The beginning of a new year is always a nice time to get a jump start on spring cleaning.
Not long ago I decided it was time to clean and organize my stable hayloft - a large loft above the horse stalls where we keep bales of hay made right here in my fields. The area is also used to house horse supplies, various building materials, screen doors, and several large ornamental planters. Getting things back in order is always so energizing.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Here is my stable – home to my Friesians, my Fell pony, and my donkeys. On the second floor is my hayloft that extends the full length of the building.
Here is a view out of one of the windows of the loft. This window looks out onto the great Boxwood Allée, which is now completely enshrouded in protective burlap for the winter.
From another window of the hayloft, one can see this area of my farm – the carriage road to my azaleas. I have many trees planted along this carriage road also including crabapples, horse chestnuts, paulownia trees and others.
The hayloft cat walk can be seen from the stable’s entryway. This area separates the stacked hay from the rest of my items being stored.
This is the hay side. I am very proud of the hay I make here at the farm – it is good and nutritious and my horses all love it.
On this other side of the hayloft, I store various moldings, window casings, screen windows, door screens, outdoor planters, horse supplies, etc.
But over time, the area has gotten disorganized – with items placed on random shelves or laying on the floor. During winter, when it’s cold and there is snow on the ground, it is a good time to go through and clean out these spaces.
So the crew got to work, vacuuming the floor, assessing what was here, and putting things where they belong.
It got messier before it got cleaner, and like any organizing job, discoveries of long misplaced items are once again found.
Storage bins are used for seasonal horse equipment and supplies – now all put away.
Screen doors are housed in specially made storage boxes, so they are well protected during the off-season. Screens should be stored either by laying flat or standing upright, in a dry area where the temperature is kept fairly constant.
Wood pallets are used to keep my valuable pots from resting directly on the floor.
It is always important to store or cover all outdoor planters because freezing temperatures can crack or break them.
The crew organized all the moldings on the shelves, making sure they are stacked according to length and type.
I keep the moldings stacked horizontally to keep them from bowing.
Unused saddles are on proper saddle racks to maintain their shape and prevent moisture buildup.
Rolling shelves are tucked away yet easy to access. Slowly the area looks much better.
This loft has high ceilings and lots of windows. Hay creates a lot of dust, so dusting from top to bottom is done on a regular basis.
This is what a little time and elbow grease can do. To separate the hay side from the rest of the loft, I created a dust barrier using industrial size tarps secured to the sides of the entrance.
And here’s Fernando making sure the stairs leading down to the stalls and feed room are also clean and dust free.
A place for everything and everything in its place. It’s so nice to come up here and see the newly organized hayloft.
Foggy mornings are common in the fall and winter, especially here at my farm.
Fog is made up of tiny water droplets or ice crystals. When the air close to the ground is cooled to the same temperature as the dew point, the water vapor condenses into tiny droplets suspended in the atmosphere. Last week, just days before this blizzard of 2026, we had a day of fog which seemed to get heavier as the day progressed.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
The weather here in the Northeast has been very inconsistent. This year we’ve had bitter cold temperatures, mild, pleasant temperatures, rain, snow, sleet – all leaving a lot of vapor and moisture in the air. By the end of last week, the vapor condensed into water droplets and formed fog covering the farm.
Fog can form in two ways: either by cooling the air to its dew point or by evaporation and mixing. This happens often when the earth radiates heat at night or in the early morning.
This view is just outside my large “run-in” pasture. Beyond the fence is a giant open field where all my horses can be turned out – hard to see through the fog.
This day was also very cloudy – one can see the outline of this tree, completely bare of leaves. This tree is in the same pasture, Clouds and fog form in similar ways, but clouds can form at many different altitudes while fog only forms near the ground.
These trees are Osage orange trees, Maclura pomifera. They have very sharp, straight spines along the branches. Before the invention of barbed wire in the 1800s, thousands of miles of hedge were constructed by planting young Osage Orange trees closely together. The goal was to grow them “horse high, bull strong and hog tight.” Farmers wanted them to be tall enough that a horse would not jump it, stout enough that a bull would not push it, and woven so tightly that a hog could not find its way through.
The brooks and streams are full. They appear black against the white snow from the last big storm.
Do you know this tree? It is the giant sycamore located in my back hay field. It is the symbol of my farm.
