Here in the Northeast, today’s temperatures are expected to be in the low to mid 40s following the first real snowstorm of the season.
This week, we got what meteorologists call a classic front end "thump" of snow, when the area is hit with three to five hours of solid snowfall and then a sudden flip to sleet and rain. This storm system brought several inches of wet, heavy snow, which downed trees and caused havoc for thousands of travelers and commuters. At my farm, we're still in the process of preparing for the winter season ahead. Yet, even if you’re not a fan of cold weather, it's hard not to love a gorgeous snow-covered landscape. I always love touring the farm and taking photos the morning after a snowfall - enjoy.
There is always a bit of excitement with the season’s first snow. This is a view through the paddocks before the snow began. The old corn crib on the right is original to the farm. The unique “keystone” shape flaring from bottom to top was designed to shed water. Located near my Winter House and long pergola, it’s become a favorite photo for guests who visit.
It began snowing furiously at the farm by late afternoon. Here is my stand of American beech trees. They are slow to grow, but can live up to 300-years. It’s interesting how some drop all their leaves, while others hold onto them as long as possible.
This carriage road into the woods winds so nicely with its canopy of naked tree branches overhead.
Here is a stand of dawn redwoods, Metasequoia, with their straight trunks. They are impressive trees by any standard, and beautiful in any season.
The chicken yard is empty – all of my chickens are tucked in for the duration of the storm.
Even with the falling snow, it is hard to miss this stand of eastern white pine trees, Pinus strobus. White pines are the tallest trees in eastern North America.
Here’s a look at the front doors of the stable – closed with all my darling horses warm and secure in their stalls.
Snow covers the carriage road down the Boxwood Allee, but so far it isn’t sticking to the boxwood, which have yet to be draped in burlap.
This view is across my pool – all covered for the season.
This is the long granite pergola. Hard to see, but I hang several bird feeders along its length for the many, many birds who visit my farm and perch on the trees. In the summer, the vertical posts support beautiful clematis vines which bloom in white and various shades of purple and blue.
Here is a view of my large Equipment Barn. The three finials on top draw lots of attention when guests visit. They are antique finials I bought years back.
This was taken the morning after the storm, when everything was covered in beautiful white. My Friesians love running across the snow-covered ground. From this vantage point, it’s easy to see the four chicken coop rooftops from across the horse paddocks.
This is the carriage road near the Summer House, which curves right and leads to the stable downhill.
Here is the side view of my stable with the stable office ahead and my carriage house to the right.
Here is an allee between paddocks. The long building at the end contains a four-bay carport, a flower room, a generator room, and my blog studio.
Here is a view looking in the other direction towards the chicken coops on the left.
The grove of bald cypress, Taxodium distichum, looks so stunning with its copper colored foliage. Upright stakes painted in my signature Bedford Gray line the carriage roads to guide the cars.
This is my expansive “party lawn”, where I love to set-up games for guests during summer parties. At the end is the old corn crib.
All the boxwood shrubs were covered in snow. Here is the long row of young boxwood that line both sides of the pergola. The crew was tasked with gently brushing all the snow off these precious specimens.
None of the boxwood is covered with burlap yet. Heavy snow could damage the shrubs and splay their branches.
The crew took brooms and rakes and worked as a team to get all the snow off the boxwood border around the herbaceous peony bed.
Chhiring used a roof rake to gently sweep the tops of each one.
The team worked fast – there was a lot of boxwood to do, but they all look much better without the heavy snow.
Rufus, Clive, and Billie, seem a bit confused staring out from their shelter this morning after the storm.
Here is a view across the paddocks. What a difference a day makes – so beautiful and so serene the day after the storm. How did you fare during this first snowstorm of the season? Share your comments with me below.
If you live in the New York City area and feel you’ve run out of time to plant all those spring-blooming bulbs after yesterday’s snow storm, don’t worry - temperatures are expected to be in the 40s this weekend. You can still get them in the ground.
As many of you know, every autumn we plant thousands and thousands of bulbs at my farm. It’s so exciting to see the swaths of color in the garden beds after a cold, dreary winter. Over the last couple of weeks, the outdoor grounds crew carefully planted bulbs around my main greenhouse. Different planting methods were used depending on the area and the amount of bulbs selected for the space. This year, some of our sources include Van Engelen Inc., and Colorblends Wholesale Flower Bulbs - two great bulb companies in Connecticut. They will all look so marvelous come spring.
Here are some photos... and happy planting!
This year we’re planting 23-thousand bulbs around the farm. They arrive in sacs, bags, and boxes depending on the transport needs of the bulbs. We store them in my gym garage where it is cool and dark until they are ready to plant.
