I hope you all had a festive and enjoyable Cinco de Mayo!
Yesterday, I hosted a lovely Cinco de Mayo party here at my Bedford, New York farm. The event celebrated my exciting partnership with Baccarat. Together, we created a timeless Collection of exquisite crystal pieces including goblets, tumblers, a pitcher, and an ice bucket. To toast the launch of this new line, we worked with Casa Dragones tequila to offer more than 20 media professionals and influencers my delicious "Martha-ritas." My friend, Chef Pierre Schaedelin of PS Tailored Events and I planned a tasty menu of bites including tacos, quesadillas, and tamales. We also set a buffet table of chips, salsa, and guacamole using Martha Stewart products from Martha.com. It was a fun time for everyone.
I hosted the event to celebrate my partnership with Baccarat and my new collection of fine crystal glassware. Some of the fun decor included these pool floats.
We added some by my pool. On the right are old staddle stones originally used in the 17th and 18th centuries as support bases for granaries, hayricks, and game larders. These look like giant stone mushrooms, but square in shape.
We decorated my new pool pavilion with banners in fun red and blue colors. My new yew table was made by master artisan Peter Billow, owner of Peter H. Billow Fine Woodworking in Brooklyn, New York. The yew wood is from an old tree we cut down at my former East Hampton home.
On the table – bowls of homemade tortilla chips, salsas, and guacamole for guests to enjoy. Look for these outdoor bowls on Martha.com soon.
Rattan placemats and flatware caddies are also available at Martha.com.
I also made my classic guacamole for everyone – avocado, lime juice, onion, jalapeños, fresh cilantro, cherry tomatoes, salt, pepper, and chopped hard boiled eggs from my chickens. Find the recipe on Martha.com.
Here is Chef Pierre with his sous chefs Lazaro and Moises – all from PS Tailored Events. They’re standing behind my Arteflame Classic grill – it’s made of half-inch carbon steel and corten “weathering” steel with a cooktop that heats from the center out. And look, as a finishing touch, Arteflame carved out my name on top.
Chef Pierre made delicious tacos on my grill – beef, chicken, and seafood.
Here they are ready to serve to our guests.
We also had tamales made by my longtime housekeeper in East Hampton, Esperanza. A tamale is made of masa, a dough made from corn, which is steamed in a corn husk. Tamales can be filled with meats, cheeses, vegetables, herbs, and chilies.
All the “Martha-ritas” were served in my new Baccarat goblets rimmed with pink Himalayan salt. These goblets were inspired by Baccarat “Nancy” glassware I found at Skylands, my home in Maine. I updated and modernized the design for my Collection.
Pomegranate “Martha-ritas” could not be made fast enough – everyone loved them. It’s made with 2 cups Casa Dragones Blanco, 2 cups fresh lime juice, 1/2 cup Triple Sec, 1/2 cup pomegranate concentrate from our friends at POM Wonderful, ice cubes, pomegranate seeds and a lime wedge to garnish. This recipe is also on Martha.com.
Casa Dragones partnered with us to create this fun event. Here, one can see the crossing horizontal and vertical lines that form a jewel-like decoration on the Baccarat goblets.
Here I am with our own SVP director of food development, Thomas Joseph.
Here’s Moises busy at the grill making tacos.
Bites were served throughout the event – there were no leftovers.
I had pinatas specially made for our party shaped in Casa Dragones boxes and this bottle. I also had one shaped as a goblet.
After our remarks, Baccarat North America President and CEO, Jim Shreve, tried his hand at opening one of the piñatas… blind folded of course.
Baccarat SVP Marketing, Ward Simmons, also took a turn. All the piñatas were filled with mini packs of Martha Stewart CBD gummies.
And all our guests went home with a gift bag of wonderful items including my Baccarat goblets, Casa Dragones Blanco tequila, and a Martha Stewart citrus press from Martha.com. It was a wonderful and very successful event!
Spring is a wonderful time for outdoor entertaining.
Today I am welcoming a group of colleagues, business partners, and influencers to my farm for a special Cinco de Mayo party. The event will be held under my new pavilion located just outside my pool. Preparing for any special gathering takes a lot of effort, a lot of time, and a lot of advanced planning. With so much to do, all hands were on deck yesterday, especially around the pool and in the gardens and orchard - grooming and mulching the tree pits, planting outdoor containers, weeding beneath the hedges, etc.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
I’m “breaking in” the new pavilion and yew table later today when I host the first of many dinners and gatherings outside my pool. The table seats 26 guests. This week, we hung six of my giant staghorn ferns. They look so beautiful here.
Here’s another view of the pavilion from the side. I think this will quickly become a favorite warm weather gathering spot here at the farm.
There are 17 different species of staghorn fern, Platycerium alcicorne. Its common names include elkhorn fern and antelope ears.
Each staghorn fern has antler-like foliage as well as flat, basal leaves. The flat leaves are infertile and turn brown and papery with age. They overlap onto a mounting surface and provide stability for the fern.
Depending on the fern variety, the foliar fronds may droop or be erect. These leaves resemble the horns of a large herbivore.
In preparation for my Cinco de Mayo business party, the grills are taken out of storage and cleaned.
Although it may still be too cold to swim outdoors, all the pool furniture is out and ready to use.
If you haven’t already seen them, these are my staddle stones. I purchased them from the annual NYBG Garden Furniture & Antiques Fair. Staddle stones were originally used in the 17th and 18th centuries as support bases for granaries, hayricks, and game larders. They typically looked like giant stone mushrooms, but mine are square – a more rare and unique version. Guests are always so interested to learn about these staddle stones when they see them at the end of my pool.
