I always enjoy hosting St. Patrick's Day dinner at my farm.
This year, I invited 13 friends to join me for a delicious feast - complete with my corned beef, root vegetables, and of course, my own version of the traditional Irish soda bread. I started with a colorful salad. The brisket was brined and cooked perfectly and served with potatoes, cabbage, carrots, parsnips, turnips, and leeks. And for dessert - refreshing citrus granita and Tarte au Fromage a recipe from my 100th book that combines the rich flavors of farmer cheese and crème fraîche with a flaky pâte brisée crust. Everything was made by me! It was an evening of good company and great food.
Many of these photos were taken by Kevin Sharkey - enjoy and follow him on Instagram @seenbysharkey.
I shared the beginnings of my belated St. Patrick’s Day dinner on my Instagram Stories @marthastewart48 – did you catch it? I also promised more images and here they are. Kevin Sharkey took this one of me behind the kitchen counter. These are my Irish Soda Bread loaves fresh from the oven.
Whenever I entertain indoors at my farm, it’s usually in my Brown Room, a large dining room and sitting area. Here is our beautifully set table – in all shades of green, of course.
Here’s a view from above – the table was set for 14.
I decide the place settings for every holiday meal – working closely with my housekeepers to make sure we have all the necessary plates, utensils, and glasses. The green china plates are Paris porcelain monogrammed with an “S”.
I also displayed False Shamrock, Oxalis triangularis, down the center as my centerpieces. Do you know the difference between a shamrock and a clover? Shamrocks always have three leaves, while clovers can have a fourth. Shamrocks are usually green, but one can also find them in purple, green, or white. And shamrocks grow in clumps, while four-leaf clovers are rare and grow one at a time.
Dinner was scheduled for 6:30pm. Everyone arrived right on time and started with my Meyer Lemon Drop cocktails. The recipe is in my 100th book, MARTHA: The Cookbook. The drink includes vodka, Cointreau, Meyer lemon juice and Meyer lemon juice simple syrup.
Here are the glasses all rimmed with sugar.
I love using fresh, organic vegetables from my gardens. I always grow lots of varieties of lettuce, so I can enjoy them at dinners and share them with my family and friends.
I made loaves of my Irish Soda Bread with rye flour, wheat germ, golden raisins, and caraway. Everyone always loves my Irish soda bread – there’s never a crumb left over. Legend has it that, in some areas of Ireland, a cross was cut on the top of the Irish soda bread with a knife to ward off the devil and protect the household. It also helps the bread cook evenly and thoroughly. Irish soda bread is a somewhat sweet white bread made with eggs and butter and studded with raisins and caraway seeds — the “soda” in the name comes from the baking soda, or “bread soda” in Ireland used to leaven it instead of yeast and kneading.
I sliced the loaves and served it with delicious Vermont Creamery butter.
For dessert – Tarte au Fromage. The light filling includes fresh farmer cheese and crème fraîche. It pairs so well with the flaky pâte brisée crust. Find the recipe in MARTHA: The Cookbook – it will quickly become one of your favorite desserts to eat and share.
The platters were on the kitchen counter, so all my guests could help themselves. Kevin took this photos before we all “dug in.” There was plenty for everyone. Everything was so beautiful, and delicious.
The vegetables were very tasty. This platter has potatoes and cut parsnips.
This is a platter of turnips and corned beef. In Ireland, beef was a meat reserved only for the wealthy. The Great Famine resulting from potato blight caused a mass migration of the Irish to the new world. In America, corned beef was readily available to Irish immigrants and became a favored comfort food.
The corned beef brisket was cooked perfectly – it was tender and moist.
Salads were served with a light vinaigrette dressing – homemade by yours truly, of course.
Everyone filled their plates. Every one of us went back for seconds, and even thirds.
Each had a slice of Tarte au Fromage.
And a serving of grapefruit granita – a pretty shaved ice dessert flavored with fruit juices.
And here is the lovely Magnolia waiting to visit with all my guests.
Spring is here - and it's so exciting to see the gardens transform after such a long, cold winter.
I have blooming crocuses, snowdrops, Eranthis, hellebores, irises, and so many more. And the leaves of so many daffodils are pushing through the soil. Soon, the grounds will be covered in spring color. Here’s a glimpse of what is flowering in my gardens now.
Enjoy these photos.
And just like that there are flowers popping up everywhere. Crocus is an early season flower that pops up usually in shades of purple, yellow, and white. There are about 90 different species of crocus that originate from Southern Europe, Central Asia, China, the Middle East, and Africa.
This striped crocus flower produces several upright, cup-like, purple and white striped blooms on stems rising four to six inches above basal, grass-like leaves.
Croci can be found in alpine meadows, rocky mountainsides, scrublands, and woodlands. I have groups of crocus blooms all around my farm.
Beneath my allée of pin oaks and in an area near my blueberry bushes, I grow white crocus. They only reach about four inches tall, but they naturalize easily, meaning they spread and come back.
And here are some dark purple crocus.
Golden crocus bears vivid orange-yellow bowl-shaped flowers.
Crocus blossoms attract winter-weary bees that are drawn to the rich, golden pollen inside each flower.
There are also lots of irises blooming – this one in a creamy yellow. These dwarf irises are good for use in borders, along walkways, by ponds, or woodland areas in mass plantings.
In another area, dark purple irises. The blooms have a very light and subtle violet-like scent. Irises come from a vast genus of plants, but nearly all show the recognizable iris flower form – three standard petals and three hanging outer petals.
