Burdog

One day recently a friend was standing on the porch of The Beekman removing  burdock burrs from his jacket—stragglers from an early-morning walk around the farm.

Not being from the country, he had no idea that trying to remove the burrs (which inspired the creation of velcro half a century ago) while wearing wool gloves would only make the sticky situation worse.

Michael Whaling happened by the farm at just the right moment to come to the rescue.  Being both an artist and a naturalist, Michael never wastes an opportunity to create something from nature.

The result: charming little sculptures easy enough for any-aged child to make

After assembling the basic shape, you can fine-tune the sculpture by mashing in some of the burrs.  Michael used some of the silky hairs from some nearby milkweed pods to create “fur”

We look forward to seeing what ideas you come up with.

Shortly after moving to Beekman Farm, we heard tell of an open house just outside of town at a place called Thistle Hill.   As if we needed any additional reason to go, when we heard the host was a person named Rabbit Goody, our attendance was a foregone conclusion.   (We were raised to never pass up the opportunity to talk to someone who has gone through life with the name Rabbit.)

Thistle Hill Weavers is owned and directed by Rabbit Goody, a nationally known textile historian and founder of the Textile History Forum.  Thistle Hill is a custom weaving mill that specializes in creating accurate reproductions from document patterns and 17th, 18th, and 19th-century weavers’ drafts.  Working closely with designers and individuals, the company creates carpets, fabrics, and trims in short custom runs.

Carpet, fabrics, and trims from Thistle Hill are installed in museums and historic sites across America, from George Washington’s Mount Vernon to Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, from the Henry Ford Museum to Lincoln’s Birthplace, as well as at international sites, including historic trust properties in New South Wales.

In addition to working on private homes and historic sites, Thistle Hill Weavers has extensive experience producing custom costume and set fabrics for the film industry.  Recent projects include set and wardrobe fabrics for The Chronicles of Narnia, Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the Academy Award winning movies There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men, as well as the Emmy Award winning HBO miniseries, John Adams.

When we found out that Rabbit got her start by weaving scarves for the likes of Gucci and Bergdorf Goodman, we knew we had to work with her to create the first item for the Beekman 1802 Haberdashery.

Learn more about Rabbit and her work at http://www.thistlehillweavers.com

A trivet will protect the surfaces of your furniture and can also help display your dishes in a dramatic way.

Trivets can be fashioned out of almost any flat surface.

Our modern interpretation of the classic farm table begged for something “organic” to soften its dramatic lines.

At a local stone purveyor, we found just the thing…old slate roofing shingles.  They had a large pile in various shapes and colors—for only $1 a piece!  You might also find a similar stash at an architectural salvage company

We cleaned them up and affixed self-adhesive  pads  to  the bottom of each tile.  Rubber pads work better than felt since there’s a high likelihood that the underneath of the trivet will at some point get wet.

Stacking several trivets on top of one another can create additional drama on the table.

You can find slate tiles in many weather-worn colors from green to chocolate to rose

Finding tiles in various shapes and sizes can also add visual interest and make for a more interesting table.  I found an exceptionally large tile that I now use as a beautiful cutting board when I take Beekman 1802 Blaak to cheese tastings.

Narrow tiles might even be used as hor d'oeuvre trays

What other items might make a good trivet?  Share your ideas with the rest of us.

It’s not to say that we don’t appreciate the beauty of trees in every season, but there’s something so dramatic about the bare limbs of a tree against the grey winter sky.

But some trees are little more shy about “baring all”.

Because evergreens are, well, ever green, you very rarely get to see the beautiful underlying architecture of these branches

Each Christmas, after all the gifts have been unwrapped, and after all the ornaments have been carefully packed for their year-long hibernation, we’ve had a tradition of offering up the Christmas tree to the goats.  They attack the branched buffet with gusto, and within an hour there’s nothing left but the spindly, splendid skeletal remains.

Beautiful.

This inspired an idea for our “naked” Christmas tree. (Along with our annual viewing of the Charlie Brown Christmas Special)

(If you don’t have a herd of goats to help you remove the needles, here’s a tip.  Using  a pair of rubber kitchen gloves, pull each branch straight  and brush from the tip of the branch toward the trunk of the tree.  The gloves help catch the needles and also keep the sticky pine tar from your fingers)

We’ve always been intrigued by the idea that when the Beekmans inhabitated the house, they likely had real candles aglow on the tree.

Here’s our modern (and safer) version, using glass orbs left over from the finale of America’s Oldest, Largest Garden Party and some battery-powered tea lights.

With all the lights turned off in the grand hallway,  holiday visitors were greeted by a swarm of hovering lights.  Marfa simply cannot compete!

