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SUSTAINABILITY:
In the News Island Grown Schools We now have a Firewise Assessment Team here on the Vineyard! By Marnie Stanton, Vineyard Conservation Society With its scrub oak and pine, southeastern Massachusetts and Martha’s Vineyard is second only to California in its vulnerability to wildfires. The Vineyard’s accumulated fuel types are similar to well-known fire hazard areas like the hills of Oakland California, an area that has endured catastrophic wildfires. As the Vineyard’s climate changes, the anticipated hotter, dryer summer conditions will increase risk of wildfire. Firewise Communities/USA is a federal-state partnership that enables communities in all parts of the United States to achieve a high level of protection against wildland/urban interface fire, as well as sustainable ecosystem balance. The program provides a resident whose home is located in an area susceptible to wildfires with the knowledge and skill necessary to protect person and property in the event of wildfire. Martha’s Vineyard is very fortunate to have a member of the State Firewise Assessment Team working here on island. Seth Sullivan, Assistant District Fire Warden, works with Superintendent John Varkonda at the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest, and is here primarily to inform and assist the island homeowner in fire protection readiness in case of the spread of a forest fire. Being a relative newcomer to the island, he divides his time between visiting the various homeowners associations that request his Firewise assessment, and getting to know the local fire chiefs. He is pleased that all the fire chiefs have been very supportive of the program and have enthusiastically supported his readiness to help their departments. He is currently working with Bill Skinner from the Nat’s Farm homeowners association, one of the priority neighborhoods that abut the State Forest. Seth displays a large map of Martha’s Vineyard hanging in his office with highlighted areas he is targeting with the goal of informing those residents about what they need to know to protect their homes. Any island neighborhood can form an association and call him to request an assessment. The key issues he mentioned when giving an assessment are as follows:
The Vineyard has been spared a serious wildfire for many years now, and action has been taken to widen and maintain the State Forest’s interior fire lanes to 80 feet. However, the threat remains. We all need to be prepared, and it would benefit the island neighborhoods to take advantage of Seth Sullivan’s services. He is eager to help and offer his expertise. Give him a call at 508-693-2540, or 508-326-7375 (c) or email him at seth.Sullivan@state.ma.us For much more information on this program visit the Firewise site online at www.firewise.org/usa The Whippoorwill CSA / VCS composting initiative Whippoorwill Farm and the Vineyard Conservation Society encourage island residents to compost. Why Compost? It promotes the cycle of life. On an organic farm it grows the food you eat at the same time it builds the soil. You can take poor soil turn compost into it and make very fertile rich organic soil. It is not always easy or convenient to compost. With out a good system it can be a dirty business so many people simply throw their kitchen scraps in the garbage. Leaves and yard wastes represent some 20-25 percent of all municipal solid wastes not to mention the alarming amount of food scraps that are shoveled off to our landfills every day. The Vineyard pays a lot to haul tons of valuable organics off Island and then buys compost at a premium to ship back. The Project: This first year the goal of the composting pilot is to start to develop a farm composting system that is as easy to use as possible. Since CSA members visit the farm once a week to pick up their produce it is hoped those members who cannot compost at home will bring back their organic kitchen scraps each week. VCS will provide compost pails and biodegradable liners for those interested in participating. VCS will provide educational information and technical assistance in building the initial compose piles. The farm has the location and a tractor with front-end loader to turn the piles. VCS will provide prizes and publicity for those making the contribution of the week. The long-term goal is for the farm with the help of its members and friends to produce enough compost to supply the green house. More on VCS initiatives: The Composing initiative goes hand in hand with another initiative at VCS which is our organic lawns program where we are encouraging island home owners to go chemical free and steer clear of harmful herbicides, pesticides and chemical fertilizers which is hazardous to the environment, our ponds, water not to mention their health. By using compost as a fertilizer people will achieve better and longer lasting results. OP/Ed piece Adapted from remarks made at the 43th Annual Meeting of the board and membership of the Vineyard Conservation Society, 24 June 2008 Visitors to Martha’s Vineyard often observe that much of the Island appears to be wonderfully open and undeveloped. It is an accurate observation, but it is also an illusion of sorts. While a century of land conservation work has resulted in permanent protection of about one-third of the Island’s 60,000 acres, another one-third is undeveloped land with no conservation protection of any kind. Until a conservation entity buys it, or a landowner voluntarily cedes development rights, it is at risk of being developed. There is general agreement that much of the Island’s remaining unprotected open land should be conserved if we wish to keep our water bodies, prime farm soils, scenic vistas, buffers around the great ponds, and core wildlife habitat areas intact. The dilemma is that not all the land that needs to be protected can be saved in time. The rate at which land is being developed is far outpacing the rate at which it is being conserved. In a “build out” scenario under existing zoning, this could translate into several thousand new houses, a doubling of the year-round population, a spike in the summer population, and the necessity of providing the roads, sewers, municipal buildings, and other infrastructure required to support a larger community. What can be done? At least three promising directions are available to us: Firstly, all new development needs to be evaluated via a tougher and more thoughtful public approval process. Towns can take fuller advantage of the tools already at their disposal through the powers of the MVC by adopting new special overlay districts (DCPCs). This is a trend we are already seeing. Secondly, town leaders and citizenry should get behind the MVC’s Island Plan process and aggressively support implementation of its recommendations. Finally, the word needs to go out about the importance of voluntary action on the part of landowners to forego some or all of their development rights. They can do this by donating land or a restriction on land. A conservation restriction (CR) allows a landowner to voluntary restrict development of private land, and donating a CR to a town or conservation entity generates a federal income tax deduction. But there has been a decline in CR donations in recent years as the price of Vineyard real estate has escalated. Landowners thinking about CRs often found themselves unable to “use up” the full tax deduction generated by their gift in the six-year time frame required under IRS rules. Now, a provision in a recently-signed federal bill makes it much easier for a landowner to take full advantage of a CR deduction. Taxpayers may now deduct the value of the gift against up to 50% of their adjusted gross income (AGI) per year for up to 15 years. For qualifying farmers, the gift is deductible up to 100% of their AGI. The words of VCS founder and pioneering conservationist Richard Pough of Chilmark are prescient. He wrote more than 40 years ago that, “If the natural beauty of Martha’s Vineyard is to be preserved, it will be the result of the combined action of the Vineyard landowners.” More than five thousand acres of private land have been protected by landowners in recent decades. That’s almost a quarter of the inventory of conservation land on the Island. Now is the time to repeat that feat. Brendan O’Neill Vineyard Conservation Society Annual Meeting The Vineyard Conservation Society's annual meeting last Tuesday evening was a casual but memorable affair, attended by more than 80 VCS members and friends. A delicious Indonesian meal with all of the fixings, prepared and served by Board members David Nash and Rob Kendall, began the evening. Three new members were elected and warmly welcomed to the VCS Board of Directors. They include Vineyard Haven resident Geraldine Brooks, who was a foreign correspondent in numerous world hot spots for the Wall Street Journal before becoming a Pulitzer Prize winning author. Eric Hammarlund is a well-regarded Island attorney who lives with his wife and three children in West Tisbury. Physician James Pritchard, another West Tisbury resident, is a retired neurologist, brain researcher, and educator at Yale Medical School. All three share our passion for protecting the environment and character