Here at my Bedford, New York farm, the weather these last couple of weeks has been pleasantly warm, dry, sunny, with light breezes - perfect conditions for cutting, tedding, raking, and baling hay.
One of my objectives at my farm has always been to practice self-sufficiency. When I moved here, I designated three separate areas as hayfields, so I could grow lots and lots of delicious, nutritious hay for my horses and donkeys. I plant the fields with a quality custom seed blend and when it's ready, my outdoor grounds crew works hard to cut, fluff, rake, and then bale the hay.
Enjoy these photos of the first cut of the season.
This time every year, we hope for at least a week of good, dry weather, so we can get the first cut of hay from the fields. Timing is everything when cutting the hay crop.
This is our mower-conditioner. Mower-conditioners are a staple of large-scale haymaking. It cuts, crimps, and crushes the hay to promote faster and more even drying. It is the first step in the hay baling process.
The discs and blades are located behind the protective shield of the mower-conditioner.
This equipment also works to remove the waxy coat on the crop as it conditions, making the hay dry faster – this means less waiting time and less chance for poor weather to negatively impact the hay quality. When weather conditions are ideal, these machines allow farmers to cut wide and fast – the best formula for quality field productivity. As the mower-conditioner goes over the grass, it cuts it and then conditions it – all under the protective hood of the machine.
The best time is to start as soon as dew is off in the morning, which will maximize drying time. After it is cut, it is left to dry the rest of the day.
Next, the cut hay is ready for tedding, also known as fluffing. This is our hay tedder. A tedder spreads and fluffs the hay in a uniform swath. It uses a rotary motion to grab the hay with spinning tines and then cast it out the back of the machine. The tedder moves up and down the field taking all the greener hay from the bottom and turning it over to dry.
The hay turn colors from green to tan. On average, it takes about three days per field, depending on the size of the field and the weather, to complete the entire process of mowing, raking, and baling hay.
Then it is time to make the windrows, which are rows of hay raked up and shaped before being baled. Here is Phurba pulling the bar rake and making windrows from the tedded hay.
The bar rake, also known as a basket rake is hydraulically driven. This rake allows for consistent movement across the fields making well-shaped windrows.
Here, one can see the tines creating the almost box-shaped windrows.
Here is a windrow ready to bale. All the windrows are lined up straight next to each other with enough room in between for the baler to maneuver properly around the field.
A hay baler is a piece of farm machinery used to compress a cut and raked crop into compact bales that are easy to handle, transport, and store. I am fortunate to have all the necessary equipment to process the hay in my fields.
The process starts midday when there is the least amount of moisture. The trailer fills up pretty quickly. Luckily, I have two hay trailers. Each one can hold about 150-bales. Chhiring drives up and down the windrows of all the hayfields which takes a good portion of the afternoon.
The tractor rides to one side of the windrow while the baler passes directly over it to collect the hay. All the hay is dry and passing through the machine smoothly. If the hay is properly dried, the baler will work continuously down each row. Hay that is too damp tends to clog up the baler.
The hay is lifted by tines in the baler’s reel and then propelled into the wagon by a mechanical arm called a thrower or a kicker. The bales are manageable for one person to handle, about 45 to 60 pounds each.
A baled “square” is traveling up the conveyor belt. A measuring device—normally a spiked wheel that is turned by the emerging bales—measures the amount of material that is being compressed and then knotters wrap the twine around the bale and tie it off.
The hay trailer has high walls on the left, right, and back sides, and a short wall on the front side to contain the bales which are stacked neatly from back to front. Once a trailer is full, it is driven to the hayloft above my stable.
The crew sets up the hay elevator from the ground to the hay loft.
Then each bale is placed on the hay elevator which sends it up to waiting hands. Baling hay is a team effort. Each bale is about 15 by 18 by 40 inches large. The number of flakes in the bale is determined by a setting in the baler. Many balers are set for 10 to 12 flakes per bale.
Here is the view from the top end of the loft as the bales are sent up.
Juan is in the hayloft stacking the bales as they come up the hay elevator.
We collected so many bales, there’s just a narrow aisle in between the tall stacks.
But wait… here comes another wagon. It’s the last bit of baled hay, and our fourth wagon almost full. I am so pleased with how much hay we’re able to produce here at the farm.
One thing I love is the intoxicating scent of a garden rose.
I have many, many roses - in my perennial flower garden, in my allée of lilacs, and in a more formal space behind my main greenhouse. I redesigned the 68-foot by 30-foot rose garden last year for three types of roses - floribunda, hybrid tea, and shrub roses - all with gorgeous color, form, and fragrance. And right now, the garden is bursting with blooms.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
This redesigned rose garden was completed a year ago and all the rose bushes are doing so well. We planted more than 120 roses in this space.
The entire garden is surrounded with boxwood. Large boxwood shrubs anchor the corners and mark the middle and main footpath of the garden. Earlier this spring, we added the stone footpath.
The smaller boxwood, which I nurtured from bare-root cuttings fill in the rest of the perimeter. Buxus is a genus of about 70 species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. Boxwood is native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost South America, Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean.
All of these roses came from Danielle Hahn, author of “The Color of Roses,” published by Ten Speed Press.
We planted floribunda roses, hybrid tea roses, and shrub roses. These are a soft creamy pink and yellow color.
Right now there are gorgeous, fragrant blooms at every turn, some as big as one’s hand.
