Garden Tour Series: A Seminar and Q&A

Our last stop on the tour was for a formal presentation about Martha's business, as well as a Q&A with Martha and her team. This was held in one of the buildings near the stables. There were comfortable seats set out for us all and we gathered around to listen to the presentation, which focused on several aspects of Martha's company, led by various members of her team. 

Martha began the seminar by speaking about her farm and how her homes have always influenced her business model. She thanked us all for coming and told us that it was great to meet her core audience, up close and personal. 

Kevin Sharkey spoke next. He is the Executive Vice President of Martha's company and is in charge of much of the merchandising ventures. He spoke about the company's core values, how the company connects with the consumer, what the company aspires to and how they continue to reach new audiences around the world through social media and diverse partnerships. He also spoke about the new Martha Stewart store in Dubai and how it all came about, with plans to open even more stores! It was a great presentation!

The company's core merchandising values: Superior Function and Innovation; Quality at a Value; Beautiful Design that Elevates the Home.

Lisa Wagner was next to speak. She has been working with Martha since the mid-1990s when she began as a stylist and producer on her television show and as a contributor to the magazine. Lisa continues to work as a stylist on many of Martha's publishing projects. She spoke about the art of making something look beautiful, using photos she took herself at her own home. It was a lovely presentation about finding beauty in the everyday and capturing it with an eye for detail, which is very much a part of the Martha Stewart ethos.

Lisa was followed by Allyn Magrino, the sister of Susan Magrino who runs Martha's public relations. Allyn explained how Martha was their first and longest-standing client and how she has been so inspired by Martha over the years, sharing personal anecdotes about some of their adventures together in business.

Martha's three 'collecting gurus' spoke last. From left to right: Frank Kaminski, Vincent Manzo and Jim Klinko. Frank runs an auction service; Vincent is an antiques dealer and appraiser, and Jim has a store in Westport, Connecticut, called Furniture on Consignment, which Martha has been frequenting since the late-1980s. These three were responsible for organizing Martha's Great American Tag Sale. They shared their tips on how to build a good collection and how Martha has deeply influenced the collecting market with her excellent taste. 

Here are some upcoming Martha projects that were revealed in the seminar:

• Martha's next book will be a baking book, very similar in style to Martha: The Cookbook with stories and archival photos woven into the narrative.
• Martha's autobiography is still in the works - don't worry!
• Martha's first book from 1982, Entertaining, will be reprinted this fall in its exact original format. 
• There are three more special issues of the magazine coming our way this year: a reprint of the last Halloween issue with a different cover, one called Fall Recipes and a new Holiday issue.
• There is a new line of Martha Stewart cookware, bedding and bath coming out soon using the 'good, better, best' model that Kevin Sharkey says we should all be very excited about!
• A new location of The Bedford, Martha's restaurant, will be opening this fall in Connecticut.

After the seminar, everyone gathered for a group photo outside of the main entrance to the stables. It was the perfect send-off!

I said a quick goodbye to Martha and thanked her for everything. We all had such a wonderful day together! It was a truly special event for all of us.

Before we left the farm, there was one more surprise for the group: the table where we had had lunch was laden with big stacks of Martha's books! Martha told us we could each take five or six books with us before we left! What a treat! 

Our adventure wasn't over yet! In the next blog I'll share photos from a road trip some of us took the following day to some of Martha's favourite vendors.

(Photos by Jordan Munn, Jocelyn Santos, Ryan Mesina, Steven Bednasz, and Bernie Wong)

Garden Tour Series: Lunch by the Pool

 As the tour date approached, Bernie and Dennis were getting more and more details from Martha's team regarding the events of the day - and it just kept getting better and better! We learned, for instance, that Martha not only planned to serve the group breakfast on her terrace, but also lunch by the pool! It was truly an embarrassment of riches for us! 

As we headed up towards the pool, Martha told us about the pool's construction and her desire to make it look as inconspicuous as possible: no bright blue here! The pool is the same depth from one end to the other, with a slight dip at the center that is about five feet to the bottom. Martha told me this was a mistake on her part and wished she had created an actual "deep end" for diving. In any case, the pool looks gorgeous, surrounded by potted palms and antique saddle stones at one end that give the appearance of large mushrooms.

The pool can be entered at either end down a series of narrow concrete steps. At one end, near the pergola, there is a jacuzzi hot tub.

I love these antique saddle stones that stand guard at the north end of the pool. 

Martha under the pool pergola explaining to us how the pool was built.

We then all headed over to the covered patio for our lunch! Martha was excited!

We were gobbsmacked to learn that Chef Pierre Schaedlin of P.S. Tailored Events was going to be making our lunch! He had worked as Martha's private chef for several years and has collaborated on many of her cookbooks. He has worked in some of the world's best restaurants in London, Paris and New York City. What a treat!

The table where we dined was set so beautifully. Martha told me her kitchen staff had set it for us, and had even made all of the small arrangements of peonies. Everything looked so beautiful.

Since we couldn't all fit around the main table, Martha had set up several smaller tables around the area. I sat at one of these ones with my friends Michelle and Jordan, and two representatives from Martha's PR firm, the Magrino Agency.

Everyone seated and ready to enjoy a delicious lunch!

The lunch started with gazpacho and herbed toasts. Martha's podcast producer, Heather Kirkland, and stylist and content producer, Lisa Wagner (who has worked with Martha for nearly 30 years) helped out!

The main course was a delicious paella. There were three kinds on offer: the traditional paella with seafood, one without seafood and a vegetarian variety.

Everyone helped themselves!

For dessert, flan was served... on Fireking Jadeite dishes, of course. It was so delicious!

