If you are like me (or more precisely, if you are me), you’ve been out in the woods a lot lately, searching for sweet spring edibles. We’ve already discussed ramps. I probably won’t tell you about morels, because there don’t seem to be that many of them around this year, and I don’t want you to take any that might otherwise find their way into my life. But we can talk about fiddlehead ferns.The woods here are full of ferns that are just now pushing their curled heads up and beginning to stretch their long necks so that they look like ... fiddleheads. Not all of these are edible ferns, though. When we write about foraged foods in this column, the emphasis isn’t necessarily on the health benefits of the food. We concentrate more on how to avoid poisoning yourself. With edible ferns, you probably won’t get sick (immediately) no matter which type you eat. But most ferns aren’t that much fun to eat and all of them have some carcinogens in them. Generally we encourage people worried about cancer to eat lots of leafy greens and lots of local produce that haven’t been treated with chemicals. Because they have carcinogens, obviously, if you’re worried about cancer risk, just skip the fiddleheads. Because really, they’re kind of an acquired taste anyway. Even many foragers shrug them off as interesting maybe but not that interesting. I like them. But really I only like them about once a year. Which is fine because that’s about as often as they are available.You can of course buy fiddleheads at many area grocery stores, such as LaBonne’s in Salisbury. But most of the fun with foraged foods is the foraging. So, again, there are enough ferns around here to keep any forager busy for days. But it’s hard to know which are the edible and less-carcinogenic fiddleheads. What you want to look for are the very thick green ones with a light dusting of brown plant matter around the fiddlehead. These will eventually grow into what is known as an ostrich fern, which is actually one of the prettiest and most delicate of all the ferns that grow around here. They can grow very tall, up to 6 feet. Their fronds are long and soft and each one is made up of dozens of smaller fronds that are notched around the edges. They are feathery. But of course if you’re looking for fiddleheads now, you won’t have the fully developed leaves to help you. This week’s photograph shows a fiddlehead found in Lakeville. If you’d like to see what a mature plant looks like, search online for an image of an ostrich fern. And if you’d like to know how to eat them: Shake the fiddleheads in a brown paper bag so they shed some of their brown sheathing. Steam them until they’re tender but not soft or mushy. It’s a thin line between a succulent edible and something the dog won’t eat. Sautée them in butter and garlic and a variety of fresh herbs such as chive blossoms, which are everywhere now. Serve them as a sidedish or on a big bowl of pasta. They have a kind of nutty taste and texture that, once you acquire the taste, is lovely.
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Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
Provided
Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
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