Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Prices at the West Tisbury Farmers’ Market have long caused shoppers to go into sticker shock when reaching for a bouquet of sunflowers or a bushel of local fingerling potatoes. Bargains have always been few and far between, yet customers continued to arrive before the gates open at nine to snatch up the best of the Vineyard’s hand-picked local produce.
» Full Story By Julia Rappaport

Farm & Field from the Vineyard Gazette Archives

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Last Tuesday, Janice Perrin stood in her West Tisbury kitchen frantically packing. She had a reservation to leave the Vineyard that evening, but before that she had to dash to Edgartown for an interview and play a game with her volleyball league.
» Full Story By Julia Rappaport

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

At first glance, Rick Karney does not appear to be a farmer. He works on the water and is usually more damp than dirty.
» Full Story By Julia Rappaport

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Coffee grinds, apple cores and curly orange carrot peels: straight to the trash they go in most households. But on Island farms, these food scraps (along with egg shells, wilted greens and watermelon seeds) go to the compost. For the farmers, this trash is treasure.
» Full Story By Julia Rappaport

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Julian Barbosa was raised on a farm where he learned to cook with vegetables grown in his backyard. When he moved to Martha’s Vineyard four years ago, he continued cooking, both at home and later at Zephrus Restaurant in Vineyard Haven where he is the sous chef.
» Full Story By Julia Rappaport

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

The seeds are planted and the first hay harvested. Across the Island, farms are full of activity and, just as their farmers are busy with animals and crops, farming advocates are working tirelessly to protect the agricultural tradition here.
» Full Story By Julia Rappaport

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

The road leading into Flat Point Farm in West Tisbury is surrounded by hay fields and on Friday afternoon the late-day sun brushed their tops in shades of gold.
» Full Story By Julia Rappaport

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

As the story goes, the history of farming at Katama began in the first World War when Edgartown families planted army and navy beans deep in the rich soil there. Yet maps of the Island which date from 1862 show fences bordering the land, indicating that agricultural use of the land can be traced to an even earlier date.
» Full Story By Julia Rappaport

Friday, April 11, 2008

Rising Tide Therapeutic Equestrian Center needs help with horses — grooming and tacking up, barn cleaning, sidewalking in lessons, pasture raking, public relations and other jobs.
» Full Story

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

About 24 years ago, a group of Vineyard gardeners with no place to garden began to brainstorm. The dilemma: how to have a working garden when life leaves little time or energy to do so? How to garden when the backyard is too small? And how to spread the gospel that food grown at home tastes better? The solution: provide a community garden.
» Full Story By Julia Rappaport

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

What use is tradition if it cannot be passed on to younger generations? Since 2000, the FARM Institute in Katama has been teaching the rich Island tradition of farming to younger generations. Through hands-on experiences, the farm staff ever since has churned out hundreds of young farmers and informed little eaters. The institute recently kicked off its fall program, rich with diverse opportunities, and is inviting students of all ages to stop by.
» Full Story By Julia Rappaport

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Heidi Feldman dreams of dirt. “If you have dirt, you can do more farming,” she said this weekend. Ms. Feldman is picky about her dirt. She does not like what she has now - three inches of solid clay and sand beneath a layer of tilth. She yens for the good stuff. Had she been asked 16 years ago to list her life goals, dirt would not have made the cut. Then again, 16 years ago, Ms. Feldman was a computer programmer living in Jamaica Plain. She worked at a keyboard 40 hours a week and had never heard of Martha’s Vineyard.
» Full Story By Julia Rappaport

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

The breeze in the air on Friday, the last day of August, brought with it a hint of fall. The afternoon was clear and warm, but the wind felt cool. So it was a comfort to walk into the kitchen of the Magnuson home in West Tisbury, just shy of the Chilmark border, where the sweet autumn smells of cinnamon and cooking apples filled the air. Behind their house, Debbie and Eric Magnuson run one of the Island’s only commercial orchards, growing apples and pears that they sell from their home and at Morning Glory Farm.
» Full Story By Julia Rappaport