Hybrid tea roses, also called large-flowered roses, usually have only one flower per stem and tend to flower in three flushes from summer to late autumn. Floribundas or cluster-flowered roses have many flowers per stem and tend to repeat-flower continuously from summer to late autumn.
The leaves of the rose are described as “pinnate” – meaning there is a central rib and then leaflets off to each side, with one terminal leaflet. Rose leaves can have anywhere from two to 13 leaflets. And rose stems are often armed with sharp prickles – they aren’t thorns at all. Unlike a thorn, a prickle can be easily broken off the plant because it is really a feature of the outer layers rather than part of the wood, like a thorn.
This garden includes a variety of different colors from dark pink to apricot to lavender, yellow, and creamy white.
A rose is a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus Rosa, in the family Rosaceae. There are more than a hundred species and thousands of cultivars.
Garden roses are mostly grown as ornamental plants. They are among the most popular and widely cultivated groups of flowering plants, especially in temperate climates.
When selecting a location, plant roses in a sunny spot where they can get at least six hours of sun and good drainage.
Rose roots grow deep, so be sure there is adequate room for the roots to spread.
I also planted strong disease resistant varieties. Many roses are bred and selected to resist the most common rose problems.
When watering roses, give them the equivalent to one-inch of rainfall per week during the growing season.
And when pruning in early spring, prune with the goal of opening the center of the plant or shrub to let in better light and air circulation.
As part of a yearly maintenance program, also eliminate dead, dying, and diseased plants and plant parts to help keep the garden healthy.
Don’t forget to feed. As I often say, if you eat, so should the plants. Keep roses well-fed with a slow release formula specifically for roses.
Given the right care, healthy roses can bloom all the way until early fall.
This rose garden is flourishing. I am so pleased with how it is doing. How are the roses in your garden this year?
There is always so much work to do on my Bedford, New York farm.
This time of year, all my large potted tropical plants are displayed outdoors in various locations around the property. Seven months out of the year, these specimens are kept inside temperature and humidity controlled greenhouses where they can be properly maintained, but it's nice to see them outdoors in beautiful ornamental urns during spring and summer. Yesterday, my gardeners and outdoor grounds crew potted up and arranged a collection of palms in the large courtyard outside my stable.
Enjoy these photos.
This is a king palm, Archontophoenix alexandrae, a tall, solitary palm that can grow up to 100-feet. The graceful crown has eight to 10 pinnate, feather-like fronds. It is also commonly known as Alexandra palm, northern Bangalow palm, or feather palm and is a palm endemic to Queensland, Australia. This is one of two I decided would look perfect in the square pots flanking my stable doors. The planter is from Birdsall & Co..
As with all pots, we always place a shard at the bottom to prevent any soil from clogging the drainage hole.
The bottom of the large container is filled with composted soil made right here at the farm.
Here, Ryan carefully goes around the root ball with a hori hori knife to loosen it from its plastic pot. A hori hori has a straight edge and a serrated edge, which makes it easy to saw through tough roots or cut off fronds and leaves. It also easily cuts into soil and has a depth on the side for measuring.
Next, it is carefully removed from the pot onto a tarp. It is always a good idea to work on a tarp to keep cleanup easy.
Ryan scarifies the root ball and trims it slightly to better accommodate the container.
The king palm is gently raised and placed into the square urn. It is quite heavy.
We use Scotts Miracle-Gro Cactus, Palm and Citrus Potting Soil to surround and top dress the potted king palm.
This potting soil contains a fast-draining formula that’s great for palms, citrus and succulents both indoors and out.
Once filled, Ryan tamps down on the soil, so there is good contact. This palm will remain here until the fall when it is removed from the pot and stored in its designated hoop house.
On the other side of the courtyard, Fernando and Pete pot up a Bismarkia palm, Bismarckia nobilis, which grows from a solitary trunk, gray to tan in color, and slightly bulging at the base.
And here’s Ryan potting up a sago palm. for some of these plants, it is easier to plant the actual pot within the urn – this saves time and soil. I have many, many cycads. The sago palm, Cycas revoluta, is a popular houseplant known for its feathery foliage and ease of care. Native to the southern islands of Japan, the sago palm goes by several common names, including Japanese palm, funeral palm, king sago or just plain sago palm.
My handsome Friesian Rinze looks on from his stall. He is the patriarch of my equine herd.
Our trusted Kubota M4-071 tractor – a vehicle that is used every day here at the farm to do a multitude of tasks – is used to deliver two more sago palms to the courtyard. These sago palms are already in pots.
I like to place a grouping of these plants in the center of the courtyard around the millstone.
Here is another sago next to my stable office building.
Notice the sago palm’s trunk. It is a rough, symmetrical trunk which becomes leafless as it ages and gives way to its evergreen crown of upward pointing fronds.
Sago palm fronds resemble those of palm trees. The glossy, pinnate leaves are typically about four to five feet long at maturity, and up to nine-inches wide.
This tall specimen is a Bird of Paradise, Strelitzia nicolai, a species of evergreen tropical herbaceous plant with gray-green leaves. These plants have actually evolved to create splits along their lateral leaf seams to allow the wind to pass by. In doing so, they eliminate the risk of being snapped in half by strong tropical gusts.
I love this view of the plants from inside the stable looking toward the Boxwood Allée. All the plants look great and will thrive through the warm months in this location.
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