Now that the first cut of hay is completed for the season, it's time to reseed the fields in preparation for a second cut later this year.
When I moved to this farm, I designated three separate areas as hayfields and planted them with a mixture of timothy, orchard grass, Kentucky bluegrass, ryegrass, and clover - all great for producing quality hay for my horses. Earlier this week, ahead of some expected rain, all these areas were aerated and over-seeded by my outdoor grounds crew foreman, Chhiring Sherpa, using good quality, high grade seed mixes.
Enjoy these photos.
This is the largest of three hayfields at my farm. I specifically wanted to use my fields to produce good, natural hay for my Friesians, Fell Pony, and five Sicilian donkeys.
In June, my outdoor grounds crew baled our first cut of hay. My foreman, Chhiring Sherpa, is our resident hay expert and has done an excellent job managing the process of cutting, fluffing, raking, and then baling the hay.
Once collected from the fields, the bales are brought to my stable hayloft and stacked.
And then it’s time to reseed the fields, so they can be cut again in autumn. Earlier this week, Chhiring took advantage of the pending rains to over-seed the areas.
First, the ground is aerated with our Land Pride tow-behind aerator. I am glad to be able to have all the farm equipment we need to care for our fields.
Here is a view of the attachment from the back. On top are weights that maintain the downward pressure of the aerator as it is moving.
The tines on an aerator are prongs that are driven into the ground to create holes that improve soil health and lawn health. These solid tines break up compaction and improve air pockets. These do not remove soil cores.
Here, one can see the holes left behind by the aerating spikes.
The aerator creates a pattern as it goes making it very easy to eee where the ground has been aerated.
My seed is from Hancock Farm & Seed Company, a 46-year old business that grows its own seed and ships directly from its Dade City, Florida facility.
Among the seed varieties we are using is this custom seed blend that includes orchard grass, tall fescue, and Timothy. Good quality grass is important for horses. It helps provide proper fiber requirements and keeps their digestive systems healthy.
This is a 3-point spreader, which can be attached to a variety of tractors to spread seed or fertilizer. Chhiring hooks it up to the center rear of our Kubota M4-071 tractor.
The spreader features an opening system with split levers that provide distribution control.
Broadcast spreaders distribute seed in a fan-like pattern in all directions and cover a wider area per pass than drop spreaders. As the tractor moves, the fan throws the seed that falls out of the bottom of the spreader.
Chhiring starts by going around this field counter clockwise from the outer edge working inward. He also overlaps his passes, so he doesn’t miss any areas. The other end of the tractor has our trusted Kubota L1154 front loader that helps us transport so many things around the farm and cuts down plenty of time going back and forth to the Equipment Barn.
Over-seeding is a process where grass seed is added to an already existing area which after germination serves to increase the density of the grass plants. This process reduces the aging process or natural decline of the turf.
One can see the spreader dropping the seed as Chhiring circles the hayfield.
Here’s Chhiring in another field. Hopefully these seeds will get a good watering with the expected rain.
It makes me so happy to be able to grow good hay for my horses. We should be able to get the second cut sometime in the end of September.
This is one of the season’s most anticipated harvests – my peaches. My peach trees are so productive – look at all these fruits, and there are still so many more on the trees.
When picking peaches, color is a great indicator of maturity. Peaches are ripe when the ground color of the fruit changes from green to completely yellow and the fruit is a bright red-orange.
If the peach is firm to the touch, it’s not ready. It’s ripe when there is some “give” as it is gently squeezed. Some could have used a little more time, but we wanted to get them before the squirrels.
Another indicator of ripeness is if the peach separates easily from the tree when pulled.
Peach tree leaves are oval-shaped and simple, with a length that is greater than the width. They are bold green in color, but turn yellow in the fall before falling.
After just minutes, we had all these peaches picked. I always use trays and place them in a single layer so they don’t get bruised.
Once the peaches are brought into my Winter House kitchen, they are pitted and sliced into wedges, and placed in a large stainless steel bowl.
Then they are sprinkled with one cup sugar and left in the fridge to macerate.
I added some blueberries picked from my bushes the same day.
While the oven was pre-heating to 375-degrees Fahrenheit, I buttered two baking dishes.
I prepared the filling – the fruits, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, and salt and transferred the mixture into the dish.
I decided to use a buttermilk biscuit topping, so I prepared my ingredients – flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, butter, and buttermilk.
