Ag Fair information wanted
Susan Klein is writing a history of the first 150 years of the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society and Fair. She is missing some information that includes the name of the trustees and the fair manager, that can be found in the fair premium books for the following years: 1872, 1919-1925, 1929-1940, and 1950-1969. Anyone with information from those years is asked to contact Susan Klein at 508-693-4140.
FARM Institute has new garden manager
The FARM Institute announced that Rebecca Sanders is the farm’s new garden manager. Ms. Sanders grew up on a small farm in rural New Hampshire and first arrived on the Island in 1990 to work at Hillside Farm and the Solviva organic greenhouse in West Tisbury before heading off to western Mass where she earned a degree in plant and soil science at UMass Amherst.
Her areas of interest include growing heirloom, open-pollinated varieties, seed saving, and culinary and medicinal herbs.
Dr. Nagy to speak in Boston
Dr. Lisa Nagy, director of Vineyard Personalized Medicine, will speak on the subject of “Chemical Sensitivity in the average person and health effects of mold and chemicals” on March 1 at the Boston office of the Environmental Protection Agency, according to a press release.
Dr. Nagy recently spoke at The University of Pennsylvania Medical School on placing principles of exposure and environmental illness and sensitivity in the curriculums of the medical and the nursing schools. Ms. Nagy said her lectures would soon be available at www.med.upenn.edu.
FARM Institute Grant
The FARM Institute has received funding from the USDA’s Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program to support Island farmers who want to experiment with innovative crops or processes as part of the Institute’s Pilot Parcels Project.
Farmers from all backgrounds and experience are invited to apply to use one-acre plots at The FARM for either innovative crop production or innovative practices. More information and a downloadable application form is available on The FARM Institute website at farminstitute.org.
Sign up for Flower Show trip
See the Boston Flower Show on Thursday, March 15, with the Tisbury Travel Club. Call 508-696-4205, Monday through Friday, to sign up. Cost is $40, which includes the roundtrip coach and show admission. The group will leave on the 8:15 am boat and come back on the 5 pm boat. Sponsored by the Tisbury Council on Aging, all ages are welcome.
