Cantitoe Corners, Bedford, New York: November 17, 2006

Martha restored this corn crib, which was an original structure on her 100-year-old Bedford, New York farm, and moved it to this spot behind a wizened apple tree, just in front of one of the horse paddocks. Martha composed this shot one late autumn day to outline the stately tree against the fence, sky, and corn crib.

Cantitoe Corners, Bedford, New York: June 22, 2005

Martha chose weathered, hand-split 100-year-old white spruce fence railings from Canada to outline the horse paddocks at Cantitoe Corners, her farm in Bedford, New York. The fence surrounds five grazing meadows for her five black Friesian draft horses. This shot represents one in a series of studies she took of her beloved horses calmly grazing in the lush green fields in the early morning.

Cantitoe Corners, Bedford, New York: May 4, 2005

Martha captured this image as a dense fog rolled in over the Southern Paddock of her Bedford, New York farm one morning in early spring. The heavy fog blurred the horizon line above and below the mist, and allowed the ancient apple trees to quietly emerge from the foreground.

Skylands, Mount Desert Island, Maine: September 11, 2004

Martha placed a monumental garden bowl by sculptor/potter Eric Soderholtz atop a terrace ledge at Skylands, her rustic estate on Mount Desert Island, Maine. Martha appreciates the classical lines of Soderholtz’s large-scale garden pots, urns, and ornamental pottery, known by gardeners up and down the Eastern Seaboard. Martha filled hers with moss from the forest, creating a lush miniature landscape.

Cantitoe Corners, Bedford, New York: June 22, 2005

Martha lives on her Bedford, New York farm year-round, and often enjoys the view from the Winter House porch. The porch is lined with hanging baskets of ferns. The view is ever changing—the herb garden, additional gardens, paddocks, and farm buildings look different depending on the weather, the season, and even the time of day.

Cantitoe Corners, Bedford, New York: September 19, 2002

A series of espaliered apple trees march across a ribbon of lawn near the Southern Paddock. Espalier is a method of pruning and training trees to grow a specific way, usually on a supporting framework. Martha was inspired to try this technique at her Cantitoe Corners farm in Bedford, New York. She created this linear stand of apple trees from the remains of an old orchard, purposefully trimming and pruning the trees to expose the beauty of the old trunks, then waiting several seasons as the boughs grew together to form a horizontal line of branches.

Cantitoe Corners, Bedford, New York: March 12, 2005

Martha created horse paddocks from 100-year-old, hand-split white spruce rails, fencing off two mature apple trees original to the property within one corral. This arrangement creates a beautiful juxtaposition of the craggy tree silhouettes against the paddock, meadow, and distant fields beyond; in season, the trees bear fruit for her five Friesian horses.

Cantitoe Corners, Bedford, New York: February 12, 2006

Martha took this photograph of the pathway between two paddocks at her Bedford, New York farm on a snowy winter morning. She salvaged the paddock fence rails from a pasture in Canada. Martha chose the hand-split, 100-year-old white spruce railings for their weathered beauty—she loves their aged gray patina and time-worn texture—and had them fitted into new cedar posts.

Cantitoe Corners, Bedford, New York: November 6, 2006

An allée refers to a formally planted tree- or shrub-lined promenade that typically leads to a terminal structure - in this instance, a horse stable. Alongside the carriageway, Martha planted two long lines of boxwoods. She captured this image on a cold, late fall morning when the moon was not yet below the horizon.

Cantitoe Corners, Bedford, New York: April 28, 2005

After a summer rain shower, Martha took a walk around the horse paddocks when she caught sight of a beautiful double rainbow. Recognizing the rare occurrence, she ran back to her Cantitoe Corners Summer House to retrieve her camera to record the beauty of the moment.

Skylands, Mount Desert Island, Maine: August 4, 2003

Atop a bed of moss at Skylands, Martha Stewart’s home in Maine, sits a large-scale 1935 bronze sculpture by Aristide Maillol entitled La Rivière. Maillol is known for creating monumental sculptures of what was, to him, the perfect woman; many of his large bronzes can be seen in the gardens of the Musée du Louvre in Paris. Martha set this voluptuous bronze sculpture in its own garden, against a native-quarried stone wall, indigenous flora, and fir trees. It adds an element of surprise for guests walking along the terraced pathway, or viewing it from inside the home, where it is framed by leaded glass windows.

Skylands, Mount Desert Island, Maine: July 21, 2006

At Skylands, Martha Stewart’s home in Maine, restored stonework surrounds one of the Lost Pools, so-named because their source remains unknown to this day. There are several of these lost pools in the garden, which Martha carefully unearthed from the overgrown forest. When in residence, she likes to take long walks in the woods to rediscover the estate’s delights and enjoy the season’s changes.

Skylands, Mount Desert Island, Maine: August 31, 2003

On the western terrace at Skyland, Martha Stewart’s estate in Maine, the pergola is festooned with ferns, while fruit-bearing kiwi vines drape the native-quarried stone terrace walls with leafy tendrils and small, delicious fruit.

Skylands, Mount Desert Island, Maine: October 8, 2006

One of a lovely pair of French glazed terra-cotta sphinxes on the terrace at Skylands graces the entrance to the living room. To accompany the sculptures, Martha planted a tableau of native plants, softening the pink granite with blossoms, ferns, and vines, all reflected in the leaded glass windows.

Skylands, Mount Desert Island, Maine: August 4, 2003

Martha Stewart cajoled forest moss and wildflowers up the steps to the terrace, carved from native granite. Designed by Jens Jensen, Skylands’ original landscape architect, the environs around the home were meant to blur the lines between the natural and the manmade.

Cantitoe Corners, Bedford, New York: September 20, 2007

The long shadows in late-day light captured Martha Stewart's notice one early autumn day as she strolled about her farmstead in Bedford, New York. Rounding the horse paddock, she found a beautiful amber light falling on grassy meadow and fence posts, ornamental shrubs and foliage.

Cantitoe Corners, Bedford, New York: May 12, 2007

Martha Stewart takes great pride in her peony gardens. She planted 22 different herbaceous varieties on her Bedford, New York farm, massing together eleven double rows in varying shades of pink. She snapped this image under a wind-swept sky in mid-May as she enjoyed their extravagant beauty.

Cantitoe Corners, Bedford, New York: July 14, 2007

The five Friesian horses stabled on Martha Stewart's farm in Bedford, New York are named Martyn, Meindert, Ramon, Rinze, and Rutger. This sweet-natured breed of draft horse originates in Friesland, a province in the Netherlands. Martha's horses are large—seventeen hands tall—but exhibit a wonderful sense of grace and a high-stepping, nimble gait.

Cantitoe Corners, Bedford, New York: May 12, 2007

The approach leading up to Martha Stewart's Bedford, New York studio barn is strewn with the fallen petals of two blooming crabapple trees that flank the pathway. Constructed in an elegantly simple and functional Shaker style, the studio has high ceilings, a high bank of windows for extra light, exposed beams, and wainscoted walls. This calm and quiet space has become her favored spot for brainstorming.