Margaret Knight
Preserving the harvest
Preserving the bounty is on the minds of many of us who are lucky enough to have more vegetables and fruits than we can...
Building a barn from scratch
Few builders know the provenance of every board they build with. Chappaquiddicker Collins Heavener does because he milled each one from Island trees and...
Meet Mytoi’s new gardener
This spring Marc Fournier started as horticulturalist and arborist at The Trustees of Reservations’ Japanese-style garden, Mytoi, on Chappaquiddick. When he accepted the job,...
Meandering Mytoi
The little island of Chappaquiddick has one tar road, one store (summer only), one farm, and one Japanese-style garden. Owned and cultivated by The...
When trees blow down
Back in 1973, I was looking around my newly inherited acre of land for where to build my house. I settled on a ridge...
Staying happy on Chappy
The Chappaquiddick Community Center gives those of us who live on this small island a place to gather, to celebrate and debate, to run...
Domestic Disturbances: The chicken chronicles
A couple of summers ago, a crow with one white wing feather showed up in our yard. It was always by itself, and I...
Windswept into the past
Monday: Today is day 4 of the wind trying to tear apart our house — so far it’s only rattled and shaken it and...
Chappy before Kennedy
Last week the trailer for the movie “Chappaquiddick” was released. On July 18, 1969, Sen. Ted Kennedy drove his car off the Dike Bridge,...
Welcome, New Year
Dear New Year,
I want to welcome you, but I’m also feeling some trepidation about what you’ll be bringing with you. Could you let us...
For the love of pantries
A pantry is a room apart. You can stock it with whatever you want to protect or store away from the bustle of kitchen...
The sweet taste of fall on the Vineyard
The wild fruits of the Vineyard offer themselves free of charge to us humans, the birds, the deer, and all the other fruit-loving critters....
Two owls, two presidents
The morning 9-year-old Oliver Ames met former President Obama, he was checking owl boxes at Farm Neck with his grandfather, Michael Zoll. Back when...
Blue ribbon fever
As August comes along, I start thinking about what I want to enter in the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Fair exhibits. My latent competitive streak...
To the victors belong the pies
Last Sunday, the Chappaquiddick Community Center (CCC) was the site of serious fun during the 10th annual Chappy Pong Tournament. The tournament was sponsored...
Domestic Disturbances: Seasonal transition disorder
At yoga class a few weeks ago, there were a bunch of new people. I found out later they were returnees from last year,...
Becoming Perennial: Whatever will seed, will seed
My Chappaquiddick garden must have some of the sandiest soil on the Island. After 30 years of adding manure, compost, soil amendments, and mulch,...
Building the Homestead
My father grew up in Pittsburgh, and never learned to like the seashore or the feeling of salt and sand on his skin. He...
Mom’s home cooking
Cooking was not something my mother ever needed to learn when she was growing up — her family had a cook. When she married...
Essay: Blue sky
The beginning of a new year gives us the opportunity to make a fresh start, to make our lives more like we want them...