Anh Ho is living the dream.
Growing a business: Reneé Clermont’s Second Nature at Eden
5 THINGS TO EAT at Indigo, from spinach pakora to OG butter chicken
Talking about an evolution: a Q&A with South Mountain Co. CEO Deirdre Bohan
With two booths at the West Tisbury Farmers’ Market and 5,000 dahlias to tend, Anh Ho is living the dream.
By Louisa Hufstader
Reneé Clermont is known for her garden and landscape designs across the Island. Now her business has a home — and a home and garden store — in Second Nature at Eden.
By Haley Sandlow
Ah, the off-season has arrived. Not the off-off-season. We’re not ready for that yet, though I’ll be glad when the ticks hibernate. But this season, this glorious Island fall, seems extrawelcome this year. The quiet is soothing after the cacophony of summer. It’s lovely to be able to go into town and shop, to find a parking place, to run into friends who also seem more relaxed. A nursery stroll — for pumpkins (page 5) or fall-blooming plants — is a fun weekend pastime. You can say hello to Reneé Clermont (page 17), the new owner of Second Nature at Eden nursery in Vineyard Haven when you stop by. She’d love to talk to you about native plants and show you the new She Shed, full of decorative home and garden items. While you’re out, grab some home and garden inspiration in the form of new books (page 5) at Bunch of Grapes Bookstore.
And now is a perfect time to enjoy the West Tisbury Farmers’ Market. It’s much less crowded and the fall harvest is breathtaking. You can find Anh Ho (page 14) selling his eggrolls at Khen’s Little Kitchen while friends help out at his dahlia booth. Anh is one of those inspiring Islanders who combines his passion with his work. I’m just not sure when he sleeps!
I hope you can find time for a stroll, to meet up with friends, to decorate a pumpkin. Enjoy the best of fall on the Vineyard!
- Susie Middleton Features
4 EDITOR’S NOTE
5 ON THE ROCK/BOOKS
8 VINE & DINE
Five Things to Eat at Indigo
10 Q&A
Talking About an Evolution: An Interview with South Mountain Company’s CEO, Deirdre Bohan.
23 BY THE NUMBERS In the Wild
EDITOR
Susie Middleton
ART DIRECTOR
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Burrell, Molly Coogan, Ray Ewing, Laura
Holmes Haddad, Louisa Hufstader, Haley Sandlow, Jeanna Shepard
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Maybe Halloween isn’t your thing. Maybe the idea of pumpkin spice makes you cringe. But it’s hard not to feel cheered by bright orange pumpkins this time of year. The Island may not have the most colorful foliage, but we do have pumpkins – in all shapes and sizes. Even some that the squirrels can’t eat.
1. If someone you love has a birthday in October, you can’t go wrong with a beautiful glass pumpkin from Martha’s Vineyard Glassworks. With their whimsical curly stems and curvy shapes, the pumpkins are the most popular item the glassworks makes. No two are the same. Prices range from $85 to $450. Custom orders for larger pumpkins are available. Martha’s Vineyard Glassworks, 683 State road, West Tisbury; mvglassworks.com.
2. Pumpkins can feel cozy too. We found these adorable handknit pumpkins at Coastal Supply Co. in Vineyard Haven. They are made locally by Vickie Kusleika and come in three sizes: small ($10), medium ($16), and large ($27). Coastal Supply Co., 65 Main street, Vineyard Haven; coastalsupplymv.com.
3. Wouldn’t you love to eat your pumpkin soup out of a mini-pumpkin cocotte? This one is made of high-fired stoneware with a porcelain enamel glaze so you can bake with it and serve in it. Each has a capacity of 12 ounces. They’re in stock at LeRoux at Home for $50. LeRoux at Home, 62 Main street, Vineyard Haven; lerouxkitchen.com.
4. At Rosewater Market in Edgartown, they cleverly get around the whole “pumpkin spice” problem by offering a delicious “fall” spiced latte with a soothing mix of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, clove, allspice and a bit of both brown and white sugar. (Bonus pumpkin design if you ask your barista!) Lattes come in three sizes: small ($4.50), medium ($5.00), and large ($5.50). Rosewater Market, 20 S. Summer street, Edgartown; rosewatermv.com.
5. Not to be missed: the Morning Glory Farm Pumpkin Festival on Saturday, October 18, from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. From pumpkin carving to the pumpkin trebuchet, there’s something for everyone. Morning Glory Farm, 120 Meshacket Road, Edgartown; morningloryfarm.com.
