Big Ocean, the world’s first deaf K-pop boy band, is on tour — if you get the chance, go see them!
PJ, Chanyeon, and Jiseok opened their fall U.S. tour over the weekend with a full house at Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, an 81-acre historic estate in Katonah, New York, not far from my farm. Caramoor is known for its live music, cultural events, and immersive art experiences. Big Ocean first visited Caramoor last year and promised to return - this time to perform their celebrated new single, “Love Sign,” in Caramoor’s Rosen House Music Room. Blending Korean Sign Language ( KSL), American Sign Language (ASL), and visual storytelling, Big Ocean's goal is to build a world where music is accessible to everyone. The group’s busy schedule also included a New York Fashion Week presentation, where they debuted a collection and merchandise collaboration with designer, Andy Yu.
Enjoy these photos.
Big Ocean scheduled the first stop on their tour during New York’s renowned Fashion Week – a semi-annual series of events when international fashion collections are shown to buyers, the press, and the general public. Here are PJ, Chanyeon, and Jiseok at New York Men’s Day.
Working alongside visionary fashion designer, Andy Yu, the team released their Big Whale denim-focused collection which sold out before the weekend was over. The collection combines American denim with K-pop influences and includes 10 men’s looks plus unisex designs and the use of ecologically friendly pineapple-leaf fiber.
Then it was on to Caramoor, the acclaimed music and arts center known for its year‑round concerts and Summer Music Festival. Pictured here – Big Ocean, Andy, and Gillian Fox, President & CEO of Caramoor.
This is the Music Room at Caramoor. This room seats 170 guests and is known for its Renaissance furniture, Gothic tapestries, and beautifully maintained stained glass elements.
The room was sold out for weeks – everyone wanted to see Big Ocean, the world’s first K-pop group composed of artists who are hard of hearing.
Big Ocean delivered an excellent performance integrating sign language interpretation in both KSL and ASL. (Photo courtesy Caramoor)
Many guests took videos to share on their own social media platforms.
The trio also incorporated visual storytelling elements with their music. (Photo courtesy Caramoor)
The well-choreographed presentation and performance was done on the Music Room stage typically reserved for recitals, opera and lectures – this was a first Kpop event. (Photo courtesy Caramoor)
And the audience loved it.
Big Ocean is South Korea’s first hard-of-hearing boy group, which debuted in 2024 and was formerly known as S-Boyz and Big O!cean. (Photo courtesy Caramoor)
The group aims to create a new genre called S-Pop, or Sign Language Pop, which adds sign language to all their performances.
Their music style emphasizes comfort, self-acceptance, and emotional connection rather than relying solely on sound. (Photo courtesy Caramoor)
Big Ocean has already been named K-pop Rookie of the Month by Billboard in September 2024.(Photo courtesy Caramoor)
Their enthusiasm and creativity was so captivating.
Their current tour takes them to several states including Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, Illinois, California, Arizona, and Texas. (Photo courtesy Caramoor)
Following the performance, the group celebrated at a party, inviting friends, business associates, and other influencers for a casual meet and greet. Here’s PJ enjoying mini Pistachio Raspberry Tarts.
Pastry Chef Elvira Sandoval made the dessert earlier in the day, Here she is with Andy.
These flavorful tarts are made with frangipane raspberry jam, pistachio pastry cream and vanilla crémeux.
If Big Ocean visits your city, please see them – you’ll have a great time.
And please go to Caramoor’s web site to see their list of other performances scheduled this year.
Once hay is cut, dried, and raked into windrows, it’s ready to be baled.
Here on my farm, my outdoor grounds crew has just finished harvesting and stacking more than 550 bales of hay for my horses. While the first cutting was harvested in June, this second cutting is finer, leafier, and richer in protein and energy, making it especially nutritious. I am fortunate to have both the dedicated team and the equipment needed to produce high-quality hay for my herd.
Enjoy these photos.
The hay is ready to bale when hay pulled from the bottom of the windrow makes a crunching sound when snapped. Chhiring drives the tractor and starts the process midday when there is the least amount of moisture.
A baler is a piece of farm machinery that compresses the cut and raked crop into compact bales that are easy to handle, transport, and store. The baler is attached to the tractor, and then the hay wagon is attached to the baler.
The bales get thrown into this wagon, which holds about 150 bales. Two outdoor grounds crew members ride in here and work together to grab the bales and stack them. Everyone is ready to go!
The tractor rides to one side of the windrow while the baler passes directly over it to collect the hay.
The baler picks up windrowed hay using a rotating pickup reel designed to lift the crop cleanly from the ground and feed it into the baling chamber.
