A birthday and a new year. Ostensibly wiser. A gorgeous day and an opportunity to take Debbie somewhere she's never been before.
Fishers Island, in many ways, is a garden unto itself. It is a place where perfection abounds, simply because it is a matter of expectation. For most of the summer residents, all expectations are within reach of one's means. Fishers Island is very private. It's a place where there are no resorts, and other than a bar and grill named The Pequot Inne, there is little to do, lest you belong to a club, or are a guest of a resident.
Which brings us to The Briar Patch. "Look, Deb," I say. "They've changed this garden... Looks professional!"
"What do you mean?" she asks.
"We used to come here and pick berries... Elizabeth called them 'Bluejuice Berries," referring to the rows of plump blackberries that would grow through August.
Someone has taken this acre plot and
transformed it into a showplace to rival Mr. Mc Gregor's Garden. And who better to detail the transformation than my old friend, David Burnham, lifelong Fishers Island resident, and proprietor of Race Rock Garden Company. This is a company who's sole mission appears to be designing, constructing and maintaining meticulous hardscapes and landscapes on some of the most beautiful, unspoiled island property on this planet.
David explains that he inherited the $50.00 -a-year utility company lease on the approximate acre lot that is "The Briar Patch." A previous Briar Patch custodial family has decided to move back to the mainland. Eventually, David explains, Vicky, the wife of the curator of the Henry I. Ferguson Museum, who's mission is "the collection, preservation and exhibition of items of Pre-History, History and Natural History of Fishers Island and, through its Land Trust, the preservation in perpetuity of undeveloped property in its natural state."
After a year or two, Race Rock Garden Company takes the garden back from Vicky. Mirapa, a Race Rock employee, has been responsible for the garden, and its magical look, ever since. "It's not the perfect thing in my business plan, but we're trying to get it interesting," David explains. In true Mr. McGregor style, he laments the presence of rabbits in the garden, and I refrain from asking him if he might eventually dress his rabbits the way Beatrix Potter drew them. After all, this is Fishers Island.
"We just want to have the vegetables ready before the summer people leave the island," he declares.
A right, proper goal, indeed.
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