BY MOLLY COOGAN
With the earlier sunsets, evenings now arrive with a bit of a chill and weekend days are occupied by the chores that mark the change of seasons. We clean up our garden beds and plant bulbs, we check our chimneys and stack wood, and we make sure we’re ready for anything that the New England weather may send our way. Then once all the chores are done, we settle in for prime reading season, and these book recommendations — which center around the home and garden — should serve as inspiration and a reminder of what’s so special about the changing seasons on our beautiful Island.
1. The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise by Olivia Laing (W. W. Norton & Company, $18.99) was a 2024 finalist for the Kirkus Prize in Nonfiction and is, in part, a memoir about the author’s experience restoring an 18th century walled garden in Suffolk. But it’s also a meditation on the importance of gardens and the possibilities contained within. Laing challenges the reader to consider two questions: “Who gets to live in paradise?” and “How can we share it while there’s still time?”
The editors of Gardens Illustrated share their favorite garden paradises in their first book. 2. The New Beautiful: Inspiring Gardens for a Resilient Future (Rizzoli International Publications, $85) is full of lush photos and engaging writing. The 480-page coffee table book features over 50 gardens by renowned garden designers and includes a wide range of locations and sizes.
If your coffee table isn’t large enough for a book of that size, consider something from this new series: 3. The Little Wild Library: Simple Things to Do with the Plants Around You by Clare Gogerty (David & Charles, $12.99) offers charming little volumes, each focused on a common plant. Choose from dandelion, elder, nettle, clover, wild rose or hawthorn and then put your foraging skills to the test.
Though some people might be insulted if someone implied that they were raised in a barn, I think there are plenty of us who would enthusiastically reply, “I wish!” — especially if it was one of the barns featured in 4. At Home in the American Barn (Rizzoli International Publications, $19.98).
With text by architect James B. Garrison and photographs by Geoffrey Gross and Brandt Bolding, this nicely priced hardcover book (reissued this September; first published in 2016) features 21 timber-frame barn conversions with photos of their eclectic interiors and bucolic settings.
And as familiar as barns are to our local landscape, there may be no structure more intrinsic to New England vernacular architecture than the Cape-style home. 5. The Cape Cod Cottage by architectural historian William Morgan (Abbeville Press, $19.95) explores the history of the cottage and is full of appealing black-
and-white photographs of examples of this iconic style, including a section on the Vineyard’s own Vincent House in Edgartown. The book was originally published in 2006 but re-released by the publisher this past March.
Molly Coogan is co-owner of Bunch of Grapes Bookstore.
BY LAURA HOLMES HADDAD • PHOTOS BY RAY EWING
It’s safe to say that this fall there was a high degree of anticipation around a new Indian restaurant coming to Edgartown. Fortunately, Babu Kognati and his team at Indigo restaurant have met the moment, transforming the former Sharky’s Cantina Edgartown location into an airy, year-round restaurant featuring a wide range of traditional Indian dishes with a few modern twists. Oh, yes, and it happens to be delicious too.
The standouts are classic Indian dishes, including those made in the clay oven (tandoor), a variety of curries (both vegetarian and meat-based) and rice dishes (biryani). There are seven
types of house-made naan bread, served warm with two dipping sauces. If you like spicy, try the onion chili naan; the onions and chilis make an excellent contrast with the soft bread. Indigo can be a night out for everyone in the group, with vegetarian, dairy-free and gluten-free options available. These are generous portions: each curry entrée can feed two, and the appetizers could feed two to three people. Those with a sweet tooth will find something appealing on the Indian-flavored dessert list. There are also a few items for the picky eater in the bunch, including pasta with tomato or cream sauce and a cheeseburger.
The food travels well, so takeout is a great option if you’d rather eat at home.
The spacious bar is a handy spot for drinks or for dining and watching a game on one of two televisions. Indigo has an extensive wine list, eight beers on tap, craft cocktails and mocktails. (The Masala Fizz is a standout nonalcoholic option.) With two dining room spaces and a renovated outdoor deck, groups of all sizes (including those with strollers) can be accommodated. There is plenty of parking, and it’s open for lunch too.