of Martha's Vineyard, and we're grateful for their willingness to serve. A heartfelt thank you was given to our incomparable outgoing Board President, Tess Bramhall, and Phil Henderson was welcomed as the new Board President. Phil has had a long career as a planning consultant and environmental advocate, and worked with the Nature Conservancy as Land Protection Specialist prior to joining the VCS Board. Executive Director Brendan O'Neill recapped a few of the year's highlights, including: -A successful collaboration with the Whippoorwill Farm Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) cooperative, who consummated an eleventh-hour deal that resulted in the establishment of a permanent home for the CSA at the 40-acre former Thimble Farm. VCS aided and supported the effort throughout, and it was gratifying to hear Andrew Woodruff characterize that support as critical to him through an exceptionally stressful period leading up to the "save." -VCS is the first-ever Island recipient of a grant from the Massachusetts Environmental Trust. The $18,000 grant, together with VCS matching funds, will support our most ambitious public education campaign yet on water quality and saving island ponds from nitrogen pollution. - Recycling on the SSA vessels and at terminals. Executive Director Brendan O'Neill presented an eye-opening talk entitled "Conservation on Martha's Vineyard Looking forward," that will be aired on MVTV. His talk traced the origins and evolving nature of conservation work on the Vineyard, and described new approaches that are needed to meet today's challenges. VCS is actively incorporating these approaches and is poised to enlarge our work on the vineyard to protect what we all value, the Island's unique character, open space, and environmental integrity. Thank you to all of our members who made this year's conservation efforts a great success! If you are not yet a member or financial supporter of VCS, we welcome you to join us. Call Kaysea Cole at 508-693-9588. What is Green? This question has become more complex than I ever imagined. I always believed that if something was brown and printed with some frilly eco-logo, that it surely was friendly to the environment. Actually, it didn’t even have to be natural. Just green. The color that is. Yes, I am a bit ashamed to admit that packaging a product in green colored packaging gave me some reassurance that whoever lived behind the image of whatever product it was, had my best interest at heart. Not just mine but that of the whole of humanity as well. Boy was I in for an education. After deciding to open an eco-friendly store last winter I had to decide what “friendly” meant? I quickly realized that not all “green” products were very friendly at all. I had to decide what I wanted in a business and what my criteria would be. I began to question my own ethics and honesty and ponder where we were as a society and who was to blame. I always came back to me. Yes, in the end my future belonged to me and I was responsible for embracing it. This model of transparency and honest information became the basis for every thing we do at Biostore. What this means is that before a product finds a home on our shelves we research the entire history of the product. We ask ourselves the following questions: Where it comes from? Who makes it,? What it is made out of? and we want to know the carbon footprint left behind. We examine all these factors before we decide if we will carry a product. Simply put, Eco MV/ Bio Store does the homework for customers and will only introduce products into the marketplace which are not harmful to the environment or humans. Our driving goal is to be able to provide residents and guests of Martha's Vineyard alternative solutions to complex concerns such as deforestation, climate change, water waste, pressure on water ways, harmful products in overcrowded landfills, harsh harmful chemicals exposed to humans and environment. Global working conditions and offering Fair-Trade products is also one of our passions. We not only require that an item be eco-smart but also that it is produced in a fair and responsible way. We don’t sell it until we are sure that all of the information about it is accurate and available if you ask for it. We are dedicated to offering customers products that help support sustainability on Martha's Vineyard. Not only is sustainability a very real concern for our Island, it is a concern for the entire planet. Eco MV / Bio Store is positioned to facilitate the process of turning the corner for the environment and business. Can a for profit really be a vehicle of real change for the planet? I believe so. In fact, I believe it is a necessary part of any real solution. In the end only a consumer that demands that business do better will sustain such movement towards change. An informed consumer wields much power in a dollar bill and can start to make real differences when asking questions and digging a little deeper. At the end of the day someone must take the risks involved with change. The Bio Store strives to have customers for life; by meeting the needs of the present while at the same time not compromising future generations. The message is clear: keep the economy and well being strong. The Bio Store is committed maintaining a channel of communication with other local businesses in the community, which allows the Bio Store to be mindful and understanding towards the needs of the community which will allow the Store the opportunity to facilitate and spur economic and sustainable growth. During the first 5 weeks the Store has been opened, there has already been an outpouring of Island support from local restaurants, Smoke N' Bones, Zephrus, and the Home Port just to name a few. These restaurants have decided to make an institutional and environmental shift by making use of biodegradable take out containers, plates, bowls, trash bags, and more. Vineyard homeowners are finding the cleaning supplies to be just the ticket to clean the house, clean the environment, and not break the bank by doing so. At the end of the day, if the Bio Store has offered products which have transformed the way customers shop and think about the products they buy, then we have done what we have set out to do; to make a positive visible change in the marketplace and the environment. The bottom line is, to be green means knowing what your impact is on the planet – shopping sophisticated and knowing that you can make a difference by being an enlightened shopper. Mussel aquaculture project underway at Martha’s Vineyard The Martha's Vineyard Shellfish Group (MVSG) is petitioning to create four mussel farming zones using a state-of-the-art open ocean system developed by researchers at the University of New Hampshire (UNH), reports The Martha's Vineyard Times. The group expects to secure funding to set up two demonstration farms by next year. Fishermen from the island would work on the farms and provide key knowledge about local conditions. If the pilot farms are successful, the farms will be entirely turned over to the local fishermen. So far, initial trials with raising mussels in Vineyard waters have gone well, with high survival and growth rates. The MVSG is working with the towns of West Tisbury, Chilmark, and Aquinnah to secure state and federal permits. In June, there will be three public hearings to discuss the four proposed aquaculture zones. MVSG director Rick Karney is facilitating the hearings and the paperwork to make it simpler for local fishermen to navigate the complex bureaucracy of getting a permit. The mussel-raising system from UNH was devised to avoid gear and turf conflicts yet provide optimum conditions for the blue mussel, a species found in waters from North Carolina to Canada. From the ocean’s surface, the only visible sign of each farm will be three buoys. Under the water, a longline will be suspended between two buoys 600 feet apart. At the Martha’s Vineyard farms, the longline would be 40 feet below the surface, anchored at either end by a two-tonne block of granite. Mussels will be grown to market size on ropes attached to the longline, a process that takes 12 months. Karney said he has spoken of the project in depth with local fishermen and businessmen, and the public hearings will be another venue for discussing issues or concerns. "Hopefully, we've put them in places where we are not going to have any conflicts," he said. The two pilot farms will be set up with the help of the UNH’s Atlantic Marine Aquaculture Center and Open Ocean Aquaculture Program. The Permanent Endowment Fund for Martha’s Vineyard is donating USD 5,000 to the MVSG project. Go Green Locally This month the Vineyard Gazette distributed its “Green Issue” of their Martha’s Vineyard Magazine, www.mvmagazine.com (508-627-4311). It features all sorts of articles and resources under the story entitled “How Eco-Friendly is the Island?” The material dove-tailed beautifully with the information on local green companies and individuals researched by Robert Potts, publisher of the West Tisbury Broadside. If you want to reduce your carbon footprint, consider linking to www.carbonfootprint.com and try the following: The easy stuff:
Suppliers: Shirley’s Hardware and Ace Hardware Vineyard Haven; Granite Ace Hardware, Edgartown.
