What Does "Silly Goose Farm" Mean?

I’ve been thinking about what exactly “Silly Goose Farm” is.

Well, Silly Goose Farm is, of course, where I live, but beyond that, I feel it’s a way of life. To sum it up, Silly Goose Farm is a guide for a stylish, sustainable lifestyle. Living “green,” eco-friendly or socially responsible seems to be more popular than ever, and have certainly become buzzwords. I feel a lot of the resources out there on the subject don’t really make this lifestyle as accessible as it should be. Many come across as elitist and pretentious. Blame it on my extensive schooling in History and Political Science, but I think the only way things ever change is when they become accessible to the masses. Egalitarians unite!

I aim to make Silly Goose Farm a place where anyone can come and find inspiration on stylish, sustainable living. Whether you live on 20 acres or in a mid-city apartment, have the time, energy and experience to grow all of your own produce or just a windowsill pot for basil, make oodles of buckaroos or just enough to eek by, I hope this blog becomes a repository of ideas for all who are dedicated to living a little closer to the earth (without losing personal style).

I am working on regular features that showcase tips on gardening, cooking, personal style and décor, and companies that uphold the tenets of the Silly Goose Farm lifestyle. Also, because I believe good, safe and healthy food should be accessible for everyone, I’ll occasionally post information about organizations dedicated to this cause and related food issues. I promise I’ll try not to be too preachy! What a turnoff, right?

Finally, this blog is a place where you can comment as you see fit. If there is something posted here you definitely don’t agree with or support, share it! One-sided conversations don’t really affect change, in my opinion. If you find something in a post that is factually incorrect, call me out on it. Just please don’t be harsh towards other commenters. Name calling is not allowed, and try to limit the snarky quips. Let’s all bring each other up, not knock each other down.

So, stay tuned for more fun posts and exciting announcements, and if there is anything you’d love to see here, leave me a comment or email me at sillygoosefarm@gmail.com!

Sustainable Snippets

I fell in love with "Highland Coos" on my honeymoon, and now I'm trying to

convince Dave we need some. Image found here.

I'm torn about this weekend. On one hand, I'm very eager to just kick back a bit and relax; on the other, I have a ton of client and charity work to manage and finish up, and I could certainly use an extra day to take care of it all! Tonight, Dave is taking me on a "surprise date" (we haven't been on a date in AGES). I have the feeling that my constant hint-dropping has worked and he is going to take me to this little Helderberg Mountains restaurant. We might go to a book festival on Saturday, but otherwise I'm only planning on yard and garden work, organizing the basement a bit, and working on some crochet projects. What do you have planned for this weekend? Is the weather supposed to be nice where you are? If you're looking for some reading, here are this week's Sustainable Snippets. Enjoy!

Thinking about "cute cattle" makes me want to employ Meatless Mondays everyday!

Looking to learn more about the industry of food? Start here

If you consider yourself a foodie, you should know about this

These seem perfect for toddler hands

More reasons to avoid food colorings

When sustainable living goes awry

Homemade almond milk

Green living is great, until you hit Nimbyism

DIY wind turbines

Food swap!

Five ways to farm if you're not a farmer

Cocktail Tumblers

I couldn't leave you with all those cocktail recipes without something pretty to drink them from! Behold... cocktail tumblers (more encompassing than "cocktail glasses!").

1. Recycled Glass Tumblers, Set of 6, $45 // 2. Recycled Glass Pint Glass, $13 // 3. Vintage Cocktail Glasses, Set of 4, $30 // 4. Artisan Blown Carafe and Glasses, $86.99 // 5. Stacking Recycled Glass Tumblers, Set of 6, $39 // 6. Artisan Blown Glasses, Set of 6, $52.99

1. Recycled Glass Tumblers, Set of 2, $34 // 2. Recycled Glass Milk Glasses, Set of 4, $49 // 3. Eco-Friendly Fireside Wine Tumblers, Set of 4, $78 // 4. Sustainable and Recycled Seagrass Glass, $8 // 5. Short Recycled Glass Tumblers, Set of 2, $28 // 6. Tall Recycled Glass Tumblers, Set of 2, $30 // 

Other options: Take a trip to a local thrift store or second-hand shop and see what you can find! Buying previously-loved items keeps them out of landfills, reduces our carbon footprint, and helps foster a sustainable lifestyle. Or save your wine bottles, cut with a glass cuter to desired height, and sand the rough edges for homemade glass tumblers.

