As many of you know my schedule is very busy, but every few months I always set aside time to make my beautiful dogs a big batch of home-cooked food.
I've been preparing my own dog food for years. It has many benefits - fewer preservatives and additives, more varied and better ingredients and, of course, more of what I know my dogs like to eat. I also know the food is from wholesome, organic, reputable sources - and that is very important to me. This past weekend, I prepared a giant amount of food filled with excellent quality quinoa, beef, fish, poultry, and lots of nutritious vegetables.
Enjoy these photos.
It always makes me so happy to be able to provide the best meals for my pets – they love all the fresh vegetables and meats I cook for them. I currently have four dogs – my Chow Chows, Emperor Han and Empress Qin, and my French Bulldogs, Bête Noire and Crème Brûlée. Having multiple dogs means there’s a lot to prepare. Here are two of the sweet potatoes – great for digestive health because they’re high in dietary fiber. They’re also low in fat and contain vitamin B6, vitamin C, and manganese, and they’re rich in the powerful antioxidant beta-carotene.
The butternut squash is cooked until soft and then cut into chunks. Butternut squash is also filled with antioxidants, including vitamin C, vitamin E and beta-carotene.
Here’s a giant bowl of peas and quinoa. Quinoa is an amazing gluten-free superfood with high levels of essential amino acids. It is a high protein grain type food, so give it in small amounts. When preparing homemade diets, be sure it is well-balanced. Always be sure to research and discuss with your veterinarian what your pet needs.
These broccoli heads are cooked until fork tender and placed in the big stainless steel bowl. All my food is completely organic and full of flavor.
Here are the added carrots. My dogs love carrots. They are low in calories and high in fiber and vitamins. Occasionally, crunching on raw carrots can also be good for their teeth.
On top of this bowl of vegetables is some cooked fish. And watch out for bones. While some of the bones will be ground in a processor, it is a good idea to always carefully check for potentially dangerous bones.
Here, more vegetables including cabbage and turnips.
All the foods are cooked thoroughly and distributed into the large bowls. Look how much we’ve prepared.
Next, everything is run through a food processor. This step may seem extraneous; however, I have found that my dogs prefer their food ground up rather than in big chunks.
For my dog food, I use quart-sized containers. This step of filling the containers is done in a production line process, so it can be completed quickly and efficiently. Can you guess how many containers we filled? If you saw my Instagram post @MarthaStewart48, you know…
40-quarts in all! It’s very important that dogs also get adequate amounts of calcium, and omega-three fatty acids – add supplements if needed. And, whenever changing a dog’s diet, it’s a good idea to do it over the course of a few days.
I freeze my containers until they are ready to use. If planning to freeze, only fill up to the first line around the container so it has room to expand. Here, the quarts of food are left to cool a bit before securing the lids.
Each lid is marked properly, so there is no confusion.
Here are the quarts ready to freeze.
This quart was put aside in my fridge, so it’s ready for the next meal.
Here’s Enma scooping some food into the dog bowls for supper. We mix high quality kibble with a scoop of their home-prepared food. Enma mixes it thoroughly with the dogs’ additional vitamins and supplements.
And then it’s meal time! My dogs eat two meals a day – once in the morning and once in the evening. Splitting meal times is good for their digestion. Cooking for one’s dogs is a personal choice, so if you have time, and are interested in giving it a try, I know your pets will love every meal. Han, Qin, Crème Brûlée, and Bête Noire are always excited to eat!
And from above, one can see that Han is in excellent shape. With a healthy body weight, one should be able to see its waist tucked behind the ribs – one can see that on Han, even with his dense coat.
For Crème Brûlée and Bête Noire, I use dish drying trays under their bowls in case any food spills out – but they always clean it all up.
Within minutes every bowl is licked clean.
Han even checks out Qin’s bowl to see if there is anything left – even my dogs don’t let anything go to waste.
Next, it’s back inside for a nice evening nap before I return home from a busy day at work. Cooking nutritious and delicious food for your dogs… it’s a very good thing.
Autumn in Maine signals several important maintenance chores at my home, Skylands.
Because winters can be rather harsh in the Northeast, I pay very close attention to the preparations made before the season’s arrival. This includes the meticulous care of the landscape, and the carriage roads that meander through the woods. Danish landscape architect, Jens Jensen, designed the grounds at Skylands for the home’s original owner, Edsel Ford, in 1925. Not only was the main house constructed out of pink granite, but the driveways and all the carriage roads were laid with the same finely crushed stone. To preserve the pink granite gravel, which is very common on Mount Desert Island, I make sure it is removed and stored before winter every year, and then sifted and cleaned in spring before it is laid on the roads for the summer season. Last week, my outdoor grounds crew at Skylands took on the task of removing and storing the stone with the help of our new Kubota M4-071 and its durable front loader and bucket attachment.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
I’m always on the lookout for innovative, sensible, and easy-to-use tools and supplies to use around my homes. I am a big fan of Kubota tractors. Not long ago, our new Kubota M4-071 arrived at Skylands, my home in Maine.
This Kubota tractor is sure to get lots of use at Skylands – pulling and pushing, plowing, transporting, and so much more. It was also very important to have a tractor with an enclosed cab. This M4-071 offers a wide cab for increased visibility and comfort during the very cold Maine months.
Rick Andros is my property manager at Skylands. Here he is inspecting the engine and getting familiar with the machinery.
The new Kubota is stored in the tractor garage, where it can be kept dry and in good condition.
Here, one can see the Kubota front loader and bucket attachment. The two provide excellent lifting power. This attachment can also be used and driven with a slanted boom, so the operator has good visibility ahead and on the sides.
This is the compost area at Skylands. On one side, we store all the pink gravel for the winter.
