it was close to the new moon, that is, the moon's darkest or least visible phase, it was a good time to "set eggs" for hatching, or to get the cow bred.