My three Golden Pheasants are settling in nicely here at my farm.
I adopted these exotic gamebirds earlier this year from the Animal Nation Farm Sanctuary in nearby South Salem, New York, a wonderful and caring organization and go-to resource for at-risk animals from New York City and the surrounding areas. Pheasants are native to the forests in the mountainous areas of western China. The males are beautifully marked with mainly bright red, orange, and yellow plumage. My three are acclimating to their coop and recently started venturing outdoors into their enclosure.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Here is one of my three pheasants exiting the coop for some fresh air on this very rainy day. This coop is completely enclosed for safety and has two ramps for easy access to the outdoor pen.
The coop is well-protected with interchangeable windows, so screens can be used on warmer days.
The pheasants enjoy watching the farm activity from inside their coop. Being near my stable, they get lots of visitors.
This red Golden Pheasant male is the brighter of the two with its red breast and body. The pheasant is such a beautifully colored gamebird.
Some of the other markings include a yellow ruff or cape edged in blue-black, green back, with a yellow rump and red and blue wings.
Here is another view. It also shows yellow-gold eyes, bill, crest, and legs.
This is the other red Golden Pheasant, still brilliantly colored, but with slightly darker shades.
The central tail feathers are black spotted with cinnamon, and the tip of the tail is cinnamon buff. When mature, the red Golden Pheasant adult can reach 40-inches in length, with his tail measuring nearly two thirds of its overall length.
The red Golden Pheasant can weigh between one and two pounds when full grown. This one is vey active and loves to run round the coop. Do you know… while pheasants are able to fly fast for short distances, they actually prefer to run. If startled however, they will flush up at speeds of 38 to 48 miles-per-hour. If chased or threatened, they can even fly as fast as 60 miles-per-hour.
Males have the golden-yellow crest with a hint of red at the tip. The face, throat, chin, and the sides of neck are rusty tan.
The striped cape can be spread in display, appearing as an alternating black and orange fan that covers the face.
This yellow Golden Pheasant male has a yellow crown, lower back, with dark wings and upper neck.
The yellow is a color mutation of the red golden pheasant. It was originally developed in the 1950s. To maintain the yellow coloring, these birds need shaded areas to protect their feathers from the sun.
All my outdoor birds get a good supply of seeds. Pheasants also eat insects, berries, and plant matter.
I always provide different types of feeders, so they can select which they like best.
Here is another feeder on the floor of their coop. I do this especially in winter when birds like to bulk up on high-energy foods to build fat reserves that keep them warm.
Pheasants also enjoy fresh greens. I provide lots of fresh vegetables and fruits for all my birds. Here, we just gave them some zucchini for an afternoon snack.
And of course, there is always fresh water – checked and changed often to ensure it is always clean and free-flowing.
Pheasants are very social birds, but do get startled more easily than other birds.
For now, I am glad they are enjoying their time and getting accustomed to the farm.
An old basket now has new purpose here at my Bedford, New York farm.
As many of you know, I am very fond of baskets. Over the years, I've collected quite a number of them from auctions, tag sales, or the talented basket-making artisans themselves. In fact, here at Cantitoe Corners, nestled in a grove of tall bald cypress trees just across from my long clematis pergola is a charming outbuilding dedicated to all my many baskets - some are rare and antique, some are vintage, and some are more contemporary. Recently, I came across an old unique two-tiered woven basket. I knew it would make a wonderful addition to my collection, that is, after a little bit of TLC.
Enjoy these photos.
Here are some of my most loved baskets. When I moved to my farm, I knew I wanted to store them in a shaded outbuilding where they would be safe and organized.
This Basket House is located just down the carriage road from my Winter House. It has windows and a large door for access and proper cross ventilation, and a metal standing seam roof in “Bedford Gray” that should last many years.
A good number of these baskets were used during my catering days.
Early basketmakers selected materials from nature, such as stems, animal hair, hide, grasses, thread, wood, and pinstraw. Baskets vary not only across geographies and cultures, but also within the regions in which they are made.
Basket weaving is the process of weaving pliable materials into two or three dimensional objects – anything that will bend and form a shape can be made into basket. Baskets are made using different techniques, such as “plaiting”, which uses materials that are wide and braid like,”twining”, which uses materials from roots and tree bark. ”Wicker” basketry uses reed, cane, willow, or oak. “Coiled” basketry uses grasses and rushes.
I am always on the lookout for interesting furniture and accessories. Whenever I have time, I enjoy antiquing and scouring area shops. Not long ago, I was at the Antique and Artisan Gallery in Stamford, Connecticut. Look closely and see what I spotted right in the center of the photo…
… A charming old wicker basket. Right away I knew I could put it to good use at the farm.
