Botanical gold
Saffron, a spice produced by a fall-blooming crocus, will be harvested at Native Earth Teaching Farm. On Saturday, Oct. 29, join farmer/educator Rebecca Gilbert for a saffron workshop. Learn how you can grow and harvest your own saffron. Samples and recipes are included, and the workshop is $25/person, bartering available. The workshop is from 2 to 3 pm. Call if cloudy, since the flowers may not be open: 508-645-3304.
Walk the walk
The fall and winter series of Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank walks starts on Sunday, Nov. 6, with a guided walk through the Featherstone Farm and Southern Woodlands Reservation led by the Land Bank ecologist.
Enjoy exploring the 18-acre property that incorporates pastures and farmland behind Featherstone Center for the Arts buildings on Barnes Road in Oak Bluffs. Additional walks are scheduled for the first week of every month through May, except for January and March. Walks are given rain or shine, begin at 1 pm and last approximately one to two hours. Call 508-627-7141 for more information.
Readings at West Tisbury Library
Tonight, Oct. 27, is the last chance to hear from the current participants in the Martha’s Vineyard Writer’s Residency. Throughout September and October 20, writers have been taking part in the residency, which brings literary folks from all over the world to the Vineyard in the spring and fall. Tonight at the West Tisbury Library, the public is invited to hear a poet and a playwright read from their work, along with residency founder and accomplished poet, Justen Ahren.
Playwright Jenny Klion has had her short plays and performance pieces produced at the Knitting Factory and other venues in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. She is also a former circus performer with the Big Apple Circus and worked as a staff writer for the CBS game show, “Power of 10.” Ellen Goldstein has had her poems published in a number of prestigious poetry journals and in two anthologies.
Readings will be followed by a Q&A and refreshments. For more information, call the library at 508-693-3366.
Sissinghurst
Author Adam Nicolson will give a talk on his book, “Sissinghurst – A Castle’s Unfinished History” tonight, Oct. 27, at 7 pm at the Ag Hall in West Tisbury.
The book, which is subtitled “The Quest to Restore a Working Farm at Vita Sackville-West’s Legendary Garden,” relates Mr. Nicholson’s efforts to return one of the most celebrated gardens in English history to a working sustainable farm. The author is the grandson of the poet Sackville-West and diplomat Sir Harold Nicolson, who created the garden.
Admission to the event is $5 or a dessert to share with six people. The event is co-sponsored by Friends of the Chilmark Library, The FARM Institute, M.V. Agricultural Society, and Polly Hill Arboretum. For more information, call 508-693-9426.
Events at BOG
The Bunch of Grapes Bookstore will host two authors this week. On Friday, Oct. 28, bestselling author and dog trainer Jon Katz will discuss his newest book, “Going Home: Finding Peace When Pets Die.”
On Sunday, Oct. 30, Penelope Rowlands will present “Paris Was Ours: Thirty-Two Writers Reflect on the City of Light.” For her first book, Ms. Rowlands, who has written for numerous publications including Vogue, Architectural Digest and The New York Times Magazine, has gathered essays on life in Paris from influential writers including Diane Johnson, David Sedaris, Joe Queenan, and Edmund White, among others. The Friday reading is at 7:30, Sunday’s at 4 pm, upstairs at the bookstore. Call 508-693-2291 for more information.
Library art
The latest installation in the Vineyard Haven Library’s Art in the Stacks initiative is the work of local artist Jo Scotford Rice. Ms. Rice is a former art teacher and therapist. Her work will be displayed at the library throughout the month of November. For more information, call the library at 508-696-4211.
