August 30th, 2010

My Farm in Late August

It’s been a challenging summer weather-wise.  It was a very hot spring, which caused plants to grow early and fast.  Nearly everything was a good two weeks ahead of schedule.  We also had very little rain when rain was much needed.  And, to top it all off, there was that twister in late July, causing tremendous damage to many, many stately trees.  Despite all of this, my grounds crew continues to work hard at making the farm a beautiful and productive place.  Enjoy these photos taken yesterday.

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1 The vegetable garden has grown quite nicely this year.

2 This eggplant is called Rosa Bianca, a delicious Italian heirloom.

3 Eggplant - Listada de Gandia - A unique eggplant pleasing to both the eye and the palate.

4 Pepper - Yankee Bell - a green pepper that becomes red

5 Pepper - Biscayne - A prolific sweet pepper

6 Pepper - Shishito - an abundant, sweet Japanese variety

7 Pepper - Peppino - a hot cherry pepper

8 Pepper - a hot variety from Thailand

9 The peas and beans have been amazing! Snap beans - Fresh Pick

10 The edamame - soybean - are not quite ready for picking.

11 I've never seen more beautiful kale as this year's crop.

12 These are the bright red berries of the asparagus plant.

13 I had a meeting with an event planner and a tent person for an upcoming wedding to be held at my farm.

14 These plants are for a magazine shoot.

15 The hornbeam hedges needed a good pruning. I suppose it's time for lunch.

16 The cutting garden needed a lot of attention.

17 Weeds, weeds, and more weeds!

18 There are still some lovely blooms - lilies, cosmos, and flox

19 And pretty celosia - Flamingo Feather

20 And Verbena bonariensis

21 A bee enjoying fluffy ageratum

22 Shaun is pruning and dead-heading.

23 The crew, busy at work

24 The six heritage breed turkeys are enjoying their grassy open pen now that their wings have been clipped.

25 Deep in the woods - It will be some time before the twister damage can all be cleaned up.

26 Bracket fungus is already at work helping to decay this wood.

27 These apple trees are in a far corner of the property and are quite old.

28 Can you believe how much fruit there is on this one tree?

29 These are windfall apples, which will go to the donkeys, horses, and chickens.

30 This is the load out from the fun taping of my upcoming Halloween show down in the equipment barn. Watch for it on the Hallmark Channel.

31 More of the props used

32 Neil, who works with me on Sirius Radio, arrived for a live broadcast of my show, AskMartha.

August 26th, 2010

My Joint Birthday Party With Harry Slatkin

A few weeks ago, I went out to dinner with my good friends, Harry Slatkin, the fragrance tycoon, and his wife, Laura.  We chose a new restaurant in Montauk, the far-east end of the South Fork of Long Island.  Its name is Navy Beach, a beachfront restaurant and bar serving casual coastal cuisine in a laid back, family-friendly setting.  While dining, we looked around and said, “Wouldn’t this be a great place to have a birthday?”  And so we started planning.  Harry and I never celebrated our birthdays together before, but it seemed like a fun thing to do.  Dinner consisted of everyone’s favorite comfort food, including iceberg wedges, butter poached lobster rolls, buttermilk fried chicken, truffled macaroni and cheese, seafood and chips, parmesan French fries and a several-layer chocolate cake.  Harry!  What do you think?  Should we try it again, next year?

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1 Susan Magrino joined me for the weekend at Lily Pond. Here we are dressed for the birthday party - I in Lanvin and she in Michael Kors.

