As we wait for the first crops of the new growing season to appear in school gardens, Island Grown Schools’ Harvest of the Month program celebrates winter squash, one of the best storage crops to help sustain us through the long months between fall’s bounty and the first crops of spring.

Slow Food is holding its annual meeting and potluck dinner at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 11, at the Agricultural Hall in West Tisbury. Everyone is invited for an evening of local food, conversation and education. This year’s annual meeting will also introduce the new Martha’s Vineyard Slow Food president, Aaron Oster.

Assistant brew master Jay Bergantim emerged from behind a thick cloud of steam as he scooped excess grain from the shiny copper mash pot in the brew room.

Up a small ladder, brew master Neil Atkins hovered over his latest creation. Doors and pots clanged. Water bubbled, boiled and popped. From inside the giant kettle, steam steadily rose to the top of the room.

“Last time we forgot to open up the chimney,” Mr. Atkins said. “So honestly this whole place was full of steam. Just a wall of steam.”

After successfully incorporating Island-grown produce into the salad bars and prepared meals in Vineyard schools, high school cafeteria director Bernadette Ms. Cormie turned her attention to local meat.

“I wanted to get meat, somehow, but I wasn’t sure how to do it,” she said.

Last fall Ms. Cormie began her job working for Chartwells, the food service provider at the high school, and bringing local meat into the school “was one of the top ten things I wanted to have happen.”

The Martha’s Vineyard Food and Wine Festival fall 2013 festival will take place on Oct. 17 to 20. This year MVFWF is supporting Island Grown Schools.

The festivities begin with Fresh Off the Farm, a special farm-to-table tasting at the agricultural hall in West Tisbury, followed by seminars, food demonstrations and a grand tasting in downtown Edgartown on Mayhew Lane.

Eating for the ice, that’s what’s happening on Wednesday, March 20 at Eleven North in Edgartown. As part of the kickoff “Raise the Roof” campaign for the Martha’s Vineyard Ice Arena, the restaurant is donating 20 per cent of the proceeds of a prix-fixe, three-course meal to the arena. The cost for the dinner is $35.