How did you see Christmas different this year?  Let us know in the comment section below.

Many of our crafting projects begin with a walk around the farm.

We recently found inspiration in the austere, architectural beauty of the sumac that grows along the border between Beekman Farm and our neighbors at Dharma Lea Farm.

The fruits form dense clusters of reddish drupes at the tips of each branch.  Known as sumac bobs, these clusters are what make the plants such a striking part of the autumn landscape.

We clipped the branches about 3 feet long, when possible trying to find a branch that had a fork.

Once home we sprayed the bobs with a light spray adhesive and then gently dusted with a fine glitter that matched the color of the fruit (we used Martha Stewart Glitter in the color Brownstone)

In order to support these top heavy arrangements, we used our B. 1802 Iron Blocks.  If you are using a lighter vase, place a heavy metal frog in the bottom for stability.

Does nature inspire your creativity?  Share your ideas with the rest of us.

(We’re already thinking of what to do with next year’s growth of cat tails)

(Attn NYTimes readers: to purchase the spoons featured in today’s Home Section, visit here.)

When we created Beekman 1802, our goal was to breathe life into the historic 19^th century farm and into the mercantile business that the honest William Beekman founded over 2 centuries ago and at the same time provide opportunities for our neighbors in the surrounding village to thrive as well.

From the beginning, we’ve been devoted to the artisanal, the hand-made, and to the belief that each season gives us cause for celebration and we are pleased to announce the b. 1802 Rural Artist Collective.

Over the next year, we’ll be working with local craftsmen skilled in traditional methodologies to develop new and beautiful items for your home, hearth, and pantry.  Bringing a little piece of Beekman 1802 into your home supports the preservation of these true American masters.

It has been a tradition in many countries for wealthy godparents to give a silver spoon to their godchildren at christening ceremonies.

Regardless the origin of the phrase, you, too, can have a “silver” spoon in your mouth.

Our exceptional b. 1802 Fruit Spoon is fashioned from Britannia, a metal alloy common in the 18^th century.  The alloy becomes molten over hot coals and is then hand-poured into an authentic  18^th century spoon mold.

“The trifid spoon with it’s broad handle face and it’s tripartite top and its oval bowl with level edges and it’s long rattail on it’s underside, inaugurates the modern phase of spoon design.  It arrived in England in developed form from France around 1660.

The portraiture on the handle of the spoon is of Queen Anne, homely as she was, and this would date the mold from 1665 – 1714 : the decorations seem to confirm this, having gone out of style soon thereafter.

The b.1802 mark on the stem of each spoon was designed to imitate owner’s stamps of the period, very common on pewter of the time.

See how metal artist Michael McCarthy crafts each spoon exclusively for Beekman 1802.

Visit the Beekman 1802 Mercantile to see more of the collection.

See what this "grows" into...

Do you have small children that you need to entertain while finishing up holiday meal preparations?  Choose an adult who, despite their best intentions, is not as handy in the kitchen, and send them all out on a natural treasure hunt that will surely lead to a wonderful holiday memory.

The task:  find some bits and pieces of nature that can be used to fashion place cards at the dinner table.

A little walk around The Beekman Farm gave me the idea for these miniature trees inspired equally by my childhood love of the landscapes surrounding model train sets and my adult love of bonsai.

Find branches of trees or shrubs that have a shape similar to a full-grown tree.  (This is a great exercise for children in building observational skills).  Just like bonsai, members of the conifer family work well.

Next find something that can be used as a base into which you can insert the end of the twig and that has a flat surface to sit on the table.  I found beautiful acorn caps and used a low speed drill to create a hole.

If the branches are on the heavy side, you may need to add a little extra weight to the base.  We used some Playdoh since it is non-toxic.

Either have kids write each family member’s name on a small white piece of cardstock  or do as we did and print them up on the computer beforehand.  Allow them to “place” the adults around the table.  They’ll get a big kick out of that!

Share with us some of your ideas for keeping kids entertained with nature-inspired crafts.

“The small man kept asking to see my hands.  Every time a new person walked by his work place, he made me show them my hands.  They had never seen a white man with calluses on his hands before.”

This is just one of the tales blacksmith Michael McCarthy recounts about his trips through West Africa where he has studied with numerous blacksmiths working in the most traditional methods.

Tools that Michael made while traveling through Africa.

We used the tools to plant garlic and onions. It's highly likely that original workers on the farm used tools made just like these.

Michael is one of the few working blacksmiths remaining in America, and one of only a handful who understand the process from beginning to end.  Michael travels to West Virginia several times a year to mine his own ore from which he creates incredible works of art.  His work can be found in museums and private collections and some of his pieces have garnered up to $14,000.

