Here at my farm, we're harvesting an abundance of fresh, nutritious produce from the garden.
Yesterday, my head gardener Ryan McCallister gathered a beautiful bounty of vegetables, including beans, artichokes, peppers, eggplants, carrots, onions, beets, celery herbs, and more. Growing all of this takes time, care, and plenty of hard work. From choosing the right varieties and preparing the soil to watering, weeding, and staking plants as they grow. It's so rewarding to see all that effort pay off in a healthy, productive harvest. And there's still plenty more to come.
Here are some photos.
After any harvest, the freshly picked vegetables are loaded up and brought to my flower room, where they can be washed if needed, then bagged and stored in the refrigerator. It makes me so happy to be able to share all of this produce with friends and family every summer.
The right time to harvest cabbage depends on the variety of cabbage planted and when the heads mature. Look for heads that are firm all the way through when squeezed – that’s when they’re ready.
I have such beautiful carrots this season. Most are familiar with the orange carrots, but they also come in red, yellow, white, and purple.
The carrots are rinsed in cold water and then placed in a large stainless steel bowl. Enma removes the outer leaves of the cabbage and rinses off any dirt.
Summer squash is best harvested when young, tender, and about eight inches long, with glossy, slightly firm skin.
Here’s one of the onions fresh from the garden.
Elvira peels off the outer layers and gently wipes each one clean.
These look so wonderful. I planted a lot of white, yellow and red onions. There will be a bigger onion harvest soon.
Here’s the season’s first big bounty of cucumbers. Cucumbers, Cucumis sativus, are great for pickling – I try to find time for pickling every year. I like them best when they are about six to eight inches in length. These will be so sweet and juicy.
The globe artichoke, Cynara scolymus, is actually a flower bud, which is eaten when tender. Buds are generally harvested once they reach full size, just before the bracts begin to spread open. Artichoke harvest starts in late July or early August and continues well until frost.
Enma uses a brush specifically made for removing dirt, debris and any bacteria left on the surface of the vegetable.
She carefully cleans the beets one by one.
And look at all the beets that were picked. Beets grow so well here at the farm. The beetroot is the taproot of the beet plant, and is often called the table beet, garden beet, red or golden beet or simply… beet.
There are two types of green beans. Pole beans grow on climbing vines and require trellising. Bush beans like these grow on bushes up to two feet and do not need support. And with the proper care, the bushes can produce beans through the entire season.
This celery will be so delicious in my daily green juice. Celery is ready when the stalks stand tall and have a diameter of about two to three inches.
Also great in my green juice is parsley. I always grow parsley in the garden. Parsley is a low-calorie, nutrient-dense herb that is rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
It’s good to pick eggplants when they are young and tender. Try to pick a little early, which will encourage the plant to grow more, and will help to extend the growing season.
Peppers hold up great in the heat, and we’ve had a lot of warm days, so these should be very flavorful. Sweet bell peppers are popular in the garden – all grassy in flavor and crunchy in texture. I love making stuffed peppers.
I also grow many hot peppers to share. These thrive in full sun and are ready to pick when they are firm, green, and about three inches long. Be careful when picking peppers – always keep the hot ones separated from the sweet ones, so there is no surprise in the kitchen.
And a bucket of lush basil in green and purple. Basil is used for its fresh, sweet, and slightly peppery flavor.
What a fantastic bounty. Enma finishes cleaning all the vegetables so they’re ready to use. What are you picking from the garden this weekend?
Rain or shine, the work of caring for a farm never stops. Daily task lists keep the farm running smoothly and looking its best.
My gardeners, housekeepers, stable team, and outdoor grounds crew are always busy tackling important chores. During the summer months, that means pruning trees and shrubs, mulching the garden beds, weeding, tending the vegetable garden and of course, providing the best possible care for all the animals.
Enjoy these photos.
We’ve had a stretch of strong rain this week, but skies cleared nicely in between flooding storms. Fortunately, with good planning, my crew was still able to get a lot done around the farm.
During storm cleanup, Pasang takes down a dying tree in the Japanese Maple Tree Woodland. The tree is secured to another, so it falls in a safe direction away from Pasang and other more delicate plantings.
In the foreground is the stump remaining after a dead maple tree fell overnight.
Once on the ground, Pasang cuts the tree into sections before loading it onto the tractor for transport to my compost yard where it will be chipped and used for top dressing in another part of the farm.
In the maze, Chhiring moves mulch into a wheelbarrow to dress the many shrubs. It’s an arduous job to mulch my three-acre maze, but I am so glad I am able to make all the mulch right here at the farm.
Every row is dressed with mulch to improve the soil health, conserve moisture, suppress any weeds, regulate temperature, and protect the plants from any environmental stress.
My stable manager, Helen Peparo, rides the horses regularly to keep them mentally stimulated and exercised. I have four miles of carriage road at the farm topped with gravel for good footing.
