Nature & Science
It was a Hail Mary pass.
Last Thursday, the gods or goddesses of storms played a long shot, and took the opportunity to deliver a bit of ice in the midst of summer.
By LYNNE IRONS
I was working in Edgartown last Thursday during the rather impressive storm. We did not experience hailstones but ran for cover anyway. I don’t recall being so terrified of thunder and lightening. We were on the harbor in a big open space. That, combined with the news of a 42-year-old fisherman struck and killed in Chatham, made us less cavalier than usual. I remember Craig Kingsbury telling me of two separate strikes he experienced. Once, he said, he woke up 20 feet from where it took place.
Less agriculturally-minded folk than Mitchell Posin might mistake the sign on South Road advertising compost tea for a joke, something dreamt up by kids searching for the world’s least appealing beverage to flog by the side of the road.
In fact it is there to promote the result of three years’ trial and error by Mr. Posin, the co-owner Allen Farm sheep and wool company: an organic fertilizer solution for the bespoke ecology of Martha’s Vineyard.
Friday, June 26: Rainy afternoon. Damp dripping landscape at Norton Farm. Long branches hang wet and low over the State Forest bicycle path.
Island recreational anglers can now land fluke without breaking the law. The recreational season for fluke opened on Wednesday and the word along the shore is encouraging. Commercial fishermen have been dragging for fluke for weeks with positive results.
This is the first summer recreational fishermen were restricted from catching fluke at the start of the fishing season. They are pretty salty about it, but commercial fishermen have been dealing with openings and closings for decades.
The Vineyard saw plenty of rain in June. The total for the month was 3.67 inches, according to the National Weather Service cooperative station in Edgartown.
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.