Beautiful Snow Covers My Farm
Here in Bedford, New York, we're expecting sunny skies and temperatures in the low 30s - one day after our first accumulating snow storm of the New Year.
This weather system started falling overnight Thursday and lasted through yesterday morning's commute dropping about six to seven inches of powdery, white snow. Just as the sun came up, I ventured out to take some photos and to plow the four miles of carriage road here at the farm. Using my trusted Polaris XP Ranger 1000 fitted with its adjustable snow plow, it took me about three hours to do, but I got the job done - I find plowing so much fun every single time! Please see more images and videos on my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48.
Enjoy these photos.
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- I honestly love our Polaris vehicles. This Polaris XP Ranger 1000 has 80 horsepower – one of the most powerful in its class. It is easy to handle and helps with so many of the chores around the farm. Here I am about to plow the four miles of carriage roads. I plow every time it snows. When I plow, I always leave an inch or two of snow on the top, so the roads still look pretty and the gravel underneath is left undisturbed.
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- On this day, the snow started overnight and lasted until early morning – about an inch of snow an hour. By daylight, the entire farm was a veritable winter wonderland.
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- This snow accumulated on every branch of nearly every tree, but did not weigh any down too much.
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- This is the fence surrounding my flower cutting garden with the sun just coming out overhead. Snow stuck to nearly every surface and crevice – luckily it was a light, fluffy snow. This light snow forms when all layers of the atmosphere are below freezing. Because the air is cold, all the way down to the surface, snowflakes don’t melt. It was about 30-degrees Fahrenheit all day, but very little wind.
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- Here is a view from the carriage road through my Stewartia garden and my Tenant House, where my daughter and grandchildren stay when they visit.
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- This is a row of six weeping hornbeams, Carpinus betulus Pendula. They line one side of my soccer field and the archery range I set up for my grandson, Truman. These are such graceful and shapely specimen trees, very densely branched and adaptable to various soil conditions.
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- Here are the trunks of the mighty pin oaks that grow alongside my large Equipment Barn – every branch on every tree is outlined in white with the contrasting dark brown bark below.
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- Tucked away between the Equipment Barn and a grove of weeping willows is my pinetum. It includes pines, spruces, and firs, as well as other evergreens.
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- Here is my stand of American beech trees. They are slow to grow but can live up to 300-years. Look closely – some leaves remain. It’s interesting how some drop all their leaves, while others hold onto them as long as possible.
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- On the left, it is hard to miss the stand of great eastern white pine trees, Pinus strobus. White pines are the tallest trees in eastern North America. On the right, another evergreen with its boughs covered in beautiful snow.
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- Here’s a stand of dawn redwoods, Metasequoia, with their straight trunks – impressive trees by any standard, and beautiful in any season. One can sometimes tell the direction of the wind by the way the snow collects on the trees – it creates such interesting patterns on the tree trunks.
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- Looking over the vegetable garden, one can see the sun peeking through the cloud cover.
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- This is the carriage road leading up to my Summer House – still left untouched. The stakes delineate the road from the garden beds and all my young azaleas we planted last spring.
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- Here is the cobblestone courtyard with the stable on the left and the office straight ahead.
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- This view looks down the lilac allee – a very different look from May, when all the fragrant lilacs are in bloom.
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- I am so glad all my boxwood and all the ornamental urns, birdbaths, and troughs are well-covered with burlap. Here, Pasang and Fernando are sweeping all the snow off the burlap structures along the Boxwood Allee, so they don’t weigh down on the protected shrubs.
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- Here is a gurgling stream peeking through the blanket of white. The woodland streams are full – they look so dark against the snow.
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- This is the Christmas tree garden across from my compost piles. I planted a total of 640 Christmas trees in this field – White Pine, Frasier Fir, Canaan Fir, Norway Spruce, and Blue Spruce. They’ve grown so much since they were planted in 2009.
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- The snow also covered these old stone walls. New England is filled with stone walls – thigh-high stones stacked together in various shapes and sizes. Many old stone walls are left from colonial settlers building their farmlands.
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- This is one of two lower hayfields. The weeping willows add a slightly golden hue to the winter landscape.
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- These are some apple trees near what I call my “Contemporary House.” Snow covers the tops, outlining their interesting shapes. These are some of the oldest fruit trees on the property.
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- A little bit of color shows forth on this Pieris japonica, the Japanese andromeda or Japanese pieris – a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae. It is native to eastern China, Taiwan, and Japan, where it grows in mountain thickets. Deep-red winter buds open to pale-pink flowers that bow down from pinkish branches in early spring.
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- Venturing through the back hayfield we saw these coyote tracks. Coyote prints are ovular and usually 2.5 to 3.5 inches long. Coyotes typically run or walk in a straight line, with each paw print almost directly in front of the next. Many wild animals visit the property all year round. I hope all of the creatures are keeping warm in their woodland dens.
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- Visibility remained pretty clear – one can see the end of my winding pergola and my Basket House in the distance.
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- On this snow covered apple tree in front of my Winter House, several apples still cling to their branches.
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- This grove of apple trees was here when I purchased my home. They are lined up behind the herbaceous peony garden. They still produce an abundance of apples every fall.
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- Notice the holes in the burlap. It’s a “Good Thing” I developed to help our avian friends during winter – they love to take cover inside, especially during storms.
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- One of the most popular views at the farm – this one looking down the long carriage road to the woodlands. Majestic trees stand tall, with smaller saplings growing below.
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- By afternoon, there was a mix of sun and clouds with temperatures in the 30s. This is a view of my old corn crib and the path lined with linden trees between two of my paddocks. It was a beautiful end to a winter’s day.
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