So perfectly pretty!

After lunch, I had a few minutes to chat with Martha. 

Martha told me about her granddaughter, Jude, and some of her musical interests. She always speaks with great pride about her grandchildren. We also spoke about my blog and its Instagram account and how it all came to be. Martha told me she thinks I do a very good job running it. (blush!!)

After lunch, it was time for one more stop near the stables for a formal presentation about Martha's company and some of the projects they're working on! Stay tuned!

(Photos by Jocelyn Santos, Andrew Ritchie, Matt Obey, Carey Lowe, Steven Bednasz)

Garden Tour Series: The Tour Continues!

After breakfast, satiated and beside ourselves with joy, the tour continued. We headed towards the west side of Martha’s Winter House where she showed us a collection of new French faux-bois planters that had just been delivered from Tropics, one of Martha's favourite Los Angeles nurseries. Many of them were in need of repair, which she said she would have professionally taken care of. They were very large and made of concrete. When asked if she was going to take them to Skylands, which is known for its showcase of Martha’s faux-bois collection, she said she wanted them at the farm. Martha also mentioned that she wanted to make this small, private section of the garden an enclosed space attached to the house, like a conservatory, surrounded in glass and with a glass ceiling. We all thought that was a spectacular idea!

The tour continued down the lane towards the very large peony garden. It was marvellous seeing this in person. We were not permitted to enter the garden itself but we gazed at it over the boxwood hedges. Many of the peonies had passed their prime but a new batch was beginning to bloom. I loved seeing the vastness of this space. Martha did mention she wanted to thin it out a little but found it almost impossible to do so because all of the roots of the individual plants had become so entwined with one another: almost impossible to separate and extract without causing lots of damage to the plant. She was working on a solution! (Many of us volunteered to come to the farm in October to help her with the extraction process! She said she'd think about it...)

Here is Dennis at the entrance to the peony garden.

And here I am!

We then continued to the sunken garden behind the Summer House, which is one of my favourite spaces on the property, mainly because of its secret location and privacy, as well as the very large 100-year-old ginkgo tree at the back of the garden, which commands so much attention, especially in the fall when all of its leaves turn a brilliant shade of yellow. Martha did a wonderful job designing this space to have a somewhat formal air but it’s still a lovely place to walk and contemplate.

This is a side view of the Summer House. There is a small path to the right of the house that leads to the sunken garden.

The details on the exterior of the house are subtle but striking.

Ryan at the back entrance to the Summer House speaking to the group about this garden's genesis.

This early photograph from nearly ten years ago shows how the garden was conceived.

The garden is very symmetrical with layered plantings and an enormous ginkgo tree at the end of the garden. More gingko trees flank the pathway.

The group headed onward. Jeff, Kristina and Justin saunter along to the next locale.

We then headed to Martha's new maze! It is in its nascent phase at the moment and has a lot of growing to do. (We could see over most of the hedges, but the effect was still evident!)

At the midpoint of the maze is this large eagle statue.

Here is Jocelyn, Martha's personal blogger, standing next to it.

The eagle is striking: a well recognized symbol of America.

After the maze, we all headed down towards the stables.

I captured this photo of Brian and Trellis outside the stable entrance: two online friends I had known for nearly two decades and finally got to meet!

All of Martha's horses (beautiful black Friesians) were so good-natured and so curious to meet us.

Bernie was very excited to show me the stable kitchen: one of our favourite spaces on the farm. We both love its scale and the interesting use of materials.

Here's Jennifer posing by the Aga oven and the wall-mounted cake and jelly molds. 

Here are Jeremy, Bernie, Dennis, Nathan and John in the stable kitchen.

Carey was thrilled to discover the original wall-mounted rack that Martha once used as a prototype for a product she developed for Martha by Mail. This original was once on the set of her 1990s television show, hence Carey's enthusiastic reaction!

Jennifer Zimmerman snapped this photo of the soapstone sink in the stable bathroom.

After the stables, we continued down the lane towards the chicken coop and the area of the farm where Martha keeps her specimens of rare peafowl and pheasants. Her peacocks were very lively on this day!

One of them gave us quite the show!

Jeremy Lambertson leaned in to take a closeup.

He loved the attention!

After visiting with the birds, Martha and Ryan led us to the vegetable garden.

Everything was coming up beautifully!

Martha is able to feed herself, her family and many of her friends using the bounty from this garden. We were all enamored of its scale and productivity. (Martha even allowed us to sample some of the sugar-snap peas that were growing prolifically on one of the trellises).

It was getting close to lunch by this point, so we headed down along the roadway towards the pool area where lunch was being prepared for us. Along the way, many of us remarked on the climbing hydrangeas that blanketed many of the trunks of the large trees to striking effect! Some members of our group had not heard of climbing hydrangeas and were very taken by their size and vigorous growth.

Here is Bernie standing next to one. This image really demonstrates the scale of both the tree and the vine.

Hayden and Ryan pose next to a climbing hydrangea.

Jordan Munn captured this shady spot of the laneway on our way to lunch.

As a Canadian, I was very grateful to finally get to see the old antique cedar-post paddock fencing that Martha had imported from Ontario, Canada - my homeland! Old fences like these are everywhere in evidence in the rural regions of the province. 

A few hours had passed by this point and it was soon time for lunch. We headed up towards the pool for our next Martha Moment!

(Photos by Andrew Ritchie, Bernie Wong, Jennifer Butler-Zimmerman, Carey Lowe, Jeremy Lambertson, Dennis Landon, Matt Lara, Jocelyn Santos, Rachel Butler and Jordan Munn).