Last week, in time for Christmas, a fabulous gift package arrived from Sharon Springs, New York. Readers that watch the "Green" Network on cable, might be familiar with that town—it's the home of the Fabulous Beekman Boys, Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Brent Ridge! Their restored farmhouse, er, mansion, is called the Beekman Mansion, after the original owners of the property, and the guys have created a brand, Beekman 1802, to market their own farm products and locally produced merchandise. In my package was their main product, a wheel of "Blaak" goat cheese, named for the fabulous ash-covered rind which is, indeed, black in color (and is edible!). Also in this gift package were two bars of goat milk soap and their most recent book, The Bucolic Plague. The packaging is tasteful in the extreme, with perfectly hand-tied string bows and recycled papers. The typesetting on the cards is beautifully done as well, with a combination of striking cuts of Futura and an old-style numeral, which I believe is Garamond.
Photographed above with a simple colonial pewter candlestick and another Christmas gift, a pair of hand-knit socks. The socks were a gift from a friend of my mother's named Betsy, and I have several pairs of her knitted wool socks which I wear almost every day. The Beekman 1802 gift package was a gift of, shall we say, a dear Phantom friend of mine, lol.
Seen a little closer, I think the socks match the aesthetic of the Beekman items, lol.
The wrapped wheel of Blaak goat cheese. I've since opened it, and it is absolutely delicious! It is a dry goat cheese, not the spreadable type, and the rind has a subtle flavor of its own. I'm going to be enjoying this cheese for a long time to come!
The two bars of goat's milk soap came in this cotton bag printed with the Beekman logo, each wrapped in the same sort of recycled paper and perfectly-tied string bow as the cheese. Josh is a graphic designer and advertising executive, and his experience and taste are evident in every aspect of the Beekman 1802 experience.
I absolutely adore my hand knitted socks, and as I wrote above, wear them almost every day. This makes pair number seven I believe! I think they would make a great addition to any Beekman 1802 gift package, don't you?
- For the Beekman 1802 website, click here.
- For the Wiki on the Fabulous Beekman Boys TV show, click here.
- For the Amazon blurb on The Bucolic Plague, click here.
