Elizabeth Germain will teach a super foods cooking class at the FARM Institute at Katama Farm in Edgartown on Sunday, Oct. 7 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The class will begin in the FARM’s friendship garden, rain or shine, where participants will pick vegetables and herbs for lunch and some to preserve. The focus will be foods dramatically better for health and longevity and basic cooking techniques. You’ll learn how to clean, store and prepare powerhouse foods like kale, cabbage, parsley, leeks, pumpkin seeds and millet — a gluten-free whole grain.

Before Tuesday’s book launch at the Bunch of Grapes, the audience was issued an unusual instruction for such an event. They were asked not to seek to get their copies of the book The Coldest Winter, signed by the man launching it, Ward Just.

The reason was obvious, but sad. Mr. Just did not write the book. His good friend David Halberstam did, but he died in a car accident in April this year.

How can the pervasive effects of advertising, media, and our consumer culture influence a child’s view of the world? How do you find ways to create meaningful family times and healthful environments for our children? How can you develop a child’s connection to nature and foster his or her creativity?

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.

Up-Island Pottery is having a moving sale on Sunday, Oct. 7, selling discontinued styles, patterns and colors.

Candy Shweder is opening a new studio on the Island. She has been selling her wares for more than 20 years at both the Chilmark Flea Market and more recently at the Vineyard Artisans Shows, where she will continue to sell.

October will be a month of firsts for Island-raised artist Paul Carrick. This month, four of his paintings will be hung at the world’s only science fiction museum in Switzerland. “It’s the first time I will have my stuff on real walls,” he said by telephone this week. When he steps off of the plane in Switzerland to view his work, it will be the first time he sets foot in Europe. “It’s going to be an overload of stimulation,” the artist, 35, said.