February 1, 2023 • 54 mins
In the “Martha Fan Universe,” there are fans, and then there are “Super Fans” – those who drive several states away to attend an event, those who meticulously curate Martha-centric social media feeds, and those who frequent tag sales and consignment shops to find authentic brand products. Andrew Ritchie created a Facebook community, “Martha Moments”, that connects thousands of Martha followers. Bernie Wong and Dennis Landon met through the community, and eventually married. All three appeared on Martha’s “Great American Tag Sale” on ABC, and they reunite on this week’s podcast to talk about – what else? Discovering and many times re-discovering “All things Martha.” Listen to what Andrew, Bernie and Dennis love about the Martha Stewart brand.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
To all of our listeners. I'd like to hear from you.
Do you have a question? Only I can answer something
you've always wanted to ask me. Send questions to me
at TikTok Instagram or at asked Martha at Martha Stewart
dot com. I know, I don't know how many people
actually interview their fan base groundbreaking yea, So it's very
(00:26):
heartwarming to me, so I will begin. Over the years,
my colleagues and I have worked tirelessly to teach, to inform,
to delight, and to inspire throughout the process of building
an iconic and groundbreaking brand. I am lucky to have
built a following. Some fans are casual observers, and some
(00:49):
fans become very devout followers. Three of my most devoted
fans are Andrew Ritchie, Bernie Wong, and Dennis Landon. Andrew
as the creator of the Martha Moments blog, which is
a wonderful resource for all things Martha. Bernie manages an
Instagram account that features food, gardening, and my many products.
(01:11):
Dennis is equally enthusiastic about the Martha brand and has
been a big supporter of me for years. We all
met last year when these three traveled all the way
to New York to shop at my Great American Tag Sale,
and today I thought it would be informative and fun
to get together via video to find out why the
(01:31):
Martha brand attracted them so much. Welcome to my podcast, Andrew, Bernie,
and Dennis. It's very nice to see you via via zoom. Um. Okay,
but but you look good. You look the same as
you looked at the tag sail and uh and that was.
I think I'm still recovering from the tag sail. That was.
(01:54):
That was a very big effort on a lot of
people's parts. But boy, I think I think I expended
the most energy, just because gathering all that stuff from
all the different places that it came from was exhausting.
But to have people like you they're talking to the
rest of the buyers was so so fabulous And I
(02:17):
cannot tell you how much it meant to them to
have you there also. Now, I don't know, I don't
know if very many podcasters actually have interviewed their fan base.
But here we go. We're talking to We're talking to
three guys. You know, these are men, They're not women fans.
These are men fans who have kind of adopted the
(02:40):
Martha brand as something to focus on and uh, and
it's uh, it's quite astonishing to me that this has happened. Uh.
And you know, you know, I I know I have
friends and I consider you my friends. But it's hard
sometimes for a human being to think, oh my god,
I have a fan base, and that's how I feel.
(03:01):
I feel, Oh my gosh, it's uh, it's uh. And
when people say, oh, don't you get tired of people
asking for your autograph? I always say absolutely not, because
if they don't ask for my autograph, maybe they're they're
already forgetting me. But uh, but I think we've made
an impact. And I think that you guys, with your wonderful,
wonderful outpouring of information all things Martha, have really helped
(03:25):
support that that work that we have done over the
last thirty years as the Martha Stewart Living brand. So
thank you. I want to thank you. When when were
you first introduced to the Martha brand. Let's start with you, Bernie.
I was introduced um, to be honest, I you know,
I came as a foreign student from Malaysia and it
(03:48):
was my first Christmas without post parents, away from my
parents because it was not convenient to travel. And I
decided I'm going to bake cookies because I'm feeling really homesick.
So I turned on and let me and on the
TV to keep me company, and of course your show
was on, and I heard your voice and I was like,
who is this nice lady? She is not annoying like
(04:09):
a lot of other cookie shows. This is much better,
you know, she's actually and I said, oh, she's Martha Stewart.
