It's berry-picking time here at my Bedford, New York farm. The bushes are filled with those small, fragrant, and refreshingly sweet raspberries - one of the most popular berries in the United States.
I grow red, black and golden raspberries, and the right time for picking is early summer when the fruits are vivid in color, and ready to fall off their stems. Although they are best eaten raw, raspberries are used in a variety of ways - as ingredients in jams and jellies, pies and tarts, or juices and herbal teas. This week, my housekeepers, Elvira and Enma, picked a batch of red and black raspberries - I am looking forward to sharing them with my family and friends.
Here are some photos, enjoy. And have a very safe and joyful Independence Day weekend.
I have several rows of raspberries on one side of my main greenhouse. They all produce so many fruits every summer.
Summer-bearing raspberry bushes produce one crop each season. The fruits typically start ripening in late June into July with a crop that lasts about one month.
The first week of July is when we start picking the black and red raspberries. These bushes are all lush and exploding with delicious berries.
These red raspberries are placed on a baking sheet in one layer, so nothing gets crushed. All the picked fruits are kept in the shade until they are brought indoors.
We also use fiber pulp berry boxes. They have slotted sides for ventilation and are also eco-friendly. It’s okay to fill the container, but make sure not to pack the fruits in or press them down.
Botanically, the raspberry is a shrub belonging to the Rosaceae family, in the genus Rubus.
The raspberry plant has spade-shaped leaves that are toothed along the edges. My bushes are several years old and remain so healthy and lush. It takes about two to three years for a new red raspberry plant to produce a significant crop of fruit.
Red raspberries must be picked and handled very carefully and checked for insects and rot. This berry is perfect. The smaller ones above are still young and will ripen in time.
Raspberries are unique because their roots and crowns are perennial, while their stems or canes are biennial. A raspberry bush can produce fruit for many years.
Here’s Elvira using a harvest bucket from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. She loves it because it allows her to pick with both hands. The bucket is wide, durable, and has an 18-quart capacity.
It also has a kidney-shaped design for added comfort.
Here’s Enma picking more red raspberries nearby. It’s a very warm and humid day – hats and proper sun protection are a must.
Enma and Elvira pick only those fruits that are bright red in color, leaving any light peach berries to ripen some more.
Keep in mind, only the ripe berries will slip off the stems easily.
Raspberries contain vitamins A and E and are also rich in minerals, such as potassium, manganese, copper, iron, and magnesium.
The raspberries are transferred into the boxes and taken up to my flower room where they can be stored in the fridge or the freezer.
On another day, Elvira picks black raspberries. It’s good to know that once raspberries are picked, they stop ripening, so under-ripe berries that are harvested will never mature to the maximum sweetness. The black raspberry plant is a high producing early variety whose upright growth makes it easy for picking.
The raspberry is made up of small “drupe” fruits which are arranged in a circular fashion around a hollow central cavity. Each drupelet features a juicy pulp with a single seed.
Raspberries need full sun for the best berry production. They should be planted in rich, slightly acidic, well-drained soil that has been generously supplemented with compost and well-rotted manure. I am very fortunate to have such excellent soil here at the farm.
There are more than 200-species of raspberries. In the United States, about 90-percent of all raspberries sold come from the states of Washington, California, and Oregon.
This all-purpose fruit is firm, sweet, and full of flavor. It tastes great eaten fresh off the stem or made into preserves. Ripe raspberries are rich in color, whether they are red, golden, or black. The entire berry should be consistently colored also, and full in shape before picking.
The berries will ripen gradually throughout the summer, so it’s important to check the crop every few days. Overripe berries will be mushy when harvested.
One plant can produce several hundred berries per season. Raspberries are vigorous growers and will produce runners that fill up a bed.
Here are some of the black raspberries picked and placed in a colander. To save berries for use at another time, freeze them – lay them out onto flat trays in single layers and freeze until solid. Once they are frozen, they can be moved into plastic containers or freezer bags until ready to eat. What a wonderful summer it will be with all these delicious and nutritious fruits.
My vegetable garden is so much fun to visit right now because of all the growing produce - there’s something new popping up every day. Take a look at the drone photos on my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48.
So far, we've had some extremely warm and humid days, which is great for most of the growing vegetables. We've also had some good soaking rain - also vital for all the gardens. Yesterday, my gardeners Ryan McCallister and Brian O'Kelly, checked in on our crops and harvested the first lettuces of the season.
Enjoy these photos.