I also asked my gardeners to plant a few urns around the pool – these containers are planted with pretty spider agaves.
The spider agave is a small species with long arching and twisting pale-green leaves that taper to a soft point. This garden-friendly species grows 12 to 15 inches tall and eventually forms clumps of plants several feet across.
My orchard surrounding the pool has more than 200 fruit trees. We planted a couple new ones where others did not do well. This is Prunus ‘North Star’ – a sour cherry tree. A dwarf cultivar, it typically grows eight to 10 feet tall. Developed by the University of Minnesota, it is also self-pollinating and a heavy producer of mahogany-red, medium-sized fruit.
As part of the orchard maintenance and spring cleanup, I wanted the tree pits around each fruit tree to be expanded. Larger tree pits will help to keep the mowers at a safe distance, so branches are not disturbed.
The outdoor grounds crew uses our Little Wonder gas powered edger to create the straight lines for the square tree pits. This machine is a single purpose machine used to make good, crisp lines along the edges of garden beds. We’ve been using this handy and dependable machine for years.
Pasang carefully removes each piece of sod.
Here, one can see the straight, square tree pit.
All the tree pits are made to the same size, so the area looks uniform.
Next, Pasang adds a pile of mulch to each pit using one of our new Scenic Road wheelbarrows. The mulch is made right here at the farm – look how dark and rich it is. This mulch is also combined with tree mold and manure.
Phurba spreads the mulch around the pit, being careful not to put too much around the tree. As the saying goes, “bare to the flare.” The tree’s flare is where the trunk gets wide and meets the soil line.
Phurba also lightly packs down the mulch so it does not blow away by any winds or by our leaf blowers.
This outdoor chore takes a few days to complete, but I think it is worth all the effort – the trees look so handsome.
This view shows four of the square pits beneath the fruit trees. They will look perfect for the party.
And like clock work, some will also be blossoming. Please stay tuned for my next blog when I share photos from the party itself! Happy Cinco de Mayo!
Here at my Bedford, New York farm, we’re expecting rain throughout most of today with temperatures in the low 60s - good weather for all the seeding we've done in the hayfields and pastures.
When I moved to this farm, I designated three separate areas as hayfields and planted them with a mixture of timothy, orchard grass, Kentucky bluegrass, ryegrass, and clovers - all great for producing quality hay for my horses. These fields are well-maintained and regularly treated with agricultural lime to correct any acidity in the soil, eradicate any noxious weeds, and raise the overall health of the land. I also have several enclosed paddocks, where my horses graze. Yesterday, all these areas were aerated and over-seeded by my outdoor grounds crew foreman, Chhiring, using high grade mixes from Hancock Farm & Seed Company, a four-generation family-owned business based in Dade City, Florida.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
This is one of three large fields at my farm – I specifically wanted to use these fields to produce good, natural hay for my Friesians, Fell Pony, and five Sicilian donkeys.
This is a 3-point spreader, which can be attached to a variety of tractors to spread seed or fertilizer. Chhiring hooks it up to the center rear of our Kubota M4-071 tractor.
Our spreader features an opening system with split levers that allow distribution control.
Our seed is from Hancock Farm & Seed Company, a 44-year old business that grows its own seed and ships directly from its Florida facility.
Among the seed varieties we’re using is this custom mix that includes orchard grass, tall fescue, and Timothy.
We also have a variety of other seeds including Happy Hen Forage Seed Mix, Wildflower Seed Mix, Turkey Plot Seed Mix, and Horse Pasture Grass Seed Mix.
This seed contains Kentucky Bluegrass, Perennial Ryegrass, Timothy, and orchard grass.
Chhiring fills the spreader with the first batch of seed.
And then he heads out to the middle field. The best day to overseed is when there is little to no wind, so the application can be done as evenly as possible.
Broadcast spreaders distribute seed in a fan-like pattern in all directions and cover a wider area per pass than drop spreaders. As the tractor moves, the fan throws the seed that falls out of the bottom of the spreader.
The other end of the tractor has our trusted Kubota L1154 front loader that helps us transport so many things around the farm, including more bags of seed, which cuts down plenty of time going back and forth to the Equipment Barn.
The ground was already aerated with our tow-behind Pro-Aerator. I am glad to be able to have all the farm equipment we need. Here, one can see the holes left behind by the aerating tines.
And here is one of the soil plugs. The main reason for aerating is to alleviate soil compaction. Compacted soils have too many solid particles in a certain volume or space, which prevents proper circulation of air, water, and nutrients.
Chhiring starts by going around the field clockwise from the outer edge working inward. He also overlaps his passes, so he doesn’t miss any areas.
Overseeding is a process where grass seed is added to an already existing area which after germination serves to increase the density of the grass plants. This process reduces the aging process or natural decline of the turf.
Here, one can see the seed coming out of the spreader and onto the ground below. These seeds will get a good watering with today’s expected rain.
Looking closely at the ground, one can see the tiny seeds.
Once Chhiring is done with one side, he moves onto the other. This middle field takes less than an hour to overseed.
And here’s my stable manager, Helen, with my Fell pony Banchunch, to check out how everything is going. It’s just a short visit however – Banchunch doesn’t like to stop for long. He’s ready to keep on trotting.
It makes me so happy to be able to grow good hay for my horses. We should be able to get the first cut done by the end of June.
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