Heating and Cooling:
Information / Resources
Thanks to Nicki Miller, from Martha’s Vineyard Magazine, and Robert Potts for their help in compiling this list. The Why of the Fish Fishing is the business of solving the dilemmas of catching fish, requiring great skill of both the captains and their men. Technology and industry have grown greatly since the seventies, and this combined with a poor understanding of the limits of the ocean systems have led to a depletion of fish stocks in New England. This situation is overlaid by several environmental constraints working against the recovery of the fisheries. These uncertainties are not, hopefully, greater than the problem of the lack of what we could call wise regulation of the fishery. In March of 2003, under amendment B to the Fisheries Management Plan the qualifying years 1996 – 2001 were established. This meant that many Vineyard vessels no longer qualified for access rights to the federal fishery, since the fish were depleted from our traditional grounds by 1990 – 1991. Similar regulations were enacted that deprived our community of access rights to the sea scallops as well. The Vineyard, once the ninth largest N.E. port by landings, now has only six permitted vessels, five of which are without landing’s history for over 10 years. The small hook and line fleet that for hundreds of years landed cod throughout the winter months, now waits for the return of the fish with patience that will likely not be rewarded by being allowed to fish in the future absent some provision for our community coming from the management council. To address this injustice and with the support of the selectmen of all island towns a group of islanders have banded with the Tribe and it’s fishermen to present our situation to the N.E. Fisheries Management Council and request that our history and fishing heritage be accommodated.. More importantly we have worked to align ourselves with other groups also cut out of fishery participation in federal waters. This is an on going struggle that moves very slowly and is met by considerable resistance from the large ports and qualified vessels who now feel that they should own the public trust to the exclusion of the smaller outlying ports and communities. We are working with other groups especially the Penobscot East group based on Deer Island, Maine, and have obtained help to defray expenses from the Permanent Endowment Fund, through the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group, which is our non-profit umbrella. At the same time, the good works of the Shellfish group are expanding to maintain the very important inshore component of the fishing community which depends on the scallops, oysters, and clams produced by the group’s hatcheries. We are also working into offshore mussels growing and harvest as an alternative strategy to generate sustainable profit to help fill the void created by poor management of the ocean fisheries and their subsequent depletion. The Permanent Endowment Fund is helping develop this plan as are the Marine Resource Center of Woods Hole and the University of New Hampshire. This process is soon to reach the public hearing phase, and federal grant monies have been approved to help us get started. The help of the community and private interested donors will be needed to position the island to be able to participate both in the creation of wise management plans and in the creation of a plan to protect us in the future against the industrial as opposed to the small community based artesian fishery. People interested in these issues of the public trust and the future of the Vineyard fishing Community should not miss the continuing lecture series event at the Chilmark Public Library this Wednesday May 21, at 5:30 PM. Two special honored speakers, Dr. Paul Diodati, Director of the State of MA. Division of Marine Fisheries, and John Pappalardo, Chairman of the New England Fishery Management Council, will be present to speak to the Vineyard community. Know your meal: the basics of Flat Point Poultry f.p.p. Here at Flat Point Poultry we use the method of raising broiler chickens pioneered by Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm. As you will see it is a sustainable, humane and responsible way of providing safe and healthy meat for our island’s families. This brief essay will try to summarize the method we use at FPP, encourage you to try our chicken and perhaps entice some of you to begin raising broilers on your own property. The process begins, not surprisingly, by ordering some chickens!! There are several reputable hatcheries that will ship day-old chicks to the Vineyard, Murray McMurray and Moyer’s being among them. We grow Cornish Rock Cross chickens which grow to ‘roaster’ weight (5+ lb) in about nine weeks given adequate feed. While the Cornish Rock is the industry standard and the most common meat bird being grown here on the Vineyard there are other varieties that we may begin keeping. Be sure to ask us if you are interested in trying other varieties in the future. Once the chicks arrive via mail (a marvel of modern postal engineering!) we begin the brooding period. The chicks need a draft-free, heated pen secure from would be chick eaters like rats and raccoons. During this time they are introduced to their staple foods: a non-medicated chicken ration, grass from our pasture and fresh vegetable matter. The birds’ feed is a basic, un-medicated ration comprised primarily of corn, soy and oats. To preempt the question: no, we are not organic. We try to be, as Joel Salatin says, “beyond organic” bringing you the freshest possible product from just down the road; a chicken grown with complete disclosure and transparency of the methods used. Please, come and take a look if you like. After two or three weeks in the brooder they will be ready to move into what will be their home for the final six or seven weeks of their lives: the all important moveable pen! The great innovation that Joel Salatin brought to the world of poultry raising is the floorless pen that the grower moves daily. This provides the birds with the benefits of sunshine and fresh greens all the while aerating and fertilizing the fields. We will be running three 12’ X 12’ pens containing 75 birds a piece. Keeping with standards of humane treatment, this provides 1.9 sq. feet of space per bird. In six weeks a single pen moved once daily uses 6048 square feet of turf. The Island Grown Initiative’s Mobile Poultry Processing Unit means the birds can be processed here on farm saving fossil fuels and providing you with the opportunity to have us put the final product into your hands. This spring and summer we will be charging $5 per pound with birds likely to average 5 lbs. Currently, we are requesting a five dollar deposit per bird. For now, all checks can be made out to Douglas Brush. Orders can be placed using the email address or phone number below. And be sure to check in on our blog occasionally…and tell a friend. Great News (Finally!) CSA Remains at Thimble Farm Dear CSA Members, Andrew Woodruff A Fathers View of Thimble Farm Thimble Farm was preserved from development in the 90's through the purchase of an agricultural preservation restriction, (APR) by the MV Land Bank. But it was not preserved from falling into the hands of a private individual for strictly private use, as for example a horse farm. Until yesterday! After months of difficult negotiations, and work on the part of many people, and at the very moment a prospective horse farm buyer was about to make an offer on the farm, another investor, keen on seeing the Whippoorwill Farm Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program succeed, signed an agreement to purchase the farm. Once the CSA has been able to form a non profit corporation the benefactor will donate the farm to the group to be used for community food production in perpetuity! I don't think I need to tell you how much this means to me personally, or to Andrew and the marvellous people who have stood behind him for so many years, to find a real home farm for Whippoorwill. Andrew will continue to lease other acreage to fulfill his needs, but he at long last has a real working farm as a base of operations. And the visionaries of the CSA have the knowledge that 400 or more families will have a food source that is local, non petrochemical, and healthy. This is not a unique model, but one more in thousands that need to be created as we move toward a saner planet. Hurrah! Bob Woodruff Thimble Farm Update Island Grown Initiative’s Mobile Poultry Processing Unit Trials, Run with Humane Success By Ali Berlow