I could spend hours (and have!) in Michael’s shop, listening to him talk about the craft and staring in amazement at the things he creates.  Even the glowing red coals have the ability to mesmerize.

Michael likes to say that you can’t tell the story of America without telling a story about iron, noting that iron played a roll in the earliest incarnations of the American Dream. John Deere (who we know well at Beekman Farm) started out as a blacksmith making blades for plows.  And the iron rails that opened up the American West were the catalysts for many of the great American fortunes (when fortunes were made from hard work instead of hedge funds).

We are so excited to have Michael as part of the B. 1802 Rural Artist Collective and hope you will enjoy his first two creations for the Beekman 1802 Mercantile.

The B. 1802 Iron Block is an elegant bud vase available in two sizes from the Mercantile

Sturdy enough to hold towering arrangements and even entire branches without tipping

Also designed to hold tealights, votives, and tapered candles

The B. 1802 Fruit Spoon, hand-tooled using a spoon mold dating back to the 1700s

We are proud to support Michael’s dreams of preserving the art and history of blacksmithing.

We’ll be telling you more about other master craftsmen we’ve met since putting down roots at Beekman 1802.  In the meantime, we’d love for you to give a shout out in the comment section below to any national treasures inhabiting your own community.

According to Irish lore, Stingy Jack was a trickster so talented that he even fooled the devil.

When the devil came to claim Jack’s soul, Jack asked the devil to climb a tree and pick him an apple to serve as his last meal on earth.  While the devil was up the tree, Jack encircled the trunk with crosses and would not allow the devil to exit without first promising to not carry him to hell.

When Jack died, St. Peter, of course, turned him away from heaven’s gates.  The devil kept his word and instead of taking him to the underworld sent Jack off to roam the earth for eternity with only a glowing coal ember placed inside a carved-out turnip to light his way.  He became known as Jack of the Lantern.

Throughout Europe, people carved their own lanterns out of turnips, potatoes and beets to keep Jack away on All Hallow’s Eve when the dead walk among us. It wasn’t until 19th century immigrants encountered pumpkins in America that the familiar orange orbs became a Halloween tradition.

But at Beekman 1802, we can find more things in the heirloom vegetable garden to an inspire us than a pumpkin.

This year, we chose to work with the parsnip to make an entire collection of ghostly ghouls.

Using small LED tealights, we sat our family of fiends in an old faux wood nut bowl.

We used an apple corer, a melon baller and a nut pick to carve out the bottom half of the parsnips, but coming up with something scary is very easy because of the natural shape and texture of the parsnip.

Other options: use vines or small twigs to make arms just perfect for reaching out and stealing a soul.  For an even more dramatic effect, use a small diameter drill bit to drill a hole from the top of the parsnip all the way through to the bottom you hollowed out.  Using a real candle will create a smokestack allowing smoke to billow out of the top of your ghostly apparition.

We think Jack would be proud.

Like your Halloween to be a bit prettier?  See this idea for a beautiful pumpkin lantern.

Perfect perches.

We love to make something new out of something old.

So we were thrilled when Josh’s mom gave us a gift of a cookie platter she had made out of old candlesticks and discarded china.

Actually she gave us an entire collection!

You can find glass candlesticks  of nearly every shape in size in almost any dollar store.  Antique and junk shops are where odds and ends pieces of china go to spend their last days, often in the bargain bin.

Save them!  Save them all!!

One of our clever friends saw our collection  of  serving trays and decided to start scrounging around her community for materials .  Now she has a thriving business at the local farmer’s market selling her beautiful  trays for as much as $50.  That’s quite a return on her $5 worth of “raw” materials.

We’re still waiting for our commission, but she’s not budging.

So we decided that we’d just have to make our own, and you can too.  Here’s how:

We find that the more unusual the plate and the candlesticks, the better the objet turns out.

Here's our favorite. Notice how Jackie matched the shape of the candlesticks to the scalloped design on the platter.

For our design we were inspired by Greek Revival architecture.

The tools

You may want to roughen the surfaces of the glass and porcelain with some fine sandpaper, then clean the pieces with soap and water.

If you are not sure of your ability to find the right position in which to affix the candlesticks, you may want to create a template first or measure and mark the spots on the platter before applying the glue.

Depending on the shape of the platter and the “stability” of the candlesticks, allow the platter to dry either standing up or flipped over onto its top.

And then voila…

A serving dish that will make anything on it the true center of attention.

For more ways to use candlesticks, check out these other articles from Beekman 1802.  If you have some ideas of your own, please submit them in the comment section below.