The welcoming staff and fresh, vibrant flavors at Indigo will surely make it a year-round favorite for Islanders who want to embrace the flavors of India. Following are five things we love, though you’ll find plenty more to explore on the menu.
Laura Holmes Haddad is a former cookbook editor and a regular contributor to The Vine
An Indian staple, butter chicken is a simple yet flavorful dish: boneless chicken pieces are simmered in a mildly-spiced creamy tomato curry sauce. This version does not disappoint, and is served with plain Basmati rice. Available in mild, medium or spicy. Stick with the mild if it’s your first visit.
Fragrant warm spices elevate Basmati rice in this vegetarian dish. Mixed with tons of vegetables (including peas, green beans, carrots, corn and sautéed onions), chunks of paneer (a soft cheese common in Indian cuisine) and topped with fresh mint, it makes a satisfying main course.
3) SPINACH PAKORA ($16)
This vegetarian appetizer is a perfect shareable dish to start the evening. These bite-sized spinach leaves are coated in gram (chickpea) flour mixed with Indian spices and then deep-fried. The result is a plate of light, crispy bites to dip in the sweet tamarind sauce and bright, tangy mint chutney served alongside. Served with a pint of beer or a mocktail, this might just become your new favorite bar snack.
4) LAMB SAAG ($28)
This comforting, creamy stew combines classic Indian spices like garam masala in a spinach sauce with melt-in-your-mouth chunks of braised lamb. It is served with plain Basmati rice.
5) MALAI KOFTA ($25)
Traditionally served at festivals and celebrations in India, this dish features potato-vegetable dumplings (similar to potato croquettes) served in a spiced, slightly sweet tomato-based sauce made with cashews. It feels decadent and tastes delicious, whether you’re celebrating or not.
Indigo
268 Upper Main street, Edgartown (508) 939-4030
Open 7 days, 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Reservations available online. Takeout orders by phone only.
An interview with South Mountain Company’s CEO, Deirdre Bohan.
BY SISSY BIGGERS • PHOTOS BY JEANNA SHEPARD
When Deirdre Bohan welcomed me to South Mountain Company’s West Tisbury headquarters, she introduced me to a firm that has spent 50 years shaping homes and community institutions across Martha’s Vineyard. She took clear pleasure in showing the workshops: stacks of reclaimed wood labeled with their provenance, a blend of vintage and state-of-theart tools, and worktables spread with samples for a project with Martha’s Vineyard Community Services. The first to step into the CEO role after founder John Abrams retired, Deirdre displayed both a command of multiple projects and a deep commitment to South Mountain’s holistic approach —where beauty, sustainability and craftsmanship converge.
Between her role at South Mountain and her husband Dave Diriwachter’s
ownership of AutoEuropa in Vineyard Haven, life is full raising their son, Declan — now a freshman at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School — in their Oak Bluffs bungalow. Deirdre first put down Vineyard roots greeting customers at The Black Dog Tavern; she looks at that experience as part of the foundation of her Island community today. Just as importantly, she learned the value of having a great boss who made her feel valued — which she hopes is reflected in her own management style today.
Q. Tell me about your journey to the Island.
A. My parents bought a house in downtown Vineyard Haven. My mother had grown up in Rhode Island and wanted something similar for her kids. I went to seven different schools
in three different countries and this was the one place I had community. And when I was eligible to vote, it’s the place I decided that I cared about most and had been more influenced by than any of the other places I’d ever lived.
Q. What is the memory of meeting John Abrams 30 years ago?
A. I had been spending winters in the Caribbean, and I was tired of having no money and needed a year-round job. I answered an ad in the paper and remember vividly being in our office next to Allen Farm, and in the interview, something I said made John laugh and it was like, “Oh, this just feels comfortable.”
Q. What does South Mountain do differently than other firms on the Island?
A. We are architects, construction, solar and interiors all integrated into one. You come to us for a house and we are with you until the towels are on the racks. The planning and design process is maybe a year and a half, and then it’s another year and half to
build. It’s really a strong relationship sharing those three years. There’s no question as to who’s doing this or that. We’re responsible for everything. It’s wonderful to help people realize their dreams.
Q. Is caretaking and property management part of the model?
A. It’s not a big part, but we are thinking about expanding it. Right now we have 34 sets of keys to all our clients’ homes, and over the winter they will ask us to do repairs or rebuild something or replace a bathroom floor. So, it’s a lifelong relationship — for all of us and for the client — built on trust.
