Important changes came last week in the effort to bring cod back to New England waters.

The New England Fishery Management Council at its meeting in Plymouth established a protective zone for juvenile cod in the Great South Channel.

While it will take up to three years to come up with protective rules for that area, the decision sets aside a portion of open ocean where it is known that undersized fish need to be protected.

John Buchan noted that the charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope.

I am not charmed, but do have lots of hope because while I have fished, I have yet to catch.

There have been no morning or evening trips to the derby weigh station in Edgartown, and my pin remains resolutely upside-down (indicating my embarrassing fishless status).

Garden Obelisks

On Saturday, Oct. 6 from 9 a.m. to noon, Janice Shields, owner of Cut It Out, a business committed to recycling invasive species to craft practical and decorative structures for the garden, will conduct a garden obelisk workshop at Polly Hill Arboretum in West Tisbury. An obelisk is a freestanding structure that provides a focal point in the garden.

A forum bringing together those for and against the controversial Cape Wind electricity project drew more than 120 people to the Katharine Cornell Theatre on Thursday night and generated far more light than heat.

The forum, organized under the auspices of the Vineyard Haven library lecture and workshop series, was intended to establish a factual basis for further discussion of the project rather than encourage debate, and by that measure can be counted a signal success.

About 24 years ago, a group of Vineyard gardeners with no place to garden began to brainstorm. The dilemma: how to have a working garden when life leaves little time or energy to do so? How to garden when the backyard is too small? And how to spread the gospel that food grown at home tastes better? The solution: provide a community garden.