Hard not to love a picturesque snow-covered landscape, especially at my Bedford, New York farm.
Yesterday morning, we got another few inches of beautiful, white snow that was just heavy enough to stick to the tree branches and shrubs, stone posts, walls, and steps, and the tops of all the burlap-encased urns and boxwood - the entire farm was a gorgeous winter wonderland. I always love to tour the property during snow storms. When not busy plowing the four miles of carriage road, I'm taking photos. This storm only lasted a few hours. By mid-morning, the snow tapered to flurries and a bright blue sky appeared.
Here are some of my images, and please go to my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48 to see more, enjoy.
The snow started early in the morning, covering everything at the farm. Here is a cross section of my long and winding clematis pergola. I am glad the large boxwood are well-covered under their protective winter burlap shrouds. Straight ahead, one can see the windows of my Tenant House in the distance.
This is one side of the Pin Oak Allee adjacent to the Equipment Barn. I’ve planted a few different allees at the farm. An allee is a walk or passage, especially one between two rows of evenly planted specimens. The pin oak is one of the most popular trees for landscaping because it’s so easy to transplant and is very hardy and handsome.
On the left is my blueberry patch surrounded by another granite and wood pergola. On the right, a stand of 16 Chinese quince trees. Below them, my friend, Hannah Milman, planted hundreds and hundreds of saffron bulbs in tight, straight rows. They will look so beautiful in bloom.
Here is a view of my perennial flower garden
– a different look from summer when it is filled with colorful, fragrant flowers.
The back of my carport is a wonderful spot for birds to perch and eat. I have a series of bird feeders filled every day for these avian visitors. I am glad the birds can depend on food here at the farm all year long.
Just across the carriage road is my Gravenstein apple espalier. An espalier refers to an ancient technique, resulting in trees that grow flat, either against a wall, or along a wire-strung framework. Many kinds of trees respond beautifully to the espalier treatment, but fruit trees, like apple and pear, were some of the earliest examples. And, because necessary sunlight reaches every piece of fruit that these trees bear, espalier pruning remains standard procedure at commercial orchards in France.
Here’s the old corn crib, which is original to the property. The unique “keystone” shape, flaring from bottom to top, was designed to shed water.
The snow collected on many of the tree branches around the farm. Luckily, there was no damage. Here are my weeping hornbeams. We prune these regularly to keep the beautiful shape. These weeping specimens are rare and hard to find, but I was lucky to find six.
Here is the view of my ancient apple trees with the burlap-covered Boxwood Allee in the distance. Many of you comment on the fencing. In the foreground is 100-year old white spruce fencing from Canada. I love how the snow collects on the fence rails.
The large linden trees are part of an allee I planted several years ago. The linden tree, Tilia, is also referred to as basswood or lime, though it is not related at all to the lime fruit. They are straight stemmed trees with smooth bark. The specimens below are all European beech trees, Fagus sylvatica, or the common beech – they hold tight to their leaves.
Here’s a photo I took from the center of the allee with my carport in the distance.
Hi Phurba! Phurba is shoveling the walkway to my terrace parterre in front of my Winter House kitchen – the snowfall kept everyone busy.
The tall American boxwood that surrounds my Summer House garden is netted and wrapped tightly together. Heavy snow could damage the shrubs and splay their branches.
If you follow my blog regularly, you may recall my new azalea garden planted last year. It is along both sides of the carriage road between my Summer House and my stable. I wanted to add hundreds of colorful azaleas – a variety of unique specimens in shades of pink, orange, crimson and white. Right now, they are all white with snow, but wait until you see them all in bloom – they will be stunning.
Here is a view looking through my fruit orchard not far from my pool.
This is a view into the vegetable garden – completely covered in inches of untouched snow. And in the center is an herb garden we started this summer.
Behind the garden, one of two giant stands of Eastern white pines. These trees stand so tall and majestic in the fields.
Here is my stone yard where all the stone building materials are stored organized and tidy. Here, I keep extra granite posts, stone pavers, slate roof tiles, and marble.
Can you guess where this area is on my farm? If you guessed my Japanese Maple tree woodland, you are correct. Over the last several years, I’ve planted many of these trees in one section of a shade garden not far from my chicken coops and vegetable garden. I just love them and always look forward to their gorgeous display every fall. These specimens provide countless variations in size, leaf shape, and color, creating a landscape of beauty and texture.
Here’s a stand of dawn redwoods, Metasequoia, with their straight trunks – impressive trees by any standard, and beautiful in any season. I love how the snow collects on the trunks of these handsome trees.
