Here at my Bedford, New York farm, even rainy days can be extremely productive.
Whenever it's stormy outside and my gardeners and outdoor grounds crew are unable to work in the woods or gardens, I encourage them to take stock of the equipment, clean everything, and then organize all the tools and supplies. After I bought this property, it became quickly apparent that I would need a large building to store equipment. The structure is about 40 by 120 feet, with a substantial amount of height. It is where we keep our mowers, blowers, tractors, tools, and other pieces of important machinery. Yesterday, while it poured for hours, we cleared the space, washed the floors, organized and inspected every item before returning it neatly to its spot, so everything is in good order and ready to use. Keeping things well maintained and properly stored will always save time in the long run.
Enjoy these photos.
The soaking rains started overnight and lasted through most of the day. The skies were an ominous gray and we did have some thunder and lightning, but fortunately, no high or damaging winds.
I built this Equipment Barn soon after purchasing the farm. I wanted it to be an attractive structure in an easy access location. This building is just off the carriage road next to my hay barn and vegetable greenhouse. I also wanted it to have a comfortable room for the crew to have their breaks and lunches. This is one of two giant sliding doors – one at each end.
Here is a view of the inside. To clean it thoroughly, everything is brought out, the floor is cleaned and then everything is returned to its proper place. At night, this barn accommodates all our farm vehicles. Above, the space is well lit with these big overhead lamps. I use very utilitarian lighting and fans wherever I can.
And here’s Moises sweeping all the debris on the floors – soil, leaves, dust, etc. These rugged cement floors are then washed and blown dry.
The wood chipper is an important piece of equipment at the farm. I am fortunate to have this machinery to chip fallen or cut branches and then return them to the woodland for top dressing various areas. It has a special parking spot in one corner of the barn.
And, I also have this vintage Allis-Chalmers tractor from the 1940s. It reminds us how much these farm pieces have evolved over the years.
Do you recognize this? It was our Martha by Mail truck, but was repainted last year to be our Martha.com truck. It originally was a postal delivery truck from the 80s, which I bought years ago. Phurba gives it a good power wash.
Domi and Pasang fold all the tarps neatly, so they can be gathered in a pile and stored.
Chemicals and oils are always kept in this storage cabinet specifically designed for flammables.
All the garden tools are hung on sturdy hooks. It is so important that each tool is wiped down thoroughly after every use. These hooks store our spades in all sizes for different jobs.
We keep like items together, so we know where to find them and how many we have in supply. Here are some of our shovels. Do you know the difference between a shovel and a spade? A shovel is longer, angled, and its blade is curved into more of a scoop with a pointed tip. Shovels are better for digging up, breaking apart, and lifting soil as well as for scooping and moving loose materials. A spade has a relatively flat blade with straight edges and the blade tends to be in line with the shaft, rather than angled forward. Spades are good for edging and cutting.
And these are forks. This hook is for our spade forks used for bulky material such as hay or straw, manure, leaves, or compost. These are sometimes also called pitch forks.
These are long handled cultivating forks which are bent at the end in order to turn the soil.
These are long-handled garden hoes – they’re lightweight and designed for close weeding and cultivating, while the point is ideal for making seed furrows in the garden bed.
And here we store bulb planters – manual tools that are used to press into the soil, cutting a two to four inch hole for planting bulbs.
We also have hard bow rakes and soft rakes. Bow rakes have a number of other names as well, including level heads, soil rakes, and ground rakes. These rakes consist of a long head that is straight with stiff, short tines that are very rigid and don’t bend or flex. They are ideal for making planting rows and breaking up hard clumps of soil. We also use them to shape our raised garden beds. A soft rake or leaf rake is a lightweight rake that is shaped like a fan with flat, springy tines radiating outward. This type of rake is designed to be light enough to glide over grass without damaging it.
Ladders of various sizes rest against one wall close to one set of large barn doors.
I have thousands of these black granite bricks that I bought years ago. We use them for raising garden planters and to line the footpaths in my flower garden and pergola. Unused bricks are stored neatly in one corner.
On this section of wall, we hang all the leaf blowers and weed-whackers, or string trimmers. Our blowers are made by STIHL. We’ve been using STIHL’s backpack blowers for years here at my farm. These blowers are powerful and fuel-efficient. The gasoline-powered engines provide enough rugged power to tackle heavy debris while delivering much lower emissions.
On this side of the Barn, we keep our fleet of Kubota mowers. They are all parked by the back entrance to the barn during the summer season when they are used daily.
Everything is now back in the large holding area ready to use. The space in the foreground is earmarked for our Kubota tractors, which are still out being used. It is so nice to know all our equipment can fit neatly in this Equipment Barn.
And look, by late afternoon, blue skies returned overhead – making it a most pleasant evening here in the New York City area. Tomorrow is expected to be much cooler with temperatures topping only in the 60s. Fall is here, and we’re ready for the next season’s tasks.
There's never a dull moment here at my Bedford, New York farm - this week, the donkey run-in is on the move.
Recently, I decided to relocate the donkey run-in shed from one side of the paddock closer to the center. Run-in sheds are three-sided buildings that allow horses and donkeys free-choice access during inclement weather. My crew took on this task yesterday. If you follow this blog regularly, you may recall we moved the peafowl coop about 25-feet not too long ago. This structure is smaller and a lot lighter, so it required a lot less time to reposition.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
My five Sicilian donkeys have a large paddock just south of my stable. Here, they spend their days running, rolling and grazing in the grass. Everyone who visits always stops by to say hello. Here they are on the morning of the move. The masks they are wearing help to keep the flies from biting their faces and ears.
We placed rocks to mark the new spot for the shed.
