If you're ever in or near Westchester County, New York, please take some time to visit Lyndhurst, a magnificent Gothic Revival country estate located on 67 sweeping acres along the banks of the Hudson River in Tarrytown.
Lyndhurst was owned and shaped by three prominent area families - The Pauldings, The Merritts, and lastly, by railroad tycoon and financier, Jay Gould. Purchased in 1880, Jay occupied the home until his death in 1892. In 1961, his daughter Anna Gould donated it to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The estate features 16 elaborately decorated rooms - many lovingly restored and including original furniture left in the home. The surrounding park is an outstanding example of 19th-century landscape design with expansive lawns, specimen tree groves, and curved carriage roads. The property also includes a Bowling Alley, a Laundry Building, a Pool House, and the exterior of what was once considered the largest private greenhouse complex in the country.
The mansion was designed in 1838 by architect Alexander Jackson Davis in a romantic Gothic Revival style. The original structure was doubled in size between 1864-1867 to what is seen today.
Lyndhurst is situated beside the Hudson River about a half mile south of the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, formerly known as the Tappan Zee Bridge. On a clear day, one can see New York City.
The property boasts some beautiful mature trees – some planted in stands and some singly.
This is the apple orchard – planted so the family could enjoy home grown fruits in the dead of winter.
The main house has a soaring two-floor Art Gallery, which was once also used as a library and billiards room. Today, the room is filled with 19th century academic paintings along with Tiffany glass windows and other period furnishings designed by Davis.
The walls of the gallery are filled with gilt-framed paintings.
This bed chamber is called the East Bedroom and was the master bedroom of the home. It includes the Gothic Revival oak bed.
In this photo, one can see how the rooms were preserved – looking much as they did in the 1800s.
The Dining Room at Lyndhurst still contains the original Gothic Revival dining table and chairs designed by Alexander Jackson Davis for the Merrit Family in 1865,
This green parlor and sitting room includes something very special. Take a look at the back left corner…
…this antique terrarium is a recent purchase for Lyndhurst. It was bought from my own Great American Tag Sale and added to the room’s decor.
Not far from the Dining Room was the Butler’s Pantry, where the fine china, crystal, and silver were all stored.
This beautiful spiral wood back staircase takes visitors up to the fifth floor tower where one can see panoramic views of the Hudson River and New York City as well as all the way down to the basement kitchen.
This is the cellar, where the family was able to store root vegetables. It is large and cool because of its location underground.
Just outside is where pickling and preserving was done.
And in this ice box – servants of Lyndhurst stored the milk and eggs.
Here is the main kitchen – still decorated with many of the 19th century cooking elements, tools and supplies. This room had great light and ample space – it was a dream to work in a kitchen like this one in its time.
Across from the kitchen, one could also see this building – designated as the Laundry Building.
Inside – large tables for folding, multiple large, deep sinks for washing, and more light and windows.
There were also two large mangles, or wringers – mechanical laundry aids consisting of two rollers in a sturdy frame, connected by cogs and powered by a hand crank or by electricity. I love mangles and have them in every home for ironing sheets and other linens.
The servants’ rooms were also rather spacious. This one was likely occupied by the head of staff – it includes a bed, a small sitting area and a private bathroom.
This outdoor area was once used as the vegetable garden.
And not far from the main house is the Bowling Alley, one of the earliest bowling lanes in the United States. Anna Gould used the bowling alley for visiting soldiers during World War II. Although the structure fell into disrepair in the 1950s, it was restored and opened for public tours. The building was also used as a school where local women could learn sewing and other skills.
This parlor is just off the bowling lanes and was used for enjoying refreshments and socialization. This room leads to a 7000-square foot veranda with views of the river.
And just down the carriage road from the mansion is the Lyndhurst Perennial Rose Garden, now in bloom with more than 500 red and pink rose bushes. The garden was planted in 1911 in concentric circles around a central gazebo. The entire Lyndhurst estate is a wonderful and picturesque escape from the busy city – still as beautiful now as it was in the 1800s. Please visit the next time you are in the area. You can learn more about Lyndhurst on their web site at lyndhurst.org.
