Digest

Our internal clocks tell us that it's time for something new - here are some of our favorite harbingers of the season as we turn towards the Equinox.

Apple Cider Donuts - Willing to drive for the absolute best. Our favorites are at Montgomery Place Orchard's Wayside Stand and at Schoharie Valley Farms (formerly known as The Carrot Barn).

Come see us September 26-27 at Taconic Antiques Fair! We're bringing some very special pieces we've been squirreling away.

This weekend, it's the much-anticipated Spencertown Academy Festival of Books with author talks and a massive book sale.

This Saturday from 4-7, it's the Rensselaerville Library's Centennial Lawn Party at the Historic Eli Hutchinson House. Meet with friends and neighbors to celebrate the end of summer and support the Library's mission to preserve a comfortable historical gathering place that is open, free and inviting and that awakens and promotes a life-long love of reading and learning. 

On Sunday, it's the second-to-last Coyote Cafe at World's End Farm. Farm-made lunch in the barn, flowers, farm tours, and hospitality with a deep purpose from 12-4.

Nothing speaks to us like an object that doesn’t quite know what it is. Is it beautiful? Is it odd? Forgotten, almost lost, with a mysterious origin story? In soap carving it’s all there: a distinctly American make-do spirit meets a public relations ploy to create a sometimes-exquisite art form that can easily wash away. 

In the 1920s, Proctor & Gamble faced a marketing challenge: children hated being washed with their soap. An executive at the company had an idea: hold a a soap carving competition with a cash prize. Edward Bernays had heard about a sculptor who preferred carving in soap over wax, and realized art was a  great way to capture the hearts and minds of children.

The first year the contest was held, 250 people entered to compete for the $250 prize, taken home by sculptor Brenda Putnam. Eight years later, there were four thousand hopefuls competing for a prize of $500. Within a year of the contest’s launch, 23 million kids were sculpting in Ivory Soap in schools across the country, and a new - uniquely American - craft was born.

Aș a medium, soap has much to recommend it - soft and easy to carve with simple implements, readily available and cost effective, it ages to a beautiful, blurred range of creams and russets, and it smells nice. Scraps can be used for washing. It actually looks a bit like real ivory, impossible to tell just by looking that it’s not bone or stone. That the pieces can be dissolved in water only makes them more special and speaks to the artist’s humility and willingness to engage with the ephemeral.

Ultimately, the beauty is all in the sculptor’s hand and imaginative vision - while there are carvings out there that are cartoonish and crude, the animals in our collection resemble Inuit walrus ivory carvings, and the portraits cameos and intaglios. 

We don’t know who the artist was, but our collection comes from the estate of artist Frank von der Lancken, who believed in democracy in the arts and, as an educator at progressive art schools, promoted his belief that art should be available to everyone. Were these pieces carved by his students? Collected by him as examples of what could be created by a ready-to-hand medium?

They're a beautiful testament to von der Lancken's wish for his own life's work “to be found in the influence, character, and achievements of the hundreds of students I have had, and also the thousands I have preached my gospel of art to,” a perfect epitaph for a passionate advocate of the American Arts & Crafts movement.

Shop soap carvings.

Here in The Catskills, Hudson Valley & Helderbergs, we eat better than anyone in the world. Braving floods, heat, late-spring freezes, and just about every kind of bug there is, our hardworking local farmers manage to produce a gorgeous abundance of sweet fruit, super-fresh vegetables, creamy local cheeses, and humanely raised meat and eggs. Here are some of our favorite spots to shop.

Story Farms - A true family farms with the warmest welcome (Hi, Irene!), Story Farms is a community pillar. Shop three kinds of corn, plants, flowers, meat, strawberries, melons, and the freshest vegetables in the world.

Six Hands - A collaboration between two farms and six friends, this is a great opportunity to support the next generation of local farmers. Find certified organic produce, local meat and pantry items at this sweet store.

Stanton's Fuera Farm - A great place for standards, you'll also find special treats like heirloom tomatoes and sugar cube melons. Check out their local bundles of the week.

Samascott Orchards - Our go-to spot for local fruit - pick your own for great deals and absolutely do not miss the ice cream made with their own raspberries, strawberries, peaches, and corn.

Barber's Farm - Farming since 1857, Barber's is a leader in caring for the land - you'll find fresh vegetables, meat, dairy and pantry items, fresh bread, and the most tender greens and homegrown frozen vegetables year round. 

East Durham Farms - Pick-your-own blueberries, self-guided farm tours, baby animals, and a well-stocked farm store make this one of our favorite spots and a great place for kids.

One of our favorite ways with summer fruit is a shrub - old-fashioned and thrifty (a great way to use less-than-perfect fruit), so easy to make and captures the intense flavor of stone fruit to enjoy in fall and winter cocktails or non-alcoholic refreshers. Here's our go-to recipe for Peach Shrub.

Tomatillos are one of our garden's top-performers, and we'd grow them just for the feeling of accomplishment alone. Luckily, they freeze great (just husked and whole), and we never get tired of Rick Bayless's Tomatillo Salsa.

Who else is reading Disinheritance: The Rediscovered Stories, a new collection of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s fiction? We will be front row at Hudson Hall's James Ivory + Ruth Prawer Jhbvala: Films & Conversation at the end of this month.

Over in Hudson for some styling work this week, we stopped by to visit our friend Ty at his vintage pop-up M.O.N. (The Middle of Nowhere) and left with some beautiful things. It's extended through the end of September and well worth a visit.

It's the last weekend to catch a great show at the Tanja Grunert Gallery - on view through August 16th: Steve DiBenedetto, Nicole Hayes, Alexander Ross, and Matt Tiernan.