“What color is your truck?” I asked Jim. “I’ll meet you at the boat.” “No truck. Look for the red PT Cruiser.” He said, in a deep voice that came from somewhere near the center of the earth. “You’re kidding…right?” I asked, off-kilter. “No, really” he repeated…”a red PT cruiser…didn’t you know that ‘PT’ stands for ‘Poultry Trailer?” Well, damned if it didn’t. On July 11, 2007, Jim and his wife Peg, rolled off the Steamship ferry into the summer night air of Vineyard Haven - styling, with the MPPU in tow. “The dock workers all thought it makes cotton candy.” If only they knew….we all said. The mission of Island Grown Initiative (IGI, a non-profit) is to help create a more sustainable agricultural reality on Martha’s Vineyard. IGI supports the island farmer and helps raise consumer awareness about why locally grown food is important. Local food includes the crops…the tomatoes, greens, asparagus, etc..but also meat from island animals. These animals are the freed-from-the-Meatrix.com farm animals that will meet their destiny in the most humane way possible - on the land on which they lived. Since its inception in 2005, IGI asked the Vineyard farmers a lot questions, sorted answers, raised money and built community support for an on-island, size appropriate, humane slaughter solution, which would include both the backyard growers and the full-on farmers who want to raise local meat. Demand is high. Product is in short supply. And sadly, the infrastructure (ie accessible, small scale, humane, USDA certified brick + mortar processing plants) have all but gone extinct. However mobile slaughtering and processing units, can be appropriate solutions in certain circumstances, with community backing. In order to find the best solution for our community IGI talked with SEMAP and the New England Small Farm Institute in Belchertown, MA. We attended workshops and met with Bruce Dunlop of Lopez Island in Washington re: his work with mobile slaughtering units. And then we went back and talked with the island farmers, again: How many animals would they raise if there were an on-island facility? Nobody could give really good answers because there is no precedent and these are unprecedented times. Locally grown food is more than a fad. It’s an imperative. The lack of good, accessible USDA certified processing capabilities, inherently prohibits the small family farmer from raising animals. And if you don’t have the numbers of animals to economically justify a slaughter/process solution – then it’s pretty hard to build one. But with community support, accountability, a leap of faith and some money – the Catch 22 starts to fragment. This research – the grunt work of sorting out what can and can’t be done, from all the unintentionally duplicitous legal-eze that strangulates the small family farmer, was often frustrating and confusing. Unraveling those scorched threads of bureaucracy, farmer rights, consumer and environmental protection only seemed to make answers more elusive. Loopholes turned into black holes and black holes turned to grey. There is much undefined, un-chartered territory in terms of mobile slaughter and processing. But this means that nothing is impossible IF done well. Because it’s not that safe, humane mobile on-farm processing that creates a good clean product for sale - can’t or shouldn’t, be done. It’s that no one knows how to say, ‘Yes. Do it.’ When IGI started a Pastured Poultry Pilot Program (PPPP) in the spring of ’07, it was to encourage both the backyard growers who wanted to fill their freezers, and jumpstart the island farmers. The deal was: if they grew the birds, IGI would make available the best possible processing solution. Most of the growers in the PPPP use Joel Salatin’s methods – and raise their birds in movable, bottomless pens so the chickens can live a life of chicken-ness while still being protected from weather and predators. Some of the PPPP growers are veteran chicken people. A few are totally new to raising animals, while others have raised egg-layers in the past but were ready to give broilers a try. The growers gather and email - sharing information about all-things poultry. Some have joined forces to build pens and buy feed collectively, in bulk, to bring costs down. IGI’s funding for research, training and equipment came in the form of grants and donations from South Mountain Company, Cronig’s Market, and Dakota Organic Beef’s CEO and founder, Scott Lively, who lives on Martha’s Vineyard. While the PPPP group was raising birds, IGI trained the chicken processors (aka the Chicken Crew) at the FARM Institute – a working educational farm, in Edgartown. Wesley Wood, the FARM’s Lead Farm Hand, worked with the Chicken Crew, honing their processing skills and protocols, at the FARM’s poultry abattoir. Since Jim McLaughlin landed on Martha’s Vineyard in his red PT Cruiser with IGI’s MPPU on July 11 – to date, three families each have approximately 175 pounds of their own chicken in their own freezers, to feed their own family. A small beginning and yet it changes everything. The results are extremely gratifying, when the MPPU is operated with complete assiduousness. But managing it is a high-wire balancing act with china plates spinning on the tops of very long-very skinny poles: the animal, the farmer, the Chicken Crew, the eater, and all the local, state and federal agencies, who in end - truly don’t want any of those plates to come crashing down, either. Ali Berlow Jim McLaughlin This version was reprinted with permission from Edible Cape Cod. The Island Grown Initiative (IGI) Website is Launched! IGI now has a website which is up and running and full of interesting news and upcoming events. Urgent! Dear CSA members,
News from the Farm This year we had unprecedented difficulty attracting farm labor. We believe this was due, in part, to a confluence of factors including lack of housing and competition from landscapers who can pay higher salaries. This year, we may not have as much variety in July as some other years. If you are a 5-week shareholder and will be picking up your entire share before August, please let us know in the farm stand. If possible, we will supplement your pickup with additional amounts of whatever is available. The only exception is that we have elected to return to pea seed that is treated against fungus because untreated seed has had severe germination problems under Island growing conditions. We tolerate bugs and weeds and some of the produce may not be picture perfect but it is healthy, nutritious and safe for you and your family. It was a pleasure watching children eating strawberries right in the patch and knowing the fruit had not been sprayed or fed anything that would harm them or you.
Test Your Soil
Dress Your Soil
Reduce Fertilizer Use
Mowing Tips
Planting Grasses
Pull Weeds
Watering
If you have a lawn service, tell them to:
Adapted from Preserve Falmouth’s Bay and Ponds by the Coalition for Buzzards Bay.
Through local efforts and a state-sponsored program, a coalition of environmental groups began in the 1970s to preserve some of the Island's most iconic rural farms. The Vineyard Conservation Society helped acquire development rights to more than a dozen such places, allowing the owners of Nip 'n' Tuck Farm, Allen Sheep Farm and the Whiting Farm, among others, to hold onto large tracts of land that had been in their family for generations. The preservation efforts were hailed as a great success, and, according to the University of Massachusetts, agricultural land on the Island increased steadily from roughly 2,500 acres in 1971 to almost 3,000 acres in 1999. But at the same time, despite a growing interest in local food production, actual farming on the Vineyard has not kept pace. The Martha's Vineyard Commission estimates that working farms cover some 1,800 acres - or only 60 per cent of the so-called agricultural land. Total cropland in Dukes County dropped from 2,200 acres to 1,400 acres between 1987 and 1997, according to the U.S. Census of Agriculture, before falling again to 800 acres in 2002. Looking back, conservation officials acknowledge the original agricultural restrictions were written in a way that allowed some private landowners to benefit from an initial pay-out and ongoing tax breaks, while putting out a proverbial token horse instead of actually working the land as a farm. "Nobody anticipated that some of those properties can now be snatched up and taken out of food production for hobby horse farms," said Brendan O'Neill, executive director of the Vineyard Conservation Society, which is now looking to tighten up some of the original language. "The standard agricultural restriction achieved the goal of preventing development on the land. But more recently there's been a real effort to try to ensure that agricultural lands are not only protected but are dedicated to food production that keeps the farmers on the land." With such a long and storied agricultural past, the Vineyard today is not farming to its potential. More people are looking to eat locally grown food, but supply on the Island is not meeting demand. The FARM Institute in Edgartown pre-sells most of its chicken for the entire summer, while Mermaid Farm and Dairy in Chilmark has a waiting list for its raw milk. Hoping to help meet that demand, Ali Berlow, founding director of Island Grown Initiative, met with Vineyard farmers this winter and asked what steps were needed to boost local food production. "One of the issues loud and clear was access to land," she said. The Island Grown Initiative is now looking to facilitate dialogue among conservation organizations, farmers, and private landowners to find places where more acreage can be creatively cultivated or grazed as pasture. "I think a lot of it is education and awareness," Mrs. Berlow said. "It's not like these property owners are the bad guys - it's just a matter of connecting the dots. They might not know that there is a desire out there to grow more food, or that they can still get tax breaks while also raising chickens that can feed 100 families." Funded by a Vineyard sustainability fellowship, Noli Taylor of Aquinnah is working with the Island Grown Initiative and the Martha's Vineyard Commission this summer to survey owners and find out what kind of land use is taking place on agriculturally preserved properties. She also plans to overlay maps of protected farmland and prime agricultural soils to see where future preservation efforts should be focused. "It's really about pulling all this information together into one place," Mrs. Taylor said. "We're still very, very far from being food self-sufficient, but I know we can do a better job. There's so much land to be farmed here, and there are consumers willing to pay extra to support local farmers." One loophole in the standard agricultural restrictions is that they did not set a cap on sale prices. So even though the reduced development rights might bring the price out of the upper stratosphere, the preserved agricultural land can still go on the market for millions of dollars - well out of reach