We now have lots of newly baled hay here at my Bedford, New York farm. This first cut of the season is higher in fiber content and lower in protein and fat - all my horses will love it.
Hay is a harvested plant that’s dried and cured after being cut in the field. In most cases, hay is cut during the late bud or early bloom stage to maximize its nutritional value. Over the last week, my outdoor grounds crew foreman, Chhiring, and our entire team worked hard to cut, toss, rake, and then bale the hay in my fields. Ideally, after the hay is cut, it's good to let it dry for a couple of days before baling in order to prevent rot. Chhiring's son, Mingmar, who also works at the farm, took drone images to capture the process.
Enjoy these photos.
This is one of two hay trailers or wagons that I have here at the farm. It is used to catch the bales once they are formed and tied. It’s covered to protect the bales from any unexpected rain and to offer shade to those who are stacking the bales as they are thrown. Fortunately it was a beautiful late spring day with temperatures in the 70s.
And here is the baler. A baler is a piece of farm machinery used to compress a cut and raked crop into compact bales that are easy to handle, transport, and store.
Large rolls of twine are positioned and tied to each other, so they can feed into the baler and secure the hay just before it shoots out into the trailer.
Here is the motor that helps to move and propel the bales into the wagon.
Chhiring hitches the baler to my Kubota tractor. I am so glad I have all the necessary equipment here at the farm. Having the “right tool for the right job” is very important.
Here is a close look at a row of hay ready to bale. I have three separate areas for growing hay. They are all planted with a mixture of timothy, orchard grass, Kentucky bluegrass, ryegrass, and clovers – all great for producing good quality hay.
Chhiring does this process midday when there is the least amount of moisture. The tractor rides to one side of the windrow while the baler passes directly over it to collect the hay.
The hay is lifted by tines in the baler’s reel and then propelled into the wagon by a mechanical arm called a thrower or a kicker.
Here is a bale moving through the machine. The bales are manageable for one person to handle, about 45 to 60 pounds each.
Here’s a closer look as a baled “square” moves up to the arm. A measuring device—normally a spiked wheel that is turned by the emerging bales—measures the amount of material that is being compressed. If the hay is properly dried, the baler will work continuously down each row. Hay that is too damp tends to clog up the baler.
Chhiring goes evenly and slowly over every row of cut, tedded hay.
Mingmar maneuvers the drone, so he can capture every part of the process. Here it is easy to see what the field looks like after the hay is collected.
The hay wagon has high walls on the left, right, and back sides, and a short wall on the front side to contain the bales which are stacked neatly from front to back.
This bale in the tractor bucket accidentally fell out of the wagon and was picked up separately. Each bale is about 15 by 18 by 40 inches large. The number of flakes in the bale is determined by a setting in the baler. Many balers are set for 10 to 12 flakes per bale.
The trailer fills up pretty quickly. Each one can hold about 150-bales. Chhiring drives up and down the windrows of all the hayfields which takes a couple of hours.
Once the hay wagon is full, it is driven down the carriage road through the long boxwood allée to my stable hayloft. Here, one can see the wagon on the left. One of my allées of lindens runs perpendicular to the boxwood.
To get the bales up into the hayloft, a long motorized bale conveyor, or hay elevator, is set up. A hay elevator is an open skeletal frame, with a chain that has dull three-inch spikes every few feet to grab bales and drag them along. It works as a pulley system on a track that moves the bales up to the loft.
The bales are loaded one by one onto the elevator and then at the top each bale is released from the elevator for manual stacking. This process continues one bale at a time from the wagon to the hayloft… until the entire wagon is empty.
In general, a standard 40 lb. “square” bale of hay lasts one horse about three days, but this also depends on the individual horse, the type of hay, and the amount of access to pasture grass.
Here is an aerial view of the middle field. The fields will grow another crop and we’ll harvest the second cut come September. I am so excited to see all these bales of hay made right here at my farm. Do you bale hay where you live? Share your comments below – I would love to read them.