The same sycamore is also in this photo – can you see it in the distance? Don’t confuse fog and mist. Fog is denser than mist. This means fog contains more water molecules in the same amount of space. Fog cuts visibility down to six-tenths of a mile while mist can reduce visibility to about one to 1.2 miles.
Along the carriage road at the back of my upper hayfield, I planted a grove of dawn redwoods, Metasequoia. They look quite mysterious surrounded by fog.
This hayfield is one of three I use for making hay. It’s completely covered in snow now, but in summer, it is filled with beautiful, nutritious hay for my horses.
This photo shows the thick fog through another part of the woodland. Do you know the foggiest place in the world? It is Grand Banks, off the island of Newfoundland, Canada. The cold Labrador current from the north and the warm Gulf Stream current from the east create just the right conditions for thick fog to form almost every day of the year.
The thicker the fog, the longer it takes to dissipate. This fog lasted several hours along with rain showers. This view shows my golden weeping willows.
And this is a look into another horse paddock with an allée of lindens across the way.
This is the fog over the trees in my middle field. Another interesting story involving fog includes President George Washington. During the Battle of Long Island on August 27, 1776, George Washington and his troops were fighting a losing battle against the British. When a thick fog descended on the area, Washington took the opportunity to withdraw thousands of his troops into Manhattan. After the fog lifted, the British descended on the American positions, only to find they had left. The Americans’ miraculous retreat saved their lives.
On these foggy, winter days, everything seems to take on various gray tones.
Looking down between the paddocks are the tall, majestic eastern white pines on the right.
This is a view down the allée of London planes and smoke bushes. The taller London planes were pruned a couple months ago. For these trees, I am using a pollarding style of pruning, which is a very severe method that involves cutting the branches back either to the trunk, or even all the way down to the top of the trunk to promote the growth of club-headed stems and dense new foliage and branches.
And this is my stable complex courtyard – still covered in snow from the last big storm. Today, everyone in the area is waking up to at least another foot of white along with strong winds and whiteout conditions. It’s an erratic weather season – be careful and stay safe.
I am very fortunate to have several greenhouses here at my farm where I can maintain large collections of beautiful potted plants. But with so many, I am constantly thinking of new ways I can make better use of the space in each one. One solution - go vertical.
Creating multiple growing levels is a strategic approach to maximizing every inch of room. Recently, Pete Sherpa from my crew, made benches out of scrap wood and leftover mesh wire to support more plants on top of the long, sliding tables in my main greenhouse. It's an easy project that helps keep my container plants well-spaced and organized.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
When it comes to building materials, I save as much as I can. One never knows when they will come in handy. Last year, I saved the usable wood from a fence I took down around my garden at Skylands, my home in Maine. A portion of the cedar wood will now be repurposed as tiered benches for my main greenhouse.
This is wire mesh saved from the building of the sliding tables in my greenhouse – strong durable metal that can support heavy potted plants and drain efficiently. There is enough to make four benches.
Working off of the requested measurements for the space, Pete measures and marks the wood to be cut.
Fortunately, I have a small workshop at the farm, where I store all the necessary equipment for these woodworking projects. Here, Pete cuts the wood on the table saw.
He makes all of his cuts for two benches before constructing them. Working in this kind of production line process is fast and efficient.
Pete makes sure the legs are of equal length.
After cutting the legs, each one looks like this with one quarter of the top still intact.
Using a knife, Pete trims off any jagged edges of wood.
This is what they look like after cutting.
Pete also trims the ends of the horizontal pieces at a 45-degree angle.
And then starts to put it together. Here is one corner.
The legs will not only support the tops, but keep them in position.
Here’s a view from the top. Notice how the horizontal piece is placed. A perpendicular piece of wood will complete the corner and fit perfectly.
Using two and a half inch screws, Pete secures the horizontal pieces to the legs.
Here’s a view from the side. This wood already has a beautiful patina, which is a natural finish made by sunlight, air, and moisture over time.
Here is the base of one bench all done. The legs are just a couple feet tall – enough for some pots above and below the bench. This particular piece is 50-inches long and just about a foot wide.
Next, Pete places the wire mesh over the base.
And secures it with screws and washers.
And here is one of the benches in the greenhouse – ready to be used.
Using tiered benches is an excellent way to maximize space in my greenhouse where every single inch counts.
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