An early-season nor’easter is moving up the East Coast, bringing gusty winds and heavy rain from the Mid-Atlantic through New England.
Yesterday, my outdoor grounds crew worked tirelessly to prepare the farm for this weekend storm. They moved all my precious citrus trees indoors, stored any furniture that could potentially be blown over, secured doors and windows, and made sure all the animals were safe in their enclosures. Being well-prepared is crucial when a major storm is approaching. A few helpful precautions include having an ample supply of food and water on hand, making sure flashlights have fresh batteries, checking and replenishing the first-aid kit, and ensuring that all vehicles have plenty of fuel.
Here are some photos of the storm prep at Cantitoe Corners.
The day started with overcast skies and very little sunshine. Forecasts called for poor weather to start in the evening, but winds had already picked up by midday.
Flooding and high winds can cause damage to any property, so it’s always good, and smart, to be well-prepared for any inclement weather. Here is the path between two of my horse pastures with the great eastern white pines in the distance.
The crew began preparing early. All the cushions are removed from the poolside chaises longues and stored in my gym garage.
Chairs surrounding my long pavilion yew table are taken to my hay barn across the carriage road for storage. Decide what spaces can be used to store what items ahead of time, so there is less scrambling later.
In 2021, after a large yew tree was removed from my former East Hampton home, I decided to give the wood a second life by turning it into this large dining table for the pavilion. I designed it to be three tables connected as one.
Doing so made it easy to transport when needed. Here, Pete and Jimmy carry each table piece to its designated storage place.
I store the table in a glass room next door to my Equipment Barn. The tables are carefully placed in the room and then covered for the season.
The room can accommodate the three yew table pieces as well and the pool furniture.
Before being moved, the pool furniture head rests are tied down, so they don’t flap during transport, which could damage the wood.
And then one by one, Jimmy and Pete carry the furniture to their storage space in the glass room.
Down by my chicken coops, my citrus trees are displayed outdoors during summer. They remain in this gravel covered area until cooler weather arrives.
However, citrus trees are sensitive to frost and cold temperatures, so I asked that they be moved indoors temporarily until the storm is over. This also prevents any from falling and potentially losing fruits. Here’s Matthew moving one of my lemon trees indoors.
Here, all the citrus trees will be safe from dipping temperatures and strong winds.
Hay mangers, or hay feeders, are checked and placed in the pastures. These are designed to hold the hay so it is accessible to my horses but off the ground and protected from wet weather.
Meanwhile, back at my pool, Fernando closes and covers all the shade umbrellas so they are ready for storage.
He carries them one by one to the glass room keeping them all together, so they are easy to find and take out again next spring.
Take the time to store pieces carefully and properly to save them from damage.
Phurba helps by carting the heavy steel umbrella bases into the same area as the umbrellas.
Glass doors replace screen ones to keep heavy rain away.
The animals are all checked that they are safe in their enclosures. I think my geese are actually looking forward to the showers.
And all my horses, donkeys, and other pets are all in great care. The current nor’easter is expected to last through Sunday night and into Monday morning and finally weakening by Tuesday. I hope you are all safe where you are.
Dinner at The Bedford by Martha Stewart is delicious... as always. Have you been yet?
I hope you saw the photos on my Instagram page @marthastewart48. Earlier this week, I traveled to Las Vegas for a business trip to promote Hint, my new home management platform that helps homeowners understand, monitor, and maintain their properties. While there, I, along with a small group of colleagues, stopped in for a wonderful dinner at my restaurant, The Bedford by Martha Stewart, located at Paris Las Vegas. The menu features French-inspired cuisine along with some of my own favorite recipes - all with the freshest, locally sourced ingredients. And, the restaurant is now one of two - The Bedford by Martha Stewart is also on the east coast at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut. I've received so many excellent responses to the menu and food at both, so make your reservations and visit soon!
Here are some photos, enjoy.
