Our regular activities are limited, but there are plenty of spring cleaning tasks to tackle indoors - and, if you haven’t already, now is the best time to download the MarthaStewart.TV App for help.
My MarthaStewart.TV App now includes more than a thousand classic episodes - ideas, inspirations and how-to instructions for doing all those important jobs around the home. In addition to housekeeping and home-organizing tips, we’ve posted hundreds of hours of easy-to-do crafts projects, including boredom-busting ideas for children of all ages. Although large celebrations may not be possible at this time, we have lots of ideas for dyeing eggs, making greeting cards, and creating adorable and cheerful spring decorations. Plus, with April Fools' Day just around the corner, subscribers can watch a playlist of our best bloopers, funniest outtakes, and practical jokes.
Just download the App on your phone, tablet, or streaming device. You’ll find full episodes of "Martha Stewart Living", "The Martha Stewart Show", as well as one-hour holiday specials. And, sign up for a 14-day free trial of the MarthaStewart.TV App and then subscribe for 66-percent off the first six months. It's so easy to do - just click on any of the highlighted links. Enjoy these photos.
My mother’s recipes are some of our most popular – perfect for making in big batches to feed a hungry family, or to freeze portions and reheat later. The secret ingredient in this Macaroni and Cheese recipe – tomato paste.
Make the most of easy-to-find ingredients. Better still, this hearty one-pot beef and mushroom stew requires virtually no hands-on cooking.
I make time at home fun and worthwhile – from cupcakes to layer cakes, we have hundreds of delicious recipes and demos to demystify the science of baking.
One of our programs was devoted to Bundt cakes. A Bundt cake is one that’s baked in a special donut-shaped pan and inspired by a traditional European cake known as Gugelhupf. Whether you’re an amateur baker or pressed for time and ingredients, using a Bundt cake mold is the easiest way to transform a simple cake recipe into a showstopper.
In this segment, two of my little friends, and fellow Girl Scouts, helped me make chocolate chip cookies. The heavenly aroma of a batch of cookies baking in the oven is guaranteed to lift spirits.
One of my favorite indoor job activities – ironing! Even if this isn’t one of your favorite chores, now is an excellent time to tackle the pile. Watch the App for my tips on how to get the job done well and quickly.
When grocery stores are struggling to remain consistently stocked, I encourage everyone to organize the home pantry – discard expired foods, group like items, and arrange goods by size. Ideally, one should be able to easily see what’s on hand. Doing this will prevent overbuying and waste.
Does your home office or entertainment center look like this? Tame adapters, cords, and dongles with my useful tips.
As well as keeping our homes tidy and comfortable, we must also remember to take special care of the health and safety of our pets. Here, petkeeper, Marc Morrone, joins me on set with some of his furred and feathered friends.
If it’s safe to do so, try to get outdoors for some fresh air. Of course, always remember to maintain a proper distance from others – at least six feet.
Bring out the glue gun! From sewing simple café curtains to embellishing a store-bought planter, there are hundreds of crafty projects to spruce up your décor.
Knitting is not only for scarves. There are many accessories that can be knitted from yarn, including bags and purses.
April Fools’ Day offers the chance to summon your inner prankster and catch friends and family cautiously off-guard. I always enjoy a good laugh and have participated in many fun, harmless pranks over the years.
Looking for a kid-friendly indoor activity? Easy-to-make green slime is a long-lasting toy that pulls apart, stretches, and bounces.
These bright, intricately patterned eggs are ingeniously and sustainably created reusing scraps of silk ties and scarves. Just wrap in silk, boil, and unwrap for the big reveal.
Each of these beautiful eggs was dyed using common ingredients. Experiment with coffee, cabbage, turmeric, beets, blueberries, and so on, and watch your eggs transform.
Escape! You may not be able to hop on a plane right now, but you can experience far-flung destinations through my App. Our travel episodes – including a visit to the Yucatan, shown here – are available to watch!
After a day of cooking, crafting, organizing, and foolery, it’s time to relax. Watch more on the MarthaStewart.TV App. Sign up today and please stay safe.
During this time, if you can get out and enjoy nature while safely following important social-distancing guidelines, do - going outside, even for just a little while, helps reduce stress and improves the body’s natural immune system.
I am fortunate to be able to take walks around my Bedford, New York farm and see many of the season’s flowers - among them, the hellebores. Hellebores come in such an artful array of colors, markings, and formations, it’s hard not to love these fascinating perennials. I’ve had hellebores in my gardens for many years, and I find it so rewarding to have blooms that start in March, and continue through spring until the end of May - to me, hellebores are must-haves for any gardener's collection.
Here are some photos of the hellebores blooming at my farm now, enjoy.
Hellebores are members of the Eurasian genus Helleborus – about 20 species of evergreen perennial flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae. They blossom during late winter and early spring for up to three months.
Hellebores are widely grown for decorative purposes because they are easy-to-grow and are able to resist frost. It is common to plant them on slopes or in raised beds in order to see their flowers, which tend to nod.
These plants are best grown in organically rich, humusy, well-drained soils in part to full shade. I have gorgeous clumps growing in the shade gardens around my home.
The bright green foliage looks so dramatic against the colors of their blooms.
This hellebore flower is just about to open. Hellebore flowers come in pretty much any color from white and pink to green, apricot, and even deep purple, etc.
Unlike the blooms of most other flowering plants, hellebore flowers do not consist of petals, but of sepals, which serve to protect the flower.
Here, one can see the stamens and the carpels – the delicate parts shielded by the sepals.
Hellebores also come in many varieties, from veined or picotee, and single, anemone or double flowers.
This pink hellebore bloom has darker pink veining on the backs of its sepals.
