Bon Voyage, My Friends!

Hi everyone! I will be taking a long journey around Canada's maritime provinces: by train, by road and by boat! I will be away for approximately two weeks, exploring the east coast and taking plenty of photographs along the way. I will have a lot to share with you when I return! Things at Martha Moments will be pretty quiet until the 24th, so just sit tight until my return. Feel free to explore previous posts by using the links below the "BLOG HIGHLIGHTS" category along the side menu. Brush up on the history of Martha's homes; learn about Martha by Mail; read about the history of Martha's ventures on the web or take inventory of all the Martha Stewart special issues that have come and gone. Lots to keep you busy! I'll miss you! Below are shots of some of the places I'll be visiting...

1. Quebec City 2. Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia 3. Cavendish, Prince Edward Island 4. The coast of Newfoundland 5. The French isles of St. Pierre and Miquelon 6. St. John, Newfoundland

The November Issue

Martha Stewart Living subscribers are celebrating the arrival of the November issue in their mail boxes! The cover is shown below. I love the colours, composition and font! I can't wait to dig in. (And I'm not just talking about the pies...)

Remembering: Great American Wreaths

Among the many Martha Stewart books that line my bookshelves, there are several that I recommend to just about everyone who has an interest in the subjects of home and lifestyle. One of them is Great American Wreaths, a slim 144-page volume that was issued in 1996. It is one of the most inspired - and inspiring - books that Martha has ever created. The vision behind its theme is one that was clearly guided by passion (a true love of the United States) and a concise devotion to celebrating the myriad natural wonders of each state through the creation of over 50 beautifully unique wreaths, swags and garlands.

The idea came to Martha while she was interviewing then-First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton at the White House in Washington, D.C., helping her plan the holiday themes and decorations that would adorn the estate's many rooms, balconies and hallways: "Wouldn't it be wonderful to make a wreath representing each U.S. state?" Hillary Clinton and her staff loved the idea and Martha decided then and there that she would do it. 

Martha enlisted the help of her magazine's style editor at the time, Hannah Milman - a superb crafter who is now the executive director of the crafts department at Martha Stewart Living. Hannah and Martha worked very closely on this book, writing a list of the 50 states and territories and their capitals, followed by lists of their official state trees and flowers, major agricultural products, minerals and produce. The process took over a year of intense research and investigation to determine what materials to use, as well as to develop a true understanding of the history and purpose of wreath-making in American culture. The U.S. Department of Agriculture was consulted, as was its forestry service. The National Parks service, state agencies and universities were also brought into the fold. Finally, growers, farmers, gardeners, friends and editors were sourced to help design and make the wreaths, determining which method of wreath formation was best suited for the materials being used.

The book is organized into wreath types: wire wreaths, straw forms, living wreaths, swags and garlands, twig wreaths, molded forms, thatched forms and gathered wreaths. Detailed instructions on how to make the wreaths are included, along with informative historical facts about each state and its natural wonders.

I think this book is a brilliant articulation of America's bounty and a touching tribute to its union. It is also a wonderful reflection of Martha's sincere and devoted love for the country she calls home, as well as her incredible talent to turn the inspiration behind a dream into the creation of something beautiful.

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend, Canada!

I can freely admit that Thanksgiving in Canada is a mere imitation of its American counterpart. History proves as much. Americans invented Thanksgiving, a celebration that has been observed for more than 400 years in that country. Canadians, feeling perhaps a bit left out of the holiday spirit, decided to copy the American holiday, since we too are a nation that was settled by European colonists (French and English) with a complex and troubled history of war and peace with indigenous peoples. We have much to be thankful for too, after all. So, in 1957 Canadian parliament declared a new statutory holiday - a "National Day of Thanks" to be celebrated by all Canadians on the second Monday of October. 

Canadians adopted nearly every single American Thanksgiving tradition, from turkey to stuffing, from pumpkin pie to cornucopias stuffed with harvest fruits. The only difference is the date it is celebrated. October was chosen because of the earlier Canadian harvest. 