for any Vineyard farmer. With this in mind, Morning Glory Farm owner James Athearn worked with the Martha's Vineyard Land Bank last year to draft a new conservation restriction for a family farm in West Tisbury. That restriction requires that the 21-acre Uncle Leonard's Farm can only be resold at fair market agricultural value, a provision that ensures the farm will be affordable to future generations of farmers. Since its inception more than 20 years ago, the land bank has taken steps to ensure that agricultural lands are actively farmed. The public conservation organization holds agricultural use easements on some privately-owned land, which gives the land bank the right to lease the land to another party if the underlying owner has failed to actively farm the property for two years. Executive director James Lengyel said the land bank has never had to enforce the use easement, and hopes it never will. But the extra language serves as a strong incentive for the landowner to continue farming the land. "The land bank doesn't want to just conserve agricultural land, it wants to see it be actively cultivated or used," Mr. Lengyel said. "From the very beginning, the land bank has wanted to see as much farmland banked as possible so that future generations will have the freedom to make these decisions." Looking ahead, framers of the comprehensive Island Plan see increased food production as key to protecting the environment, preserving Island character and strengthening a sound local economy. "Agriculture has shaped the landscape and has been integral to the Vineyard culture and economy for generations," authors of an Island Plan discussion paper wrote last month. "The challenge is how to conserve agricultural land and make it available at reasonable cost to allow people to make a living as farmers. Without significant change in availability of these lands, agriculture . . . could disappear from the landscape." The Island Grown Initiative Rallies the Farmers! The Island Grown Initiative (IGI) hosted a delicious potluck meal and follow up discussion to Joel Salatin’s local farm talk, at the Island Co-Housing common house in West.Tisbury last week. The IGI group of coordinators included Ali Berlow, Melinda Rabbit DeFeo, Randi Baird and Steve Bernier, who all spoke eloquently to the gathering of around 50 farmers. The farm community was represented by a wide variety of people of all ages, curious about what the IGI was all about. Ali Berlow led off the discussion by updating the group on efforts to get a slaughter facility established here on the Vineyard. She announced that Doug Brush had been hired to look into the local, state and federal regulatory requirements. She feels confidant that, aided by seed money donated by South Mountain Company, a local slaughter facility has a good chance of becoming a reality, allowing farmers to avoid laborious and expensive trips off-Island with their product. She also reassured the farmers that, with the help of works like Michael Pollen’s Omnivore’s Dilemma, (now on the top ten booklist in 2006), there is an increased public consciousness about the importance of local, family-friendly farms. Threats to the food supply ranging from E-coli and Mad Cow Disease to pesticides, growth hormones and antibiotics have changed public sensibilities and drawn attention to the value of local farmers. Ali described how IGI created this “salon” form of community discussion in order to identify farmers’ priorities and educate the public about healthy food grown right here “in our own back yard.” Melinda Rabbit DeFeo, followed up as facilitator listing priority areas and categories of need, including: Communications, Opportunities, Education and Challenges, Poultry Farm Slaughter, and Meat Production. She described what services were already in place on the Island, and solicited creative ideas and input from those gathered. In the category of Communications, Adam Bresnick of Island Food Products and Jim Athearn of Morning Glory Farm spoke about the challenges of distributing Island-grown products. They cited the importance of timing: knowing what producers are ready for bringing product to market and how to get through a distributor to an end user, typically a retail market like Cronig’s or a local restaurant. Jim mentioned a pilot program called Island Grown Network puts farmers in touch with buyers using email. Morning Glory Farm is one of two farms now participating in this program. In addition to selling retail, MGF is also experimenting with marketing food to be distributed wholesale. The process works like this: an order is faxed to the farmer, then the produce is boxed and picked up by the distributor who pays by check, then the distributor delivers the produce to the wholesale market. For the farmer, this approach has the benefit of time-saving and convenience, but requires personal commitment. Local chefs like the approach because, with 48 hours notice, they can have access to a wide variety of fresh produce to work with. Under the Education and Challenges category, there was agreement that strategies derived from big agri-business, like the National Animal Identification System, (NAIS) run counter to the direction we want to go on Martha’s Vineyard. It was suggested that a letter writing campaign in active opposition to NAIS be initiated, where IGI would speak with one voice on behalf of the Vineyard farm community. Debby Otto from Nantucket is bringing the Wine Festival to the Vineyard in October, where local farmers will be given an opportunity to showcase their products. Another place to promote products and educate the public would be the Harvest Festival also in October. It was suggested that a calendar of local farm events could also be started. In the meantime, all were urged to check the Conservation Almanac for farm listings. The Agricultural Society maintains a schedule of winter and spring educational workshops, including: Seeds (February), Poultry Information (March), Composting (April). The Brazilian community was cited as a resource as well; a very skilled farm labor force who have high skill levels in the area of slaughtering procedures. It was suggested that bilingual notices be sent home with the Brazilian students to begin to tap this resource. Farm tours were also suggested as a way to “cultivate” tourist business on the island. The topic of Poultry Farm slaughter had both the Farm Institute and the Allen Farm offering their chicken slaughtering equipment for rent to other farmers to use. Rebecca Gilbert at Native Earth Teaching Farm has moveable chicken coops and hens for rent. Not only do the pair of hens cut and fertilize your lawn, but they provide you with one egg a day as well! Progress on the topic of Meat Production has been stalled because of the absence of an Island slaughter house. State and local regulations in this area are extensive. Local funding and support will be critical if progress is to be made, and it will be important to engage local butchers in the effort. Finding a suitable location for such a facility is just one of the challenges to overcome. Farmland conservation through the use of ag and conservation restrictions (CRs) was discussed as a way to help lower property taxes and remove the threat of having the land sold for development. A new law passed last summer allows qualifying farmers who make a gift of their development rights (through the contribution of such a restriction) to take a tax deduction for their gift up to 100% of their gross income per year for up to 15 years, provided the land remains available for agriculture, and the gift is made in 2007. For more information call VCS 508-693-9588. Steve Bernier closed the evening with his heartfelt and earnest thoughts that this Island has the ability to sustain itself with locally grown foods. By energizing ourselves through these kinds of gatherings, and building a supportive farm community, we can meet that goal. The Sustainable Book Club The Sustainable Book Club is a new island-wide book discussion group that will read and discuss selections each month that examine our relationship with the natural world. The discussion meeting locations will alternate between Felix Neck and one of the island libraries. The Vineyard Conservation Society at the Wakeman Center will also host a discussion. This collaboration will benefit all involved. Felix Neck will be reaching out to the community through the libraries, the libraries will be connecting with new patrons through an island-wide initiative. The Vineyard Conservation Almanac web site will be promoted at the libraries and Felix Neck. And we just might raise the level of dialog on the island about important environmental issues. Five of the island libraries are participating. We plan to have 11 discussion meetings a year, skipping December, because people tend to be over programmed that month. VCS can help by spreading the word about the group through their Conservation Almanac email list and providing space for a cyber-discussion on the Almanac web site. We plan to select the 11 books and determine a schedule of which library will host the discussion which month sometime in the next couple weeks and hold the first discussion meeting in March. I will write brief "synopsis" of each book. All five libraries will publicize the year's schedule as well as the link to the VCS "book blog" website. I'm coordinating it along with Suzan Bellincampi and Vasha Brunelle (a member of the Felix Neck Advisory Committee). I'll keep you posted as we move forward. And please let me know if you have any suggestions for the book list. We are looking for fiction and non-fiction that has been out for at least 6 months (so it will be available in paperback). A mix of relatively new titles and some classic oldies would be good. Suzan Bellincampi and I have picked a date and a title for the first meeting of the Martha's Vineyard Sustainable Book Club. We will be reading The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan. The discussion will be held at Felix Neck at 5:30 p.m. on March 27. Cordially, Ebba Hierta, Library Director Offshore Aquaculture for the Vineyard Waters