Q. What do you think accounts for South Mountain’s staying power, and how does its Island-grown quality contribute to the strength of your professional community?
A. Fifty years of evolution. Fundamentally, we employ people year-round with full healthcare for you and your family and with other kinds of benefits. That’s guaranteed stability
with competitive wages that brings you in and keeps you here. And once you’re here, you kind of really like the people you work with, people you can sit down with and have lunch with every day — which we do together.
Q. I got a sense of that familial feel with the kitchen table at the entrance to the office. Today it had a pie on it.
A. Well, the birthday cakes (what we do!) … everyone gets to choose their flavor, baked by Amy Miller, and today it’s a pie. But seriously it’s the ownership that is the real factor. After five years you’re eligible to buy in as an owner of the company and you get one share. The board is now made up of 20 people, just the South Mountain owners.
Q. Tell me about this leadership transition. You moved from bookkeeper to COO to CEO through 30 years. Did the company give you the sense that this top job was your path?
A. With a degree in computer science, I came here to digitize all the finances. And when I finished, I went to John and said, “I think we need an interiors department to include all the furniture and finishes and everything for the house – coordinated with the architect from the very beginning – to look like it was conceived all together.” That was the vision, and to start I took a night class at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) for a couple of sessions. And since I already had the job, I didn’t need the certificate. So, with people to help me, I started doing interiors and eventually became COO in 2007.
Q. That’s a very encouraging business culture! Does that same opportunity and flexible spirit play out today even with a hybrid workplace?
A. There’s lots of flexibility and lots of, “That’s a good idea. Let’s try that, let’s examine that as a group and see if we can take it to the next level.” You’re welcome to come up and say whatever you want. It really is that kitchen-table culture. Most of us bring our lunch and eat it here at the table in the winter and outside in the summer. And everyone contributes. Some people have found that they could get more concentrated, focused work done at home, and they’re happy to come here to collaborate with those close connections. And we are
respectful of the people in the field. Yet there would be no home here if there was nobody here.
Q. What are some of your high-profile projects that we might see around the Island right now?
A. Our core business is residential architecture and construction, and you don’t always see those — a house on Stonewall we just finished, or the fifth house we’ve built for a family on a 70-acre piece of land on North Road. With our fiftieth year and this leadership transition, we’re reintroducing ourselves and our beautiful residential projects. People know us for [Martha’s Vineyard] Community Services, Chilmark Preschool, Island Grown Initiative, and Camp Jabberwocky, but really we do exceptional residential work alongside institutional projects.
Q. Why do you think the institutions come to South Mountain?
A. Because we’ll do the whole thing,
and we also have the advantage of a crew embedded in the community. Everybody lives here, kids go to school together, everyone has health insurance. It’s a healthy environment — there’s no yelling on the job — and that matters.
Q. Is there a quintessential South Mountain look?
A. There isn’t, though there used to be. As part of our reintroduction, you’ll see on our website projects as varied as a Camp Ground cottage, a one-story house in central West Tisbury and a 100-yearold home on East Chop. We can do what you want us to do. It’s really about your vision for being on the Vineyard.
Q. Sustainability has been central to South Mountain since the 1970s. How do you define that approach today?
A. In the last two years, we’ve developed a model to guide us and our clients called the seven senses: place, water, energy, materials, well-being, equity and experience. We call this framework: live fully, tread lightly.
Q. Your very own cool vintage kitchen in Oak Bluffs shows off your early design training — it even reminds me of Julia Child’s famous Cambridge kitchen.
A. I know! She had the pegboard, I have the rack. I bought my charming bungalow-style house when I was single, after reading an article about bungalow kitchens that said vintage appliances were the right scale for the style. People ask about my stove, “You cook on that?!” You get used to it — I cook and bake all our meals on it.
Q. Wearing your property service and renovation hat, what tip do you have for homeowners as we ease into the colder months?
A. Be prepared that whatever you’re asking for, it may be bigger than you think it is. It may be more complicated than you think!
Sissy Biggers is the Q&A columnist for The Vine and a regular contributor to Martha’s Vineyard Magazine
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With two booths at the West Tisbury Farmers’ Market and 5,000 dahlias to tend, Anh Ho is living the dream.
