I'm busy getting ready for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, but there's still time to make something homemade and meaningful to give as gifts for St. Valentine's Day. Every year, I like to bake lots of heart shaped sugar cookies. I prepare the dough and royal icing, cut out the shapes, bake, and decorate them in pink and white using a process I devised that's easy and fun. It's the four Ds - dipping, dripping, decorating, and drying.
Enjoy these photos and video from my Valentine's Day cookie baking process a few years ago.
The first step is to gather all the ingredients – here are all the decorating ingredients and my giant heart-shaped cookie cutters. I have had these cutters for years.
And then make your favorite sugar cookie dough. I have many delicious sugar cookie recipes in my books.
Once it’s ready, I put it on a piece of plastic wrap and roll out the dough in two batches, so it’s easier to manage.
After rolling, they are completely wrapped and chilled for at least 30-minutes – mine were chilled overnight. Chilled dough will help retain the shape of the cookies; soft, warm dough tends to lose its shape when cut and moved.
The next morning, the doughs are perfect. They get really hard, but they roll out so beautifully.
Here they are about to go into the oven. It’s such a treat for me to bake, it’s become an annual tradition. These cookies are baked at 400-degrees Fahrenheit for 10-minutes.
Here are some batches already cooling – all perfectly browned. The cookies are about 1/8-inch thick.
I made large and small cookies – some with decorative edges and some left smooth.
My process for decorating sugar cookies involves the four “Ds” – dipping, dripping, decorating, and drying. Sugar cookies are delicious any time on their own, but they also make ideal holiday cookies when decorated with royal icing. I used royal icing made from confectioner’s sugar, meringue from my own egg whites, food coloring, water, and then hand-dipped each cookie very carefully. I do this instead of damming and flooding, which is a much more precise method.
Carefully dip the cookie into the icing. and let the excess drip.
I dipped just the top of the cookie, so each one looks smooth and perfect. The frosting has to be exactly the right consistency to dip the cookies satisfactorily. And remove them very carefully, letting the excess drip. Once they are flat, the icing will level out into a perfect surface for decorating.
While the white frosting is still wet, I use pink icing on top. I make horizontal lines first across the cookie.
Do this in any direction, making sure the lines are evenly spaced.
Then, using the tip of a bamboo skewer, I just pull the frosting down from the top to the bottom of the cookie making this Napoleonic design. It is called this because the same design is seen on Napoleon pastries.
One can go in both directions to make it more interesting.
After the decorating, let the cookies sit and dry completely.
And here are some of the finished cookies drying on the rack.
Here at the farm, weekend temperatures are expected to be in the 40s Fahrenheit - a brief respite from this year's bitter cold for everyone, including my animals.
Winter enrichment for animals is the practice of providing both physical and mental stimulation to prevent boredom and stress and to support good behavior during these colder months. My stable manager, Helen Peparo, ensures every horse, pony, and donkey has sensory enrichment, food-based enrichment, and creative games to keep them engaged when not outdoors in their pastures.
Enjoy these photos.
My handsome Friesians are given the best of care. These are my newest rescues, three year old Ulysses and eight year old Stewart. They are a bonded pair and love to frolic in the large paddocks.
This is the patriarch of my stable and my trusted mount, Rinze. He is always eager to be outdoors no matter the weather.
I am fortunate my horses get along so well. They can be turned out with their closest friends or grouped together. Here are Stewart and Ulysses having a “conversation.”
Mangers of hay are filled in their pastures. I make all the hay right here at the farm.
My horses are turned out for several hours each day. Horses need this time for physical and mental health, social interaction and overall wellbeing. However, during the harsh winter this time can be shorter.
During the season, they are called in for grooming and feeding in the afternoon and need more indoor enrichment.
Here’s Helen walking the horses through a shoveled path – we’re still buried under feet of snow, but hopefully most of it will melt in the coming days.
Along with their nutritious hay, my horses are given a variety of other supplements with their meals mixed with some of their favorite grains and beat pulp all with warm water to encourage fluid intake. They all love it.
Here’s Bond, who eats ever morsel. Because horses have small stomachs relative to their size, they eat little and often. A horse needs food spread out, preferably in two to three feedings a day.
To help keep eating under control and more fun, Bond uses a hay net specially designed to slow feed times, curb boredom, and simulate grazing. It is filled with a fortified chopped forage with minerals and vitamins.
This is alfalfa. Alfalfa is beneficial for older horses in winter because it is high in protein and calories to help maintain weight and generate more metabolic heat during digestion. Rinze gets this alfalfa.
This Clover Horse Toy from PetKore is for the youngest of my equines, Ulysses. It is designed to provide entertainment, and encourage foraging and interactive play. Ulysses also gets a bit of alfalfa to help him gain weight and stay warm. All the horses get different enrichments based on age, personality, and feed requirements.