Richard Langan, once a commercial fisherman and seafood business owner, is now the director of the University of New Hampshire’s Cooperative Institute of New England Mariculture and Fisheries (CINEMar). Since its inception in 2000, CINEMar has provided regional leadership on issues of resource use, management and preservation in New England waters. The institute pays close attention to mariculture, the science and management of fisheries, as well as ocean policy. Dr. Langan’s decision to change careers from commercial fisherman to ocean mussel farmer came about one day when he found himself surrounded by too many other fellow fishermen all vying for a limited catch. The seriousness of the matter was apparent, motivating him then and there to switch professions. Since then, he has succeeded in creating a mussel farm off the Isles of Shoals that generates five million pounds of succulent large blue mussels a year, with each pound selling for between $ .58 and $1.50, generating annual wholesale revenue of 4.8 million dollars. His “longline” mussel farm is situated in deep water six miles off of the Portsmouth, N.H. shore near the Isles of Shoals. The longline technique originated in New Zealand and is currently in use on Prince Edward Island, and off of various Maine islands. The mussels are grown on 600-foot horizontal longlines submerged at a depth of 40 feet. The ends of each loneline are attached to a vertical line floated with surface buoys and anchored to the ocean floor with heavy granite blocks. Each longline supports 1,600 feet of growing ropes suspended in a series of continuous looped lines hanging vertically from the main line. These growing ropes are divided into sections with diagonal lines at the end of each section tied down to the granite block that anchors them. Because of the depth of the longline, there is no interference with marine traffic. Between 1,000 and 7,700 wild mussel seed is collected from piers or rafts and attached in various stages of growth to ropes. They are eventually put in biodegradable long cotton sleeves that are later attached to the longlines. After four to six months, the nursery stock is moved out onto the longlines and left to flourish and grow in the nutrient rich food columns of the continuously moving ocean currents. There are two “sets” of mussels grown in a year, one in the fall and one in the spring. When they reach 55 millimeters, after eight or nine months on the longlines, they are ready for harvest. A forty foot dory equipped with a hydraulic starwheel and stationary winch and a crane is used to lift the longline, which weighs seven pounds per foot. The boat moves from one end of the rope to the other and back and forth, during which time the densely packed grow lines of mussels are harvested. There are between 175 and 225 mussels growing on each foot of rope. Once on board, the mussels are run through a brush declumper that breaks up the clumps and strips and sorts them. Later a debearding machine is used to remove the beards. It is a thirteen month cycle from seed to market. The mussels were originally sold wholesale to local Portsmouth restaurants for $1.25 per pound, but are now currently selling at $1.50 per pound. The total operating costs is $.67 per pound giving the business a profit of $.92 per pound, or a total profit of $625,000. Dr. Langan was very encouraging when his talk focused on the Martha’s Vineyard waters as a possible site for aquaculture. After he mentioned the many things to be considered such as water depth, bottom type, temperature, wave activity, climate, and food availability, he assured the audience that CINEMar would be available to help with technical assistance. The engaged group raised several questions of concern particularly about the huge flocks of hungry sea birds that winter over in the Vineyard waters and love to dive for their food: “Would they eat all the mussels?” Dr. Lagan fielded each question with a creative solution and the satisfied group left feeling enthusiastic about the possibilities for having a potentially lucrative offshore business. Recently, Warren Doty reported that there was considerable interest from the Chilmark community in this type of aquaculture. Since then, he has researched the Massachusetts State requirements for setting up such a business. The state mandates that longline aquaculture be done in state, not federal waters, and needs to be a minimum of three miles out to sea from the nearest state shore. With that in mind, if there were to be a Vineyard longline business it would be off of Nomans Land Island in a minimum of 60’ of water. Because it is a permanent installation in the ocean, it involves an extensive permitting process from the Army Corp of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency. During Dr. Langan’s talk, he suggested starting small. The start up costs for a small longline business would involve as few as 10 lines with a cost of $4,000 per line. The Town of Chilmark would support such an undertaking but the funding for this kind of for-profit business would have to come from a private investor. The Chilmark Shellfish Restoration committee is currently meeting to consider these many aspects of a longline business. Dr. Lagan’s talk was filmed and is currently airing on MVTV channel 13. Check with the station for the dates and times. A DVD of the video is available at the Chilmark Library. For further information visit them online: HTTP://OOA.UNH.EDU Special thanks to the Chilmark Library for sponsoring this talk. Vineyard Golf Club
“Education is the answer, we work at changing peoples sensibilities about the best conditions,” Jeff Carlson said as he kicked over a thin layer of grass from a dirt patch on the fairway. He explained the importance of informing the club membership about the ongoing organic practices and how, because of their knowledge, they have a sense of pride about the club and a tolerance for the occasional imperfections. “We have a big problem with grubs, as well as skunks, raccoons, and crows, which tear up the turf to reach the grubs to eat. Rather then use pesticides, we use nematodes (microscopic cylindrical parasitic worms also called roundworms) to control the grubs when we can get them. Unfortunately, there is little demand for nematodes in the marketplace, and we have had a hard time finding suppliers. So we aerate the field and over seed the disturbed areas. It’s an ongoing battle,” he said. That is just one of many battles that Jeff and his crew encounter as they maintain the four year old, 18 hole golf course that winds around 238 acres of land. The sandy, low nutrient soils support a community of low bush blueberry, bayberry, scrub oak and pitch pines. Jeff pointed out that in order to grass the 7,000 yard course with turf capable of adapting to this environment, they plant A-1 bentgrass at the greens, L-93/Southshore bentgrass at the tees, colonial bentgrass/fescue on the fairways, fescues/bluegrass for the roughs and 30 acres of a variety of fescues and native sandplain grassland species. The land is altered as little as possible. “If you can see the base of the trees along the fairway and greens, it’s proof that the course is following the natural contours of the land,” he said, pointing to the gentle slope of the land as viewed from the fairway. He told the group that aeration is important to maintain healthy turf growth. The greens are aerated twice a year, and the tees aerated four times a year. Reseeding is an ongoing process in damaged areas. Weed control is done by a unique machine called a WAIPUNA, which basically gives the weeds a carpet shampoo and a scalding with 205 degree hot water. This treatment penetrates the weeds, exploding their cell structure and kills them within minutes. “It is like an organic Roundup,” Jeff pointed out, referring to the commercial herbicide. Their machine comes from New Zealand and will be used on a trail basis next year at the Vineyard Golf Club. The golf course has a irrigation pumping limit of 150,000 gallons per day, so developing a wise water management plan for storage, distribution and conservation is critical. The course is designed to have only 70 acres of managed turf, which includes the fairways, greens, tees, clubhouse and staff housing areas. They have built a 12 million gallon lined irrigation storage pond, which feeds 1,200 individually controlled valve-in-head sprinklers. Jeff explained that the pond has a variable speed wet well pumping system with leak detection, low pressure shut down and alternating pump starts. An elaborate system has been installed to control runoff using woodchips on the maintenance and cart paths, and “French drains” using underground perforated pipe to allow water to seep into the ground. There are more than 100 catch basins scattered around the fairways, and porous pea stone and catch basins are used in the parking lot area. The entrance road is also paved with crushed stone to reduce water velocity. A one million gallon retention pond installed near the first tee captures roof run off from the clubhouse. Both ponds are lined with 30 mil PVC, and are rimmed with coconut fiber roll to prevent bank erosion and provide a planting bed for wetland plants and grasses. A system of monitoring wells was installed on the down-gradient eastern boundary of the property to measure the amount of nitrate exiting the site. Wells are set at levels matching those of the abutting property owners’ wells, and tests are performed quarterly. A system of 36 lysimeters is also installed at three feet below grade at every green outlet to detect nitrate leaching levels. Other sustainable practices used at the facility include stockpiling grass clippings and mixing it with sand to use to fill divots on the tees and fairways. Six of the nine utility vehicles used on the course are electric powered. The clubhouse grounds are landscaped with native plantings identical to those used on the golf course. Caddies are mandatory and carts are only permitted for those with disabilities. The snack bar packages all food in sandwich wraps and not containers, and all glass and cans are separated and recycled. Lastly, the Vineyard Golf Course management has made it a point to inform their membership through newsletters and their website about the unique wildlife/habitat that surrounds the area. During the development of the course and its subsequent operation great care was taken to protect and preserve 25 acre of rare frostbottom habitat, a 300 square foot vernal pool and a system of ancient walking paths that cross the site. The MV Water Alliance appreciated the opportunity to see first hand the work that goes into maintaining a golf club through organic means, and we thank Jeff Carlson for his informative tour. Letter to the Editor:
