Nature & Science
Sometime this summer, Vineyarders will have another opportunity to buy freshly-harvested blue mussels from Vineyard Sound. The forecast is even better for the year 2012, if all goes according to plan for Menemsha fishermen Alec Gale and Tim Broderick.
The two men have big plans. They have been working with the town of Chilmark, the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group and others on an experimental blue mussel farm off the north shore of the Vineyard.
In an incident that has reverberated among fishermen up the East Coast, more than 10 tons of illegally caught striped bass were confiscated by environmental police in Maryland over the last two weeks.
Tonight’s gibbous moon appears in the zodiacal constellation Taurus. The moon is between the star clusters Hyades and Pleiades. The Hyades is one of the largest star clusters you can see in the night sky. It is the mythological head of Taurus, with the bull resembling the letter V. To the right of the moon is the Pleiades.
Temperature: Precip.
Day Max. Min. Inches.
Fº Fº
Feb. 4 30 16 .00
Feb. 5 35 29 .00
Feb. 6 46 34 .20
Feb. 7 47 27 .00
Feb. 8 46 33 .42
Feb. 9 39 15 .05
Feb. 10 33 21 .00
Water temperature in Edgartown harbor: 39º F.
I swear I saw the bark on that oak tree move; can’t be. Wow, it is a tiny bird. It just flew to the base of a neighboring oak tree trunk.
“You care for nothing but shooting, dogs and rat-catching, and you will be a disgrace to yourself and all your family.”
These are clearly not the words of a doting parent nor were they possibly encouraging to a budding scholar and scientist. They are, however, the rantings of Charles Darwin’s father.
Almanac
A comprehensive guide to weather and tides on the Island.
Vineyard Gardener
I guess this past week weather-wise is called a January thaw. We did not really experience it the last several years as December was unseasonably warm.
Farm & Field
Beige and brown and tan and black, with horns spiraled or semicircular or in undulating waves, a legion of goats marched up the hill toward us, bleating in anticipation of fresh grass and leaves.