And I never forget the donkeys – here’s Truman “TJ” Junior waiting for his meal.
The donkeys get this Luna® Ring Horse Toy also from PetKore, which also holds treats and bunches of hay for interest.
My Friesian, Hylke, likes to remove things from the hooks outside his stall, so I gave him a Jolly Tug ball to play with instead. It’s working.
And my two stable cats – Cinco and Mayo… they have free access to all the great play areas in the stable, such as this pile of hay.
Here’s ‘May-May” watching all the activity and thinking about her next move.
Inside their room, the cats also have lots of enriching toys, trees, and treats to keep them engaged and stimulated.
Scratching behavior helps felines maintain claws, stretch muscles, and relieve stress. Cinco and Mayo love to scratch on their sisal post.
And at the end of the day, all the animals are warm indoors, well-enriched, and ready to take on whatever comes next at Cantitoe Corners. Enriching animals in winter… it’s a very good thing.
And here's a video of "TJ" trying his ring puzzle for the first time...
Ferns are beautiful, lush additions to any garden or indoor houseplant collection. With their interesting frond shapes and textures, ferns are easy to maintain and make excellent container plants - I have many different varieties.
As a passionate gardener, I am inside my greenhouses as often as possible - checking on my many plants, making sure they are in good health, and when my schedule allows, trimming, watering, and doing all kinds of maintenance care. Recently, I noted to my gardeners that some of the ferns needed repotting. A general rule of thumb is to repot ferns every two to three years, when the plant shows obvious signs of outgrowing its current vessel and as a way to provide fresh fertile soil.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
I have hundreds of plants in my main greenhouse – categorized by type and light needs on long, sliding tables that provide access to every plant when needed. This section is for some of my potted ferns.
The fern is a class of nonflowering, herbaceous vascular plants with roots, stems, interesting and complex leaves, that reproduce by spores. This is a delicate lacy fern.
Crocodile or alligator ferns are epiphytic ferns named for the markings on their long, lance-shaped fronds. The crisscrossed veins on the foliage resemble the scaly skin of the large semi-aquatic reptiles.
Some ferns have fishtail-like fronds. Ferns thrive best in bright, indirect light.
Ferns primarily come in various shades of green, but some are also bi-colored. Types of ribbon ferns are recognized for the elegant, often variegated fronds, which can feature creamy white centers bordered by dark green edges.
And these are bird’s nest ferns – one of my favorite ferns. They grow slowly, only about two to six inches per year. Fronds eventually reach a maximum size of about three feet long, with plant diameters reaching about three feet wide. I have many mature specimens. These are still young, but will grow beautifully with the proper care.
The bird’s nest fern is so named because the center of the plant resembles a bird’s nest. It is also occasionally called a crow’s nest fern. Here, one can see a new frond growing from the center rosette.
When selecting a pot, consider plant size and growth habit as well as root size. The pot should be at least one inch wider than the plant’s root mass.
Most of these pots are made by master potters, Guy Wolff and his son Ben. And according to Guy, I have the largest collection of his pots to date. These are just some of them organized under my greenhouse tables and ready to use.
In production line fashion, Matthew first covers the drainage hole with a pot shard. The shard keeps soil from falling through the hole and allows for better drainage.
It does not happen often, but pots do occasionally break. I save all the shards just for this purpose. Stones from the yard also work nicely.
For these, I use Scotts Moisture Control Potting Mix, which is specially formulated to protect against over- and under-watering and feeds for up to six months.
A quality potting soil must have good water retention capacity and good porosity. It should also feel light, airy, and not show any signs of mold. Ferns thrive in well-draining, moisture-retentive soils rich in organic matter, and ideally with a slightly acidic pH between 5.5 and 7.0.
Matthew removes a plant from its old container. This pot was too small and shallow. The growing bird’s nest fern definitely needed to be repotted.
Because the root ball is healthy, Matthew doesn’t have to do any excessive scarifying. He just teases and loosens the roots with his hands and places it into the new vessel.
Next, Matthew positions the fern firmly before backfilling.
Once potted and backfilled, Matthew presses down slightly on the soil to ensure there is good contact between the plant and the potting mix.
As a top dressing, I like to cover the soil with pea gravel. Matthew arranges one layer of gravel gently around the plant base. Pea gravel can be found at garden supply shops.
These newly potted ferns will do very well inside the greenhouse where they can be monitored regularly along with the other plants.
The right pot for the right plant provides the right amount of space and stability for proper watering and feeding. And the right light, humidity, and food will ensure it thrives for many years. What are your favorite ferns?
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