BY LOUISA HUFSTADER • PHOTOS BY JEANNA SHEPARD
What does the best Vietnamese food on Martha’s Vineyard have to do with some of the Island’s most glorious dahlias? They both come from Khen’s Little Kitchen chef-owner Anh Ho, whose grandmother Thi Khen Tran first began selling authentic Vietnamese food at the West Tisbury Farmers’ Market in 1987.
One of the market’s most popular vendors for his spring rolls, egg rolls and extra-crunchy chili crisp, Anh added the dahlia booth late last year after a pandemic-era project blossomed into a major obsession.
“My mom and I bought, like, 10 tubers off of this website, just for the heck of it,” he said, during a tour of
the West Tisbury property where his grandmother lived and cooked before her death in 2017. It’s Anh’s home now, and he has surrounded it with about 5,000 dahlia plants representing 30 varieties of the vibrantly-colored flowers.
That first purchase of tubers during the pandemic soon led to more as Anh discovered the beauty and diversity of the dahlia genus, which blooms in a wide array of sizes and shapes and virtually every color except blue.
“I’m completely obsessed with them,” he said. “I used to grow other flowers too, but last year I just went to all dahlias.”
In early September, Anh’s flower
beds and hoop houses blazed with hundreds of blossoms in brilliant shades of bronze, yellow, pink and red among their dark leafy stems. Some dahlia varieties have multi-colored petals, while others actually change color over their period of bloom, Anh said.
“Eventually, this yellow is going to turn pink,” he said, indicating one planting of lemon-colored dahlias.
Along with his flowers, Anh grows food in West Tisbury as well — mint, scallions and other herbs and vegetables for Vietnamese cuisine that made his grandmother locally famous and that continues to draw eager customers to the Khen’s Little Kitchen booth at the market.
Watermelon vines sprawl outside the hoop houses, which Anh builds
himself using a hoop-bender that bends metal pipes into hoop-shaped supports. He also has set up an automatic system for watering and fertilizing, so that he can work in the kitchen while the plants are being irrigated and fed.
“ The only thing that we do by hand is harvesting,” said Anh, who immigrated from Vietnam with his parents in the late 1990s to join his grandmother on the Vineyard. His mother, Phieu Thi Phan, and father Khuyen Kim, Ho, still live in Oak Bluffs.
After attending Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, Anh earned a scholarship to study engineering at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. In his first year, however, he realized his real calling was in the kitchen and switched to the Johnson &
Wales University culinary program in Rhode Island, where he discovered the science and craft of baking bread.
“I fell in love with it, like, immediately,” Anh said.
He was working happily at the celebrated Clear Flour Bread bakery in Brookline when his grandmother grew ill with the cancer she would battle for 10 years.
“She needed someone to run the business, to help her with the medical bills,” said Anh, who thought at first it would be a temporary commitment.
“My plan was to go back to Boston to bake bread,” he said. But as one year rolled into another, Anh kept on cooking and selling his grandmother’s cuisine at the farmers’ market, becoming the new face of a beloved Island tradition and continuing the business after her death.
He recently introduced the Khen’s Little Kitchen chili crisp after sampling the condiment at a New York restaurant, though he initially pooh-poohed the idea when a cousin suggested it.
“Who is going to pay for fried garlic?” Anh recalled asking. But social media posts about the crispy, spicy oil changed his mind, and he now sells his own version, laden with crunchy garlic and onions.
With two booths at the farmers’ market, Anh relies on help from family friends to sell the flowers while he tends the Khen’s Little Kitchen booth. The rest of his dahlia operation is a one-man show, developed by trial and error over the past few years.
“I like to figure out all the steps,
because I do this by myself,” said Anh, who propagates most of his dahlias from tubers or cuttings, also known as clones. He will continue to harvest flowers for the market until the season’s first killing frost, which Anh hopes will hold off until November. Anh hasn’t been growing dahlias long enough to be sure just when the frost will come, he said, but he knows what to expect: all 5,000 plants will be blackened and dead, leaving him to clear away the debris and lift their tubers from the soil.
“It’ll take me about a month to clean it all up,” he said. Anh uses a hose to clean the tubers of dirt before dividing and sorting them for next year’s planting, which actually gets under way in the current year. After a few weeks of storage in his basement, Anh said, the tubers are ready to begin their cycle anew with a gradual awakening to warmer indoor temperatures.
“By December 17, I’ll start to wake them up, and then by January 17, I’ll pot them up, and then I have a nursery,” he said. “By March 17, they’re in the ground.”
