Time for some pruning and maintenance on the trees at my Bedford, New York farm.
As the owner of a working farm with many gardens, groves, and allées, I am constantly looking at all the plants and trees, making sure they are in perfect condition. Pruning is one of our biggest and most important tasks. Proper pruning improves the health of the plants, prevents disease, and encourages better growth. There are different pruning strategies for different times of the year, but overall the goals are the same - to control the shape, to keep bushes and trees fresh and open, and to allow for better air circulation through the center of the specimen. This week, my outdoor grounds crew "limbed up" the majestic pin oaks and pruned back the low branches to keep them from hitting any cars on the carriage road and to allow enough light to filter down to the plants below.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
The pin oak allée is the first allée guests see when entering my farm. These trees are tall and impressive. Pin oaks, Quercus palustris, are popular landscape trees because they are fast-growing and easy to maintain. This is a photo of the pin oaks in June.
And here they are in September just as the leaves start to turn. On the pin oak, the lower branches tend to droop, the middle branches are horizontal, and branches in the upper part of the crown grow upright.
Pin oaks have leaves that are three to six inches long, bristle tipped, deeply lobed with wide circular or U-shaped sinuses.
The bark on the straight, erect trunk of a pin oak is relatively smooth. Shallow fissures develop as it matures, creating a distinctive diamond-like pattern running longitudinally on the trunk with a reddish-brown color in the crevices.
This is the allée in October. The lower branches are turning golden yellow.
A couple weeks later all the trees are yellow-bronze in color. Pin oaks are known for the gorgeous fall color they produce.
In winter, the trees are completely bare. The pin oak is deciduous, meaning it will abscise, or shed, its leaves each fall after dropping its zygote-bearing acorns. The pin oak does so to conserve water and nutrients for the next year.
But here they are just this past week with some trees still holding strong to their leaves. The last time these trees were pruned was three years ago – they were in need of a good pruning.
Pasang Sherpa is our resident tree pruner and groomer here at the farm. He oversees a lot of the smaller tree pruning projects. In this photo, he is assessing where he has to cut. The first to go are any dead, damaged, or diseased branches.
He also looks up to see which branches may be crisscrossing. I instructed them to “limb up” by cutting the lower branches that are hanging too low over the carriage road.
As he works, Pasang makes sure the branches that remain are in perfect line with those of the other pin oaks in the allée.
Here he is cutting one of those lower branches.
Pasang uses a STIHL in-tree saw, which is made especially for those who need lightweight and powerful equipment that can effectively prune and shape high above the ground. I always remind the crew to bring everything they may need to every job, so they don’t have to run back and forth to get equipment.
Pasang moves from tree to tree in the cage of our trusted Hi-Lo. Because this allée is on a carriage road, it is easy to maneuver the Hi-Lo up and down the road.
There are a lot of branches to cut, but already there is more light and air circulating through the allée, and one can see more clearly underneath the trees.
He also uses a STIHL battery powered telescoping pole pruner. It has a quiet, zero-exhaust emission, and is very lightweight. Plus, this telescoping pole pruner can cut branches up to 16-feet above the ground. For larger tree branches Pasang makes two cuts to safely remove the limb without stripping any bark. The first cut should be about a third to halfway down the branch. Cutting in sections also prevents splitting and allows the large portion of the branch to fall and not tear into or damage the tree.
Then Pasang cuts off the remaining branch by cutting back to the branch collar. Here is what is left – clean and undamaged.
As branches are taken down, they’re gathered and placed into tidy piles, so they can be cleaned up easily and quickly. After the job is done the crew will chip the branches and use the wood chips as top dressing in another area of the farm. Everything is always reused, repurposed or recycled when possible.
Here is one side already finished – it looks great.
And here is the Pin Oak Allée once it is completely “limbed up”. I am so pleased these trees continue to thrive here at Cantitoe Corners.
It is so exciting to grow the rare and vivid crimson-colored spice called saffron right here at my Bedford, New York farm.
Saffron comes from a flower called crocus sativus, also known as ‘saffron crocus’. It is a beautiful, purple flower with bright red threads, or stigmas, which make the luxurious spice. Over the last couple of years, my friend Hannah Milman has planted more than 10-thousand saffron corms in various areas around the property, including a large patch beneath the quince trees just outside my flower cutting garden. Saffron is planted in late summer and then harvested by hand from late October to early November. It's so much fun to see these flowers develop.
Enjoy these photos and please follow Hannah on Instagram @hannahcmilman to learn more about saffron.
