For Mitchell Posin, who runs the Allen Sheep and Wool Company with his wife Clarissa Allen, the most exciting thing on the farm right now is compost.

“This compost tea has really got my juices flowing,” said the farmer, a stone-hard hand resting on the 50-gallon plastic drum he uses in his barn to brew the solution. One barrel is enough to fertilize an acre of land.

“In the space of a single period at the end of a sentence, there are 500,000 bacteria in this. You’re talking little critters,” Mr. Posin enthused.

Coast Guardsmen from the Menemsha station were the first on the scene to rescue three crewmen from a burning tugboat in Buzzards Bay early Friday morning.

“After we pulled the third crewman off, we were backing away when the boat exploded and flames shot up into the air,” coxswain William P. Robertson said yesterday.

Lightning and thunder couldn’t have been timed more appropriately for Maynard Silva’s memorial service at the agricultural hall in West Tisbury on Saturday afternoon. But the gathering of hundreds of friends, fans and anyone else began and ended with sunshine.

Maynard Silva, 57, died July 16 at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital after a three-year struggle with cancer.

During the program, many came to speak passionately about the blues musician, the sign painter, the father, the Vineyarder.

Corrections

A story on Island recycling in Friday’s Gazette incorrectly reported on the role of Allied Waste. The company does offer residential recycling and since May has offered single stream recycling, which co-mingles all recyclables, including paper.

The service now operates everywhere except Chappaquiddick, and will begin collections there starting Sept. 4.

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In just a few weeks, the agricultural hall grounds in West Tisbury will be abuzz with activity. Already there are signs that the annual Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society Livestock Show and Fair — the first day is August 21 — is just around the corner.

On July 18, Edgartown resident Hillary Landers drew three names for a pair of tickets each for field box seats for a Red Sox vs. Yankees series at Fenway Park.

The three winners were Kate and Sam Sherman of Edgartown, Carol and Richard Walton of Oak Bluffs and Linda and Peter Leahy of Chilmark and Brookline.

The raffle was a fundraiser for Hillary who suffered a spinal cord injury in September 2006 and returned to her home after 15 months of hospitalization and rehabilitation. In the fundraiser, 145 contributors raised just under $30,000.

Welcome Ayelet

Meg Dole and Seth Abramowitz are pleased to announce the birth of their daughter, Ayelet Fiona Abramowitz, on June 6 at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge. Ayelet weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces. Her mother grew up in West Tisbury.

John Brown’s Body, the eight-piece band which hails from Boston and upstate New York, releases their sixth studio album this September, but you can sample the tunes early on Thursday, August 7, at Outerland at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport.

Parenting Talk

Dayle Pomerantz, a parent skills coach and child development specialist will share her latest book, Secrets of Great Parents, and explore successful parent-child relationships, on Thursday, August 7, at 4:30 p.m. at the West Tisbury library. The talk is free with refreshments. For details, call 508-693-3366.

Receives Degree

Michelle Holmberg of Oak Bluffs recently received a bachelor of arts degree in psychology from Fairfield University in Fairfield, Conn.