Anh’s hoop houses keep the tubers snug through the chilly days of Island spring, giving his plants a head start on the cut-flower season. This nearly year-round production schedule tends to keep him close to home, Anh said, but he doesn’t mind.
“I actually love doing this so much [that] any time I go on a trip, it’s more painful for me to go away and worry about them,” he said.
Louisa Hufstader is senior writer for the Vineyard Gazette.
Reneé Clermont is known for her garden and landscape designs across the Island. Now her business has a home — and a home and garden store — in Second Nature at Eden.
BY HALEY SANDLOW • PHOTOS BY JEANNA SHEPARD
If you were casually driving by the Eden nursery on State road in Vineyard Haven this past season, you might not have noticed the second sign below Eden that reads “Second Nature Designs.” That’s because, in true Reneé Clermont spirit, it is partially hidden by flowers.
The black-eyed Susans, salvia and hydrangeas create layers of texture, colors and scale — a mere glimpse of the garden and landscaping work Reneé has done for dozens of clients on-Island over the past 20 years with her business, Second Nature Designs. With an eye towards her own future
capacity in gardening (which, Reneé admits, is pretty backbreaking), she has been looking for the past few years for a commercial space to settle into and start a home and garden store. She bought the Eden nursery from Donaroma’s last year, keeping alive key elements of the place’s charm while also infusing her own unique style into it. The result is Second Nature at Eden.
“It’s organized chaos,” says Reneé, laughing in the shade of Boston ferns and hanging baskets, wind chimes tinkling behind her voice. Around the corner her manager Brandie Lewis helps a homeowner pick out plants for
her window boxes, stopping Reneé to ask how much bigger a certain plant will grow.
The pair worked together to set up the nursery in March, a thriving place of plants for home gardeners, landscapers and the more-thanoccasional wanderer. They work directly with customers, pulling plants from their stock of Proven Winners™, Donaroma’s and native plants to help each envision a thriving garden or window box from the parking lot of the nursery.
“I’m honing in on what’s lacking on the Island — customer service and attention,” Reneé says. “It’s what people look for. They want to know about the plants, they want to know what goes with what. I’m hoping that that’s what my name and my business has brought to this space.”
Her landscape design business includes plant-shopping trips with her clients, which she now conducts at her own nursery. She still uses plants from other nurseries, like Donaroma’s, who have the capacity to handle her landscaping business’s high demand for plants that she does not have.
“ They’re my allies for my whole business plan,” she says. Instead of competitors, they work alongside each other: Donaroma’s is where Reneé got her professional start in gardening. Brandie is another reminder of Eden’s Donaroma’s era, having worked at the nursery 10 years before it became Reneé’s.
“Reneé has a great eye,” says Brandie. “She and I have the same vision of how we want this place to be — organized and clean.”
And their strengths complement each other. Brandie is the go-to for all things on pollinators, having raised monarchs in her butterfly tent for many years. The greenhouse in the back is filled with lettuce and herb plugs Brandie started from seed. From Reneé, Brandie says she’s learned how to talk to and teach customers, as well as a huge amount about plants.
“ Those are the people I want here, the people who love plants and love learning about them,” Reneé says. “When they ask questions, it’s like teaching a third grader about something that fascinates them. That brings me a real sense of
accomplishment.”
Reneé brought a native plants section to the nursery, including information about the types of pollinators each one attracts. She’s also brought a HomeGoods-inspired shop to the shed on the property, giving it a catchy name: the She Shed. Inside the shed, she sells faux flowers, vases, antiques and seeds.
“You know how guys have their man cave? The She Shed is similar for women,” Reneé says. “There’s plants and it’s relaxing, and it smells like cinnamon and apples.”
In the future, Reneé says she hopes to make the She Shed feel more personal and local, preserving a gardening sanctuary vibe while stocking unique products. To do that, Reneé has already started to bring in items from local businesses, from Cackleberry Farm’s vegetables to Pilot Hill Farm’s cut flowers, Nisa Mars’s paintings and Barbara Reynolds’s photography.
In addition to knowing her vendors, Reneé knows her clients. When a branch from the resident peach tree in the backyard tumbled to the ground, bringing with it dozens of peaches,
Reneé passed them out to customers in her store. Many customers are also people who’ve stopped in at Eden for years and have worked with Brandie to fill their cars with plants.
