New Community Seed Library Launching

West Tisbury Free Public Library, Island Grown Schools and the Farm Institute will launch a new community seed library initiative, to be housed at the West Tisbury library.

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Ram on the Lam Finds Temporary Shelter at Katama Farm
Olivia Hull

A one-year-old ram named Chili has repeatedly torn free from its fencing confines this winter and roamed the plains of Katama. Chili has kept animal control officer Barbara Prada busy — she calls him a Houdini.

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A Weekend of Shearing and Shucking

It’s a surf and turf kind of weekend on the Vineyard with not one but three celebrations of field and sea.

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Little Lambs

Every Wednesday and Saturday from 2:45 to 3:30 p.m., the Farm Institute is looking for help with feeding and weighing the newborn lambs.

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Meals in Meadow Raises Funds for Farm Education
Remy Tumin

Farm Institute campers Juliette Colas and Evan Troost gave tours. Evan stood next to an aerial map of the farm where campers had previously identified plants around the farm, naming clover, oxeye daisies, fleabane and hairy vetch.

“Well that’s actually found right under us,” he said of the purple-flowered cover crop. Juliette pointed out barns, greenhouses and silos with expert commentary.

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Even Deeper Roots for Friendship Garden
Remy Tumin

In May, Richard (RJ) Cage and his two sons built a handicap accessible vegetable garden at the Farm Institute. They used old barn wood to create the raised bed, making sure it was tall enough for wheelchair users to be able to lean over and pick crops easily. Over the summer more than 10 participants from the Seven Hills Foundation, a year-round day program for adults with developmental disabilities, worked in the garden two to three times a week.

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FARM Institute Seeds the Minds of Youth
Mark Alan Lovewell

Ask most kids where their eggs, beef and milk come from and
they'll tell you the grocery store. Ask the same question of the
young people who have spent a week at Herring Creek Farm and
they'll answer differently: "It comes from a farm."

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Farm Institute Leases Fragile Katama Land
Mark Alan Lovewell

After a period of lying fallow, Katama Farm will be traditionally
farmed again. The Edgartown Conservation Commission on Wednesday night
agreed to lease the historic property to FARM Institute.

Their decision brings the 180-acre farm back into the Island farming
community. It also allows FARM Institute the opportunity to expand its
role of helping young people learn the ways of agriculture.

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For Sale: Seven Acres at Herring Creek
Mandy Locke

FARM Institute, the novice non-profit dedicated to bolstering the
Vineyard's agricultural heritage, is putting its first Island home
up for sale, planning to surrender a foothold in the storied Herring
Creek Farm.

The transaction will help bankroll the institute's vision for
neighboring Katama Farm - a 190-acre spread that the town of
Edgartown turned over to FARM Institute this spring.

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Neighbors Head to Court to Stop New Programs at Town's Katama Farm

Complaining that Edgartown officials turned a deaf ear to their appeals to limit operations at Katama Farm, a group of four Katama residents will go to court Tuesday - pleading with a superior court judge to evict the FARM Institute, newest tenant of the town-owned farm.

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