The motor helps to move and propel the bales into the wagon. A measuring device – the spiked wheel – is turned by the emerging bales. It measures the amount of material that is being compressed and then the knotters wrap the twine around the bale and tie it off.
Large rolls of twine are positioned and tied to each other, so they can feed into the baler and secure the hay just before it shoots out into the wagon.
Once it is tied, it moves up this conveyor belt…
Here is a bale of hay as it is lifted in the baler’s reel, moved, and finally propelled into the wagon by a mechanical arm called a thrower or a kicker.
Here’s a view from the front. The crew is ready to kick the bale to stop, so it can be picked up and stacked.
The bales are manageable for one person to handle, about 45 to 60 pounds each. The crew must work quickly with someone always on the lookout for the next shooting bale.
The best moisture range for hay bales is generally between 12 and 18-percent. This range is crucial for maintaining the hay’s nutritional value and preventing spoilage. Chhiring tests several bales to make sure they are within the desired range.
As one makes windrows, the other pulls the baler up and down the field.
Once a wagon is full enough to unload, it is brought to my stable hayloft.
To get the bales up into the hayloft of my stable, a long motorized bale conveyor, or hay elevator, is set up from the wagon to the window of the loft.
A hay elevator is an open skeletal frame, with a chain that has dull three-inch spikes every few feet to grab bales and drag them along.
The apparatus works as a pulley system on a track that moves the bales up to the loft.
As bales ride up, Pete stands by to accept them.
One by one, Pete pulls the bale off the elevator and passes it to someone else for stacking.
Neat, tight stacks of hay are made in the loft – there are a lot of bales to store here.
These bales will stay here until needed. With a full stable, this does not take long. It makes me so happy to know I can grow good, nutritious hay for my horses right here at my farm.
Here at my farm, we've been enjoying a stretch of dry, sunny, warm weather with light winds and low humidity - all ideal for the multi-day process of haymaking.
Hay is harvested forage that must be dried and cured after it is cut in the field. For best nutritional value, most hay is cut during the late bud or early bloom stage. This week, my grounds crew is cutting, tedding, raking, and baling the hay. The first cut was done in June, but this second cut is especially impressive: greener, denser, and packed with protein. My horses are going to love it.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Timing is everything when cutting the hay crop. We hope for at least several days of good, dry, warm weather, so we can work in the fields and guarantee a good harvest.
My outdoor grounds crew foreman, Chhiring Sherpa, and Helen Peparo, my stable manager, keep track of the weather during hay cutting time. It’s crucial they select the best days for this process.
When the hay is ready, it is typically 12 to 16 inches above the ground. The stems are finer, and the overall texture is smoother. At this stage, the plants are still in a growth phase, so the hay will be high in protein, digestible, and palatable for my horses.
This is my mower-conditioner. It cuts, crimps, and crushes the hay to promote faster and more even drying.
The discs and blades are located behind the machine’s protective shield.
Before using, Chhiring checks the blades. Here are two blades – one new and one that needed replacing.
Each blade can be used twice – usually for the first and then the second cut of hay in the season.
Chhiring also checks all the joints and makes sure they are well-greased.
On cutting day, Chhiring goes around the fields counter clockwise cutting all the hay. The process of cutting should take about an hour per field. I have three large fields.
The hay goes through the machine and processes the hay one wide strip at a time.
Here, one can see what has been cut and what Chhiring still has to do. It is important that Chhiring moves slowly enough to get every area of the hay field cut. He does not want to miss any bit.
Here’s Jimmy preparing what is called the tedder for the next phase of the process.
A hay tedder spreads and fluffs the hay in a uniform swath. It uses a rotary motion to grab the hay with spinning tines that cast it out the back of the machine.
Here is one of the tines that picks up and flips the hay.
This part of the process allows air circulation for drying and is crucial for conditioning the hay so it is ready for harvest. Chhiring and Jimmy like to fluff each field at least twice.
Jimmy must drive through the field, carefully watching that he has flipped everything that was cut.
Next, windrows are made out of the dry, cut hay. Windrows are rows of hay raked up and shaped before being baled. Attached to a tractor, Phurba pulls the bar rake at an angle and makes windrows from the tedded hay.
This apparatus uses pins to spread, turn, and gather cut or dried hay in the field.
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.
My fields are all planted with a mixture of timothy, orchard grass, Kentucky bluegrass, ryegrass, and clover. This is a well-shaped windrow.
Once several rows of windrows are made, the hay baling can begin!
Ready? In my next blog – what it takes to bale, stack, and store my hay!
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