Hannah first started planting saffron at my farm in 2020. She brought boxes filled with beautiful saffron corms. Saffron is a highly prized spice used for both sweet and savory dishes, most notably Italian risotto, Spanish paella, and many Iranian and Asian recipes.
Saffron is planted in late summer. The main tool for planting saffron corms or any small bulbs is a dibber, which is a pointed wooden stick for making holes in the ground.
Here is a closer look at one of the corms. The compact corms are small, brown globules that can measure as large as two-inches in diameter, have a flat base, and are shrouded in a dense mat of parallel fibers referred to as the “corm tunic”. Do you know the difference between a corm and a bulb? Both corms and bulbs are parts of the plant that store food to help it grow and bloom. A bulb is a plant stem and leaf that grows underground in layers. A tiny version of the flower is at the center of the bulb. Tulips, lilies, iris, daffodils and onions are examples of bulbs. A corm is an underground stem that serves as the base for the flower stem and is solid, not layered.
The largest bed of saffron is here beneath the quince trees adjacent to my blueberry patch. It is the perfect area for planting saffron which does best in hardiness zones 5 to 8 in full to partial sun. This garden gets at least five or six hours of direct sunlight per day. Here, Hannah begins making all the holes for the corms.
Using the dibber, Hannah creates a hole at least four to six inches deep.
In general, holes should be three times deeper than the length of the corm or bulb. For planting smaller corms like these, the dibber is the prefect tool – fast and efficient.
And then one by one, each corm is carefully placed in a hole, with the pointed end faced up, or root end faced down. This is very important, so the plant grows properly. When purchasing bulbs and corms, always look for those that are plump and firm, and avoid those that are soft.
Here is the saffron corm just at the top of the hole before it is pushed in more deeply – see how it is faced up.
With so many corms to get into the ground, Hannah plants them in a production line process – making rows of holes first, and then placing the corms into the holes.
Hannah also waits until all the holes are filled before covering with soil, so she can keep track of what has been planted where.
Here are all the rows of holes filled with wonderful saffron corms.
And here is the same field after it has been backfilled and covered with a topdressing of nutrient-rich compost made right here at the farm.
By early October, the saffron sprouts are visible. They emerge with thin, straight, and blade-like green foliage leaves, which expand after the flowers have opened. Here, one can also see the small flower emerging from the center.
The lilac-colored flower appears next. The blooms last about three weeks.
By the middle of October, most of the saffron blooms are open all over the field.
It is the bright red-orange threads of saffron, the stigmas, or female portion, of the saffron crocus flowers that make up the spice. Three stigmas are borne in the center of each cup-shaped bloom. The best time to harvest the stigmas is mid-morning on a sunny day when the flowers have fully opened and are still fresh. The stigmas on this flower are ready to harvest.
On harvesting day, Hannah plucks the blooms and places them gently in a basket. And they smell so wonderful – a sweet, honey-like fragrance. The leaves of the saffron will persist for eight to 12 weeks, then wither and vanish, leaving no trace of the corms below until the flowers appear again next fall.
Such a bounty of beautiful saffron flowers. The saffron flowers can also be used in a variety of ways.
Hannah brings them all to my Winter House kitchen and shows the red stigmas that make up the spice. It takes hundreds of flowers to produce a commercially useful amount, and lots of labor, which explains why saffron has long been the world’s most costly spice by weight.
Hannah carefully pulls off the saffron stigmas, separating them from the flowers and setting all of them on a paper lined baking sheet to dry.
Once dried, they can be stored in a jar. I can’t wait to use them in cooking. Please go to Hannah’s Instagram page @hannahcmilman to see more wonderful photos, Reels, and Stories about saffron. Hannah shows you other places she’s planted saffron and all the different uses for the flower and the spice. Thanks Hannah – for teaching us so much about saffron.
It's Wednesday - and that means I'm releasing another original, interesting, and informative podcast! And this one is with fashion designer, Michael Kors. We'll talk about his creative vision, his tireless work, and what it takes to build and maintain his iconic American brand.
Since I launched "The Martha Stewart Podcast" with iHeart Media earlier this year, I've had a terrific lineup of guests. Most recently, I've recorded conversations with restaurateur Will Guidara, architect David Rockwell, Chef Jose Andres, interior designer Michael Smith, business entrepreneur Charlotte Beers, and my longtime publicist Susan Magrino. Some of my podcasts are taped right here at my Bedford, New York farm, while others are done in New York City at the Newsstand Studios in Rockefeller Center. These podcasts have been so much fun, and we're scheduling more and more for the weeks and months ahead, so be sure to take some time to listen on the iHeart Media App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Enjoy these photos.