And, of course, a few more cocktail and drink recipes to fill those tumblers!

Herbal Digestive // Sweet Savannah Sipper // Positano Peach // Watermelon Julep // Rosie Collins // Spicy Margarita // Hot Toddy // Tea Toddy // Hot Gin Toddy // Hot Run Toddy // Ginger Toddy // Grape Expectations // Teapot Dick // Late Night Oil // The Chapman // Mulled Cider // Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezey Refresher // Strawberry Pucker // Red, White, and Blue Rickey // Melon Daquiri

The above tumblers fit at least one of the Sustainable Living credos: Either it is made from organic, all-natural, and/or sustainable materials; is an American company; is made in America; is made my individual artisans or craftspeople; or donates regularly through a charitable giving program.

How to Live Sustainably: Go Vintage

One of the basic tenets of living sustainably is to follow the three Rs: Recycle, Reduce, Reuse. Sure, I buy new things when I need to, but the thrill of finding a great vintage or thrifted item is too good to pass up. Edith and I didn't make it out to the antiques festival this weekend (we all slept in a bit on Saturday morning, then decided to include "the boys" on a family breakfast down at the Duanesburg Diner), but I did make a quick stop at the local Goodwill. In search of some new entertaining pieces, I easily could have hopped online and ordered from Pottery Barn; instead, I used the opportunity to live sustainably and go vintage.

I really love the look of pressed- and hobnail glass, and had been eying these tumblers from Pottery Barn for a while:

Set of six Victorian Tumblers, $36

I lucked out and found a similarly-styled version at Goodwill:

Sure, they aren't exactly the same, but they feel heavier and of better quality than the PB option. I could only find four, but that amount will certainly suffice for a few mojitos or Pimm's Cups shared with friends on the sunporch this summer. And the best part? This set was only $8.

I also stumbled upon this set of pressed-glass serving bowls. Perfect for candy, nuts or relishes ($4):

My favorite find of the day might be these little candle holders. I can't wait to use them ($4):

In one trip to Goodwill I was able to practice the three Rs, and found three sets of new goodies for less than half of what I would have paid for the PB purchase.* Before you toss out old household items, think about donating or saving for a tag sale. If you are looking for a few new pieces to add to a collection, consider hitting up your local thrift shop. It's a fun way to encourage sustainable living!



*In my opinion, if you can't find a second-hand item that fits your needs or makes you happy, buy new. Don't feel guilty about it! If you are against thrifted items all together, consider purchasing new goods from companies that include social and environmental responsibility in their practices.

Summer Essentials

Summer seems to be flying by (August is nearly here!). I've still managed to scoop up some items I consider my summer essentials. Hopefully you can grab some of these, as well!

1. Tucker Panel Mini Dress, $385 Dave loves when I wear Tucker dresses (probably because many are so short! :-)

2. L.L. Bean French Sailor's Shirt. $29.50 This shirt embodies the "it" trend of the moment (nautical stripes) while maintaining a classic silhouette. Perfect for chilly mornings and evening on the water

3. Land's End Classic Open Toe Ballet Flat, $15.19 Dress 'em up or down, a great go-to shoe

4. Sperry Top-Sider Angelfish Boat Shoe, $75 Another classic. So comfortable I could wear them all day, every day

5. Levi's Signature Cut-Offs, $4 I bought a pair of these jeans at Salvation Army, cut them off and cuffed them

6. Smith's Rosebud Salve, $5 The perfect sheer pink for lips (smells good, too)

7. Physicians Formula Organics Mascara, $7 Blacky-black, and without all the nasty chemicals (paired with the rosebud salve, that's my entire make-up routine for summer)

8. Land's End Starfish Roll Sleeve Open Crewneck Top, $10.39 Perfect for bumming around the house, working in the garden, or a quick run to the farmers market

