Every year, I try to spend two or three weeks - give or take - at my beautiful refuge in Seal Harbor, Maine. This year, the weather was fantastic and I enjoyed many local day trips with friends, walks along the beaches, and a special birthday celebration at Skylands with my family.
Here are more photos from my time in Maine - enjoy. And see more photos on my Instagram page @marthastewart48.
August 3rd is my birthday. I always spend it in Maine with close friends and family. This is an old daily calendar, which is updated first thing every morning by Cheryl DuLong, who helps me care for my beautiful home, Skylands.
A yearly tradition – a birthday card made by my granddaughter – this year, Jude made it with her friend, Jade. It is the best one ever. And everyone at Skylands signed it. I love the handmade origami butterflies!
On this day, I hosted a special luncheon for the Beatrix Farrand Society, a non-profit organization
dedicated to preserving the memory and legacy of the landscape architect Beatrix Farrand. For this meal in my dining room, I used my Copeland Spode Sherman Bar Harbor plates – each one is different, showing a scene from around Seal Harbor and Acadia National Park.
Our main course included russet potato baked, smashed, and served with creme fraiche, chives and caviar, roasted beet salad, green string beans, and braised artichoke hearts. All the vegetables were picked fresh from my gardens.
For dessert, citrus granita and homemade shortbread. It was a most refreshing and delicious meal.
This is Andy Goldsworthy, acclaimed sculptor and artist, who is working on a very big project at the College of the Atlantic. It is called Road Line and it is his first permanent artwork in the state of Maine.
Road Line is made of a single continuous line of granite curbstones. It begins its route through the COA campus and will run its path to the coast of Frenchman Bay.
It is a very extensive project Andy hopes “will resonate with the students who will also pass through the college on their own journeys and that, wherever life takes them afterwards, they will always be reminded of their time in Maine.”
Back at Skylands, look at the kiwi vine – it is thriving. The vines are “ancient” actinidia, which are small kiwi. They are original to the home and have done exceptionally well all these years. This great, fast-growing, sturdy vine is fruit producing.
Beneath the vine and brought out every summer are the two glazed terra-cotta sphinxes. They are designed by Emile Muller and guard this entrance to the house.
Below the ledge and lying beneath the West Terrace is the lady – La Riviere by Aristide Maillol. The original terms of the commission were intended to honor Henri Barbusse, noted author and pacifist. Maillol initially conceived the figure as a woman who had been stabbed in the back, falling at the viewer’s feet. However, when funds proved to be insufficient to complete the memorial, Maillol re-conceived the figure as a more timeless theme, the personification of a river. Here, she is surrounded by ferns, tree peonies, Japanese maples, blueberry bushes, and Lady’s Mantle. I had just cleaned the garden around her when I took this photo.
Wendy Norling, my gardener at Skylands, made all the floral arrangements this season. Every one of them was beautiful. This one includes colorful snapdragons grown by Wendy and picked the same day right from my garden.
This arrangement is made with lacecap hydrangeas and Ammi majus, the false Queen Anne’s Lace.
On this day, we walked along Bracy Cove’s stony beach.
At another point, we also saw this handsome great blue heron just sitting and watching. The great blue heron is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North and Central America.
I also enjoyed a wonderful lunch at the Docksider Restaurant in Northeast Harbor. The wait staff was so friendly…
… and the lobster rolls were so amazing. Stop if you’re ever in the area.
Here I am with my two dear friends, Susan Magrino and Terre Blair. We are in the gazebo of my property at Ox Ledge.
On this evening I took four of my Skylands crew to dinner – Emilee, Amos, Wendy, and Peter. We ate at Copita, also in Northeast Harbor.
And here’s another nighttime view from my terrace looking at the dark night sky and the gleaming stars. I love Skylands – it is so magical any time of day, any time of year.
Whenever I go to Skylands, my home in Seal Harbor, Maine, the days are always filled with lots of great activities and good quality time with family and friends.
This summer was especially memorable. I hosted more than 17 guests my entire stay. The weather was pleasant. The flowers from my gardens were abundant and beautifully arranged, and with the vegetable gardens in Bedford and at Skylands producing so much bounty, our meals were interesting and sensational - we all ate and ate and ate so many delicious foods.
This is the first blog featuring some of the highlights of this summer in Maine - enjoy.
I never tire of the stunning photos taken from the terraces at my home at Skylands. This was captured in the early morning hours. It is a super sturgeon moon on August 1st. The full moon in August is called sturgeon moon because of the large number of sturgeon fish that were once found and more easily caught in the Great Lakes in North America during this time of year. It was a name used by native American tribes. My granddaughter Jude and I took several photos of this gorgeous moon over Seal Harbor.
One of the first meals I enjoyed this summer at Skylands was made with freshly picked chanterelle mushrooms. Jude and her friends carefully harvested these after a good rain at Skylands. Chanterelles are among the most popular of wild edible mushrooms. They are orange, yellow or white, meaty and funnel-shaped.
We enjoyed them that evening served with a delicious pasta.
We’ve had such an abundance of cucumbers this season. I made a giant batch of bread and butter pickles. Here they are in a big bowl with onions – also from my garden.
I enjoy canning and do so every year.
These old-fashioned bread and butter pickles have a crisp texture and a well-balanced sweet and sour flavor.
I enjoyed several boat rides out on the Harbor. The skies were just amazing.
On this day, it was also a little chilly. Here I am “under cover.”
This summer at Skylands was very busy. I had more than 17-guests stay with me. The kitchen table was always full.
