MARGARET KNIGHT

508-627-8894

(margaret02539@yahoo.com)

In the beginning of summer, it takes awhile to get used to all the people everywhere. I get easily irritated when someone stands in the middle of a road where I once drove along without stopping. By July, I usually adjust — I start taking the bus, riding my bike, staying on Chappy as much as possible. I remember what summer is like.

Then the end of summer comes, and I feel sad as people leave — not so much the crowds but those who people my personal word. And I miss the sound of my brother Robin’s chickens next door as they cackle over the mystery of laying an egg. The flock went back home to Hopkinton, N.H., where my brother says the chickens are missing their free range life on Chappy. I think he probably is, too.

When the people leave, it’s time to reconnect with the natural world, to tune in more to the beautiful place where we live and the non-human animals with whom we share this island. The mosquitoes (they’ve already connected with me!) are finally fewer so that it’s nice to take walks again. Along the shore of Cape Pogue Pond, I’ve been hearing the young osprey from three different nests yipping their sad abandonment from the tops of their nest poles or the dead trees where their parents used to perch before they flew south, leaving the babies to fend for themselves. I can relate to their cries of being left.

According to Dick Jennings who has been posting information and maps on the community center bulletin board about the osprey tracking project, the two young Chappy osprey that have been tagged are still here. Caley of Caleb’s Pond and Bea of Cape Pogue Pond have done a little exploring on the island but haven’t ventured farther yet. The tagged osprey from Tashmoo was flying for 50 hours nonstop as of Tuesday, headed toward Turks and Caicos in the Caribbean. Dick will keep us updated.

September is prime time for going to the beach because the sun is not so burning, the water is clear and still plenty warm, and the beaches are quiet. I always feel that going to the beach in September is like putting money in the bank toward wintertime.

It’s also harvest time, and at my house we’re busy gathering and preserving. We’re drying tomatoes and apples, making salsa, applesauce, pickles and jam. I got a great dilly bean recipe from Sharlee Livingston, with whom I spent many summer Wednesdays on the community center porch at the craft and farmers’ market, along with my daughter Lily. Sharlee and her son Jared, who liked to arrange their produce artfully, had lots of beans most of the summer. When they didn’t all sell, Sharlee would go home and make yummy pickled green beans.

The blueberry season was the longest and most bountiful I can remember. I could still pick enough blueberries for pancakes just last week — I never remember picking into September before. Also, the bushes that grow in the middle of the woods, and usually only have a few tasteless berries, were covered with clusters of delicious berries. The berries were slightly elongated — a different variety than what grows along the edges of the road or fields. On certain paths I’ve traveled for years, I saw blueberry bushes I’d never noticed, covered with berries.

I went tractor picking for the first time this summer, thanks to my brother Robin. He’d drive his tractor up to a bush that was loaded with berries above easy reaching height, raise up the bucket, and we’d sit there picking in comfort, so to speak. He thought about designing some sort of bench for the bucket, but didn’t get around to it. He was busy building the screened-in porch that he managed to put off until mid-August. He did take breaks, though, to spend some quality time with his favorite chicken. He’d hold her up to a blueberry bush and she would peck away at the berries in poultry bliss.

In an unrelated bat topic, Rob Kagan reminds people to close their chimney flues to prevent bats from entering the house. He’s had a couple of frantic calls from caretaking customers, asking him to get the bats out of their houses. Bats can pass through very narrow cracks, and they sometimes get into our house through the screened porch. We usually open a window and close the door to the room they’re in, and they navigate their way out by sonar.

Lisa and Jason Gruner and their kids Sarah and Jason have moved to Chappy from North Hampton, N.H. Their cat, Edgar, has gone missing. He’s gray and has a red collar and tag, is sweet and a little shy. They’re hoping he’s just out on a long stroll, and will be back soon, but if you spot him, please call 508 627-8416 and let the Gruners know.

Annie Heywood and Ted and Shirley Dewing were part of a group from The Anchors that went up to Provincetown last week. They visited art galleries — “thousands of them,” and Annie climbed the P’town Pilgrim Monument. She enjoyed finding out about how the Pilgrims first landed there in 1620, and wrote the Mayflower Compact.

Curry Jones has landed back here on Chappy after living away for too long. He moved from Concord, N.H. this week. Welcome back, Curry!

The Martha’s Vineyard International Film Festival is taking place at three locations in Vineyard Haven through Sunday. Mary Spencer will be spending every waking minute there coordinating volunteers and helping to make things run smoothly. Check out the schedule for great films from around the globe.

There will be an edible wild plant walk with Russ Cohen on Saturday, Sept. 26 from noon to 3 p.m. on Chappy. Call Polly Hill Arboretum at 508-693-9426 to register. More information next week.

The first community center potluck of the season will be on Wednesday, Sept. 16, starting at 6 p.m. All are welcome. Jo-Ann and Tom Tilghman will host and provide the appetizers. Bring anything else to share except dessert — not ice cream, and especially not hot fudge or caramel sauce and whip cream. We can finish up what’s left from the summer’s ice cream socials.

Many thanks to Jo-Ann who wrote the column and kept us informed about all that went on this summer! She and Tom will be around nearly two more weeks before heading back to Florida.