Almost every garden bed is planted with new bulbs each fall. This year, we also decided to plant some outside my main greenhouse in front of the currant bushes and around the new row of boxwood. Dawa secures garden twine as a guide. In this area – Spanish bluebells, muscari and crocus.
Ryan places groups of bulbs strategically behind the boxwood but not beyond the twine. When planting several types, it is important to consider flower height and time of bloom.
These bulbs are Spanish bluebells, a shade-tolerant plant that bears spikes of lightly fragrant, porcelain blue, bell-shaped flowers.
Some bulbs are small and easier to plant. Every bulb needs food and good soil to thrive and multiply.
Always be sure to add the the proper bulb food to the bed. It should be a balanced fertilizer that has a good amount of phosphorous. Fertilizing spring blooming bulbs also helps them fight off diseases and pests.
This tool is a dibber, used to create a narrow deep hole for smaller bulbs.
Phurba starts to plant the bulbs one by one where they were positioned. Unfortunately, this day was quite rainy, so the crew had to work quickly and efficiently.
Each bulb is placed in a hole about three to five inches deep, always pointed end or sprouted end faced up.
Crocus bulbs are smaller. It is very easy to see which end should be faced up on these bulbs.
Some of the bulbs are tossed gently onto the soil – where they fall is where they will be planted, creating a natural growth appearance.
Once the area is filled with bulbs, they’re covered with earth and fresh compost.
Phurba and Dawa then move to a patch not far from the greenhouse to plant a new bed of daffodils. Using the pole bulb planter, Phurba makes a series of holes for the hundreds of daffodils planned for the space.
There are several different tools used for planting bulbs depending on the size of the bulb. This is a traditional bulb planter. In general, holes should be three times deeper than the bulb’s length.
Each of these daffodil bulbs is planted in a hole at least six-inches deep.
And one by one, each bulb is carefully placed into a hole – again with the pointed end faced up, or root end faced down. This is very important, so the plant grows properly from the bulb.
There are no existing bulbs in this area, so the crew doesn’t have to look out for them as they dig. When planting in a bed that already has bulbs, be sure not to damage them with the planting tools. Daffodils should be placed at least four-inches apart.
Ryan adds more bulbs in front of the hornbeam hedges that line one side of the parking lot in front of the main greenhouse. These are scilla bulbs, or blue squill. Scillas grow in sun or shade beneath light trees, under hedges, or in a wild garden along a walk. They should be planted three-inches deep and three-inches apart.
Phurba planted the entire area with the scilla – it will look so pretty underneath these sculpted hornbeams.
And finally, the crew moved to the back of my greenhouse by the gooseberry bushes to plant more Spanish bluebells and crocus.
Hyacinthoides hispanica, the Spanish bluebell, is a perennial native to the Iberian Peninsula. It is one of around 11-species in the genus Hyacinthoides.
You can plant bulbs just about anywhere in the garden as long as the soil drains well. “Bulbs don’t like wet feet”, so be sure to avoid areas where water collects.
This bed was planted quickly and then backfilled and raked. I can’t wait to see all these bulbs erupt with gorgeous color come spring. What bulbs are you planting this season? Please let me know in the comments section below.
I love mushrooms. Whenever I go hiking at Skylands, my home in Maine, or in the woodlands of my Bedford, New York farm, I always enjoy discovering and identifying the different wild mushrooms I see along the way.
A mushroom is the fleshy spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus. Not long ago, during one of my trips to QVC, I had some time to visit Phillips Mushroom Farms in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania - a multi-generation family owned business that has been cultivating mushrooms since 1927. The process of growing mushrooms is very interesting and very different from growing other crops. It was a great visit - if you're ever in the area, I encourage you to make a stop.
Here are some of my photos - enjoy.
The Phillips Family, now in its third generation, is the largest marketer of specialty mushrooms in the United States. The company distributes more than 35-million pounds of mushrooms each year.
Phillips Mushroom Farms has a state of the art facility that includes seven-acres under roof with nearly a million square-feet of specially designed growing space. I was fortunate to get an exclusive behind the scenes tour – these growing houses are enormous. The company produces 200-million pounds of mushrooms annually.
The facility focuses on providing a superior growing climate for the mushrooms. In each of their giant houses, the temperature, humidity and oxygen content are monitored by a computer 24-hours a day.
These are Maitake mushrooms, Grifola frondosa. It is characterized by its layers of caps that are curved like spoons. I was able to harvest some Maitake mushrooms to take home for my recent business dinner.