On one night we enjoyed a Japanese themed dinner with miso. Here are the vegetables all cut and prepared – mis en place.
We made miso soup all from scratch. The word miso means ‘fermented beans’ in Japanese. Miso paste is nearly always made with fermented soy beans, and is a staple of Japanese cooking.
We also made miso cod from scratch.
And miso eggplant using eggplant from my garden. The eggplants have been growing so wonderfully. The meal was excellent – everything was devoured.
On another day, we had a survival expert come out to teach the children how to survive in the woodland. Here I am in the teepee the children built.
This year, my gardener Wendy Norling arranged all the flowers cut from the gardens. She did such an amazing job. This is just one of them – an all white hydrangea arrangement sitting in the alcove just outside my dining room.
And look at the beautifully display of yellow lilies on the table – all flowers freshly picked the same day. This table was set for another themed dinner – Mexican night.
Chef Lazaro made a delicious spread with homemade salsas, dips, tortillas, and all the fixings.
Carnitas, literally meaning “little meats”, is a dish of Mexican cuisine that originated in the state of Michoacán. Carnitas are made by braising or simmering pork in oil or lard until tender.
We also had tamales. A tamale, or in Spanish tamal, is a traditional dish made of masa, a corn dough, which is steamed in a corn husk or banana leaves.
And here is Jude’s plate – another wonderful meal, grandchild approved. Healthy, homemade and so flavorful. Tomorrow, I will share more photos from my summer in Maine. Stay tuned.
Here at my Bedford, New York farm, there are still so many fresh, organic vegetables to pick and enjoy.
Many of you often ask what I do with all the many vegetables I grow. Most of them are shared with my daughter, Alexis, and her children, Jude and Truman – they love all vegetables. I also use them for my parties and share them with friends. Some are used for various media shoots or when we test recipes here at the farm. This week's harvest was shared with my hardworking crew. Nothing is ever wasted – whatever isn’t used goes to my beloved chickens, geese, and peafowl.
Enjoy these photos.
Despite an unusually wet summer, this has been one of our most productive growing seasons here at the farm. My new vegetable garden continues to provide bounties of fresh, nutritious vegetables.
And, since we practice succession gardening, we are always able to pick something. Right now, we have an abundance of cucumbers, eggplants, and peppers. And while I am away traveling, I instructed my gardeners to harvest and share with all the staff.
Brian picked the eggplants. We have one large bed of eggplants and there are so many ready to pick.
It is 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.
Elvira picked bush beans. Bush beans are second only to tomatoes as the most popular vegetables in home gardens. Bush beans are eaten when the seeds are small. They are also called string beans because of a fibrous string running the length of the pod. She started with the green string beans, but they also come in yellow and purple.
My crew loves hot peppers, and I grow many of them to share.
Be careful when picking peppers – always keep the hot ones separated from the sweet ones, so there is no surprise in the kitchen.
Ripe squash will be firm, fairly heavy for its size, and vibrantly colored. We also picked quite a few. Some are already too big, but still delicious. And don’t get confused… all zucchini are squash, but not all squash are zucchini. The term “squash” refers to the plant species within the gourd family, which is divided into winter squash and summer squash.
These round squash are called pattypans. Pattypan squash is a varietal group of summer squash notable for its round and shallow shape, and scalloped edges, somewhat resembling a flying saucer.
This is our best year for cucumbers. We’ve harvested buckets of cucumbers. Cucumbers require a long growing season, and most are ready for harvest in 50 to 70 days from planting. The fruits ripen at different times on the vine, but it is important to pick them when they are ready. If they are left on the vine too long, they tend to taste bitter.
Elvira picks cucumbers from both inside and outside the trellis. Those cucumbers which are too large are given to my chickens, geese, and peafowl – they love to pick at the seeds.
Also growing well are the herbs. This is sage. Sage is commonly used to season poultry or sausage, infuse butter, or to add flavor to root vegetables like sweet potatoes or parsnips.
And our curly parsley is still going strong. Curley parsley is milder than the flat, but it is great to use as a decorative garnish, giving dishes pops of color.
Look at our onions! These are giant. These will be picked later and then cured in a warm, dry, well-ventilated location for two to three weeks until the onion tops and necks are thoroughly dry and the outer bulb scales begin to rustle.
The edamame is also growing abundantly. If you’re not familiar, edamame is the same soybean that makes tofu. Eaten as beans, they taste a bit like peas and are buttery with a hint of sweetness and nuttiness.
We also planted some nasturtium in our asparagus bed. Do you know… the leaves, stems, flowers, and young seed pods of nasturtium are all edible? All of these parts have a distinct peppery flavor similar to radishes. That kick is strongest in the seeds and lightest in the flowers.
And remember our sunflowers? They’re growing so beautifully in the center of the garden. Typically, sunflowers stay in bloom for about three weeks, but one may get a full month if lucky.
In just a short time, there was enough for my crew to share – and all picked before the pending showers. Here’s our overflowing bucket of eggplants.
And here are the beans – all three colors, and all so fresh and delicious. Yellow beans lack chlorophyll and will keep their color when cooked. Purple beans contain anthocyanins, the purple pigment, that disappear a bit when beans are cooked.
Brian moved the full buckets into the back of our Polaris off-road vehicle…
… and then spread them all out onto the large table under my pavilion. Everyone at the farm could select their own.
It’s a wonderful bounty. There will be lots of delicious cooking going on this weekend. What homegrown vegetables are you enjoying this summer?
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