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.

Bob Fuller of Chilmark studied marine biology as an undergraduate, before earning master’s degrees in aquaculture and aquatic pathology. His company, Fullers Energy, does everything from energy evaluations to solar and geothermal installations. Solar energy is a big part of his business and he says business is good.