New growth is also emerging in the woodland. Symplocarpus foetidus, commonly known as skunk cabbage or swamp cabbage, is a low growing plant that grows in wetlands and moist hill slopes of eastern North America. The flowers appear before the leaves and show a mottled maroon hoodlike leaf called a spathe, which surrounds a knob-like structure called a spadix.
One of my favorite spring blooms is the snowdrop, Galanthus nivalis. These beautiful white flowers are blooming all around my houses. I check on them every day. Snowdrops produce one very small pendulous bell-shaped white flower which hangs off its stalk like a “drop” before opening.
These flower heads can be ‘single’ – one layer of petals – or ‘double’ – multiple layers of petals. And notice the inner petals – they can be blotched with green markings – different on so many varieties.
This snowdrop is a double, making it even more interesting.
Eranthis, or winter aconite, is a genus of eight species of flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae – the Buttercup family. Winter aconite produces such cheerful flowers that appear in late winter or earliest spring. They are deer resistant and multiply more and more every year.
The yellow flowers are small, cup-shaped, and typically yellow or white, with five to nine petal-like sepals.
The witch-hazel continues to bloom nicely. It grows as small trees or shrubs with clusters of rich orange-red to yellow flowers. They’re very hardy and are not prone to a lot of diseases. Most species bloom from January to March and display beautiful spidery flowers that let off a slightly spicy fragrance.
Witch-hazel flowers consist of four, strap-like petals that are able to curl inward to protect the inner structures from freezing during the winter.
Another favorite – the hellebores. Hellebores are members of the Eurasian genus Helleborus – about 20 species of evergreen perennial flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae. They blossom during late winter and early spring for up to three months.
Hellebores come in different colors and have rose-like blossoms. It is common to plant them on slopes or in raised beds in order to see their flowers, which tend to nod.
Puschkinia is a genus of three known species of bulbous perennials in the family Asparagaceae. It is native to the Caucasus and the Middle East. The leaves are green, strap-like, and grow in pairs. Puschkinia is best grown in moist, fertile, well-draining soil in full sun to partial sunlight.
The flowers open in early spring in racemes up to about 10-inches high.
Around the farm there are patches of daffodil foliage. I have thousands of daffodils planted in large groupings, providing a stunning swath of color when in bloom.
Much of the farm still looks like winter, but not for long. Soon the trees will be filled with glorious leaves, and all the gardens will be bursting with color – just wait and see!
The furry catkins of pussy willows are one of spring's earliest harbingers - their branches shimmer in the moist to wet soil near meadows, swamps, and streams. Sometimes the furry twigs can be seen even when there's still snow on the ground.
Last week, I asked my gardener, Matt Orrego, to cut lots of long, straight pussy willow branches from a grove I planted along the wetlands behind my main greenhouse. These deciduous shrubs naturally grow up to 20-feet tall, or even more if left unpruned. They are very easy to multiply and make wonderful cut arrangements. I always collect big bunches to make dramatic displays for my home.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Pussy willow is a common name given to many smaller species of the genus, Salix. During this time of year, fuzzy nubs start to appear along the branches of pussy willows. These soft silver tufted plants are named for their resemblance to tiny cats’ paws, but these are actually the flowers just before they fully bloom. The soft coating of hairs acts as insulation to protect these early bloomers from cold temperatures.
Some pussy willows have very large, furry catkins.
While other varieties have smaller catkins. This is ‘Purple Heirloom’. It has attractive blonde bark, thin grassy stems, and lots of small dark purple catkins.
My pussy willow grove is located in a field where there is room for them to flourish. Pussy willows grow in almost any kind of moist soil and thrive best in full sun, but while they don’t take up a lot of space, their roots can be quite invasive, so don’t plant them near water lines or septic systems.
Although they can be allowed to grow unpruned, pussy willows will benefit from regular pruning after blooming. Pruning makes picking reachable and quick. These pussy willows are pruned every couple of years.
And they’re pruned hard to encourage the plants to produce new shoots from the bases and divert energy from the older, less productive branches.
Here are neat bunches of pruned branches waiting to be discarded.
Matthew assesses the length and growth of these pussy willow offshoots. The ones he cuts will be used for indoor arrangements. I prefer the straightest and longest branches and asked for some that were six to seven feet and then some that were about five to six feet long.
Once Matthew has a good number of pussy willow branches, he brings them back to the greenhouse for tying.
Each grouping is tied together using jute twine. We use jute twine for many projects here at the farm. Jute is a long, soft, shiny fiber that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from flowering plants in the genus Corchorus, which is in the mallow family Tiliaceae.
Matthew ties the bunches in two places to ensure they are well secured. The arrangements will remain tied in the container for added support.
Matthew gathered some nice branches – three bunches in all. Now they’re ready to take to my Winter House.
Matthew carefully brings these bunches into my Brown Room where they will be arranged in one pot.
Matthew places each bunch into the pot one at a time.
It is important that the branches go in deep. Matthew also checks to make sure everything is centered and secure.
The twigs are flexible. They need to be snug in their container, so they remain upright.
Matthew then looks at the arrangement and trims any branches that are sticking out. The base of the branch remains to help support the bundle in the pot.
Discarded branches are neatly placed on a sheet nearby. This will be easy to take out after the project is done.
Here is the finished arrangement. The pussy willows will keep their upright position. I love making large arrangements for use indoors – the bigger, the better!
Here is another one on the other side of the room. Nothing is touching the window shades or any surfaces that could be scratched.
And here is a third. All of them look so wonderful. And they can last for several weeks. Cutting branches for indoor displays is an excellent use of these pussy willow catkins.
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