I dusted off sweet potatoes with the M.V. Gleaners last week at North Tabor Farm. The gleaners are a wonderful group of helping hands organized by belly dancer extraordinaire Jamie O’Gorman. To learn more about Island Grown Gleaning or other activities see islandgrown.org/gleaning and to learn more about belly dancing on the Island go to vineyardbellydance.blogspot.com. Also special thanks to Laurie David’s farm for growing and supplying sweet potatoes to Island schools; anyone else interested in growing crops for Island schools can contact the above Island Grown link.
Ah November shocks with winter darkness and renewed morning light, our bodies still adjusting to clocks rewound. October brought weekend wedding celebrations from the sweet outdoors into the magically transformed Chilmark Community Center and ended with Halloween wonder and merriment thanks to volunteer fireman, Chilmark School families and the remarkable energy of Katie Carroll. A storm of white, wet and fierce wind cut us off for barely a full 24 hours from the mainland.
I did not mean to mislead anyone last week and want to give due recognition to Alan Cottle of Blackwater Farm, owner of Lambert’s Cove Glass in Menemsha. We wish Alan a speedy recovery from a fall while building his latest project, a boat, and we’re glad to know he is home again. Alan is a Renaissance man who moves between his day job farming and also paints in oils, makes furniture, does glass blowing and so many other things. Stop by the store, open weekends from 12 noon to 5 pm and check out his colorful work. His store manager, Ginny Jones, said on Sunday, “The Sound and the harbor were a froth of waves all day. And the beach has all blown over the parking lot and, of course, into the harbor. On days like today there isn’t a lot of action in Menemsha except for racing whitecaps, trees whipping around, and a very few cars on the move.”
Sending warm birthday wishes to Trudy Taylor who turns 92 on Friday, November 7. Celebrate every day.
In case you missed last weekend, Candy Shwedder’s Up-Island Pottery Sale continues on Saturday, November 8, from 9 am to 12 noon at 4 Fulling Mill Hill off Middle Road.
You won’t want to miss Annabell Lee, The Chilmark Public Library showing of a recently discovered silent film from 1921 that was filmed in Menemsha on Wednesday, November 12 at 5 pm. Based loosely on the poem by Edgar Allen Poe, it features seldom seen film footage of Menemsha before the village was destroyed by the 1938 hurricane and the Gay Head lighthouse before erosion threatened to sweep it out to sea. Admission is free and sponsored by the Friends of the Chilmark Public Library. For more information, please call 508-645-3360.
Nice to know if you want to come in from the cold that the Offseason Library Cafe is now open. Ebba Hierta says they will be offering coffee, tea, cocoa, and cookies in the meeting room during regular library hours, donations appreciated. Thank you, Friends of the Chilmark Public Library. Also, anyone is welcome to bring their Food Truck lunch or bag lunch and enjoy the warmth of the library meeting room as a cozy respite!
And if it’s chocolate you are craving we are all thankful that Chilmark Chocolates is open again.