I visit my restaurant, The Bedford by Martha Stewart, whenever I can. I opened this first-ever establishment in August 2022 in a partnership with Caesars Entertainment. We all worked hard to make it feel just like my home. It has done excellently over the years.
After a busy day at the Blueprint Convention, a multiple‑day, global trade show and conference for real estate, construction, and technology leaders, my team and I sat down for a delicious meal. Here I am with my signature Martha-tini, my own rendition of the classic martini. Mine is made with Żubrówka bison grass vodka, dry vermouth, and a lemon twist.
We started with a Cold Seafood Tower served with raw oysters, Maine lobster tail, scallop crudo, lobster roll, and shrimp cocktail.
For appetizers, we offer these House-made Bread Baskets. Each one has JuneBug’s garden flatbreads, grape-rosemary focaccia, and warm Parker House rolls. This is a very popular appetizer – when one table gets theirs, all the guests at surrounding tables start ordering their own.
This is Clams Marinière with saffron, white wine, garlic, herbs, and grilled bread.
Another appetizer – my Raw Oysters, served with red wine mignonette and cocktail sauce.
Oysters Rockefeller is baked with Pernod cream, spinach watercress, and a parsley breadcrumb topping.
On the menu, look for Martha’s Wagyu Meatball, a big favorite. It is served with pomodoro and ricotta cheese.
A must-have comfort dish is the Four Cheese Mac and Cheese – it’s great for the children and their accompanying adults.
The most popular side dish to any entrée is my Smashed Baked Potato – smashed table-side and served with crème fraîche, chives, and bacon lardons. One can also enjoy with added Golden Ossetra Caviar* and sour cream.
Alexis’s Chopped Salad has asparagus, radish, English peas, haricot vert, Fresno peppers, red onion, English cucumber, cilantro, rice wine vinaigrette.
This is the Spaghetti and Wagyu Meatball, served with pomodoro and aged grana padano cheese.
Here is the Honey Mustard Glazed Salmon with wilted spinach and confit shallots. So many of the dishes are the same ones I serve to family and friends when I entertain at home.
The Stovetop Clam Bake has lobster tail, clams, shrimp, Spanish chorizo, corn and potatoes with spicy butter sauce.
I like to serve risotto dishes at my own dinner gatherings too. This one is Lemon Risotto with Sea Scallops and caramelized fennel.
The 8-ounce filet is served with braised leek and watercress, with bordelaise or béarnaise sauce.
There is also the juiciest 38-ounce Prime Tomahawk for Two that is carved table-side and served with braised leeks, watercress, and bordelaise or béarnaise sauce.
Always save room for dessert! Our table enjoyed this Upside-Down Lemon Meringue Pie made with baked meringue, lemon curd in the center, and fresh whipped cream.
We also ordered the Classic Crème Brûlée.
And for chocolate lovers, my Mile High Chocolate Cake with devil’s food cake, milk chocolate frosting, and fresh whipped cream.
Some selected the House-made Sorbets and Ice Creams dessert – a choice of raspberry, black currant, chocolate, crème fraîche, or coffee served with brown butter shortbread cookies – perfect after a great feast.
My restaurants are inspired by my 1925 country farmhouse in Westchester, New York. The cocktail napkins feature the sycamore tree – the symbol of my Bedford farm. A most delicious dinner at The Bedford by Martha Stewart. If you haven’t yet come over for a visit, please make reservations – you’ll have a great time! And hopefully, I’ll see you there!
It’s officially fall, but here at my farm the gardens still have a few beautiful surprises to offer.
Although most of the summer flowers have faded, some perennials are still putting on a lovely display of late-season and now early-fall color, including Russian sage, Japanese anemones, nasturtiums, phlox, and of course, the autumn crocus.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Some of the first signs of autumn are these blooming autumn crocus, the common name for Colchicum. Colchicum is a member of the botanical family Colchicaceae and is native to West Asia, Europe, parts of the Mediterranean coast, down the East African coast to South Africa and the Western Cape.
