FABULOUS!

Here I am with Dr. Brent Ridge, a geriatrician-turned-farm owner, whose Beekman 1802 business is booming in Sharon Springs, NY. These goats provide milk for soap (their first product, inspired by the pleased reception by Martha Stewart of a handmade bar for Christmas) and a delicious hard cheese called Blaak. Its rind is an edible black ash molded in a handsome rustic pattern.

The business is named for their mansion, a Federal house of exquisite symmetry. Brent gave us a private tour, taking Chuck and me up into the attic to see the wooden pegs and hand-hewn beams that keep this glorious residence together. We also saw the Beekman family crypt, the new sunflower garden, the to-die-for sunken flower garden, the turkey and Aracauna chickens, the goats, the llama, a feral-turned-tame cat named Orange-and-White, and the extensive vegetable garden. They grow or raise 80% of what they consume (including meat in the form of a cow once every two years and a couple of pigs who were arriving later that day).

What a treat to tour this tidy farm: seasonal living without the muck (though a day of summer sunshine makes it look less mucky than a gray day in winter or, worse, early spring).