Farm to School Primer

Noli Taylor, Aquinnah resident and program coordinator for the Island Grown Initiative, will discuss the Island Grown Schools program and ways for Vineyarders and visitors to get involved on Thursday, August 21. Island Grown Schools, part of the national farm to school movement, seeks to increase the amount of Island-grown foods served in Vineyard schools, develop school gardens at every school here, increase in-class agricultural education, and strengthen ties between Island family farms and schools.

Little Trustees

Families with children three to five years old are invited to join The Trustees of Reservations in their Tiny Trustees series, Teach Me How. The next program will take place on Thursday August 21 from 10 to 11 a.m. To sign up, call 508-693-7662.

Author Carol Gilligan discusses Kyra, her first book of fiction on Thursday, August 21, is free from 5 to 6 p.m. at the Chilmark Public Library.

Dr. Gilligan is most known for her nonfiction bestseller In a Different Voice. Although her previous writings have been works of nonfiction, Dr. Gilligan published Kyra in January of this year. Kyra is a Cambridge-based architect who spends time on Nashawena, one of the Elizabeth Islands. She seeks psychological counseling after falling in and out of love for the first time since the death of her husband ten years before.

Conservation biologist Dr. Richard Primack will give a talk on climate change and bird migration patterns on Wednesday, August 20 at 7:30 p.m. at the Polly Hill Arboretum. A favorite sign of spring is the arrival of the migratory birds we await each year. There are signs that these birds are returning earlier each year in Massachusetts. The evidence is in our own backyards.

Make Your Own Balm

On Tuesday, August 19 Holly Bellebuono of Vineyard Herbs returns to the Polly Hill Arboretum for her popular salve-making workshop.

This fun, hands-on workshop starts with a walk to identify and collect medicinal herbs and weeds on the arboretum grounds. Then participants make their own oil infusions and beeswax-based ointments. Learn practical knowledge on when and how to use herbal salves and take home your useful creations.

In a one-day-only literary event Sunday, Elizabeth Dembrowsky will read from her forthcoming novel, My Monk in Garamond, soon to be published by Heliotrope Books, and Fran Sommers will read from her new play, Space, at 2 and again at 6 p.m. at Katharine Cornell Theatre in Vineyard Haven.

This inaugural reading August 17 will mark the beginning of Ms. Dembrowsky’s book tour and allow the audience the opportunity to hear from the debut novel of an innovative new writer. After each reading, Ms. Dembrowsky will take questions and discussion with the audience.