1 The entire region was blanketed heavy fog.

2 Speaking of blankets, the burlapping has begun on the terrace hedges. Draping and hand-sewing burlap over bamboo framework protects the plants from freezing winds and heavy snow.

3 More bamboo framework - This path leads down to the stable, which could not be seen.

4 This is the boxwood hedge surrounding the herbaceous peony garden. Soon, it too, will be burlapped.

5 A view of my house

6 This is the garden behind the Summer House, which was recently planted with hundreds of lilies and allium.

7 This is the large in-ground birdbath, which has finally collected some rainwater. You can begin to see the outline of the stable in the distance.

8 Walking towards the stable

9 Two of my Sicilian miniature donkeys, Rufus and Clive - Clive doesn't look too white.

10 Well, that would explain why! Like many mammals, equines love rolling in the mud.

11 These two weeping cherry trees have very nice form.

12 Looking from one end of the stable to the other

13 The stable courtyard with the carriage house and property office building

14 A front view of the stable

15 The same pathway as before, looking up towards my non-visible house

16 Standing at the stable end of the boxwood allee - The large stone on the left is used as a horse mounting block. I brought it here when I moved from my Turkey Hill property.

17 The beehives were moved behind the stable for the winter. They receive sun throughout the day here and the stone wall provides good wind protection. The hives were wrapped in roofing paper to help keep out the cold.

18 A view through the linden allee

19 Betsy and Sasa emerged through the fog.

20 Another view of the stable

21 A stand of tall white pines

22 This is the heated greenhouse where many tropical plants survive the harsh winter.

23 The vegetable garden and the chicken coops beyond

24 A stand of metasequoia, or dawn redwood, which have dropped all their needles

25 More tall white pines

26 A road leading to the woods

27 A stand of beech trees, most still with leaves

28 The boxwood allee looking towards the stable - Where is it?

29 The pin oak allee with the equipment barn on the left

30 This is the pinetum, which is growing quite well and was recently planted with new specimens.

31 The blueberry pergola - The plastic bird netting was just removed and placed in storage.

32 The vegetable greenhouse - Produce grows in the ground in this minimally heated space. Seeds are sprouting nicely in here.

33 The equipment barn

34 The long pergola with some new additions.

35 These are six wisteria vines that were recently brought here from my East Hampton garden, which is going through a re-design. I plan on having another pergola constructed in the spring for the wisteria to grow upon.

36 A view of the little basket house with reddish bald cypress needles carpeting the ground.

37 The back side of the main greenhouse, head house, and shade pergola

38 This is the front entrance of the greenhouse.

39 Off to the side of the greenhouse is this stand of fastigiate oak trees. Fastigiate means, having erect and almost parallel branches tapering toward the top.

40 Black raspberry canes on their wire supports

41 The cutting garden with a structure known as the hay barn beyond

42 The wonderful structure of a weeping beech and the large cast iron fire pit, with my house in the background

43 An old apple tree and quince tree next to the corn crib

44 The apple tree has a hollow trunk and critters were going inside and damaging the tree. An apple wood log was placed in the hole to keep animals out, preventing further damage.

45 Looking towards my house

46 Next to the house is the flower room kitchen, carport, and blog studio building.

47 Near the front gate is the gym garage, with my gym upstairs.

48 Next to the gym garage is the little tenant house, where Alexis, Jude, and Truman stayed at Thanksgiving.

49 Another look at the basket house and that red carpet of bald cypress needles

1 On Thanksgiving, an elegant table was set for guests in the dining room.

2 For the meal, I set up a colorful, long buffet in the kitchen for guests to serve themselves. There were many wonderful creations from which to choose.

3 One of the turkeys was roasted wrapped in parchment. This great recipe is available on my Web site. http://www.marthastewart.com/1040385/roasted-turkey-parchment-gravy?search_key=turkey%20in%20parchment

4 The other turkeys were roasted draped with cheesecloth and basted with butter and white wine. Also fantastic! http://www.marthastewart.com/274491/how-to-roast-a-turkey/@center/276949/everything-thanksgiving#192575

5 The day before Thanksgiving Chef Pierre came to help me prepare the meal. This is peeled celeriac, recently harvested from the vegetable garden.

6 Celeriac is a member of the celery family and the plant's bulbous root makes an excellent puree and soup. I asked Pierre to make one of his amazingly smooth and satisfying soups.