It is a great time of year in Canada. The leaves are changing colour, there is a crisp, cool bite to the air and people gather to celebrate the joys of autumn. One tradition in Ontario is apple picking. The province is filled with orchards and many of us venture out to pick big bushels full of Macintosh, Spartan, Cortland, Crispin and Empire apples. Below are photographs taken by my friend Jessica Hodgson. She and her partner, Brendan, recently went apple picking at the Orleans Fruit Farm just outside of Ottawa, Ontario. I love these photos!

Martha's New Show Starts This Weekend!

Oh, how we've waited for this - especially those of us who never had access to the Hallmark channel. It's a new Martha Stewart show featuring Martha doing what she does best: teaching. The show will debut this Sunday at 4 pm on most PBS stations across the U.S. and Canada. Some markets will debut the series the weekend of the 13th, so be sure to check your local PBS listings.

Martha was interviewed recently by the Daily News and shared some thoughts about the new series:

"It's a real teaching course, so you learn a lot. You'll know exactly what poaching is, what steaming is, what sautéing is, things that, if you know how to do, are so easy. You spend a lot of money going to college, so how about spending a little bit of time to make some really good food?"

Aside from her mother, Martha credits one of her greatest idols, Julia Child, for teaching her just about everything she knows about cooking. Over the course of a year, Martha made every single recipe in Child's book "Mastering The Art of French Cooking" - the bestselling cookbook of all time.

"I learned so much that I got volume two and did all the French breads and croissants. My daughter grew up eating all of my experiments and she still thinks my croissants were the best she's ever had."

In the interview, Martha said Cooking School will eventually branch into a baking series: 

"We get so many questions, but the top one is about how to make a cheesecake without a crack. That sounds funny, but almost everybody's cheesecake cracks down the middle, but mine doesn't - and yours won't if you use my recipe!"

Click here to see the full episode schedule. Segments from each episode will be shown online as well at marthastewart.com and on PBS.

See a preview of the first episode!

Bookmark Martha's new page at PBS.org!

Looking Back to Move Forward: Vol. 10 (October)

In her letter to readers in the March, 2012, issue of the magazine, Martha Stewart Living editor-in-chief Pilar Guzman makes an intriguing comment about looking back to former issues of the magazine in order to move forward. She writes: "...we will feature images on this page that inspire us from the magazine's archives. Sometimes it's important to look back in order to move forward." As a longtime subscriber, I felt like playing along! I'll be raiding the archives each month to showcase my favourite issue. Here is my selection for October.

MY FAVOURITE OCTOBER ISSUE: 2001

The October issue of Martha Stewart Living ranks high among fans. It's right up there with the September, December and March issues, which are anticipated for their commitment to a seasonal theme: decorating, the holidays and gardening, respectively. Martha's October is popular because of Halloween, it's true. Few publications do up the holidays quite like Martha Stewart; she elevates and expands the concept of "celebration" to levels that far exceed expectation, providing inspiration and imagination in spades.

For me, however, the October issue is much more about celebrating a love of Fall, my favourite season. At the risk of sounding staid and curmudgeonly, I feel I have outgrown Halloween. I love costumes, make-up and theatrics, and I count several horror films among my all-time favourites, but there is so much more to this month than All Hallows Eve. For Canadians, it's about Thanksgiving, which falls on the second Monday in October. It's also about harvest and comfort foods, outfitting the indoors for warm, snuggly evenings alone or with loved ones, long walks along leaf-lined pathways and bundling up in your favourite sweater.

The October 2001 issue of Martha Stewart Living hits every single mark. There is a Halloween element, but it is explored in deeply imaginative ways. Pitcher plants, those otherworldly carnivorous bog dwellers, are perfectly linked to the concept of spookiness, as is an expository feature on bats, with wondrous photographs of the various species. Kids (Halloween's truest admirers) have a place too with a feature on making space costumes using everyday objects in an appropriate homage to Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey." As we prepare for holiday entertaining, we sort through our dinnerware, perhaps coming across some inherited 'make-dos and whimsies' - those thoughtfully-repaired or repurposed pitchers or platters that hold the obvious marks of committed restoration efforts: iron fittings, handmade staples or wicker bindings optimistically holding together an object that had once been shattered. There are potatoes and pumpkins and all the delicious foods we can make with them. Yes, each page is an exercise in giving Fall its due.