Nature & Science
The two brightest planets in our evening sky, are now appearing together. For those with a good view of the western sky, Venus and Jupiter are a pretty sight and it gets better in the nights ahead. By the end of the month, Venus and Jupiter will be the talk of the town, appearing as a tight pair.
The Vineyard bay scallop season is underway and the news is mostly good for local consumers and commercial fishermen alike. Chilmark is having one of its best seasons in years; Edgartown is having one of its worst. Oak Bluffs and Tisbury are doing fine and on Monday another banner year is set to open in Aquinnah.
By LYNNE IRONS
We have had a series of what the Irish call soft days — warm, foggy, misty and calm. It has been pleasurable to work outdoors. We have a rule in our small gardening company. We don’t work under 20 degrees all day and we go home if it rains up our noses while bending over in a flower bed. Otherwise we are a hardy sort with a moderate amount of whining. Nevertheless starting the day in the rain tends to make everyone fairly sour.
It is a killer.
Not a lady killer, but a livestock killer. The common names of Kalma angustifolia say it all; sheepkill, lambkill and calfkill. With aliases like that, you’d think that this plant definitely has a public relations problem on its hands.
Its common names speak to a characteristic that is worrisome (to say the least) for the shepherd. This plant is a mean, green poisoning machine!
Arboretum Soup ’n’ Stroll
November is the season for a suite of visitors I call the open-country birds. This is a diverse group of species connected not by taxonomy or point of origin, but rather by migratory habits, a tendency to flock in winter, and a preference for austere habitats like beaches, grassland, and large pastures. While some of these species are easy to find and identify, others are wary and hence typically seen at a distance; to recognize them, a birder needs sharp eyes and ears and the ability to note subtle field marks at a long range.
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.