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Q & A of the Week:
Q: What is the approximate annual cost to society of a ton of carbon dioxide (CO2) released into the atmosphere?
A: $21, or roughly $121 billion/year.
Click HERE for details
SAVE THE DATE
Fall Festival
Nov. 26 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.,
Felix Neck, Edgartown.
Annual day-after-Thanksgiving event: nature crafts, hayrides, guided walks, music, food, more. $6.00,
$3.00 (for members)
click HERE to view the poster.
Vineyard Artisans
Thanksgiving Festival
Nov. 27 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.,
Ag Hall, West Tisbury.
More than 80 artists/craftsmen.
www.vineyardartisans.com
VCS Winter Walk
 
Sunday Dec. 12 Moshup Trail Property 1:00 pm
Come explore the VCS Moshup Trail property and learn about the species that live there and the ongoing fight to keep it wild.
Click HERE for full Winter Walk schedule
In Season Recipes
Autumn Olive Jam
(if you are going to forage for
Autumn Olive take all of the berries so they do not seed and spread)
Ingredients:
8 cups ripe Autumn olive fruits (yields about four cups juice)
4 cups granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
Preparation:
1. Rinse berries, and be sure to remove leaves and stems
2. Put whole berries in a large pot and add about half inch of water. Simmer for half an hour or until the individual fruits are soft and the pit can easily be removed.
3. Working in small batches, mash berries through fine sieve with wooden spoon or spatula.
4. Measure four cups of juice and put it in a heavy pot that has a thick bottom. Then add an equal amount of sugar or other sweetener and the lemon juice.
2. Simmer on low heat until the mixture thickens; this takes about one hour or more. Skim off any foam as it is cooking.
3. When at the desired consistency, pour into sterilized jars and let cool. Seal the jars and store in cool spot.
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Local News
Thank you!
The staff and board of the Vineyard Conservation Society would like to thank YOU, our members, for supporting our work!
With great appreciation, Happy Thanksgiving!
Not yet a member? Click HERE to join!
Banned and dangerous
Autumn Olive
As of last year, Massachusetts banned the purchase, sale, distribution, propagation and trade of some 140 plants. For a complete list of banned plants click HERE
One banned invasive is very familiar to Vineyarders: autumn olive. Its bright red berry stands out in the fall landscape. It is collected for holiday recipes, and is a favorite of birds, which, unfortunately, help to spread the seeds. What can you do? Pick the berries before the birds get to them! If you have autumn olive on your property, make the effort to mechanically remove it entirely by the roots.
To learn more about the autumn olive invasive click HERE
To see a Q&A on the new law, click HERE
VCS Winter Walk, Norton Point Chappy
Stranded baby Sperm Whale on Norton Point
Over 40 Islanders came out to Chappy for the second VCS Winter Walk of the season. Walkers saw hundreds of gannets fishing as well as a stranded baby Sperm Whale.
Click HERE for more details and a photo slide show of the walk.
Dredging begins on the Edgartown Great Pond
Aerial view of Nessie
The Great Pond Foundation’s new dredge named “Nessie”, launched last spring, has been working in the Edgartown Great Pond this month. Tony Gramkowski and Tracy Benware of Aquamarine Dredge are the operators and split their time operating the dredge and monitoring the outflow pipe; only two people are required to operate the dredge. This year, Steve Ewing, the owner of Aquamarine, will be adding a third person to train as an operator to provide the operation with flexibility and redundancy.
The plan is to operate the dredge for approximately 4 weeks, cutting and widening the channel through the delta that forms as a result of the openings. The dredge will operate five or six days a week. Should a major storm approach, the dredge can be quickly moved to the safety and protection of Turkeyland Cove. For more information see the GPF website at
www.greatpondfoundation.org
Pesticides and Synthetics,
an Unnecessary Risk
A chemical-free lawn attracts butterflies and bees
Chip Osborne's talk on Pesticides and Synthetics, an Unnecessary Risk, at the MV Water Alliance last week, is now up and running on MVTV and MVTV's Video On Demand, for those of you that can't get cable. His talk was very informative and motivating for those of us that are looking for a healthy environment for our families.
Click HERE to watch the video Produced by Marnie Stanton
on MVTV
Other News
Refuse!
Reducing consumption is one key to moving the Island to a more “sustainable” way of living. A primary way to accomplish that is to avoid using disposable products whenever possible.
There is a new realization that putting bottles, containers, paper, and cans into the recycle bin (and forgetting about it) is not “recycling” at all. It should more accurately be called “pre-sorting”. True recycling is what happens after the materials are successfully converted into new products.
For the production/consumption cycle to achieve the goal of complete recycling, responsibility must shift: manufacturers of disposable products need to take responsibility. And consumers need to demand that manufacturers design and fund “take back” programs for their products.
Recycling should be the LAST of the three Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. And let’s add a FIRST: REFUSE. We need to keep disposables out of our lives and only use recycling as a last resort.
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