I've never heard of her, and it's and it was like, oh,
and she's actually teaching me things I want to know
and I'm interested in I'm gonna learn. So that's that
was my What year was that, Bernie? That was nine six,
(04:29):
I think, or it's a long time ago. And what
about you, Dennis. Um, I actually bought my house that
we live in in Memorial Day and I was trying
to you know, do things around um, you know, improvements
around my house. And I was talking to a colleague
(04:51):
about like a year later because I wanted to like
get into the space and then try to figure out
what I wanted to do with color and that sort
of thing. And so I was talking to a colleague
and she said, you know, she said, there's a magazine
that I get that um, it's an issue that has
um the issue about painting, you know, like the interior
(05:11):
of a house in different techniques and stuff. And she said,
I'll bring it for you. So she brings it, and
what it is is this very issue from I Love
that issue from April May. And so I took it.
She said, she said, you can borrow the magazine, but
I want to back. It's like, okay, I look at
(05:32):
home and I started looking and then it's like I
got sidetracked because I started looking through it and the
whole painting section I was like the last of my
interests on it because there were so many other things
in the magazine. I got my attention, and so I
started getting the magazine. Um. Shortly thereafter, like I went
(05:53):
to the news stand and then started my own getting
the subscription and been getting it ever since. And the
house is still painted all the Martha colors here, so
how lovely. Now. I just want to point out that
Bernie and uh and Dennis our partners and lived together
in where do you live? Madison, Wisconsin? Madison, Wisconsin, far
(06:15):
from Malaysia, Bernie very far now to Andrew Ritchie, when
were you first introduced to the Martha brand? What attracted
you to my brand? It was definitely through the magazine. UM.
I was in college actually in Toronto, and every time
I would do groceries, I would just see this gorgeous
magazine at the news stand with these evocative photographs of
(06:39):
flower arrangements and cakes, and it just sort of entranced me,
and I just became so enamored of the visual style
of the magazine. Really, UM, I had gone to art
school in high school, so I had sort of like
a very aesthetic i I think, and it really just
sort of appealed to me. And then as I sort
of went through the magazine, I was realizing how much
(06:59):
it was a teaching me, um, how to things that
you know, my parents and that the generation of my
parents sort of neglected to teach. I think a lot
of their kids, um, how to make a bad how
to cook, how to um organize. UM. So all of
these things kind of like came into my life through
the magazine. But it was really the visual side of
(07:20):
the magazine that first piqued my interest. It's funny that
you say about but your parents forgot to teach you
because I remember my brother's a dentist in Buffalo, New
York and UM, and he said, Martha, he said, there
is an increased um incidents of tooth decay in children.
And I said, well, why what do you account? What
(07:42):
do you why because he said, because mothers are back
to work and they're not teaching their children how to
brush their teeth and not making sure the kids are
brushing their teeth. So it's the same thing mothers went
back to work, the single no parent household. The kids
were uh, they came ledg key kids and they didn't
know that nobody was teaching them anything about the domestic arts.
(08:05):
And my first real goal was to teach and inspire uh.
And it worked and worked on you three guys, which
is very nice. You you you got, you got the
message loud and clear, and that you were three men
who really spearheaded UM a big following of other followers
(08:26):
that your men. It's also indicative of the fact that
my fastest growing audience at the present time is men.
Because we were geared. We were geared totally towards women.
You know, advertisers wanted to know what age women were
we attracting. They never asked about the men. Now they're
asking about men. They want to know who is the audience.
(08:47):
Andrew Ritchie, you're You're the best editor that I know, really,
and your blog is so beautifully edited. It's called Martha Moments.
When did you start this blog and why so? I
started it in two thousand and six, which is a
really long time ago now that I think about it. UM,
I basically just wanted to build an archive, yes for fans,
(09:10):
written by a fan from a fan's perspective, UM, where
collectors could come and find out about UM, you know,
the magazines that you had published, the books that you
had published, and basically just sort of elevated again. UM.
I had actually written for a Save Martha dot com.
