Lucy Leopold and Collins Heavener, year-round residents of Chappaquiddick, were married at Slip Away Farm, their home, on Saturday evening. The weather was perfect: the humidity that has hung over our little island for the past few weeks lifted, transforming an August evening into one that felt like early fall. A light breeze kept the mosquitoes at bay.

Collins and Lucy, along with the helping hands of many friends and family members, spent the week preparing for the event. Collins, a furniture builder, made all the tables — enough to seat 175 guests — from wood he milled over the past few weeks. He dug holes and installed posts to string lights, built a grill for roasting lamb and chicken and worked to finish the flooring of his new barn at Slip Away, where the post-dinner dancing took place. Lucy, a teacher, harvested and arranged flowers for the tables, and made her own bouquet as well as boutonnieres for each family member.

They were married under a giant hickory tree in a simple ceremony led by Collins’ Uncle Pete. Guests were each given a letter-press printed poem by Rainer Maria Rilke that captured the feeling of the evening perfectly:

Understand I’ll slip quietly
away from the noisy crowd
when I see the pale
stars rising, blooming over the oaks.

I’ll pursue solitary pathways
through the pale twilit meadows,
with only this one dream:
You come too.

Afterwards, guests gathered at the long wooden tables for dinner: a beautiful meal prepared by the couples’ friend Molly Levine and made from almost entirely Vineyard-grown meats and vegetables. Dancing followed, with the big barn doors open to the night air, fields visible in the fading light.

Many congratulations and much love to them both.

In other Chappy news, I have been spotting monarch chrysalises in a few different locations around the Island. We have one inside our outdoor shower at home; the caterpillar decided to build it just at shoulder height, where we can easily watch it each time we bathe.

In my mind, the little green pouches with their golden adornments signify hope: another monarch butterfly will be born. The monarch is a species that is in decline, largely thanks to pesticides and global warming. I have been lucky enough to visit one of their winter breeding sites in the mountains of Michoacan, Mexico. Thousands upon thousands of monarchs fluttered around us in the tall, silent pines, like orange snowflakes in the sunlight. It was perhaps the closest thing I have ever had to a religious experience: a feeling of awe tinged with sadness, knowing that this species may one day go extinct. I think of it each time I spy a chrysalis waiting to hatch a new monarch, and wish the butterfly safe passage.

The Chappy Community Center will be showing the film the Biggest Little Farm this coming Thursday, August 15. Although I have not yet seen it I have heard many people of all ages and from many different walks of life sing its praises. The film is about a couple that built a vibrant, regenerative farm in California from land that had previously been monocropped into ruin. I have been asked to speak a little about farming on the Vineyard afterwards, and Laurie David, a producer of the film, will be joining me. We hope to see you there.

Finally, this Sunday, August 18, the CCC is hosting everybody’s favorite a capella group, The Vineyard Sound, starting at 7:30 p.m. Cannolis from Prince Street Cafe and Bakery in Bedford will be served.

Send Chappy news to slipawayfarm@gmail.com.