I always like things clean, organized, and in good working condition - it's a standard I try to impress upon everyone who works for me, especially when it comes to valuable tools.
Here at my farm, when it is bitter cold outside, I encourage my gardeners and grounds crew to take care of indoor chores, such as checking the equipment, sharpening the tools, and cleaning and organizing all necessary implements, so they are close at hand and ready to use at any given time. Yesterday, my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, tackled an old, industrial baker's cooling rack I repurposed years ago to store gardening items in the head house. Everything was removed, washed, and then neatly returned - categorized and organized on designated pull out wire shelves.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
From time to time, it’s important to take stock of one’s gardening tools to see what needs cleaning, fixing, purging, or replacing. I have an enormous supply of gardening spades, trowels, scoops, bulb planters, watering wands, pruners, etc. Ryan took all them out to inspect, clean and organize.
Every table surface of my head house was covered with tools and supplies. These are all watering wands, hose nozzles, and various shears.
Here are miscellaneous metal drainage saucers, seed starting cups, and pot straps on another table. Ryan separated items that needed cleaning from those that just needed re-organizing.
Ryan also disposed of what was no longer usable and set aside anything needing repair.
Hand tools such as dibbers, scoops, and small rakes were placed in a trug bucket and soaked for several minutes in warm, soapy water to loosen any dirt. Regular dish soap can work.
Next, Ryan uses an old rag to wipe away stuck on soil or other debris.
He uses a bristle brush for those tools needing more scrubbing.
And then everything is rinsed thoroughly.
Here, Ryan places clean tools in a colander trug for drainage.
Newly cleaned items are placed on a towel to dry completely in my warm greenhouse.
By midday, everything is clean – sprinklers, and giant wire storage trays from the rack are also newly washed and left to dry.
Ryan wipes down the industrial baker’s rack I purchased years ago to use for storing tools in my head house. It is located just inside the back door for easy access.
Ryan wipes down every crevice – dirt and grime can accumulate quickly during the growing season. Winter is a good time to clean and sort everything.
Here is the rack all ready to be filled.
My greenhouse cat Blackie is watching all the activity, and patiently waiting for a snack.
First, Ryan organizes all the watering wands. We use these all year round. They’re perfect for watering all the hanging pots as well as harder to reach pots in my greenhouse and hoop houses.
Ryan decides which shelves should house which tools depending on amount of use.
This basket shelf is designated for shears. Everyone on my crew uses these Japanese Okatsune shears specially made for trimming hedges. The shears are user friendly, and come in a range of sizes.
My gardeners use T-handled dibbers for planting many of the spring-blooming bulbs. They are manually pressed into the soil to make appropriate holes for planting.
Here’s a space specifically for garden forks – used mainly for cultivating smaller planting areas.
And nearby, a section of hand trowels. One of my mantras is “use the right tool for the right job.” My gardeners have everything they need here at the farm.
Durable metal scoops are used for soil mixes, fertilizers, and gravel pot dressings.
Gardener’s twine and other miscellaneous tools are also grouped with like items and stored.
By day’s end there’s “a place for everything, and everything is its place.” It’s amazing how much this unit can hold. It’s the weekend – what organizing projects are on your “to-do” list?
It's always enjoyable to eat out, especially when the event celebrates special occasions.
After a busy day at work, I and a small group of friends and colleagues gathered at La Mercerie at the Guild for a January birthday dinner. La Mercerie is a café, bakery, and restaurant located inside the furniture and design store Roman and Williams Guild in Soho, New York. Led by Executive chef Marie-Aude Rose, La Mercerie serves what she describes as "simple, yet refined" French-inspired dishes. We had the most delicious meal, which included phyllo-wrapped shrimp with seaweed and caviar, French onion soup, gratin dauphinois, sole meunière, filet of duck served in a cherry sauce, bœuf bourguignon, and a variety of the most delectable desserts. The next time you're in New York City, please try La Mercerie - you'll love every bite!
Here are some photos, enjoy.
La Mercerie lives inside Roman and Williams Guild – both created and owned by the designing husband and wife duo of Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch. (Photo from La Mercerie)
Roman and Williams Guild is a design studio and retail space that celebrates fine craftsmanship, organic materials, and age-old art techniques.
Everything in the shop and most items in La Mercerie are for sale including home decorations…
… and more utilitarian pieces for the dining table.
It was difficult to select our drinks, appetizers and entrées – there were many choices and everything looked so good.
Some started with cocktails and wine. This is a mulled wine, also known as spiced wine, usually made with red wine and various mulling spices. It is typically served hot or warm traditionally around Christmas and the winter months.
This is an espresso martini, which is a cold caffeinated drink made with espresso, coffee liqueur, and vodka. It is not a true martini as it contains neither gin nor vermouth, but is one of many popular drinks that use “martini” in its name.
Chef Marie-Aude Rose made us this special shredded phyllo-wrapped shrimp with seaweed and caviar buerre blanc. it was delicious.
This is Huîtres de la Côte Est, a half dozen east coast oysters served with lemon rye toast and a French seaweed butter – so good, we had to share.
Coquille Saint Jacques Normande is scallops served with apple, vegetables, beurre blanc, calvados, and mushroom brioche.