I know you remember Save Martha dot com during the Yes,
the early two thousand's. This was when I was having
(09:32):
legal problems. Everyone you probably if you're listening, you probably
know about those. And Andrew Ritchie was one of my
foremost supporters. Thank you. UM. What I found was that like,
not just you were sort of being undermined, but your
work was also being undermined, which I found very upsetting
as someone who had learned so much from it. So
when you were back at work and you were, you know,
(09:55):
back on television. UM, I wanted to really create something
that brought the work back and sort of made it
put the spotlight back on the goodness of the work
because it has really enhanced my life and so many
other people as well. So what did you think of
as a Martha moment and where did that name come from? Well,
the name actually comes from Oprah Winfrey. UM. She used
(10:17):
it once on her program when she was with you.
I think you were doing a weddings segment and you
had put a gardenia floating guardinia in a dish with
water and candles, and she said, oh, I'm having a
Martha moment. And at that time you can hear Roper's voice.
I know you can hear Roper's voice saying that. Um.
At that time, it was kind of a thing to
(10:39):
say you were having a Martha moment. So if you
made a beautiful cake, or if you set a beautiful table,
you would have a Martha moment. UM. So when I
actually sat down to write the blog, I knew that
that was going to be the title, because people could
have a Martha moment any day, anytime. UM. As long
as there was beauty, as long as there was some
kind of utility, some kind of you know, fascination with
(11:01):
the every day, that's a Martha moment. So that's how
it all kind of began. And people also say, it's
so Martha. Yeah, you know, that's a that's another phrase,
Martha moment is lovely and thank you oprah. Uh. But
it's so Martha is another thing I hear a lot
um and and how flattering that is too, because people
(11:24):
really respond to good ideas, and they also respond very
much to the other phrase that I use a lot.
It's a good thing. So it's a good thing, is
still a very alive and well. And people still joke.
They think it's a joke now you know, Oh it's
a good thing, and they laugh at yeah, yeah, yeah.
(11:45):
So you're the three of you showed up at the
tag sale. Now, everyone who's listening, I don't know if
you know about the Tag Sale. We did a TV
special about it called The Great American Tag Sale. And
I decided I had an overflow of UM collectibles, a
big overflow from I had sold my house in East
Hampton that was chalk full of beautiful things UM. I
(12:09):
had Barnes full of beautiful things here at my farm
in Bedford, New York, and I decided I would have
a charity tag sale to benefit my hospital at Mount
sign I called the Martha Stewart's Center for Living and
we did raise just shy, just shy of a million dollars,
which I was so proud of. And uh, and I
(12:30):
don't miss anything much. It's kind of heartbreaking to part
with some of the things that you collect, But boy,
I think we caused a lot of joy. And you
guys certainly helped engender a lot of goodwill by your
presence and I really appreciate that. What was it? What
was it like for you? Bernie? Um? It was like
(12:51):
a dream because I had never had the chance to
um come to any of your shows or come to
any of your book sightings, you know, for one reason
another my first time meeting you in person. So that
was that alone, was you know? I was like when
I when I met you the cocktail party the night before,
I thought, Okay, I don't care if I don't find
(13:11):
anything I wanted to buy, because I'm already happy that
I'm here. Yeah, of course, you know we got we
I think we found everything. We've got a huge didn't
you have a trailers attached to your car? Because you know,
and then you know the chairs, the green chairs we're
sitting on. Oh look you have those beautiful chairs powder
(13:31):
coated by Martha. What else did you get at the
tag sale, Bertie? Oh? We you know, we got we got.
The other favorite thing was the chairs that are reproductions
of the ones on the front cover of Entertaining. Oh
the Ring, the Ring, Chippendale Hepple white. Actually those are
heaval white chairs. Yeah, we have been stored away now.
