This fall begins the second year of Island Grown Harvest of the Month, a program of Island Grown Schools that highlights a different locally available crop every month to encourage healthy, whole foods, seasonal eating in our schools and in the wider community.

In case you happened to miss the farmers’ market and are still craving fresh and local food, Whippoorwill Farm is offering a special sale on the alternating Saturdays opposite the farmers’ market dates.

In celebration of the return of Katama Bay oysters, Slow Food Martha’s Vineyard and Martha’s Vineyard shellfishermen are collaborating to bring a night of learning about oyster farming and a little oyster tasting on Oct. 22.

Scallops and goose, chickory and cranberry — all on the menu and all foraged at the fourth annual Local Wild Food Challenge, held Monday at the Rod and Gun Club. The event has grown considerably since it was first started in 2010 by Bill and Sarah Manson of New Zealand.

Nathan Gould is on a mission to prove that all hotel food is not created equal. The bland chicken breast is out and a sous vide Good Farm chicken roulade is in.

“We’re continuously moving towards sourcing locally, which a lot of hotels don’t,” Mr. Gould said walking through the doors of the Harbor View Hotel where he is the new executive chef. “A lot of hotels that have to do volume rather than take the time to have a relationship with Island farmers and fishermen, they’ll go to a corporate account and get stuff moved in from wherever. Hopefully, we can change that.”

Summer is the best season for foraging, when beach plums and wild grapes are ripe for the picking, and black walnuts fall from the neighbor’s tree. Violet Cabot would know. She spent much of the summer foraging with her family, scouring the landscape for rare berries and searching the swamps of Aquinnah for watercress.

A sixth grader at the West Tisbury school, Violet has been preparing for the big event of the fall — the Local Wild Food Challenge, which will be held at the Edgartown Rod and Gun Club on Columbus Day. Foraging is hard work, she said, but it pays off when the dish is served.