Here are Pom Pom mushrooms, Hericium erinaceus, growing out of the substrate, or growing medium. The Pom Pom mushroom is also called lion’s mane mushroom, monkey head mushroom, or bearded tooth mushroom. It has a mild, sweet taste and pleasant texture that have been compared to lobster or very tender veal. Among its other medicinal benefits, pom pom is best known for its traditional use in treating ailments of the stomach and digestive tract, as well as nervous system disorders.
These are Velvet Pioppini mushrooms, Agrocybe aegerita cv. Velvet Pioppini – a type of shimeji mushroom, which are distinct for their clustered growth habit. Velvet Pioppini mushrooms are also known as Black Poplar mushrooms and Willow mushrooms. In China they are referred to as “Cha Shu Gu,” which means “tea tree mushrooms.” They have chocolate brown caps, pearly stems, and are skinny yet sturdy. The Velvet Pioppini mushroom’s rich and earthy flavors are frequently described as “foresty” and peppery, with a firm texture and satin finish that holds up beautifully in cooking.
Royal Trumpet mushrooms, Pleurotus eryngii, have light brown trumpet-shaped caps resting on tender white stems. This delicately flavored exotic mushroom is also known as the King oyster.
Oyster mushrooms include a variety of different Pleurotus species and are available in an amazing array of colors and sizes. These oyster mushrooms are dark gray. They have a texture much like their seafood namesake, with a mild pleasant taste.
These are also oyster mushrooms in a lighter gray. The oyster mushroom was first cultivated in Germany as a subsistence measure during World War I and is now grown commercially around the world for food. It is related to the similarly cultivated King oyster mushroom.
Here is another gray oyster mushroom. The oyster mushroom is one of the more commonly sought wild mushrooms, though it can be cultivated on straw and other media as seen here. It has the bittersweet aroma of benzaldehyde, similar to bitter almonds.
And here is an even lighter colored gray oyster mushroom. The colors range from white to gray or tan to dark grayish-brown. The flesh is white, firm, and varies in thickness.
And this is a pink oyster mushroom, Pleurotus djamor. Pink oyster mushrooms grow in layered clusters like their gray and yellow relatives. Their color is intensely pink when raw and changes to an orange brown color when cooked.
Here is a yellow, or golden, oyster mushroom. Golden oyster mushrooms, Pleurotus cornucopiae, are luminous citrine yellow mushrooms with a tangy flavor that’s perfect in small quantities as an edible garnish. This mushroom lightens in color when sautéed.
Portabella and Crimini mushrooms are the more flavorful cousins of the white button mushroom. The Portabellas are allowed to ripen further and open up. As a result, they have a rich, robust mushroom taste and a texture that has been compared to filet mignon.
Criminis, Agaricus bisporus, are tan to brown in color with a firm, buttery texture. They’re picked while they are still closed, with their veil covering the gill surface. Here they are in a pre-conditioned pasteurized substrate.
Here you can see white Agaricus mushroom pins in the substrate. They can be harvested after 19-days.
Hardwoods such as oak, beech and maple make a great substrate for many types of mushrooms, especially when combined with a bran supplement. Saw dust is often used as part of the substrate material for Pom Pom, Royal Trumpet, and Maitake mushrooms.
Hulls can be mixed with hardwood saw dust at different ratios to produce extremely effective and high yielding substrates. This is often done for growing oyster mushrooms.
Some of the different grain mixes include wheat bran, rice bran, maize powder, and combinations of the same.
Millet is another popular grain used for substrate.
Using straw as a substrate works well for many types of mushroom species and can be much less expensive than other materials.
Near the actual growing facility are these painted mushrooms on the driveway leading from the growing exhibit to the store. This is how visitors are guided from one building to the other.
The shop is housed in the original 1828 family farm home that the Phillips acquired in 1890. Called “The Woodlands”, the shop offers fresh, jarred and dried mushrooms, as well as unique mushroom gifts and recommended books. Visitors can also see the Farm’s mushroom exhibit to learn about the Farm’s history and the science behind mushroom growing.
This well on the back porch of the store is original to the property. It is no longer used, but on this day, we did see water in there.
Outside the shop are some of the whimsical ceramic mushrooms that is available at the store.
Many of the outdoor mushroom garden ornaments are handcrafted and glazed in the United States by ceramic artisans.
Visitors can browse the many books about mushrooms – how to grown them, cook with them and use them for their many medicinal properties.
And Phillips Gourmet, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Phillips Mushroom Farms, sells this Blended Burger, which is 60-percent beef and 40-percent mushroom, with fewer calories and less saturated fat. For more information about Phillips Mushroom Farms, click on the highlighted link above. How do you like to cook with mushrooms? Share your thoughts with me in the comments section. I would love to hear from you!
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