The scientific name comes from Colchis, a region on the coast of the Black Sea. The name Colchicum alludes to the poisonous qualities of the species. The plant contains an alkaloid known as colchicine, which is found in all parts, but mostly in the seeds. Colchicum typically blooms from September to November.
Once open, many Colchicums produce large, goblet-like blooms in shades of pink, violet or white. They are large striking flower heads, with white at the base leading to pale pink at the apex.
When the weather is mild, colchicum’s nearly perfect cup-shape flowers begin to unfurl. Most Colchicum plants produce their flowers without any foliage. This is why these flowers were first known by the common name “naked boys.” In the Victorian era, they were also called “naked ladies.”
When in bloom, phlox are covered with groups of small, sweet-smelling, star-shaped flowers from clean white to pale pastel, including pink, red, lavender, and purple.
Phlox species have tubular flowers with five distinct petals.
This pure white colored phlox grows in my white garden outside my Winter House.
White Wood Aster, Aster divaricatus, bears clusters of small white flowers in late summer and now, in the first week of fall. These are herbaceous perennial wildflowers with an upright and mounding growth habit.
Tricyrtis hirta, the toad lily or hairy toad lily, is a Japanese species of hardy herbaceous perennial plant in the lily family Liliaceae. Toad lilies are hardy perennials native to ravines and woodland edges in India, China, Japan, and other parts of Asia. Toad lily flowers bloom in a range of spotted colors in the axels of the plant.
In my pergola garden is Perovskia atriplicifolia, commonly called Russian sage. It shows tall, airy, spike-like clusters that create a lavender-blue cloud of color above the finely textured, aromatic foliage. It is vigorous, hardy, heat-loving, drought-tolerant, and deer resistant.
This is a Nasturtium. Nasturtium plants, Tropaeolum, are loved for their rich, saturated, jewel-toned colors. Planted in the spring after the threat of frost has passed, they are fast and easy to grow. Nasturtium is a genus of about 80 species of annual and perennial herbaceous flowering plants. It was named by Carl Linnaeus in his book Species Plantarum, and is the only genus in the family Tropaeolaceae.
Here’s a look at the interesting leaves of Nasturtium. The leaves are circular, shield-shaped and grow on a trailing plant. They are fragrant, with a mustard-like scent. And, do you know… all parts of the nasturtium plant are edible? The flowers, leaves, stems, and young seed pods can be eaten. All of these parts have a distinct peppery flavor similar to radishes.
These flowers can vary in shade, but the most popular versions are yellow, orange pink, red, or mahogany. There are also varieties in subdued shades of butter yellow and cream.
There are still a few hydrangea flowers in the garden also – these are on one side of my tennis court. Hydrangeas are popular ornamental plants, grown for their large flower heads, which are excellent in cut arrangements and for drying. Little Hottie® is a compact, heat-tolerant panicle hydrangea that grows three to five feet tall and wide, with white blooms that blush pink in fall.
Diamond Rouge® Panicle Hydrangeas have abundant, long lasting flower heads that start white and progress to pink, intense raspberry red, and finally wine red.
The anemones are also holding strong. Anemone is a genus of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. Most anemone flowers have a simple, daisy-like shape and lobed foliage that sway in the lightest breezes.
And the two-and-a-half inch wide circular flowers come in white, pink, or mauve. Flowers can be single, double, or semi-double and add great late season color to the garden.
Another long-lasting flower is the clematis. Clematis can start blooming anywhere from late winter to early spring and then continue flowering through the summer and into early fall.
This white clematis is blooming on an upright post by my blueberry patch.
And, depending on the variety, roses bloom from late spring through early fall.
And here is my favorite rose, the Martha Stewart Hybrid Tea Rose, growing beautifully in the gardens in front of my greenhouse. I hope wherever you are, you can stop to appreciate the beautiful flowers that are showing off their gorgeous colors and forms this time of year.
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