Wild Berries

Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • July 2, 2013

Wild strawberries are out! And if you can get to them before the birds and the bunnies and other small Nantucket mammals, then you are in for a delicious treat! They are TINY as you can see by the image but they are wonderfully delicious and so flavorful. You have to look hard as this strawberry grows extremely close to the ground and like other varieties has a trailing tendency in its growth. The leaves are small and at this time they have a few that turn red but keep your eyes peeled and you will be rewarded.


It makes me think about Maria Mitchell and her siblings as children and a group of them possibly rambling over the moors in the afternoon summer sun, picking berries that were ripe and eating them for lunch, or being sent out by Lydia Mitchell to gather whatever berries might be in fruit for a pie – it probably may have also been to get them out from underfoot! Blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, elderberries, even cranberries in the marshy areas in the fall.

Today, it’s still a nice thing to do and rewarding. I found these strawberries as I was walking our dog. She was less than pleased as I took my time to pick and eat a few – needless to say, none made them back home for my husband to eat. Blackberries are out too – I collected a nice handful on my parents’ land this weekend, eating them as I walked with their dog. Now, I am closely watching the blueberries now, hoping I get to them before the birds. I now have two bushes of my own, but I still prefer to pick the wild blueberries. Given the winter and spring, I am hoping for big and flavorful ones. They work nicely for muffins and if you make several batches, you can eat fresh blueberry muffins all winter long. We used to pick low bush when I was young – my Mother, brother, and I with colanders or coffee cans with string through them to put around our necks – out in the moors in a secret spot that will not be revealed! If someone happened upon us and asked what we were doing, the response was usually, “Nothing,” as we did not want anyone to catch on. We worked quietly, eating a few, listening to the birds, avoiding poison ivy, and on a rare occasion emitting a short loud scream as a snake crossed our path – snakes are fine, just not when they surprise you. I still prefer low bush – a bit backbreaking, it would help if one were the size of the Tinies or the Borrowers – but still well worth it. And when you bite into a fresh, homemade blueberry muffin − and you picked the blueberries yourself – even better!


JNLF

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Spring Has Sprung!

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • April 27, 2026
And with it, some of the heirloom daffodils I purchased for the Mitchell House last fall. A place was recommended to me by two longtime friends of the MMA and gardeners extraordinaire. It is called Old House Gardens. I ordered a small amount as we now have a plethora of voles on Vestal Street – I believe I complained about them here last year. They won’t eat daffodils so I got a few of “Butter and Eggs” (1777) and “Conspicuus” (1869) as either of these could have appeared in William Mitchell’s gardens. They were not listed in a letter from John Quincy Adams that I have mentioned before. But, Adams was not here visiting the Mitchell family when the daffodils would have been in bloom. The one pictured here is “Butter and Eggs” not completely unfurled. JNLF

Maria Mitchell In Her Own Words

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • April 13, 2026
April 1878. The conference of Woman’s Congress officers met in Washington. Because we had one member in Washington we were invited to meet in that place. I went on at a great expense of time, money and strength . . . . We were in session at least nine hours. I think that more than half of that was used by Mrs. Spencer and Mrs. Sayles. The only motion which I carried through was to pay the Secretary $200 . . . In 1878, that was a long train(s) ride to Washington, DC from Poughkeepsie, NY and Vassar College. If Maria seems perturbed, I am sure she was. As president of the Association for the Advancement of Women, and thus the Congress, she had to be at the meeting. But it appears she did not get much say in the nine hour meeting. This was also a long trip to take when she had another, even longer trip coming up in July of 1878. In that month, she would travel with students and her sister, Phebe, out west to Colorado to view the eclipse and that train and wagon ride I am sure was weighing on her mind – not just the physical trip but making her way for an important eclipse viewing event. JNLF

Raise The Roof!

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • April 6, 2026
Well, actually replace the roof! With funding from the Community Preservation Act and the work of Lydon and Sons, Inc. the Mitchell House is getting a new roof. The current one had come to the end of its useful life. A cedar roof can last a long time – longer than asphalt – and is more historically accurate. The roof we are removing was installed in about 1992 – replacing a roof from the 1930s that was not cedar but a combination of materials that actually yes, did last sixty years. The unfortunate issue has arisen that the roofwalk (walk) has to be replaced. This is NOT the original walk – nor that old of a walk. It’s likely from the 1970s or so and has been cobbled at over time. It’s not a functioning walk – no one is allowed on it – but the Mitchell House needs it none the less. Maria Mitchell and her father, William, likely used the walk for astronomical observations – in addition to the yard – but the walk is also protected as part of the preservation easement on the House. Walks – NOT and NEVER called widow’s walks – were used for preventing and putting out chimney fire and roof fires. In a place where wood was expensive and had to be brought from “the main” these were purely utilitarian. What good Quaker (or non-Quaker) would build a platform for his wife to stare out to the harbor to see if her husband was on his way home? The other issue is that the walk was completely resting on the ridge board – and actually was notched to accept the pitch and tip of the ridge board so they couldn’t work around it. I suspect this may have been the ways walks were once built – and also a crafty and smart thinking carpenter who came up with the idea. It makes the walk lower. But between that issue and the age of the walk and then the blizzard of February 2026 that packed gusts over 83 MPH (that’s Category 1 hurricane winds) the walk gave in. Balusters had been knocked out and the railings were loose and pulling away from the posts. So, we will also be working with Barber and Sons to create a new roofwalk – and they agreed to do this for us quickly which is also no small feat given how busy everyone is these days. So from the bottom of the Mitchell House’s heart (and mine) a big thank you to Chris Lydon and Lydon and Sons and crew, Barber and Sons / Beau and Nate Barber, the Community Preservation Committee, and Nantucket Preservation Trust (our easement holder)! JNLF
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