This is the long allee of lilacs located behind the chicken coops, not far from my tennis court. Every spring it just bursts with gorgeous color.
Even from the snow covered Boxwood Allee, it is hard to miss those eastern white pines, Pinus strobus. White pines are the tallest trees in eastern North America.
This is the fence surrounding my pigeon yard. The snow seems to stick to everything.
Shortly before noon, the peafowl were released from their safe enclosure. The peacocks and peahens love to congregate in the stable courtyard. Here, a couple of them perch on the stone trough, up off the cold snow covered cobblestones.
And by lunchtime, the clouds parted revealing this bright blue sky. Even if you don’t love winter, I am sure you agree, the scenery is breathtaking. Please go to my Instagram page @marthastewart48 for more of my photos.
We're getting so much pruning work done here at my Bedford, New York farm.
Here in the Northeast, winter weather can sometimes be very erratic - below freezing temperatures one day and mild the next. Whenever possible, my outdoor grounds crew takes advantage of the favorable conditions to get lots of tasks crossed off our list, including pruning the long rows of Osage orange trees along the fence of one of my horse paddocks. Last year, we limbed them up, meaning pruned the lower branches to improve shape and visibility. This year, the crew is tackling the tops to encourage fruitfulness and growth. The Osage orange, Macular pomifera, is more commonly known as a hedge apple, bow wood, or bodark. The fruit is wrinkly and bumpy in appearance, and considered inedible because of the texture and taste, but they're very interesting and fun to grow.
Here are some photos.
Have you ever seen an Osage orange? Despite its name, it is not related to oranges at all. It is actually a member of the fig family. Each fruit is about four to five inches in diameter. This photo was take in the fall, when the trees bear fruit.
The Osage orange is a dense cluster of hundreds of small fruits. Some say it resembles the many lobes of a brain.
Along three sides of my North Maple Paddock surrounding the run-in field and shed, not far from my tennis court, I have Osage orange trees. Here they are leafed out. Properly maintained, these trees make a lovely natural hedge and fence.
The leaves are three to five inches long and about three-inches wide. They are thick, firm, dark green and pale green. There is also a line down the center of each leaf, with lines forming upside-down V-shapes extending from the center line to the edge of the leaf.
Osage orange branches are armed with stout, straight spines growing from the leaf axils.
Here are the trees now. The Osage is a small deciduous tree or large shrub. During the mid 19th century, the sharp-thorned trees were often planted as cattle-deterring hedges before the introduction of barbed wire in the 1870s. Afterwards, the Osage orange trees became an important source of fence posts. The Osage orange is also known as a Bois D’arc, a name that was given by French settlers meaning “bow-wood”.
These trees must be pruned regularly to keep them in bounds – winter is the best time. Without pruning, Osage orange trees grow in dense unruly thickets as multi-stemmed shrubs.
And they grow very fast. The shoots from a single year can grow up to three to six feet long.
When pruning, Pasang cuts dead, damaged, or diseased branches first. Then he prunes out competing leaders, retaining only one strong upright with evenly-spaced branches. Here he is using a pole pruner – it has the cutting power of hand pruners but a reach of eight feet and more.
The pruner works with a rope attached to the pole allowing one to pull and cut from a distance. In general, when pruning always encourage branches to grow toward the outside of the tree and eliminate those that grow toward the center or cross other branches. Air and light need to penetrate the foliage to the center of the tree as much as possible.
Pasang also uses this telescoping pole pruner from STIHL. It has a quiet, zero-exhaust emission, and is very lightweight. Plus, with an adjustable shaft, the telescoping pole pruner can cut branches up to 16 feet above the ground.
For lower, thinner, easy-to-reach branches, Pasang uses his Okatsune hand pruners. Pruning shears, hand pruners, or secateurs are a type of scissor used on plants. They are strong enough to prune hard branches of trees and shrubs, sometimes up to an inch thick. Everyone on the crew has a pair.
And he also uses a STIHL pruning hand saw. A pruning saw makes it easier to cut branches and not harm them. It is also very important to make sure all these cutting tools are very sharp. Because of the thorny branches, it is important to wear protective glasses, long sleeves and thick gloves when working with these trees.
This is a dead, woody branch.
In comparison, here is a live branch – still quite green under the bark.
The wood of the Osage orange tree is extremely hard and durable. On older trunks the bark is orange-brown and furrowed. The heavy, close-grained yellow-orange wood is very dense and is prized for tool handles, treenails, and fence posts.
Here, one can see what has been pruned and what has not. Osage oranges should be grown in full sun on well-drained soil. This tough, native plant can withstand almost anything when established – heat, cold, wind, drought, poor soil, ice storms, and rot.