Here at my Cantitoe Corners Farm in Bedford, New York, the weather is warm and my hardworking outdoor grounds crew is getting all the hay cut, tended, and ready to bale.
One of my objectives at my farm is to practice self-sufficiency. When I moved here, I designated three separate areas as hayfields, so I could grow lots and lots of delicious, nutritious hay for my horses and donkeys. I planted the fields with a mixture of timothy, orchard grass, Kentucky bluegrass, ryegrass, and clovers - all great for producing good quality hay. The hay is also treated with agricultural lime, a soil additive made from pulverized limestone or chalk that works to correct the acidity of the soil, eradicate any noxious weeds, and raise the overall health of the land. This year, we have a bumper crop and the fields are ready for the first cut of the season.
Enjoy these photos.
This is one of three large fields at my farm. The first step is to grow the hay. This photo is from last May when we seeded the lawns.
This seed contains Kentucky Bluegrass, Perennial Ryegrass, Timothy, and orchard grass.
This year’s seed is from Hancock Farm & Seed Company, a 44-year old business that grows its own seed and ships directly from its Florida facility.
And here is my run-in field yesterday. Look at all the hay – beautiful and well-grown. This photo was taken just before the hay was cut. This time every year, we hope for at least a week of good, dry weather, so we can get the first cut of hay from the fields. Timing is everything when cutting the hay crop. The first cutting should be when grass has greened up and reached 12 to 16 inches tall.
Here is a closer look. It’s important to consider the time of day that’s best for mowing. The plants’ sugar content is highest at dusk but because of moisture, it’s not ideal to cut hay at night. The best time is to start as soon as dew is off in the morning, which will maximize drying time.
I am fortunate to have all the necessary equipment here at the farm. This is our mower-conditioner. Mower-conditioners are a staple of large-scale haymaking. It cuts, crimps, and crushes the hay after it is cut to promote faster and more even drying.
Chhiring checks the mower-conditioner before it’s used. These discs and blades are located behind the protective shield of the mower-conditioner.
Chhiring makes sure every blade is sharp and in good condition.
Next, Chhiring hooks up the mower-conditioner to our trusted Kubota M4-071 tractor. Chhiring is now in the cab of the tractor ready to cut. the process of cutting should take about a half hour.
When weather conditions are ideal, these machines allow farmers to cut wide and fast – the best formula for quality field productivity. Chhiring goes over the field slowly and evenly with the mower-conditioner.
As the mower-conditioner goes over the grass, it cuts it and then conditions it – all under the protective hood of the machine.
Here, one can see the mounded rows of cut and crimped grass.
Meanwhile, in the back field, this freshly cut hay is ready for tedding, also known as fluffing.
Chhiring is ready to go over this field with the hay tedder. A tedder spreads and fluffs the hay in a uniform swath after the mower-conditioner has made the windrows.
Here is a closer look at the tines, or moving forks, which aerate or “wuffle” the hay and speed up the drying process even more.
Chhiring is our resident hay expert. This year marks his 20th year working with me at the farm.
Here is the tedder moving up and down the field taking all the greener hay from the bottom and turning it over to dry.
Here is another view – look how the tedder picks up and fluffs the hay with its forks.
Here is some of the fluffed up hay, which will continue to dry and turn colors from green to tan over the next 24-hours. On average, it takes about three days per field, depending on the size of the field and the weather, to complete the entire process of mowing, raking, and baling hay.
Here is a view from above. Our camera operator, Brett Albright, took several photos with a drone. The mounded rows are called windrows – rows of cut hay or small grain crops. They are so beautiful and all perfectly straight.
From this vantage point, one can see how the tedder works to turn the hay around. The left side shows the tedded hay. the right side shows what Chhiring has left to ted. (Photo by Brett Albright)
After the hay is tedded, it is then raked. Raking the hay is the fastest part of the process. And then the hay will dry again until it is ready to bale. Stay tuned for more photos of that process in another blog. (Photo by Brett Albright)
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