9. Alba Botanica Pure Lavendar SunBlock, $13.59 Keeps me looking pasty and smells good, too!

10. Moroccan Oil Treatment, $33 An investment in hair-care terms, but it works wonders, keeps frizz down on even the most humid days, and a little goes a long way (I have super-thick, relatively long hair, and this lasts me 5 months)

11. Arbonne Baby Care Body Oil, $9 I first came across this product when I had Edith, and I fell in love with it for the summer months when regular lotion is just to thick and sticky

12. Dogeared "Captain Of Your Ship" Necklace, $72 This was a lovely present from Dave and has an even lovelier message behind it

13. Ray-Ban Rounded Wayfarers, $179 I love that these glasses have the timeless Wayfarer shape, but are jazzed up a bit with a slightly rounded lens (I bought mine at Macy's on sale for only $99!)

What are some of your summer essentials? I'd love to hear! PS - most of these items fit one of the Sustainable Living credos: Either it is made from organic, all-natural, and/or sustainable materials; is an American company; is made in America (particularly by individual craftspeople and independent companies) and/or; donates regularly through a charitable giving program.

Where Did September Go?

Hi everybody! Thanks for hanging in there with me while I took a hiatus in September. It certainly wasn't a planned blogging break, but sometimes life just throws you curve balls and you have to do your best to hit a homerun and not strike out. How is everyone doing? I'd love to hear about your September and what fun, exciting things happened for you (or even the not-so-fun, if you'd like to share). Here's a quick recap of my September:

First, we dealt with storm clean up. Not fun. Dave (with the help of Edith... kind of) chopped down some of the trees that fell. We will chop up the down apple trees once they have stopped producing fruit (that is going to be a very, very sad day). Good news is that some of the fallen trees can be used as timber to make beams for the barn renovation.

About a week after Irene came through, we had Tropical Storm Lee make an appearance, dumping more rain on the farm (and in the basement). Of course, during that time, we had house guests, so instead of the rounds of bocce and cocktails on the lawn, the farm tours, and chit-chatting on the porch I had hoped for, my poor guests were subject to freezing rain and yucky weather. Bummer.

Speaking of house guests... the wonderful Tara (from The Prippy Handbook) and Liz (from Octavia and Brown) were here at Silly Goose Farm for a few days while they scoped-out the Brimfield Antiques Show. It was such a pleasure to host them, catch up with them, and show them around both the farm and the city of Albany. Fun times! I can't wait to spend more time with those two bundles of fun (both in my city and theirs!). More to come on their visit...

September was mainly spent harvesting. I'll still picking at least a half-bushel of tomatoes a week (that's about 25-27 pounds!), as well as carrots, rainbow chard, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, hot peppers and lots and lots of herbs. Corn is pretty much put-up for the season, so that's done. Don't get me started on apples... I could easily pick two dozen bushels a week and still have more picking to do. Grapes are coming in, and pears will be ready to pick soon.

With all the apples, I've made LOTS of applesauce, apple butter, apple relish (delicious with corn fritters) and of course, apple cider! My parents came out last weekend for our first pressing, and I did a small pressing just this week. Many, many more gallons to come. I'm making hard cider this year and I'm VERY excited to share that process with you!

Of course, there is the every day, non-farm stuff, as well. Always plenty of work to do, lots going on with the charitable boards I serve on, and whatnot. Edie is making no progress on potty training (any tips appreciated!) and Eric is more mobile and talkative every day. It's such a pleasure to watch them grow, but their very active imaginations drive me bonkers sometimes (like last week when they got all the wine glasses and champagne flutes out of the china cabinet, poured their cereal in them, and were toasting each other. Funny, but what a mess). I'm scaling back on client/consulting work, and I am continuing to launch and start-up my new business (I can't WAIT to share that with you!). We also celebrated my mom's birthday and my parents' 25th wedding anniversary in September. Yay parents!

I've had some fun posts go live in the blogging world (just not here.. haha!). September brought two posts with From Scratch Club - one being a Locavore's Guide to Booze and the other a DIY Apple Cider how-to with two fun cider recipes. I hope you'll check them out! I've also become the new Eat Local blogger over at the Times Union. I'd love it if you hopped over there and left me a comment (a very special thank you to Michael Huber for giving me the gig!).