After a long summer of “acting locally” and not leaving the Island while conducting the daily chores involved in producing millions of seed shellfish in our solar hatchery, I was delighted during the past month to have had the opportunity to “think globally” at two international conferences. In late October I traveled (on my own nickel!) to Torino, Italy to attend the second Slow Food Terra Madre meeting. As an invited “aquaculture delegate,” I joined 7,000 other small-scale food producers, academics and cooks from 150 different countries for a week of workshops and networking aimed at preserving the biodiversity of local food products threatened by the global homogenization of the food supply. In mid November, I attended the International Conference on Shellfish Restoration in Charleston, South Carolina. About 200 participants from 10 countries attended this 3-day conference that featured over 100 presentations addressing the declining state of the world’s shellfish populations and estuaries. I gave a presentation about The Island Blue Pages that was very well received! Although both conferences provided me with much mental fodder for future digestion, I would like to share with you the take home lessons, as I perceived them. Terra Madre stressed the central role of local food production to the preservation of local communities and culture. The cultural diversity of the planet is integrally linked to the biodiversity of local food traditions. From the Shellfish Restoration Conference, I learned that shellfish populations and their estuarine habitats are facing declines worldwide. These declines are partly the result of changing cultural values within coastal communities. Respect and concern for our marine environment is a powerful Vineyard value central to the preservation of our unique Island culture and sense of place. It is a value with origins in a time when Islanders were far more dependent on local seafood for survival. There is a growing disconnect between coastal communities and marine ecosystems partly due to the loss of our traditional dependence on the local marine environment as a source of food. Just like traditional cultures worldwide, ours is dependent on the preservation of our food traditions, including our shellfisheries. I believe these global perspectives support the value of the local activities of the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group. Our efforts to ensure that local shellfish remain an important food tradition on Martha’s Vineyard are key to the survival of our unique Island culture. I trust you agree and will support the cause. How can you help?
Thank you. Sincerely, Richard C. Karney Mass. Public Charities File #15067 Legacies for the Future
We begin with a tribute to Nellie Mendenhall, whom many readers will remember for her passion and sheer hard work on behalf of the Vineyard environment. A 30-year veteran of the VCS board, she initiated the Island’s first recycling program back in the early 1970s, and remained active with the organization and the larger community until her sudden death four years ago at the age of 90. Not content with serving the cause during her lifetime, Nellie left a substantial sum to VCS in her will, to assure that the work she believed in would continue in her absence. A grateful VCS board decided to use her bequest as the nucleus of a fund in her honor, to promote resource protection efforts such as improved recycling, waste reduction, and large-scale composting as circumstances allow. It’s an uphill climb: as the story in our Fall 2005 Newsletter shows, the Vineyard’s current waste management practices leave a lot to be desired, and opportunities for improvement are limited by a wide range of constraints. But thanks to the Nellie Mendenhall Fund, VCS now has resources in reserve as we consider how to take effective action in this area. Not everyone would want to have their memory associated with recycling and compost, but we’re convinced that Nellie would approve. “I first came the Vineyard in the summer of 1945 with my bride-to-be, who often visited cousins in Edgartown,” says Frank Stewart, of Providence and Lambert’s Cove. “I was expecting to be sent to the Pacific at any moment, but in the meantime I was captivated by the beauty of the Island, along with my future wife. We came back for our honeymoon in 1946, and a few years later we were lucky enough to be able to rent, and eventually buy, a little house on Uncle Seth’s Pond where we summered every year until Caroline died in 1991. “Now our son is living there, and I’m glad to see that he’s stewarding the land as Caroline would have wished. It’s a joy for me to come visit, and to see how much of the Island’s beauty and character have been preserved, thanks largely to VCS efforts. “But the battle for the Island’s soul is getting fiercer all the time, which is why VCS is in my will. Community-supported conservation efforts are certainly important, but we also need an effective environmental advocacy organization that’s willing and able to challenge inappropriate development, through the legal system when necessary, on behalf of the Island’s ecological integrity. It’s a role that is uniquely filled by VCS, and I hope my bequest will help build funds that can be drawn on when VCS needs to move quickly in defense of this fragile and beautiful place.” Ruth Redding’s best-known role as a funder of Island causes was in association with the Permanent Endowment Fund for Martha’s Vineyard, whose Award for Creative Living she established in memory of her beloved friend Ruth J. (Jackie) Bogan in 1983. Jackie’s death was a grievous loss for Ruth, but she kept their shared vision alive through ongoing philanthropy, which embraced a wide range of concerns. A loyal contributor to VCS, Ruth believed strongly in the inter-relatedness of environmental and community health, and embraced the VCS mission accordingly. After her death in 2002, we were honored to receive a generous bequest from her estate. Since the gift was unrestricted, the board decided to set it aside for incorporation into a future VCS fund currently being established for our own endowment needs. Legacies like Ruth’s will be essential in allowing VCS to stand on firm financial ground as we continue to advocate for a broad-based conservation ethic that honors both human and environmental concerns. Beneath her somewhat stern exterior, a passionate civic-mindedness animates Virginia Jones as she talks about why she’s supported the Vineyard Conservation Society since its early days. In addition to serving on the board for many years, Ginny put her values into practice by working intensively with VCS and The Nature Conservancy to protect her family’s property in Chilmark, as described in the VCS Newsletter of Winter 2005. What’s more, her generosity of spirit will help power VCS beyond her lifetime. “It’s not about the amount, it’s the principle of the thing,” says Ginny. “I don’t have a lot to leave to VCS or anyone else, but I believe in supporting institutions that work for the good of the community. I’m making a bequest to VCS because it’s a broad-spectrum organization, committed to protecting all aspects of our Island environment and way of life.” As the conservation restrictions on her property were being finalized, Ginny wrote in an open letter to the VCS community: “Think about what you can give back to the Vineyard, and do the right thing.” It’s a clear injunction, in keeping with her personality, and it behooves us all to take it to heart. How to remember VCS in your will: There are several options for leaving assets to VCS. Bequests are direct gifts, generally of money or securities (either as a dollar amount or as a percentage of the whole), or of other property such as real estate. A residuary bequest gives all or some fraction of an estate to VCS after other distributions have been made. In the case of an unrestricted bequest, the assets can be used as the board sees fit, in accordance with the organization’s needs and priorities. With a specific bequest, the gift is designated for a project or area of the VCS mission chosen by the donor. A charitable remainder trust is an investment fund created through a will to provide income for a family member or friend. After a specified number of years, or when the beneficiary dies, the remainder of the fund comes as a gift to VCS. A similar vehicle, the testamentary lead trust, provides payments to VCS first for a certain number of years, and allows assets to be passed to heirs with significant tax advantages to the estate. Pellet Stoves are now available on Island!
