Last summer my husband and I wanted to try a new Island restaurant, but unpredictable work schedules are not conducive to well-planned date nights. It was the middle of the week, albeit in August, and we were just hoping for a quick dinner before a movie. Without time to make a reservation, we took our walk-in chances.

Whether you see the landscapes of the Vineyard every day or dream about them from afar, one thing is certain — the Island is uniquely beautiful and retains a special, ecological character that many other places have lost. This lasting, natural beauty is due in large part to the native plants that have flourished here, evolving in our landscape for thousands of years. But more and more commonly, invasive, nonnative species are threatening to take over, presenting a danger not only to the look and feel of the Island but also to the countless creatures that call it home.

On an unseasonably balmy morning in September, Reade Kontje Milne had just ushered her two kids, Greta and Felix, off to school. Though she was running a little late for work at MacNelly Cohen architects in West Tisbury, she eked out some time to talk over coffee and eggs about her experience as one of the Vineyard’s few female carpenters.

One person’s indulgence is another’s convenience and, after all, Martha’s Vineyard is no stranger to excess in the summertime. But more visitors looking to spend more money in the name of creating a memorable vacation is excellent news for Island workers, who also have an agenda during the on-season.

Barney Zeitz may well be the hardest working artist on Martha’s Vineyard. He is certainly the most animated.

The term family compound once conjured up images of Kennedys in white pants, sipping cocktails on a sprawling lawn between jaunts on the family yacht. While in some circles family estates are still a luxury, compound living now also brings to mind a more modest scenario, often the only option for younger generations finding creative ways to stay on the Island they’ve grown to love.

Moira C. Silva

It is mid-February. Winter’s sea-frosted breath is seeping through the cracks in my house and chilling the bones of everyone we left behind. I admit that it gives me the tiniest bit of guilty pleasure to imagine this as I linger over brunch with my family in historic Winter Park, Fla., 90 miles from where I attended high school. Call it Vacation schadenfreude.

W hen Molly Finkelstein and her husband David built their house in West Tisbury more than 40 years ago, they weren’t exactly building with their forever home in mind. But instead of starting from scratch, they have decided to help the home they’ve grown to love grow with them, along the way upgrading and reimagining the space to suit the needs of their family.

On Martha’s Vineyard, where the grocery stores proudly sell Island-grown meat and kids plant veggies at school, growing one’s own food is hardly breaking news. But some Islanders have taken this Do-It-Yourself impulse a step further by designing and building their own kitchen equipment, from solar ovens to industrial smokers. And while they’re hard at work pumping out great meals, (in most cases using only the freshest, most-local ingredients), these homegrown slow cookers are also busy building another Island-inspired tradition: community.