After a week of warmer days, we are plunged back into winter, with nighttime lows dipping into the teens. March is always this way on-Island. We have warm weather teases, where everyone is suddenly out on bikes and walks, working in yards, and picnicking in the midday sun. Then we are abruptly reminded that it is not yet spring and we find ourselves wearing our wool hats and down coats once more.

Daffodils are beginning to peak their heads up from the soil, the snow drops are in bloom and the first of the crocuses has been spotted, and yet I just had to break a thick layer of early morning ice in our chicken water bucket.

During these warm bursts, I always become anxious to begin my seeding, imagining spring arriving early. I picture all the other growers with greenhouses packed with seedlings ready to be transplanted out the moment the weather permits. But I have learned that patience is by far the best practice when it comes to springtime gardens. With an unheated greenhouse, seedlings started too early suffer from the low nighttime temperatures and often do not make it out into the field any earlier than those started a few weeks later. So I wait, patiently, until the end of temperamental March. April is often only slightly more reliable, but then we are into May, (glorious May!) and the season has suddenly become a sprint.

Did you know how many fairies live on Chappaquiddick? My three-year-old, Juna, has been spotting them all over our yard. They live nestled in tree-trunk holes and under rocks. They have moss beds and stick houses, acorn gardens for front yards. The night fairies are particularly allusive, but if you tiptoe to a rotted stump and peek inside, quietly, you just might catch one sleeping.

The Trustees found and detonated an unexploded ordnance at Cape Pogue last week. I remember unexpectedly seeing one of these explosions years ago. I was sitting at Hickory Cove by the old cemetery when I saw a mushroom cloud lift up from across the bay. The sound, a huge boom, took a moment longer to travel across the water, creating a delay between sight and sound. A surreal experience, to be sure.

These ordnances appear every now and again. If you come across one, the Trustees ask you to remember the three R’s: Recognize, Retreat and Report. Most importantly, do not touch.

Remember that there is still yoga with Jason Mazar-Kelly at the Chappy Community Center every Sunday at 8:30 a.m., in person and virtual. The class is $20 for members, $22 for nonmembers, and $15 for Zoom participants. You can sign up on the ccc website.

Enjoy your week, and stay warm.