(13:51):
We're currently shopping for new buildings. Put me so and
every A lot of stuff that we found that we love,
like the green metal phrase that you know I always
use for my tea time on my Instagram that I love,
you know, the metal market people Instagram Instagram Bernie Wong
Green Uh. And you will just be you will be
(14:14):
so happy to see this Instagram because it's not only
not only highlights beautiful green things and Martha things that
he has collected, but it also highlights the great talent
of Bernie is as a as a cook. You make
beautiful things, Bernie and Uh, when you were making your jam,
it was the most beautiful because I had never seen
(14:36):
those jam pots that you use full up here, full disclosure.
Those are his jam pots, and Dennis is the one
that introduced me to them. Oh those are those are great?
And I was like a big naysayer of those darn
jam pots until I used one and I thought, where
have these been all these years? Do they still sell them? Yeah?
(15:00):
And I think that I think that the Ball company.
At first, I think you should have a line of these, Yeah,
but I do. Um. The thing is the thing that
there's they're so incredibly um good for is for people
who are either handicapped or elderly, people who used to
make jam the old fashioned way but now can't stand
(15:20):
at a stove and certainly stand and stir. Yeah, it
does the stirring for you. That's the best part. Yeah, No,
it does the stirring. It does it contemperature control, so
you're not gonna burn your jam, You're not gonna have
boiling over your stove. All that syrup. Well, I I
use a French method of making jams and jellies, which
requires uh macerating the fruit in the refrigerator for a
(15:44):
couple of days. So I do that. But you can
do it with that jam podchare sure. What I like
about the idea of it is that it's temperature controlled
and then that it's self contained. You know, Yeah, that's
what I like about it. And so what did you
get from the jags sale Andrew? I was a little
limited by what I could bring back into Canada, and
I had a smallish car, so I didn't have a
(16:07):
lot of room to bring stuff home in. I would
have kept stuff for you. Oh you would have Oh
now I know, yes, Okay, I should have written my
name on something we welcome getulous I did. Yeah, so yeah.
One of the wicker plants stands that I think you had.
It was either at Lily Pond Lane or at one
(16:28):
of the houses at Cantido Corners um and it was
painted a beautiful sort of um Cylon green darker sale
on green, really beautiful. And it's in my dining room
now with a beautiful Boston fern on it, and every
time I look at it, I think of you, and
I think of that wonderful experience. I think there is
(16:48):
still a bureau and there is also I think a mirror,
and there's also a table still waiting to be picked up.
Paid for and not picked up. Okay, um, this little
caramel glass squirrel acorn. Yeah, I was the last one.
I wish I wanted a pair, but they we'll find
(17:11):
you more. We'll keep a lookout. Okay, thanks Bernie, Bertie,
Bertie finds everything. He Bertie, you are an inveterate visitor
to consignment shops, to tag sails, to uh to antique shops.
Actually Dennis is too. And that's the one of the
things other than for all things Martha, that we love
(17:33):
that we connected on is our love for treasure hunting.
And I always joked that first of all, you know,
we will introduced to each other on Martha moments, So
you know I didn't. Oh, I didn't know that. Really,
that's so touching to me. By the way, we became
pen pals, and Dennis suggested, why don't we do jam swamps.
So we were mailing each other jams and you know.
(17:55):
And then and then, of course I remember Martha did
article about the world's longest yard sale. Oh yes. And
then so Dennis was attending this yard tale. I was
resisting because I said, I need to not buy so
many things. So Dennis said one year and says Hey, hey,
you know I'm coming to start the yard sull in Alabama,
which is only less than an hour from where you're living.
(18:16):
You might have a hand deliver the jams. Oh. I
was like, perfect, you can pick up your comment for me.
And so I said, well, and he came with two
of his friends, Claire and m and uh. So I said, perfect,
my excuse to make brunch. So I made brunch for them.
They came and um, that was our first meeting. You know,
that's uh when Martha Moment's friends get together, we you know,
(18:38):
we pull all the stuff. You're like, let's do Let's
do it very Martha. And we did that. And I
didn't go to the sale the first year, but I
saw Dennis his pictures that I'm going to the next year.
So the following year I went on the sale, and
then you know, I only went for one day, and
the next year I went, you know, more of the sale.