I said goodbye to September and hello to October by doing my very first food demo! I participated in Honest Weight Food Co-Op's Third Annual Harvest Festival with From Scratch Club. We had a lovely tent and great food samples and demos throughout the day. I showed attendees how to make apple cider at home. It was a great turnout and I think everyone (including me!) learned a lot that day. Here's a great recap of the day. Can I get some finger-snaps for the lovely gals at FSC, especially Chris, for all the hard work they did to pull this event off? Brava, ladies!

So, that's my September in a nutshell. How was your month? What exciting things does October have in store for you? Thank you again for hanging in there with me in the turbulent month... more yummy sustainable living posts coming your way!

Hosting Houseguests

WAAAY back in September I had the marvelous pleasure of hosting Liz (from Octavia and Brown) and Tara (of The Prippy Handbook) at Silly Goose Farm for a few days. I absolutely adore both ladies and I'm so lucky that I get to call them my friends. While both gals are the easiest house guests ever, I still wanted to make them feel welcome and especially special. Here are some helpful, sustainable tips for hosting overnighters at your home that prove useful for me!

1. Make sure your space is clean. This is probably a given, but eliminating the dust bunnies from under the bed shows you care about your guests' comfort. It also helps deter any allergic reactions that your guest might have (no one wants to be sneezy from dust and dander). To that point...

2. Use neutral cleaning products. Make a concerted effort to use natural, eco-friendly agents when tidying up your home and doing laundry. Some detergents and products rely on harsh chemicals and overwhelming scents to create the "clean" feeling. You can clean just about anything with a little borax, salt, vinegar, water and/or essential oils. The fabulous Kate Payne has some great suggestions on her website. I'll be posting my own all-nautral, homemade cleaning remedies soon!

3. Find ways to brighten up your space. Fresh flowers and soft candlelight are great ways to do this. If guests have a problem with the flowers, it's easy to remove them. Invest is long lasting, lightly-scented or non-scented candles that are soy- or natural/beeswax-based.

4. Don't let your guests get bored at night. Visit your local library and check out some magazines that suit your guests interests or highlight local places and spaces. Some libraries even have bins of magazines they are looking to unload, so grab some for yourself, as well. (bonus - it's free!) You could even check out some DVDs or music for your guests' enjoyment.

5. Anticipate your guests needs. I'm not saying suddenly become clarvoyant and read their minds. But think about what they might need while at your home. I like to keep a basket with toiletries (extra toothbrushes, lotion, asprin), a few snacks, and a bottle of water or two in the guest room (I also throw in other little things, like lint rollers, for "just in case" situations). What a relief it will be for your guests when they can turn to that basket for a forgotten necessity after a long day of travel! Another helpful trick - leave a basket of blankets, quilts or pillows available for your guests in case of a chilly night. These things make all the different, I promise you.

6. Keep local information handy. Have a few maps of your area in the above basket, or turn to Dr. Google to print off some maps and highlight local eateries and attractions. Go paperless and suggest that your friends download some smartphone apps like OpenTable, UrbanSpoon or Foodspotting to use while they explore your neck of the woods.

7. Think of the small touches. Isn't is always nice when you go to a new hotel or inn and you find mints on the pillow, or a chilled bottle of wine, or a simple note? Create that same experience for your guests. Leave a little card letting them know how happy you are for their visit. Present a simple gift (I sent Tara and Liz home with some jam. Try including a little box of chocolate or bar of soap from a local establishment to remind your guests of their time at your house). One night, I left some chocolate-chip cookies on the nightstand as a midnight snack. Think of something sweet and simple you could do to make your friends feel extra-welcomed.

9. Be sure to leave a light on. Or at least a nightlight. You don't want guests stumbling around in the middle of the night trying to find the bathroom, so put nightlights (or electric candles) out strategically to help night owls find their way.

Any other tips you can suggest? What to do you do to prepare for houseguests and weary travelers? Leave me your thoughts in the comments below, continue the conversation on Twitter, or shoot me a note on Facebook!

Images courtesy of Martha Stewart Living, Nicola Laird's Pinterest, Janey Pugh's Pinterest, and Mariah Hermsmeyer's Pinterest,