I combined the dry ingredients and then added the buttermilk until a soft, sticky dough was formed.
I turned out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface.
Then I rolled it out until it was about an inch thick.
Using a floured 2 1/4-inch round biscuit cutter I cut out the biscuits.
To be efficient, when cutting out the biscuits, do it as close together as possible.
The biscuits are spaced evenly on top of the fruit.
I brushed the tops with some buttermilk and then sprinkled them with sanding sugar.
Here they are all ready to go into the oven. I made two, so the recipe was doubled. Cobblers, crisps, buckles, and crumbles are all fruit desserts that are similar but have different toppings and textures. Cobbler has a top crust made of biscuit or pie dough, and usually no bottom crust.
The cobblers are cooked until the biscuits are golden brown and the fruit is bubbling in the center of the dish – about an hour and 15-minutes.
Just perfect out of the oven. Once done, let it cool about a half hour before serving. This dish is for my hardworking crew. I know they’ll love it!
Pre-order your copy of my landmark 100th book “Martha: The Cookbook: 100 Favorite Recipes, with Lessons and Stories from My Kitchen” today from Clarkson Potter. I am so proud of this book. I know you’ll read it cover to cover and want to make every recipe!
It's still berry picking season and the blueberries at my Bedford, New York farm are ripe for the picking!
Plump, juicy, and sweet, with vibrant colors from red to the deepest purple-black, blueberries are one of nature’s finest treasures. I love to use them for jams, jellies, and pies, but they’re also wonderful with cereal, in pancakes and cobblers, and of course, in handfuls on their own. Low in fat, yet packed with vitamin-C and antioxidants, it’s not surprising they’re one of America’s favorite fruits.
Enjoy these photos.
Blueberries are among the most popular berries for eating. Here in the United States, they are second only to strawberries.
My blueberries are all from these bushes located between my flower garden and large Equipment Barn, next to a stand of quince trees. The posts are the same 18th-century Chinese granite uprights I use for the clematis pergola, my apple espaliers, and my raspberry bushes.
Standard blueberry bushes grow about six to 10-feet tall. New shoots grow from the crown under the soil.
At the base, blueberry shrubs have multiple canes growing directly out of the soil in clumps. The canes or branches are smooth and thornless. These bushes have done so well here at the farm. I am always so pleased with how prolific they are every year.
There are two types of blueberries, highbush and lowbush. Highbush blueberries are the types you commonly find at grocery stores and farmers’ markets. Lowbush blueberries are smaller, sweeter blueberries often used for making juices, jams, and baked goods.
They are pale greenish at first, and then reddish-purple and finally dark purple-blue when ripe for picking.
Here, one can see the colors of the berries as they develop – green, then red, then blue.
When harvesting the fruits, select plump, full berries with a light gray-blue color. A berry with a hint of red is not fully ripened.
And blueberries don’t actually reach their full flavor until a few days after they turn blue, so a tip to know which ones are the best – tickle the bunches lightly, and only the truly ripe ones will fall into your hand.
Blueberry bushes have glossy leaves that are green or bluish-green from spring through summer. The leaves are ovate, in an irregular oval or slightly egg shape that is wider at the bottom than the top. Blueberry leaves can also be harvested and dried for teas.
These bushes are so full! I grow many blueberry varieties, including ‘Bluegold’, ‘Chandler’, ‘Darrow’, ‘Jersey’, and ‘Patriot’.
Many blueberries also fall to the ground. All those picked are carefully inspected – only the best are saved. And do you know who also loves blueberries? The wild turkeys here love to forage and eat the berries that fall.
Each of these fruits is about five to 16 millimeters large with a flared crown at the end.
They were once called “star fruits” by North American indigenous peoples because of the five-pointed star shaped crown.
Blueberries are also covered in a protective powdery epicuticular wax known as the “bloom”. These berries are just right for picking. Blueberries are high in fiber, high in vitamin-C, and contain one of the highest amounts of antioxidants among all fruits and vegetables.
We like to pick berries using these small boxes. After they are picked, store blueberries unwashed for a few days in the refrigerator for up to five days.
Enma and Elvira are careful to pick only the bluest of them all, leaving the light green ones and reddish ones to mature.
Elvira picked this box from just two bushes, but there are many more to go!
Blueberries produce from early summer through late fall – we will pick lots and lots of berries before the end of the season.
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