Wood pellet stoves produce heat through the burning of compressed recycled sawdust in the form of wood pellets. The pellets come from left over sawdust from sawmills found all over New England and Canada. This local renewable resource is a “carbon neutral” product: Carbon dioxide was removed from the atmosphere during the life of the trees which are the source of the pellets, so burning the pellets does not add any new carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Wood pellets are also the cleanest burning solid fuel available, producing almost no emissions. These freestanding stoves, fireplace inserts, furnaces and boilers all use a slowly turning mechanism called an auger to feed pellets into the fire in response to the temperature and heat setting the user has chosen. This allows for a highly efficient and regulated burn. Pellet stoves come in a wide array of styles and sizes and can heat an entire home with the wonderful warmth of wood heat. While the high costs of fossil fuel are bringing many islanders into their showroom for financial savings, Sharon Strimling Florio and Warren Doty are especially enthused about the environmental and fuel independence benefits. As far as they are concerned it is a “win/win/win technology,” protecting islanders’ pocketbooks at the same time that it is keeping fuel local and eliminating unnecessary CO2 emissions. “It is thrilling to see environmentally friendly alternatives become so technically advanced and accessible, making it easy for the consumer to make environmentally responsible choices” says Sharon. Over 400,000 pellet stoves are currently in operation in homes in North America and those numbers are rapidly on the rise. For much more information, please plan a visit to this innovative store to Sharon or Warren. They are located in the Synergy Building, at 151 Beach Road, Vineyard Haven, on the right side of the MV Shipyard parking lot. Showroom hours are Monday through Saturday from 10-6. Or give them a ring at 508-696-6960. Chris Fried wrote this letter to Mr. Walsh, CEO of the Martha's Vineyard Hospital, and it has the endorsement of the Vineyard Conservation Society, the Vineyard Energy Project, MV Peace Council, and the Tisbury Waterways Inc. Oct. 23, 2006 Tim Walsh, CEO Dear Mr. Walsh, We are writing to thank you for the excellent services provided by the Martha's Vineyard Hospital, and to ask that you make your new building a model of "green" design. We Vineyarders have embraced high standards for preserving our air, water, vegetation, wildlife, scenic beauty, and precious natural resources (including oil). Therefore, we very much wish to see the new hospital conform to these high standards. As you probably know, in the year 2000 the U.S. Green Building Council initiated the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program (LEED). Its purpose is to promote sensible site selection and development, water and energy conservation, careful waste stream management, healthy indoor air quality, and innovations in sustainable design and construction. And, to help measure the extent that a new building is green, they have devised a rating system with four levels: Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. (See https://www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=1317 for more details.) In the spring of 2005 voters at town meetings were presented with a Renewable Energy Resolution. It addressed goals for new and existing buildings, including increased energy efficiency, energy conservation, and on-site harnessing of "clean", renewable energy sources. Voters in all six Vineyard towns overwhelmingly approved this Resolution. (See http://www.vineyardenergyproject.org.) In December of 2005 the American Institute of Architects (AIA) adopted position statements promoting sustainable design, resource conservation, and a 50% reduction of the energy used during construction and operation of buildings. (See http://www.aia.org/sustainability.) In January of 2006 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) agreed to a set of guiding principles for designing, constructing, and operating federal facilities so that they too would achieve high energy performance, as well as low water consumption, healthy indoor air, and other important qualities. (See http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=leaders.bus_challenge.) And, in May of 2006 the Martha‚s Vineyard Commission adopted an energy policy with goals that include improving energy efficiency, conservation, resource management, and the harnessing of renewable energy sources. Given this unanimity of support for going "green", we were surprised to hear your architect announce (at the Aug. 24, 2006 public hearing) that the proposed new Hospital building would achieve just the base level of LEED certification ˆ that it would receive only 26-32 quality points out of the maximum achievable of 69. In our opinion, this low level of LEED certification runs counter to the stated wishes of the EPA, the AIA, the MVC, and Island voters. Ours is a community that understands the links between energy consumption, pollution, health impacts, resource depletion, and conflicts over oil. Therefore, we, the co-signers of this letter, request that your architect refine the design of the new hospital so that it receives the 52-69 quality points needed to make it a platinum-rated building. We do recognize that such refinements will require revisions to drawings and specifications, and might raise th |
The day had finally arrived. Jim McLaughlin of Corner Stone Farm Ventures in New York was coming to Martha’s Vineyard to deliver Island Grown Initiative’s mobile poultry processing unit (MPPU). It’d taken almost two years to get this point…
Whippoorwill Farm CSA
Grow a Vineyard Friendly Lawn
FARM and FIELD
A salty crowd gathered at the Chilmark Library to hear ocean aquaculture specialist Dr. Richard Langan speak on “Opportunities for Ocean Mussel Farming in New England”. Concern for the future of the Martha’s Vineyard fishing industry motivated Chilmark Shellfish Constable Stanley Larsen, Chilmark Selectman Warren Doty, and Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group Director Rick Karney to persuade Dr. Langan to come to the Vineyard. 
Twenty five Martha’s Vineyard Water Alliance members gathered with Jeff Carlson, the superintendent of the Vineyard Golf Club, as he led a tour of the Edgartown golf course. Excess nitrogen in the ground water from fertilizers used on golf courses is pointed to as a culprit in creating havoc for receiving water bodies, so it was timely for the group to learn about the practices of the only organically run golf course on Martha’s Vineyard. 
“Think Globally, Act Locally,” a phrase originated in 1972 by Rene Dubos as an advisor to the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, refers to the argument that global environmental problems are best addressed by acting within the ecological, economic, and cultural contexts of our local surroundings. This simple truth has served as my guiding philosophy over the past 30 years at the MV Shellfish Group. 
This story profiles four individuals who have shown their support for the Vineyard Conservation Society in a uniquely significant way, by bequeathing assets to VCS through their wills. They’re all great role models for the rest of us, as we consider our own legacies for the future.
Winter just got greener! A new alternative heating source has finally arrived. Vineyard Alternative Heating has just opened its doors in Vineyard Haven, providing wood pellet stoves, fireplace inserts, furnaces and boilers of all styles and sizes. Four different high quality manufacturers are represented, a large supply of pellets are available, and a cozy showroom invites all in for cocoa or questions.