“ The Eden name is nostalgic,” Reneé says. “People know that they can come here and get unique things, unique plants.”
Once her season ends mid-October, Reneé will shut down the nursery for the winter. The winter months are reserved for garden design and planning, ordering plants, preparing for Christmas in Edgartown and taking a vacation with her son.
Soon enough it will be time for the second season, which Reneé and Brandie will go into with better expectations of the flow of the summer. They’re also working on new ideas to draw more people to the location.
“Plants make people happy,” Reneé says. “And I love this place. Just like a garden, I kind of want to evolve it, and keep it new and fresh and beautiful.”
Haley Sandlow is a journalist from Chicago, Ill. She is currently covering business, health and agriculture in Charlottesville, Va.
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Contact us today at 508-693-4846 or visit bartlett.com to learn more. AMERICA’S TREES ARE WORTH SAVING.
An open collective of Independent Practitioners; Learned & Caring, Integrative & Intuitive Therapeutic Body & Energy Work Well-Being Relaxation to Specific Medical Conditions Thank you for getting in Touch. Join Us and Be Welcomed 508-693-4411 (O) ◆ 508-981-1999 (C) ◆ 20 Old Coach Rd, W.T. Bodysensemv@gmail.com ◆ I.P. inquiries ◆ www.bodysensemv.com
56 Edgartown Road, Oak Bluffs, MA 02557
vineyard@chapmanfuneral.com Chapmanfuneral.com
508-693-1495
Falmouth, E. Falmouth, Wareham, Bridgewater, E. Bridgewater, Marstons Mills, Mashpee, Yarmouth, Harwich, Nantucket
EXPERT TREE CLIMBERS
• Tree pruning, removal, stump grinding, brush cutting and lot clearing.
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10% off coupon for new customers If you want quality, call QualiTree
Discover comfort with Brennan & Co. — your trusted HVAC experts on the island. Building long-term partnerships to deliver exceptional results for our customers.
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Proud to serve Martha’s Vineyard. Whether you need a repair or routine maintenanceWe service all brands.
Real certified technicians (not upsell salesmen) Free estimates and 2nd opinions
Custom and standard maintenance plans available Free maintenance and repairs to all 100% disabled veterans (ID.me). Thank you for your service to this great nation. Emergency service available Financing available
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BY SUSIE MIDDLETON • ILLUSTRATIONS BY CHRIS BURRELL
BOG BOUNTY. Vineyard Open Land Foundation’s cranberry bog off Lambert’s Cove Road produces approximately one ton (or 2,000 pounds) of certified organic cranberries each year and distributes them to Island stores. The Cranberry Acres team dry-harvests the berries using self-propelled mechanical pickers that comb the bog.
ON THE WING. In September, birders counted 17 osprey sitings in one day, including one spectacular showdown between a nesting osprey and a marauding bald eagle, according to the Vineyard Gazette. Early fall is the start of the great hawk’s migration south; they’ll be back onIsland in March.
FISH FRENZY. The Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass & Bluefish Derby turned 80 this year. Begun not long after World War II ended, that first Derby attracted nearly 1,000 participants, with a majority of entrants – representing 29 states and Ontario – coming from the mainland.
TOOTHLESS WONDER. During this fall’s powwow of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), the Aquinnah Tribe’s Natural Resource Department displayed baleen from a 27-foot-long, 6,000-pound Minke whale that washed ashore in Chilmark in May. Up to 340 baleen plates with hair-like bristles hang on each side of the whale’s large mouth in place of teeth.
323 ACRES
Area of Squibnocket Pond Reservation in Chilmark.
194 ACRES
Area of Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in Edgartown.
30.6 ACRES
Area of Tom's Neck Preserve on Chappaquiddick.
18 ACRES
Area of Featherstone Farm in Oak Bluffs.
1.8 ACRES
Area of Music Street Fields in West Tisbury.
From cedar shakes to copper accents, Associate Roofing brings superior craftsmanship to the rooftops of Martha’s Vineyard. Trusted by builders and homeowners alike, our work is built not only to endure, but to endure beautifully. Proudly serving Martha’s Vineyard year round for more than 40 years.
Associate Roofing is trusted by Islanders who know the value of a roof done right the first time.” ~Owner, Mike Lynch
Owner Mike Lynch and General Manager Paul Lynch < visit our website for $1,000 savings.