Last week, this vegetable garden was already looking so beautiful with all its growing produce. Here is a view down the center of the garden adjacent to the chicken coops. I try different configurations every year to see which ones work best for what we are growing. I like to use the most amount of space possible for planting. This year, I decided to create a space specifically for herbs in the center of the garden.
Yesterday, the garden was even more lush – everything is growing very quickly.
We planted the tomatoes at the back of the garden this time around. I always like to practice crop rotation. Doing this reduces the spread of soil-borne disease and avoids nutrient depletion in the soil. I grow both hybrid and heirloom tomato varieties. Soon, the shorter metal stakes will be replaced with taller, more supportive teepee style bamboo canes. I like to use bamboo because they’re easy to buy in bulk, look most natural in the garden and can be found in a variety of sizes. One can also purchase tomato cages specially designed for supporting tomato vines at any garden supply shop.
Here is our crop of basil. Basil is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae. It is native to tropical regions from central Africa to Southeast Asia. Basil is a tender, warm-weather, fragrant herb that tastes great in many dishes. Be sure to plant basil seeds or transplants after all danger of frost has passed and the soil is warm.
This year, we planted one artichoke plant at the end of each crop bed – they’re all looking so great. Globe artichokes are half-hardy perennial thistles native to the mild climates of the Southern Mediterranean. In this area, they grow best started indoors from seed and then transplanted outside. Artichokes are actually flower buds, which are eaten when they are tender.
And don’t forget all the lettuce. Lettuce is a fairly hardy, cool-weather vegetable that thrives when the average daily temperature is between 60 and 70-degrees Fahrenheit. Look how beautiful these lettuces are growing in this bed.
I love all the different lettuce varieties and colors and can’t wait to use them for my family’s many delicious salads.
Ryan picked a few lettuce heads. This is a lettuce knife. It has two cutting edges. The short, front cutting edge can be pushed against the lettuce plant base, making one quick cut. The long edge is for trimming and harvesting cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and others.
When cutting, simply cut the entire head of lettuce with the knife toward the bottom of the plant, above the soil line.
Here, Brian is giving the harvested lettuces a little rinse before they go up to my Winter House kitchen.
Kale or leaf cabbage is a group of vegetable cultivars within the plant species Brassica oleracea. They have purple or green leaves, in which the central leaves do not form a head. They also have either flat or ruffled leaves.
I grow lots of brassicas. Brassica is a genus of plants in the mustard family. Members are informally known as cruciferous vegetables and cole crops – broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and kale. Everyone always asks what I do with all the vegetables I grow. I share them with my family, but I also love sharing the bounty with friends, colleagues, and my hardworking crew here at the farm. I provide fruits, vegetables, and eggs for magazine and video shoots. And, of course, all my birds get vegetables too.
My cabbages are growing rapidly. To get the best health benefits from cabbage, it’s good to include all three varieties into the diet – Savoy, red, and green. And don’t forget, cabbage can be eaten cooked and raw.
Vicia faba, also known as the broad bean or fava bean is an ancient member of the pea family. It has a nutty taste and a buttery texture. I always grow lots of fava beans.
This is fennel – an aromatic perennial herb, widely cultivated for its edible, licorice-flavored leaves and seeds. The variety ‘Purpureum,’ also known as Bronze Fennel, has dark, smoky and interesting foliage.
A well-growing herb in the garden is Salvia officinalis, the common sage or just sage, is a perennial, evergreen subshrub, with woody stems, grayish leaves, and blue to purplish flowers. It is a member of the mint family Lamiaceae and native to the Mediterranean region.
Variegated sage is a bushy herb with woody stems and multicolored leaves. It produces fragrant purple flowers in the spring. It has an earthy spicy aroma with a more subtle flavor than standard sage. It is also a slower growing variety and slightly more tender than standard sage.
Thyme is an herb whose small leaves grow on clusters of thin stems. It is a Mediterranean herb with dietary, medicinal, and ornamental uses.
Fragrant variegated thyme is green with white leaves. It is delicious with fish or poultry and imparts a lemony flavor. Masses of pink spring blossoms attract bees while the pungent foliage helps to keep pesky bugs away.
I am so excited about this year’s growing season. There will be a lot of delicious produce from my garden this year! How are your gardens doing? I would love to know – share your comments in the section below.
If you enjoy water sports and are looking for something new to try this summer, consider getting an inflatable paddle board - it's lightweight, portable, durable, and built for adventure.