7 Pierre poured milk into a pot.

8 And added the cut-up celeriac to the milk

9 He also added a bit of water.

10 And set it on the stove to cook

11 When the celeriac was nice and tender, it was ladled into the jar of a blender.

12 It was pureed until quite smooth.

13 Working in batches, the pureed celeriac was poured into a clean pot.

14 Pierre seasoned this velvety soup with salt and pepper - so simple and so delicious!

15 Pierre also made a colorful Cranberry-Pomegranate Gelatin in turkey molds, again from my Web site. http://www.marthastewart.com/857627/cranberry-pomegranate-gelatin?search_key=cranberry%20gelatin

16 This recipe begins by sprinkling gelatin over freshly squeezed pomegranate juice.

17 After cooking to dissolve the gelatin, the mixture is stirred into some more pomegranate juice.

18 The mixture is poured into a chilled mold and refrigerated until partially set.

19 Meanwhile, the cranberry sauce was prepared. Fresh orange juice was added to the cranberries.

20 Along with cinnamon sticks

21 And sugar and a bit more gelatin

22 And some lemon peel

23 After cooking for several minutes, the cranberry mixture was passed through a fine sieve to remove the solids.

24 While the cranberry sauce was chilling, Pierre began removing the peel from sweet oranges.

25 After removing the tops and bottoms, he sliced around the sides, removing all the pith.

26 Next, the segments were sliced free from the membranes, a process called supreming.

27 These segments are drained and sandwiched between the pomegranate layer and the cranberry layer in the turkey mold.

28 The set pomegranate juice

29 After arranging the orange segments, the cranberry sauce was spooned, over topping off the mold.

30 The molds were returned to the refrigerator to completely firm up.

31 How beautiful!

32 While Pierre was cooking away in the kitchen of the flower room, I had a project of my own going on in my kitchen. I wanted to give a pie to each of the farm crew for them to enjoy on Thanksgiving.

33 I blended all of the pâte brisée in advance and rolled it all out the previous evening. I wrapped the rounds well and refrigerated them over night.

34 I laid the rolled out pastry in the pie plates and removed the excess with kitchen shears.

35 I then began the crimping process.

36 I ladled pumpkin custard filling into some of the shells.

37 I brushed around the edges with some heavy cream to give them a nice color.

38 And into the convection oven they went.

39 I also made several pies with a mixed nut filling - pecan, walnut, and hazelnut.

40 The nut filling went into a partially baked pie crust and was then finished off in the oven. I decorated the tops of the pumpkin pies with pastry leaf cutouts.

41 Some of the happy recipients - Maria, Sanu, Laura, Carlos, Phurba, Chhewang, Dorji, Fernando, Chhiring, Pete, and Wilmer

1 One of the dishes served at my Thanksgiving buffet were two potiron filled with mixed vegetables. This was to satisfy my vegetarian guests.

2 Pierre helped me in the kitchen the day before Thanksgiving. He cut around the tops of the potiron using a sharp knife. Potiron is a European variety of pumpkin. It's known for its squat, flat shape and for its deep, nutty flavor.

3 After removing the lids, he scooped out the inside flesh and seeds.

4 Using a large spoon, the sides were scraped clean.

5 A perfect bowl for the vegetables!

6 Olive oil was drizzled inside the pumpkins and, using a pastry brush, the insides were coated with oil.

7 The pumpkins were also seasoned with salt.

8 They were then placed in a pre-heated 325º oven for about an hour, to soften the flesh.

9 Pierre began sauteing the vegetables. Here are diced celeriac and celery from the garden.

10 He also diced up garden carrots.

11 The carrots were added to the skillet.

12 Several cloves of garlic were chopped up.

13 The garlic was added to the vegetables.

14 There were also sauteed diced onions.

15 Firm apples were peeled and cored.

16 The apples were diced and sauteed in a bit of butter.

17 When fragrant, glossy, and slightly soft, the apples were added to the vegetables.

18 This filling was looking and smelling great!

19 Next, a loaf of good quality white bread, crusts removed, was sliced to form cubes.

20 The bread cubes

21 Working in small batches, the bread cubes were tossed in a skillet with a bit of olive oil.

22 The cubes were placed in a hot oven to toast lightly.

23 The toasted bread cubes

24 Next, peeled chestnuts were lightly sauteed in olive oil, browning them a bit and bringing out their nuttiness.

25 The toasted bread cubes were added to the other ingredients.

26 As were the chestnuts

27 A colorful and fragrant medley!

28 Next, parsley was finely chopped.

29 As was sage and rosemary

30 The herbs were added to the other ingredients.

31 All was tossed well.

32 The steaming pumpkins were removed from the oven.

33 And the filling was spooned in.

34 At this point, the pumpkins can be returned to the oven and baked for another 30 to 40 minutes to heat the filling through before serving.

35 However, they were refrigerated overnight and on Thanksgiving, they were placed in a 325º oven for an hour just before serving. Utterly delicious!