This crushed pink granite is distinct to Mount Desert Island. It is a pink coarse-grained hornblende granite that contains the mineral, biotite.
Last week, the crew at Skylands used the tractor to organize the piles of pink granite, so there was more room for more stone. Rick operates the tractor from inside the cab – completely free from the flying gravel dust.
The rear wheels have about a five-foot radius with deep treads for excellent gripping and traction.
The entire process of picking up all the granite from the carriage roads and storing it neatly takes a few days. Here, the bucket is able to lift hundreds of pounds of stone at a time…
… and then move it to the top of the pile.
This is what my driveway looks like in summer, when all the pink granite gravel covers the roads. Each of the carriage roads is 12-feet across, and is covered with at least a couple inches of the crushed stone.
And here it is as the stone is blown and gathered. Peter Grubb and Amos Price are both using our trusted STIHL backpack blowers – another piece of equipment I’ve been using for many years at Skylands and at my Bedford, New York farm. The gravel is blown to the center – one operator on each side.
… starting at the very edge and working inward.
Here you can see the gravel pile begin to narrow. Underneath the crushed pink granite is pure carriage road – built using layers of crushed rock, and several inches of crown for proper drainage that are perfect for horse-drawn carriage rides, bicycling, and walking.
It takes quite a bit of time to go over all the roads, but it is well-worth the effort to preserve the precious gravel. Here, the pink gravel is ready for the next phase of the process.
The gravel is scooped up and placed into the dump truck and then delivered to the pink gravel storage pile. In spring, the pink gravel will be sifted, washed and then laid down on the roads once again.
This is what my circular driveway at the font of Skylands looks like after the pink gravel is picked up. Now the road is ready for the winter season ahead.
I like to do this process before too many of the leaves start to fall, so leaf debris doesn’t get mixed in with the gravel. This also helps when the gravel is cleaned and redistributed in the spring.
And here’s our Kubota – ready to head to another task at Skylands.
This week I attended the opening party for the newly minted marketplace located at Pier 17 in lower Manhattan. More than 1,200 guests including culinary masters and influencers joined me to celebrate. The 53,000 square-foot building houses six restaurants, six fast-casual counters, four bars, a private dining room, a central grocery, pantry shops, and so much more. There were entertainers and performances at every turn - chefs on stilts, a Shamisen violinist, Japanese artists, and an opening scene of "newsies" who greeted attendees with Tin Building newspapers.
It was the party of the year at the reimagined Tin Building! Enjoy these photos.
I was so happy to attend the opening of the Tin Building by my friend, Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Here we are posing for press photos taken in front of what is called a “step and repeat” – a banner printed with a repeating pattern showing the event’s hosting brand logos. (Photo from BFA)
The Tin Building is based within what was once the location for the Fulton Fish Market, which operated in this district from the mid-19th century until relocating to The Bronx in 2005. The design of the structure includes a corrugated metal façade with decorative two-story sheet metal pilasters. Chef Jean-Georges says It was one of the first places he visited when he came to New York City in 1985. (Photo by Nicole Franzen)
On Wednesday, Chef Jean-Georges and The Howard Hughes Corporation marked the Tin Building’s official grand opening. This fish inspired art installation hanging from the ceiling is a nod to the building’s history. It is by Michael Murphy of Perceptual Art and features a school of fish. (Photo by Nicole Franzen)
The building’s interior design by Roman and Williams Buildings and Interiors takes a lot of inspiration from early 20th century New York City style. Here is the fish counter filled with the freshest foods – a raw bar, crudo, fried clams, and of course, fish and chips. This photo and several others were taken by our own Kevin Sharkey who accompanied me to the opening. Follow him on Instagram @seenbysharkey.
Tin Building showcases many different shops. This is an Asian food boutique called Mercantile East where customers can find salts, soy sauces, chile oils, teas, spices, and much more. (Photo by Nicole Franzen)
This is Taquito, a taco window located upstairs at the Tin Building. Among the menu favorites – shaved beef a la plancha tacos and roasted chicken tacos. (Photo by Nicole Franzen)
Hard to miss the colorful Spoiled Parrot – a pink candy store filled with artisanal chocolates, candies, and other sweets for both the young and the young at heart. (Photo by Nicole Franzen)
In another corner, the T Cafe offers guests coffee and pastries. (Photo by Nicole Franzen)
Seeds and Weeds is another sit-down eatery offering seasonal, vegetarian plates. (Photo by Nicole Franzen)
And here is one of several cocktail bars in the Tin Building – there’s something for everyone. (Photo by Nicole Franzen)
This is the Chinese restaurant House of Red Pearl, which serves a variety of regional and traditional Chinese dishes. (Photo by Nicole Franzen)
And there’s T Brasserie, where customers can order steak tartare, burgers, ribs, charcuterie, or rotisserie chicken. (Photo by Nicole Franzen)
Soon after entering the marketplace, I was greeted by “newsies” holding copies of Tin Building newspapers announcing the opening. I hope you caught my photo on my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48.
And here I am with one of the chefs on stilts.
There were performers in every corner of the market. (Photo from BFA)
Back at the Mercantile, a performer hid under a lampshade – also inspired by entertainers of the 1920s and 30s. (Photo from BFA)
The music filled the space with energy and excitement. (Photo from BFA)
All the opening night bites were fantastic. Of course, I couldn’t pass up the caviar.
I stopped for a photo with celebrated fashion consultant, Fern Mallis.
And here’s a fun photo of me with Anne Dexter-Jones and Brooke Shields.
The Tin Building is an amazing culinary experience for everyone, and a great source for delicious foods and food items from around the world. Congratulations, Chef Jean-Georges. Please visit the Tin Building the next time you’re in New York City – maybe I’ll see you there! (Photo from BFA)
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