This past spring, the son of my longtime massage therapist, Rod Kaufmann, graduated from college. Knowing that he was already an avid and experienced surfer, I decided to gift him with a Navigator Plus SUP paddle board from our business partner, Body Glove - the well-known water sports apparel and accessories company founded in 1953. Stand up paddle boarding, or stand up paddle surfing, is a water sport where participants use paddles to propel themselves through the water - it's a great way to exercise and enjoy the outdoors.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
It’s hot and sultry in the Northeast, but at Kent Lake in Southeast Michigan, the weather this week has been perfect – sunny with temperatures in the 70s. Kent Lake offers plenty of fun activities such as fishing, boating, kayaking, paddle boarding, or picnicking along the water. 80 to 90 percent of the lake is less then 10 feet deep and the entire lake has a 10 mile-per-hour speed limit.
Kent Lake is a 1200-acre reservoir lake formed by the damming of Huron River near its headwaters in 1946. For decades, Kent Lake has attracted visitors of all ages to its shores.
Garrett Kauffman loves to surf, so I knew a paddle board would be a nice graduation gift. Here he is with the Body Glove Navigator Plus Inflatable SUP, a highly stable and rigid board loaded with features. The Navigator Plus model is great for both beginners and advanced paddlers, and comes with a cell phone dry bag, pump, ankle leash, and a comfortable, durable backpack.
In paddle boarding, surfing, windsurfing, and kitesurfing, skegs, usually known as “fins”, are attached toward the tail of the board to improve directional stability and control throughout the ride.
Here’s the adjustable paddle. The general rule is that the paddle should be six to 10 inches above the height of the paddler – a little longer for flat water use and shorter for use in the surf. The blade is typically bent at a slight angle to the shaft to allow for more forward reach when taking a stroke.
Body Glove’s Navigator Plus Inflatable SUP, or stand up paddle board, offers a patented multi-purpose handle to carry a water bottle and the paddle. It also has superior welded drop-stitch construction, heavy-duty poly vinyl fabric material, and a weight capacity of 320-pounds. In all, this board is 11 feet long, 34 inches wide, and six inches thick.
To use a paddle board, it is important to first get out into in water so the fins are free from hitting the bottom. Garrett takes a few strokes on each side of the board while maintaining a steady stance in the middle. His feet are parallel to the stringer – about shoulder width apart. And he keeps a slight bend in the knees and his core centered over the board.
Garrett heads out into the very calm lake waters, but paddle boards can also be enjoyed in oceans, rivers, and bays.
Here is a closer look at Garrett on the paddle board. A stand up paddle board is much thicker than an average surfboard.
Garrett keeps his balance throughout. Beginners who are unaccustomed to paddle boarding and surfing should use a wider, longer board, which offers the greatest stability to learn the paddle board basics. As one gains experience, one can progress to smaller paddle boards.
To make turns, the paddle is placed in the water on the opposite side of the board as the turn that is desired. If going left, the paddle goes in on the right side. At the same time, the paddler turns his or her torso to the left side and pulls to the right, towards the tail with the paddle. Turns are very easy on this Navigator Plus model because of its design and durability.
On this short paddle board ride, Garrett takes his Shepherd-Terrier mix, Bella. Because Garrett is already an experienced surfer, this was easy for him to do. Another tip – always hold the paddle with one hand on the top of the handle and the other on the shaft. Keep shoulders width apart, and toes pointed toward the nose. A coil ankle leash is also part of this board package. In fact, this board won a Connect Gear of the Year award in 2019.
Bella seems to enjoy the slow and easy paddle ride with Garrett – both maintained good balance on the board.
Paddle boarding is also a very good workout. Garrett is able to dip the blade fully into the water and take long strokes, using his strong back muscles to do the work.
Here they are coming back to shore and smiling for this quick snapshot.
Once the two are on shore, it is very easy to carry the Navigator Plus Inflatable SUP out of the water. The entire board weighs 24-pounds.
Garret has already used the board more than a handful of times – I am so pleased he likes it.
And it is so easy to store because it can roll up to the size of a sleeping bag. Here’s Garrett rolling the board as it deflates. Inflating it back up is also very easy. The high-quality dual-action pump with gauge inflates it in less than 10-minutes.
The packed bag dimensions are 37-inches by 19-inches by 10-inches. The board and all its accessories weigh under 40-pounds.
Garrett says he always looks forward to getting the board back out into the water. Enjoy it, Garrett. And congratulations on your college graduation!! And please go to the Body Glove web site to learn more.
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