I dropped the basket off at Curry & Hovis, a furniture restoration business in Pound Ridge, New York, not far from my home. I have had many pieces restored at this shop.
Proprietors Eileen and John Curry are true experts in their craft. They have an extensive knowledge of antiques and have been restoring furniture for many years.
Walking through the door, one enters a real workshop with many stations and many pieces in some stage of restoration.
This side is for surface work and gilding. Eileen is an excellent guilder.
Here is a closer look at the basket. I asked that it be cleaned up and painted black.
The two basket levels would be nice and deep enough for displaying plants.
Here it is all complete – spray-painted a rich matte black. I think it looks terrific.
It was finished just in time for a shoot I was doing at my farm. I decided it was just the perfect piece to hold these blooming African Violets. When using baskets for displaying potted plants, be sure to line the basket with protective plastic first.
Here is art stylist, Lorna Aragon, filling the baskets. The black really makes the the plant colors stick out.
Here is the basket ready for its debut – what do you think?
And here it is with one of my precious chicks perched on top. Don’t worry, it was only there for this quick photo and then safely returned to its enclosure. Refurbishing an old find… it’s a good thing.
If you grow these wonderful fruit trees, the best time to prune them is now - in winter - or in very early spring before any new growth begins. Pruning not only helps to develop proper shape and form, but also encourages new growth, promotes high fruit yield, and maintains good tree health. At my Bedford, New York farm, I have many, many apple trees that are pruned every year. My outdoor grounds recently tackled some near my tennis court.
Enjoy these photos.
Every year, my apple trees produce bounties of delicious fruits. I have many apple trees here at my Bedford, New York farm.
These were some of the gorgeous apples from last fall. The apple tree is a deciduous tree in the rose family best known for its sweet, pomaceous fruit, the apple. I have many different varieties. Some of them I use for eating. Others are better suited for baking and for making applesauce and cider.
This dwarf apple orchard is just behind my long carport and flower room. Father Legendre of Hannonsville, France is credited with pioneering the espalier growing method in 1684. Because sunlight reaches every piece of fruit that these trees bear, espalier pruning continues to be a standard procedure at commercial orchards in France. Traditionally, apple trees were always encouraged to stay shorter, so apples were easier to reach.
A good number of my apple trees are at least 60-years old, so they were already here when I purchased the property.
Apples come in all shades of red, green, and yellow. My fruit trees are extremely healthy, in part because of all the care and maintenance that is done to keep them doing well. They need regular pruning once a year.
This tree is near my tennis court. It is one of several in this area ready for pruning. The tree takes up a dormant state after shedding its leaves and before sprouting new buds.
Phurba Sherpa is a longtime member of my outdoor grounds crew. He is an excellent pruner. Pruning is best completed before growth starts as cuts will heal quickly. There are two main goals of pruning trees. On young trees, pruning encourages a strong, solid framework. And on mature trees like this, they usually already have their shape determined, so it’s important to maintain their shape and size.
I prefer much of the work be done by hand. Smaller twigs are snipped off with regular secateurs. Each member of my outdoor grounds crew has a pair.
The crew also likes to use our STIHL bypass loppers for slightly larger branches up to two-inches in diameter.
Cutting by hand gives my trees a more natural appearance and shape.
And, because my crew is very diligent about keeping all our tools sharp and well-conditioned, the cuts are clean. Pruning cuts should be made fairly flush to the branch from which it grew. The idea is to leave slight stubs. By removing any more, the remaining branch has too much of an opening for disease to enter.
A bow saw, or pruning saw, cuts on both the fore stroke and back stroke and is designed for cutting thicker branches that cannot be removed with secateurs or loppers.
Pasang Sherpa, our resident tree expert, cuts branches that are rubbing or crisscrossing each other, preventing any healthy new growth. Basically, we want to create a tree with well spaced lateral branches. Any branches which interfere with the tree’s shape or create a dense framework should be removed.
Water sprouts are the thin branches which normally grow straight up from lateral branches and do not bear fruit. These grow very fast every year.
Phurba removes all the water sprouts.
Pruning stimulates the tree to grow more fruiting spurs by eliminating competing suckers and unproductive wood.
As he prunes, Phurba stops occasionally to see how the tree looks – the sections he has pruned and what he still has to do.
After the branches are cut, they are gathered, piled, and then either saved for kindling or processed through a wood chipper and returned to woods.
And here are some of the apple tree buds. Tree fruit have two types of buds, terminal and lateral buds. Apples flower and fruit on terminal buds. A terminal, or apical bud, is located at the tip of a shoot. A lateral bud develops along the developing shoot at the base of the leaf blade.
By late afternoon, these two apple trees look great after pruning.
And so does this one nearby – a big favorite here at the farm. This tree produces delicious green apples. I am looking forward to many lustrous trees heavy with fruits come autumn.
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