“The Martha Stewart Podcast” is when I sit down for one-on-one conversations with fascinating people from all walks of life – business icons, entrepreneurs, artisans, old friends and new friends. Each week, we release an intimate, in-depth conversation on how their individual careers began, how they have evolved, and what tips they have for listeners. These talks are filled with information, inspiration, and lots of laughter. If you haven’t already, please tune in.
I am always excited when my podcast guests are able to come up to my Bedford, New York farm. On the day of the show, I designate a room in my home, where we can sit and chat. Here, we set up our equipment in the cookbook library of my studio guest house. We put up lights and set up mobile phone cameras, so the show can also be videotaped for social media.
In this podcast, I had a wonderful conversation with Will Guidara, former co-owner of Eleven Madison Park, and author of a new book, “Unreasonable Hospitality.” We talked about Will’s mentors in the restaurant business, how he led the team at Eleven Madison Park as it rose to the number-one restaurant in the world, and the most important tips about hospitality in any business.
Will offers sage advice for anyone wanting to make their business a “hospitality business.” In this podcast, you’ll also hear why he “loves it when guests walk into one of his restaurants with luggage.” Do you know why?
We also laughed and talked about about where to find the best hot dogs – a food we both love. My podcasts are like no other – filled with serious business guidance as well as humorous life stories.
In this podcast, I spoke with distinguished architect, David Rockwell. We met at his midtown Manhattan office, and set-up our equipment in his conference room.
During our conversation he also shared many wonderful photographs of the work he and his team have done over the years, including designing sets for 75 Broadway and off-Broadway shows, 275 restaurants, beginning with Sushi Zen, more than 100 hotels, beginning with the W New York and projects in more than 165 cities.
Many of our podcasts are also done from one of the buildings at the famous Rockefeller Center right across the street from the ice-skating rink.
Here I am with Chef Jose Andres inside the Newsstand Studios, a state-of-the-art podcast studio for contemporary content creators. The studio was built out of a retrofitted 1940s newsstand, and is now a recording space to a growing local community of podcasters including me.
In this podcast, the animated and legendary Chef Jose Andres talks about his passion for cooking, his incredible empire of more than 30 restaurants, and tells us about how he created the World Central Kitchen to feed the millions of hungry hungry people around the globe.
The following week back at my Bedford, New York farm I record this interesting podcast with interior designer Michael S. Smith. Michael is one of the most respected interior designers of our time. He has been named to Architectural Digest’s “A-D 100” 7 times, has been named Designer of the Year by Elle Décor, and was appointed to the Committee for the Preservation of the White House in 2010. When Barack and Michelle Obama moved into the White House, they chose Michael to decorate their private quarters. In this hour, he recounts stories of working with Steven Spielberg, Elaine Wynn, Shonda Rhimes, Harrison Ford and Rupert Murdoch… just to name a few.
I also asked Michael to share some of his favorite decorating stories and tips – what to do, and not do, when decorating a home, what one should purchase first when moving into a new space, and how the home has evolved over the last couple of years.
We took this quick snapshot after touring my studio kitchen filled with pieces from my vast copper collection.
One of my favorite podcasts to date was this one with my dear friend, Charlotte Beers. Here we are in the Newsstand Studios once again recording a fun and inspiring podcast on women in business, how Charlotte shattered the glass ceiling of the advertising world, and how she navigated her career through a male-dominated corporate environment.
Charlotte and I have known each other for many years. It was a pleasure to take the time to sit and recount some of her career’s highlights and our business experiences.
Today, you’ll hear my podcast with Michael Kors. Michael and I also recorded our one-hour show from New York City, just across the street from his Rockefeller Center store.
We talked about how his childhood and how he helped re-design his mother’s wedding gown at the age of five. We talked about his early working years, how fashion trends have changed, and how his iconic American brand evolved.
Michael’s husband, Lance LePere, also enjoyed the conversation from this corner inside the studio.
And coming up, we’ll also release another fun podcast I know you’ll love as much as I do – an hour with my longtime publicist, Susan Magrino. Hear how Susan started her career and developed her successful company. I was Susan’s very first client!
On this day, Susan and I were even “twinning.” Please tune in and listen to my podcasts – they’re all available on the iHeart Media App, Apple podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts. Who else would you like to hear me interview? Share your ideas and comments in the section below. I look forward to hearing from you.
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