The big peony blooms are gone for the year, but maintenance in the garden continues. Here’s Matthew weeding the long beds. Last spring, I decided to cover the footpaths with weed cloth – doing so cuts down the time used for weeding.
Phurba works in another row – there are 11 double rows in all.
And my 48-gallon reusable heavy-duty, multi-purpose debris bags are great to use all over the farm. These bags hold hundreds of pounds. Look for them on my shop at Amazon.
In my Winter House, Enma cleans the oven. I do a lot of entertaining, so it’s important the kitchen is always in perfect working condition.
What’s Pasang doing now? He’s grooming under one of my Styrax japonicus ‘Marley’s Pink Parasol’ trees. I have an allée of these charming trees leading to my tennis court.
In the chicken coops nearby, Cesar my resident bird expert, rakes the gravel clean of any old food or debris.
Every coop is also cleaned thoroughly once a week to keep the birds healthy and happy.
My chickens get the very best care and attention. Here are some of the younger roosters and hens in their clean enclosure.
When dry, Adan mows the lawns using our STIHL equipment. Mowing wet grass can damage the lawn, strain the mower, and create safety hazards, so it’s always best to wait until the grass is dry.
Behind the chicken coops, the hawthorn trees get a good pruning. The hawthorn tree is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree or shrub, known for its thorny branches, clusters of white or pink flowers in spring, and bright red berry-like fruits called haws.
Here’s Pasang carrying away more debris for chipping.
Blueberry bushes are checked once again for any ripe fruits.
Today is supposed to be sunny to partly cloudy with light winds and temperatures in the low 80s – a good day to finish up the week’s chores and projects.
My longtime driver, Carlos "Uno" Villamil, is at it again - taking photos around the farm and sharing his unique perspective on the places we see every day.
Carlos is an avid photographer. On many evenings just before sunset, he takes my five dogs out for a walk or drive around the property with his camera in hand. Along the way, he captures images of the gardens, trees, flowers, the sweeping landscapes, the colorful sky, etc. And then he shares his photos with me and all the others that work here.
Enjoy some of the photos he's taken this season.
Carlos has seen all of these gardens develop – he’s been working with me for more than 25 years. This is my large hosta garden located down behind my chicken coops.
These hostas are planted under the shade of these great dawn redwoods, Metasequoia. I planted these trees when they were just a few feet tall.
Across the carriage road from the hostas is my newest formal rose garden. Earlier this year, I transformed what was previously my lilac allée. I planted more than 140 new roses to add to the existing rose bushes and surrounded them all with a border of boxwood.
This is one of my horse pastures. In the distance are the tall eastern white pines that were here when I moved to the farm. The trees in front of them are lindens. The allée stretches from my long pergola down to the chicken coops.
I planted climbing hydrangeas at the base of some of the trees around my home. They bloom wonderfully every year.
Here’s my handsome Chow Chow Emperor Han on the cool stone floor of my stable. He adores Carlos and loves to accompany him wherever he goes.
This is my pinetum just off the carriage road behind my Equipment Barn. I started it about 20 years ago. As an arboretum of pine trees and other conifers, this area provides shelter and nesting sites for small birds, and continuous, year-round interest and greenery in the landscape.
Carlos enjoys capturing photos of the changing skies. On this warm summer day, there was nothing but beautiful blue above the farm.
Aside from his love for photography, Carlos also enjoys helping me with the gardening. He feeds many of the plants for me – with Miracle-Gro, of course.
Here’s one of my three French Bulldogs, Luna Muna. She loves going for rides in the Polaris off-road vehicle with her “Uncle Carlito.”
Here, Carlos notices the interesting bark of the London Plane tree. As these trees mature, they show mottled, exfoliating bark that reveals a camouflage-like pattern of pale yellow, grey, white, and brown patches.
Not far is my grove of weeping willows. Anyone who drives by this hayfield at my farm can see these tall weeping willows along one edge. Weeping willows are upright, fast-growing, deciduous trees that can grow up to 80-feet tall. Because of their massive root systems, they need a fair amount of room to grow. They also prefer wet feet and are often planted on the banks of streams and rivers to prevent erosion.
Here’s a photo of my stable complex on July 3rd, the evening before Independence Day – clouds were rolling in.
Nearby, Carlos takes this photo of our trusted Kubota tractor, which is used for so many jobs here at the farm.
This photo was taken a short time later – here the skies are looking quite gray and ominous.
Here’s Carlos in my half-acre vegetable garden. What are you harvesting for me, Carlos?
Carlos also enjoys taking photos of the flowers. This year, the hydrangeas are so prolific. I have hydrangeas blooming all over the farm.
This photo showing blue hydrangeas and some pink phlox was taken earlier this month. The foliage is so lush and green.
One can see my tennis court in the distance with the pinkish skies overhead. A pink sky at sunset occurs when sunlight is scattered by the atmosphere, showing stable, fair and calm weather.
The season is going by quickly. Thanks for documenting so many of our finer days and evenings here at the farm, Carlos. Keep taking beautiful photos.
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