First, a brief history. Eighty years ago, a cluster of stone barns was built to make John D. Rockefeller's dairy cows comfortable on his estate a half hour's drive north of New York City. Eight years ago, $30 million in family money transformed the place into headquarters for a non-profit farm that grows food for partner restaurant Blue Hill at Stone Barns. Now let's have a look at the gardens:

Photographs by Michael Moran via SALT Studio except where noted.

Above: Landscape architect Gigi Saltonstall designed an herb garden, a large courtyard, and an area for crop demonstrations at the Rockefeller Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture. The working four-season farm enables restaurant Blue Hill at Stone Barns to serve what's in season. Instead of seeing a set menu, diners choose from a daily list of more than 100 ingredients available from the fields and local market.

Above: Set on 80 acres of rolling land, the barns were also used, in the 1970s, for Peggy Rockefeller's cattle farming project.

Above: A barn door built into a hillside. Photograph by Joe Shlabotnik via Flickr.

Above: The goal of the design by SALT Studio was preserve the historical farm vernacular while adapting the site to 21st century uses.

Above: Photograph by Put the Needle on the Record via Flickr.

Above: Photograph by John Hill via Flickr.

Above: For more about the restaurant, see "High Wire Act: Floating Florals at Blue Hill at Stone Barns."