The colors of the sepals and the petals within the flower attract the insects. Hellebore flowers are not choosy about their insects, so all types can pollinate the flowers effectively.
The sepals and veins on this hellebore are deeply colored to invite pollinators.
Hellebores benefit from a moderate amount of watering. They like to be watered deeply enough to saturate the root zone but then not watered again until the soil feels dry to the touch. These plants are drought tolerant but quite sensitive to soggy soil.
Here is another darker colored hellebore ready to bloom.
If adding hellebores to the garden, combine them with ferns, hostas or heuchera. Or use them as accents along pathways or borders.
Hellebores can reach up to 36 inches in height and width, so be sure to position hellebores in protected areas away from winter winds.
All parts of the hellebore plant are poisonous, including the seeds, so use caution when considering the planting location. One great advantage – hellebores are also deer and vole resistant.
Monthly feeding with an all-purpose fertilizer will encourage healthy, lush growth in hellebores.
This single flowering hellebore is deep purple in color with burgundy leaves.
‘HGC Pink Frost’ starts out as deep burgundy, but then opens to soft pink and ages to earthy shades of rose. Here, the flowers rise above the foliage and face outward.
Given the right conditions, hellebores will spread nicely in the garden and look beautiful through the season. What hellebores do you grow? Share them with me in the comments section below. Also let me know what else you’d like me to cover on my blog, especially during this time. And be sure to check out my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48 for more photos, tips, and inspirations. Wherever you live, I hope you are able to enjoy some of the colors of spring – stay safe.
It’s always so satisfying to check off time-consuming cleaning chores.
While we’re all spending more time at home, it's a good idea to get some home-keeping projects done and out of the way. Several times a year, my housekeepers take on the task of cleaning and polishing the copper at the farm - well ahead of any spring entertaining. Copper is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with a distinct pinkish-orange color. It is used as a conductor of heat and electricity, as a building material, and as a popular metal for cookware and other home decorating items. Over time, copper loses its luster and acquires a tarnish when exposed to air, so it is important to clean it regularly. For information on the care and cleaning of copper, be sure to go to my web site at marthastewart.com. You’ll also find helpful tips in both my “Homekeeping Handbook: The Essential Guide to Caring for Everything in Your Home” and in “The Martha Manual: How To Do (Almost) Everything.”
Enjoy these photos.
This is my Winter House kitchen. Above me is a giant pot rack where I display lots of my copper pots. If you’ve seen any of my recent “Homeschool with Martha” tips on my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48, you’ve likely seen me working at this counter.
Here’s a wider view of the pot rack all filled with copper. Copper was actually one of the first metals used by humans more than 10-thousand years ago, and it remains a common household material today. Polishing copper, silver, brass or any other metal three or four times a year is generally sufficient to keep it in good condition.
There are several ways to clean copper. One method is chemical-free – just use lemon juice and salt. For ratios and more details, go to How to Clean and Polish Copper “Using Lemon Juice and Salt to Remove Tarnish” on my web site @marthastewart.com.
Experts recommend using a good-quality, non-abrasive commercial copper polish. I’ve been using Wright’s metal creams for years. Wright’s Copper Cream is a gentle formula that cleans and shines – it’s also great for brass.
Wright’s Cream is also an anti-tarnish formula that leaves behind a protective coating to delay any tarnish from reforming.
Whenever cleaning any precious metal, always use a soft moistened sponge. A soft cloth can also work well. Here, Carlos puts a good amount of cream onto the sponge.
After a quick rinse with regular dish soap and water, Carlos covers the pot with cream, carefully rubbing it all over the piece. We always place a terry cloth towel on the bottom of the sink, so the metal doesn’t bang against any surfaces.
This task is time-consuming, but it is well-worth all the work and elbow grease.
Be sure to completely coat the piece with cream. The copper will start to brighten as it is rubbed.
Carlos makes sure to also rub the handle. In addition to using soft sponges and rags, use cotton swabs to apply the cream to tight spots and crevices when cleaning.
It may take a little longer when cleaning a piece with more intricate designs, crevices, or indentations. After rubbing the piece with cream, wash it with dish soap and water to ensure all the cream is removed.
And then wipe the piece thoroughly with a soft cloth and see how it shines. Never place any copper in the dishwasher. The detergents’ aggressive chemicals, combined with the washer’s high cleaning temperature, will eventually cause any copper surfaces to dull, so hand-wash all copper mugs, pots, and pans instead.
Carlos uses the same easy steps to clean this vessel – rubbing a generous amount of Wright’s Cream over the entire copper cachepot.
It doesn’t take long to see the shine coming through as it is rinsed. And always dry the copper right away with a soft towel to avoid any watermarks.
Here is a vintage copper box “before” it is cleaned.
Some of these pieces have been in storage for a while. The green is actually a patina, which is a film on the surface of copper, bronze, silver or other metals, produced by oxidation over a long period.
And here is Carlos rubbing the box with cream. Be sure to use polishes that are non-abrasive, and opt for formulas, such as creams and gels instead of sprays. It’s also a good idea to use gloves when taking on this task, so the cleaning cream does not come into contact with the skin. Carlos ensures every part of the box is rubbed clean, and then rinses and wipes it completely.
Finally, the piece is buffed very well, and placed on a table nearby. Here is the “after” photo.
And here are some of the other copper and copper plated items Carlos cleaned. All of them are shining. The copper returns to its original luster very quickly.
Remember, there are lots of cleaning hints and tips in my “Homekeeping Handbook” – it’s a great source for all the spring cleaning jobs you’re doing at home during this time. If you don’t have a copy, order it today.
And, if you want ideas for how to display and store your collection of copper, be sure to refer to “The Martha Manual: How to Do (Almost) Everything” – another great source of inspiration and ideas.
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