This is Foi Gras Torchon with pear chutney and toasted brioche.
We also enjoyed this favorite – Gratin Dauphinois, sliced potatoes cooked in garlic infused milk and cream, gratiné with Compté cheese.
This entrée is called Filet de Canard aux Cerises – duck with almond pearl onions and cherry sauce – a very popular dish.
This is the Sole de Paris – dover sole Meunière, button mushrooms, and white wine sauce.
Another main course is this Bœuf Bourguignon – tender pinot noir marinated braised beef with bacon, carrots, mushrooms, and pasta.
At least one of us had to try the French Onion Soup, Soupe á L’oignon – this one made with vegetarian broth, gruyère, baguette crouton, and cognac.
Cabillaud à La Moutarde en Cocotte is steamed cod in donabe, grain mustard, leeks and potatoes. Everything was so flavorful.
Here I am with Chef Marie-Aude Rose, a celebrated and most passionate Parisian chef who started cooking as a little girl with her grandparents on the French countryside.
And here’s a familiar face across the room. For those of you who watched my “Living” television show, the one on the left is Blaney Rotanz. She was just a little girl when she joined me on TV, and now she is all grown up.
For dessert, we all tried a variety of sweet treats including this coconut sorbet.
We also had this Galette de rois, a pastry offered only in January. It is made with two circles of homemade puff pastry sandwiching a frangipani filling.
And for the birthday girl, Kim Dumer, who has worked with me for 30-years in several key roles including brand relations and content strategy… Profiteroles au Chocolat – choux pastry, vanilla ice cream and hot chocolate sauce.
Here it is drizzled with sauce and ready to share. Happy Birthday Kim – and thanks for all the great work you do!
Temperatures here in the New York City area are expected to reach the high 20s today - that's actually warmer than the last couple of days we've had in the single digits. But it's still bitter cold, so any snow from this latest storm will have to wait a little longer before melting.
Over the years I've shared many photos of the white fluff across my farm's landscape, but some of the most beautiful are those images I capture early in the morning as the sun is rising and the snow is still fresh on the ground. If you follow me on Instagram @MarthaStewart48, you may have seen a few of my latest winter pictures - all taken while I was plowing the four miles of carriage road around the property. I am always happy to take on the job!
Here are a few more photos, enjoy.
I honestly enjoy my Polaris vehicles. This Polaris XP Ranger has 80 horsepower. It is easy to handle and helps with so many of the chores around the farm. When I plow, I always leave an inch of snow on the top, so the roads still look pretty and the gravel underneath is left undisturbed.
On this day, the snow started overnight and lasted until early morning. I got out before 7am to take these photos.
My azaleas and the trees above are bare – very different looking from mid-May when they erupt with swaths of bright colors.
This heavy snow stuck well to branches of the evergreens. This is one of a group of large Fernspray Hinoki cypress bushes along the carriage road just past my allée of lindens near the entrance to my Japanese Maple Woodland.
And here is my stand of American beech trees. They are slow to grow but can live up to 300-years.
Tucked away between the Equipment Barn and a grove of weeping willows is my pinetum. It includes pines, spruces, and firs, as well as other evergreens.
At 7am, my outdoor grounds crew is already busy clearing. Here’s Jimmy shoveling snow from the doorways around my stable.
After it snows, my crew sweeps the snow off the burlap that covers most of the boxwood here at the farm. This time of year, I am very relieved the hedges and shrubs are protected. Heavy snow could splay the branches.
My horses don’t seem to mind the winter weather at all. In fact, a horse’s respiratory system is designed to warm incoming air. It is also good for dissipating heat in summer.
In a back field are these evergreens. This is my “Christmas Tree Garden.” I planted hundreds of Christmas trees in this area – White Pine, Frasier Fir, Canaan Fir, Norway Spruce, and Blue Spruce. They’ve grown so much since they were planted in 2009.
By afternoon, clouds covered the skies above my pergola but there were peeks of sunshine. Despite the cold, it was a lovely day.
This snow was followed by two days of frigid cold – even the snow on the cobblestone, which is exposed to full sun, did not melt away.
My donkeys in their nearby paddock – waiting patiently for visitors with full pockets of treats.
Here is a view looking through my orchard that surrounds the pool. More than 200-fruit trees are planted in this space.
And here are the trunks of the mighty pin oaks that grow alongside my large Equipment Barn.
Outside my giant half-acre vegetable garden is this weeping copper beech tree, Fagus sylvatica ‘Purpurea Pendular’, an irregular spreading tree with long, weeping branches that reach the ground in summer.
My vegetable garden is put to bed for the season, but time goes fast. It won’t be long before fresh, organic vegetables fill every bed once again.
In the woodland, a stream peeking through the blanket of white. The woodland streams are full, but semi-frozen.
For now, it’s cold and icy everywhere. These icicles are hanging over the windows to my studio. This weekend is expected to bring warmer weather and maybe lots of melting.
This is a row of six weeping hornbeams, Carpinus betulus Pendula. They line one side of the soccer field I set up for my grandson, Truman. These are such graceful and shapely specimen trees, very densely branched and adaptable to various soil conditions – a lovely view in any season.
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