Nature & Science
Friday, August 22: Hundreds gather at the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society fair for the draft horse pull. The air is dry. The sounds and lights of the carnival rides dominate the grounds late in the afternoon. Fireworks over Oak Bluffs are visible from Edgartown to Vineyard Haven. Afterward lines of headlights and brake lights dominate the Oak Bluffs roads.
On Saturday morning, a group of parents, instructors and friends stood on the grounds of Crow Hollow Farm in West Tisbury and watched as 40 young riders, dressed in their very best, trotted horses and jumped them in the outdoor ring. The 20 rolling acres of surrounding farmland glowed in the August morning light.
Striper Wars author Dick Russell talks about efforts to save a troubled fishery, on Wednesday, August 27, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Chilmark Public Library.
When populations of striped bass began plummeting in the early 1980s, author and fisherman Dick Russell was there to lead an Atlantic coast conservation campaign that resulted in one of the most remarkable wildlife comebacks in the history of fisheries.
Temperature: Precip.
Day Max. Min. Inches.
Fº Fº
August 15 80 64 .00
August 16 79 64 .45
August 17 79 60 .00
August 18 81 65 .00
August 19 83 67 .00
August 20 84 53 .00
August 21 83 56 .00
Water temperature in Edgartown harbor: 74º F.
Tomorrow night’s last quarter moon resides in the zodiacal constellation Taurus. It is hard to believe our summer has moved so quickly our attention now shifts to constellations we associate with autumn and winter.
This has not been a good blue crab season on the Vineyard. The Edgartown Great Pond is doing poorly compared with last year and there are lackluster reports from the Island’s other coastal ponds.
But that is the story with blue crabs. Some years the fishing is great and some years it is bad. Feast or famine and nothing much between.
Blue crabs and the state of the fishery, which is largely unregulated, is the subject of a public hearing in Tisbury next month.
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.