Remembering: Martha's Early Newsletters

 In the spring of 1988, Martha and a small team of assistants put together the first issue of the Entertaining Newsletter – a quarterly publication that offered recipes, gardening and domestic advice, and personal essays by Martha about the projects she was working on. It was an offshoot of her bestselling book Entertaining from 1982 and, in many ways, it was the forebearer of Martha Stewart Living magazine, which would emerge just three years later. For this reason, it is one of the most collectible and treasured Martha Stewart publications.

The Entertaining Newsletter was composed almost entirely by Martha, written on an IBM computer in her small office at number 10 Saugatuck Avenue in Westport, Connecticut. It was a way for Martha to communicate with her growing audience and a medium she could use to promote her latest books and seminars. I love imagining a late-40s Martha sitting at her desk with the golden afternoon sun streaming through the window, casting a glow in her long blond hair, books and notebooks stacked on every surface, as she typed up essays on homekeeping and some of her latest recipes. 

 From Martha’s Home to Yours

Each issue of the newsletter was like a personal love letter from Martha to her readers. They contained her words, her recipes, her reviews of the latest cookbooks and the hottest restaurants, as well as lists of her personal tastes and preferences for all manner of things pertaining to the home, from her favourite cleaning products to the best garden suppliers in the United States. There were occasional guest columnists, but the amplified voice of the newsletter was very definitely hers. 

The October Issue

I picked up the October issue of Martha Stewart Living on one of the warmest September days I can remember. Wearing shorts and a t-shirt, I lunged for it on the newsstand. I NEEDED a dose of fall. The magazine dispensed it perfectly. It is not your average Martha Stewart October cover and that, as she would say, is a "Good Thing." I like Halloween, but occasionally it's nice to give the autumn season itself a bit of love - ghosts and goblins aside. The cover, with its multitude of shapely and colourful pumpkins and gourds, tucked somewhere gray at Martha's farm, is the perfect mix of joy and restraint: a photo by Ngoc Minh Ngo.

True Halloween devotees will be a tad disappointed with the scarcity of ghoulish content, but do keep in mind that we're in the midst of a pandemic and that trick-or-treating will look extremely different this year - if it happens at all. My assumption is that the editors are being cautiously moderate when it comes to presenting a host of ways to celebrate a holiday that essentially involves going door-to-door to strangers' homes. Still, the Good Things section of the magazine is entirely devoted to Halloween fun - and fun should certainly still be had, albeit with a small circle of friends and family.

Martha's One-Bowl Chocolate Layer Cake

 In the September issue of Martha Stewart Living there is a great compilation of some of the most-searched and highly-rated baking recipes from the archives at MarthaStewart.com. Among them is a classic chocolate layer cake with chocolate frosting; it was calling my name! I've been on quite a baking kick since the pandemic started (don't worry, I've been on an exercise kick too!) and I think my skills are greatly improving. I realized, however, that I had not endeavored to make a chocolate cake, which is astounding to me, since it's one of my favourite kinds of cakes. This recipe uses only one bowl (so helpful for cleanup!) and a smattering of basic but good-quality ingredients that are easy to find at the grocery store. I was sold. 

You can find the recipe on page 87 of the magazine, but it's online as well. Click here to view it. The frosting, too, is a recipe I'll be using for other recipes, including cupcakes and maybe even on a lemon cake or plain white cake. Click here for the recipe and for an excellent demonstration by Thomas Joseph on how to get those lustrous swoops and swirls out of your frosting technique. I found it really helpful. The frosting is luscious and smooth with the addition of cream cheese, melted chocolate and cocoa powder, making it a dream to ice with. Decadence on a plate!

Martha's New CBD Wellness Products

Working with Canopy Growth, the industry leader in CBD (cannabidoil) technology, Martha Stewart has developed an innovative line of wellness products that combine gourmet flavors with the purest, safest CBD isolate, derived from 100% natural US hemp. Medicinal cannabinoids (hemp, marijuana) have been proven to safely restore the endocannabinoid system, or ECS receptors, which help regulate signals through the brain, spinal cord, organs, and tissues of the body as a means of maintaining balance. Martha's interest in this growing division of the health/wellness sector began a few years ago when she met Snoop Dogg, her friend and television costar. Martha quickly hooked up with Canopy Growth (based in Canada but with operations around the globe) to develop a new lifestyle line of flavourful gummies, oil drops and softgels to act as supplements to a healthy and balanced diet and lifestyle. Click here to explore the full Martha Stewart line. (These products are currently only available to the US market).

CBD supplements are a simple way to enhance health and wellness. When one consumes CBD, its active chemical compounds interact with the body’s endocannabinoid system, or ECS receptors, which help regulate signals through the brain, spinal cord, organs, and tissues of the body as a means of maintaining balance. On her blog this morning, Martha says she is very proud of the new line. (Photo by Mike Krautter)

The gummies come in two flavor medleys. The citrus medley of wellness gummies includes Meyer lemon, kumquat, and blood orange. (Photo by Kimberly Tran)

These CBD oils include 25mg of CBD isolate per 1mL dropper. CBD isolate is made from hemp extract that has been refined several times to produce the purest CBD product on the market. The flavour shown here is blood orange. (Photo by Kimberly Tran)

Each individual softgel has 25mg of CBD isolate. And remember, It’s important to note that everyone’s experience with CBD is unique.(Photo by Kimberly Tran)

Martha's New Home Products: Now in Store

Martha's new home products with Gibson Overseas, Welspun Group and Town & Country Living have begun to show up in stores such as TJ Maxx, Marshall's, Fred Meyer, Home Goods, Ross, and Kroger. From cookie sheets to casseroles, mixing bowls to baking utensils, pots and pans to bedding and towels, the Martha Stewart brand of products continues to expand.

In February it was announced that Martha (via Marquee Brands) had signed a licensing deal to develop new home and kitchen collections that would be distributed worldwide through various chain stores. The pandemic sadly put a damper on the launch. The line of more than 250 new products was set to debut at the Inspired Home Show in Chicago in March, with Martha in attendance, but that was not to be. What happened instead was a gradual distribution of products to stores, which are now stocking their shelves again after months of closure.