JUNE MANNING

508-645-2574

(lthslnks@gis.net)

By LYNNE IRONS

According to the Rodale Institute, switching conventional farmland to organic would cut greenhouse emissions by 10 per cent in the U.S. as sustainably farmed soil can absorb 30 percent more carbon.

There are three people that I consider osprey men: Rob Bierregaard, Gus Ben David and Tim Baird. On Tuesday night, Rob gave a talk about ospreys. For those of you that were unable to attend, you missed a good one. For those of you that did attend, bear with me as I review some of the new facts I learned and some old ones that were dredged up from my memory by Rob’s marvelous talk.

For a moment there, the jam project seemed to be a huckleberry over my persimmon.

This old English saying means just a bit over my ability; and when my huckleberry jam turned rock hard last week, I thought that I might be in just that kind of pickle. With the Slow Food dinner a day away and six person-hours invested in the picking, cleaning, and preparing of the wild huckleberry jam, I needed an intervention. Not necessarily divine, just a solution to my unspreadable jam.

Class on Fly-Fishing

A fly-fishing class will be held from 8:30 a.m. to noon Saturday, August 9, at the Martha’s Vineyard Rod and Gun Club off Third street North in Edgartown.

Sandra Demel and John Kollett will provide individualized instruction. Equipment will be provided or feel free to use your own. The class size is limited. The fee is $85 for club members and $100 for non-members. For information and to preregister, call 508-693-6338.

Parish Contributes Funds

To Catholic Charities

The Martha’s Vineyard Parish of the Good Shepherd contributed $20,450 to the 2008 Catholic Charities Appeal in the Diocese of Fall River.

The diocesan appeal raised just under $4.3 million.

The final tally is $10,052 below last year’s record high, representing a decrease of approximately two tenths of one per cent.

JANE N. SLATER

508-645-3378

(slaterjn@comcast.net)

Welcome to August. Summer is moving on . . . are you keeping up? Farewell to our July visitors. We hope you all took home happy memories and will be back next year.

JO-ANN TILGHMAN

508-627-7669

(tilghmanjb@aol.com)

One of the things about August is that all of a sudden there seem to be far more meetings than occur over the rest of the summer. In addition to the regularly scheduled board and commission meetings, August is the time for annual meetings,  especially if you are looking to get seasonal residents to attend.  

RICK HERRICK

508-693-8065

herricklr@verizon.net

Dr. Alex Walley is a faculty member at the Boston University School of Medicine where he trains residents and does research on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and substance abuse. He is also the medical director of a new pilot program with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health for dealing with the problem of overdoses from the powerful pain relievers known as opioids.

KATHIE CASE

508-627-5349

(kathleencase@comcast.net)

This is the big weekend when the July people leave after their month or two-week visit and the August crowd arrives. Sometimes I think it is as busy as Memorial Day weekend. It is also the time we start thinking about the fair and waiting for the fireworks.

Happy birthday to all who celebrated their day this past week.