2 Kevin dressed in Thom Browne.

3 G.K. went to the party as did Francesca and Sharkey.

4 Peggy Siegel is always elegantly dressed for her movie premieres and parties.

5 Dennis Freedman - former creative director of W, me, and Cornelia Guest at Navy Beach.

6 Curator Klaus Biesenbach, Diana Picasso - granddaughter of of Pablo - and me

7 Stefano Tonchi - new editor of W, me, and David Maupin

8 Birthday boy Harry Slatkin and me

9 Susan Magrino and her old friend Jay McInerney and wife Anne Hearst

10 The beautiful tables set by Laura Slatkin in the sand.

11 There were large illuminated Chinese lanterns hanging over the tables.

12 Dennis Basso - the furrier and designer, me, and Steven Gambrel - interior designer

13 Charles Koppelman and me

14 Allen Grubman - my lawyer, me, and Charles

15 Here I am with Allen and Debbie Grubman

16 Charles and his fiance, Gerri Kyhill

17 The great photographer, Bruce Weber, me, and the great fashion retailer, Mickey Drexler of J.Crew

18 Bruce and I tweeted all during dinner.

19 The restaurant brought out the cake - decorated nautically - and Harry and I tried to light the candles.

20 Harry, his wife Laura, and their daughter Allie

21 Billie Beadleston, Susan Magrino, and Ben Krupinski

22 Old photos adorn the walls of the beach side restaurant.

23 Mickey Drexler, me, and Allen - I am wearing J.Crew necklaces, which look like Georgian antiques.

24 I tried on Mickey's wife, Peggy's, eyeglasses.

25 The indomitable Patrick McCarthy - photographer, me, and Susan Magrino

26 Allie Slatkin had three friends with her and I posed with them for this photo.

27 Nan Bush - Bruce Weber's wife, me, and Harry Slatkin

28 Here I am with Delfina Blaquier and her model/polo-playing husband - Nacho Figueras.

29 My good friend Jill Dienst of Dienst and Dotter Antiques and me

30 Here I am with Richard Decker and his wife, Gina. Richard runs my daughter's three gyms in the Hamptons - East Hampton, Southampton, and Sag Harbor.

31 Kevin and Nacho

32 Bruce Weber loves dogs and he took time to nuzzle Ghenghis Khan.

33 G.K. loved Bruce.

Susan, my publicist, was so happy to see this blog and she wanted me to add on the photos that she had in her camera from this fun-filled birthday celebration. Some of them may be repeats, but that's okay. Enjoy!

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1 Marjorie Gubelman and Dennis Basso

2 Bruce and me

3 Kevin and Jill

4 Kevin Sharkey and Bonnie Krupinski

5 Billy Beadelston, Susan Magrino Dunning, and Ben Krupinski

6 Gerri Kyhill, Kevin Sharkey, me, and Bonnie Krupinski

7 Dolly Lenz - of Prudential Douglas Elliman - and her daughter

8 Charles Koppelman and Gerri Kyhill

9 Reed Krakoff and Stephen Gambrel

10 Cornelia Guest and Stephen Gambrel

11 Nacho Figeuros and Susan Magrino Dunning

12 Bruce Weber and Nan Bush

13 Chef Paul LaBue - of Navy Beach and me

August 25th, 2010

Enjoying my Farm

One day last week, I attended meetings in New York City all morning long and found that I had the afternoon free.  Because I am so busy with work and travel, I decided that I would spend a leisurely afternoon at home on my farm in Bedford.  I was happy to find the garden growing well and the animals in good spirits.  There’s something to be said about quiet time and appreciation of one’s surroundings.

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1 On my tour around the farm, I stopped by the berry patch to check on the raspberries. I was amazed to see the bushes still loaded with fruit ready for picking.

2 Beautifully fragrant and sweet raspberries - I ate a generous handful.

3 The guys had been busy mowing and Chhiring was on his way to give the Pomeranian geese a nice big pile of clippings to eat.

4 I stopped into the cold house and noticed that there were dead bugs on the sills, so I got a hose and washed them off.

5 The apple espalier is loaded with fruit this year.

6 All of Shaun's good pruning skills has really paid off.

7 These are some of the 'ancient' apple trees that still produce abundantly.

8 I paid a visit to Billy, Clive, and Rufus and gave them some apples to eat. They were happy to see me.

9 The next stop was the stable to check on the horses.

10 Hello my beauty Ramon!

11 And my precious Rinze

12 And my handsome Rutger

13 And my gentle Meindert

14 I saw that the copper in the stable kitchen was nicely polished. I love this collection. I purchased most of these pieces during visits to Paris. Perhaps you remember it hanging in my kitchen at Turkey Hill?

15 The next stop was to pay a visit to my little pair of Black Welsh Mountain Sheep. They love chomping on fresh cut hay.

16 They saw me coming and could not wait!

17 The sheep have a really nice long paddock to wander in.

18 And they really like to run!

19 Down to the chickens - the hens and roosters really love the perches that Alfredo made from fallen trees.

20 They also like climbing and perching on the ladders.

21 It was quite busy inside this coop.

22 Many eggs still warm

23 After collecting all of the eggs, I visited the geese. They always make such a ruckus when people come near!

24 Laura Acuna cleans the freshly laid eggs every day with a damp cloth. The hens are very productive these days.