Regular and thorough pruning gives the branches more circulation and room to grow.
All the cut branches are piled up neatly for the chipper.
These Osage orange trees are now pruned and will look very pretty when the leaves return in spring. These trees can grow up to 60 feet tall. Pasang often stops to assess his work and see where the next cuts are needed.
The crew will be pruning these trees for a couple more days. There are hundreds of Osage orange trees along the fence. They are growing so well because of the time and work we put into them. It’s great to know all my trees are well maintained through the years.
I always enjoy entertaining at my Bedford, New York home, where even important business meetings don't feel like work.
Earlier this week, I hosted a small dinner gathering for four - you may have seen images on my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48. I set the table early in the morning and started cooking. My menu included vegetarian Polish borscht, a light greens salad with leafy vegetables from my greenhouse, buckwheat crepes with caviar and creme fraiche, and for dessert a delectable apple tart. I also served Aligote white wine from our own Martha Stewart Wine Co. I'm already very busy working on my 100th book, so I am revisiting many of my favorite recipes for selection - you will all love it!
Here are some photos, enjoy. Most of the images were taken by our own Kevin Sharkey - be sure to follow him @seenbysharkey on Instagram.
My Bedford, New York farm still has a pretty layer of snow on the ground from recent storms. Temperatures have been below freezing, so much of it has hardened with many patches of treacherous ice, but the landscape remains beautiful, especially under sunny skies. These are some of my mature dawn redwoods, Metasequoia, located near my tennis court and allee of lilacs.
This is my run-in paddock, where my dear horses love to gallop and roll. The run-in shed is in the distance – a shelter where the horses can take cover when needed.
Here, the afternoon sun casts pretty shadows on the snow from the antique fencing that surrounds my horse paddocks. The fencing on the left surrounds my boxwood “nursery” where I am growing hundreds of small shrubs.
Which way did they go? It looks like the peacocks and peahens are venturing out again. These birds love to walk around the farm – in any kind of weather.
And when it is cold outside, they know to return to their safe and warm coop.
This is one of my new chicks. If you’re familiar with chicken breeds, you may know this is a Silkie – a breed of chicken named for its atypically fluffy plumage, which is said to feel like a combination of silk and satin. I will tell you more about these birds in a future blog.
Inside my home – gorgeous forced hyacinths blooming with color and fragrance.
And in my Brown Room, the table is set for four – a simple neutral color theme for a cold, winter’s day.
Here is a closer look at one of the place settings. My housekeepers, Enma and Elvira, work with me to choose all the table settings. We create a couple of options, set them on the table and see which one we like best.
Here is the apple tart I made for dessert. I already had the crust in the freezer, so it was easy to prepare the morning of the dinner. I placed very thin McIntosh apple slices on top and sprinkled them with sugar before baking.
As my guests arrived, I started cooking my crepes. French crepes are thin and very delicate pancakes that can be filled with fruit, chocolate sauce – or in our case, delicious caviar and creme fraiche.
I also made Polish borscht, or beet soup. Here is a pot of it on the stove. Although borscht is important in both Russian and Polish cuisines, Ukraine is frequently mentioned as its place of origin. Its name is thought to be derived from the Slavic word for the cow parsnip, or the common term hogweed.
The crepes are ready when the bottom is lightly golden. And like pancakes, the first crepe is never perfect. I made a stack – and they all went quickly.
And here is the container of delicious ROE caviar and bowl of Vermont Creamery creme fraiche. ROE uses only very fine salt to preserve the flavors of the white Sturgeon caviar – it’s one of my favorites. And so is this creme fraiche, which is simply soured cream containing 10 to 45 percent butterfat – thicker, richer, and less tangy than sour cream.
Our borscht was plated and topped with a dollop of creme fraiche and sprigs of dill from my indoor garden.
Here it is on the table. Borscht is best served piping hot. My guests devoured every drop.
The caviar, creme fraiche, and crepes were served family style.
The caviar and creme fraiche are spooned into the center of the crepe…
… And then the sides of the crepe are folded over in a pocket fashion, also called a blintz fold. The filled rectangular pocket is easy to eat.
We also enjoyed a fresh greens salad using vegetables from my greenhouse. It included baby spinach, arugula, lettuce, parsley, and coriander, or cilantro. Are you for cilantro or against? Some love cilantro, while others feel it tastes like soap.
Finally, look at this apple tart – baked to perfection. The sugared top caramelized beautifully.
And since there were only four of us, we each had a quarter serving! It was a very productive business meeting and most delicious meal. The only downfall… no leftovers.
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