This is the run-in. My donkeys love this structure and use it frequently to get out of the hot sun or in winter when it is very stormy. Here, Pete Sherpa from my outdoor grounds crew, measures the shed’s length and width.
Pete then measures the space for the shed’s new foot print.
Next, he spray paints the new foot print on the grass. The new area is about nine feet by seven feet.
Landscape twine is used to make straight lines, so the sod can be removed properly.
Our trusted Kubota M4 tractor and bucket are brought in to hold and haul the newly removed sod.
Pete measures again just to be sure.
Pete levels the fresh ground and removes any rocks or stones in the space – the run-in must sit level in its new location.
We use our tractor every single day for jobs around the farm. The footprint is now level and ready for the next step…
… the gravel. Pete starts shoveling pea gravel into the sides of the space.
And then uses the tractor to drop more in the center. A gravel shed foundation acts like a basin that collects rain water and allows it to soak into the ground instead of running off and causing issues to the structure.
Pete uses a hard rake to spread the gravel evenly over the area.
Here’s my property manager, Doug White, positioning and measuring the wooden boards on which the shed will slide when it is moved.
Once the boards are in place, a strong rope and strap are tied around the base of the shed in preparation for the move. Watch the shed move several feet in the video clip below.
The tractor is used to pull the shed into its new position.
Here, it is just at the edge of the gravel. Pete secures a crowbar underneath to make sure the shed is going in the right direction.
It is gently pushed the last few inches into place.
And then the crowbar is used to lift the shed slightly in order to remove all the wooden boards.
Here is the former spot ready to be re-seeded.
New horse stall mats are placed into the shed. These inch-thick rubber mats are very heavy, so Pete slides them in from the back of our pick-up.
These rubber mats are designed specifically for stalls to hold excessive weight and to prevent wear and tear in the space. The knob-topped surface also helps to prevent slips and falls for both people and the horses.
It looks much better in its new location and I think the donkeys will like the change.
Clive, Rufus, and Truman “TJ” Junior… you and the girls have a big surprise waiting for you in the morning.
Here at my Bedford, New York farm, we're all busy with late season gardening chores - most recently, grooming the Australian Brush Cherry topiaries, Eugenia myrtifolia, in the gravel courtyard behind my Winter House.
Topiary is the horticultural practice of training perennial plants by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees or shrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes. Topiary Eugenia prefers sunny locations where all parts of the plant can receive direct sunlight. It is relatively slow growing, so occasional trimming and grooming are needed to keep it nicely sculpted.
All the topiaries in this courtyard are Australian Brush Cherry trees, Eugenia myrtifolia, also now known as Syzygium paniculatum. The Brush Cherry is an evergreen tree or shrub with shiny dark green leaves native to Australia and New Zealand. All of them needed grooming, so Phurba and I got to work early yesterday morning.
The leaves of the Eugenia are lance-shaped, firm, and arranged in opposite leaf pairs. In spring, the Brush Cherry may bear small puffy white flowers. The ripe red fruits in autumn are edible and loved by birds. One can see the new growth that has developed.
The bark is medium gray, rough and with an interesting pattern.
And underneath each topiary, we planted carpet sedum – a low maintenance, sun-loving, evergreen, succulent spreading plant with pretty light green foliage.
Phurba looks under each topiary ball and trims any dead or crisscrossing branches. The branches are thin twigs, so they are easy to clip using hand pruners. Phurba is using Okatsune Bypass Pruners with their signature red and white handles.
Then, with the same STIHL HSA 26 garden shears I am using in the video above, Phurba carefully goes over each ball, lightly trimming the new growth and shaping the balls as I showed him.
This tool is so lightweight and easy to use. It has a rubberized handle for comfort and a secure grip and it comes with its own roll-up case to store all its accessories. The hedge shear attachment with double-sided cutting blades cuts in both directions.
He also trims underneath each ball, keeping in mind, the preferred rounded shape.
And then steps back to see the work he has done and where he still needs to trim.
These topiaries are quite tall – more than 10-feet each, so Phurba uses a step ladder to reach the tops of each topiary. It’s always a good idea to gather all the necessary equipment one needs to get the job done – it will save time and energy scrambling during the process.
Here is a view from above. Trimming topiaries regularly will help to keep the plant in its intended original form. And groom topiaries several weeks before the first-frost to prevent damaging any of the new growth.
The STIHL HSA 26 garden shears hold the charge well. The battery strength indicator on the side is easy to read, and can be checked frequently during the task at hand. We got all the topiaries done on one charge.
This is the topiary I trimmed. It is well-sculpted and rounded on all sides.
But notice the top ball. Because Eugenias love full sun, this one is already pointing toward the light. It will be turned, so it starts to grow back upright again.
And here are four of the larger topiaries all trimmed and displayed with potted sago palms. In the center is an antique faux bois gazebo and my antique bird bath. They all look so beautiful in this courtyard.
Once all the work is done, Phurba uses our STIHL battery-powered blower to clean up all the cuttings. We use this blower every day to clean up any debris around my Winter House. On the right is one of my Multi-Purpose Reusable Heavy Duty Tote Bags. These bags take a beating around the gardens, but they’re so strong and so useful.
The quiet, lightweight blower is great for blowing all the debris off the underplanted sedum.
It’s also powerful enough to blow all the cuttings from the gravel into one area, so it can be picked up easily.
Finally, Phurba rakes all the cuttings and collects them in the tote bag. The entire job took all morning, but the topiaries look great.
Here is one of two smaller topiaries that flank the door. They all look much better now and will remain outside in the courtyard for another month or so before all the potted plants are stored indoors for the winter.
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