So you know, it was like we were dating on
(18:58):
the world's longest yard sale. I just hunted for and
the first thing we found that morning was a two
cup measuring cup from Kmark with green numbers on it
with a y. We have a whole cabinet fills. But
but those are the greatest, and again we use these
(19:19):
all the time. These are probably what thirty years old, yep,
more more than thirty as good as what they were
on day one. Now, there have been many companies out
(19:41):
there that have educated readers about domestic life. What attracted
you to my company, my brand, my magazine in particular,
so Andrew, I think it was just the clarity of
the instruction and the presentation of the ideas. I had
never really seen a magazine that elevation at the home
to such a beautiful standard. Um, And that was kind
(20:05):
of encouraging to sort of help you move to the
next level. If you knew how to do something like say,
bake a cake, let's take it to the next level.
Let's make it even better, even nicer. Um. And again
it was all through the photography, through the you know,
inspirational videos that you did on the television show as well. Um. Yeah,
(20:26):
just basically the presentation of the ideas that was just
so innovative and new. It just felt very um. You
lauded it to like a new level and that was
really inspiring. And Bernie, Bernie, what did you think, like,
I'm very visual like Andrews you can tell from Instagram,
but and also to pick it what he said also,
not only is it beautiful, Um, it's sort of like
(20:49):
the magazine. It gives you the tools, information you need,
the techniques right there, and it's one of those things
you read and like, oh, okay, so that's how you
do it. That's not so hard, or I can We'll
take a little bit of practice. And it's just very
empowering that way. You know, you you you do things
you thought. I never knew I could do that, But
then here are those instructions that you try. No, this
(21:11):
is fun. That was easy, and look how pretty it is.
Let's do it again. You know, it's just it's very empowering.
I guess it's yeah, and it's such a complete vision. Um.
I would say that I find you your products you
very uniquely designed and very user friendly, and you know,
to me, I think that they're set apart from all
(21:33):
the other product lines out there. You know, some people
like put their name on just anything, but the lot
of your items are I should say most of your items,
or maybe maybe I shouldn't even say, oh that they're
uniquely designed and user friendly and they're extremely functional as
(21:54):
well as useful, you know, and and well and well made. True,
I could I can add will made because like like you, gentlemen,
I really care about utility and I care about longevity.
I care. I don't want to make anything that's planned obsolete.
And you know, at the at present time, I don't
want to say, oh, this will last you for three
(22:15):
years and then you have to buy a new one.
Many many companies think that way. Uh, there is a
lot of a lot of economic books have been written
about about planned obsolescence. I don't believe in that at all.
In fact, my favorite towels at present are the towels
that I designed for Kmart in the nineteen eighties. Uh.
(22:36):
Those they're fabulous towels. They were made, I remember, made
in Brazil out of hundred percent cotton, and they are
I still have them. I have them in my whole
house in Maine. Every bathroom and there's like twenty bathrooms
up there in Maine has these towels um in the
in the bathroom and they're still as good as they
were when they were made in the nineteen eighties. So
(22:58):
so that's that's important to me, and I'm so glad
that you recognize that in the product. I'm jealous of
the way you display everything when I I look at
your at your Instagram every single day and I notice
how your displays are and there's you're so organizing. I
just want to buy another house and display everything the
way I think I probably have everything you have. We
(23:20):
moved in together, you know, both of us long time collectors,
and um, we actually have a problem right now. We
are actually looking for a property to display everything because
we have to rotate our displays at the moment. Well,
if you find someplace, I'll add, I'll add to your
archives any anything that's missing that I have, your welcome
to display. Make it, make a little let's make a
(23:42):
little museum. That's so funny because I was just thicking
of that the other day because that we a little destination.
You're you're you want to do it. Here we go,
Here we are, we're being entrepreneurial. And by the way, Bernie,
what's your favorite good thing? You know, it's really really
hard to pick, and um, I think I discovered that
(24:05):
my favorite. If I had to pick a good thing,
I think I'm tired with Andrew because he had shared
on his on the Market of moments. What his favorite
good thing was was the dish show. I'm staring at
it right now by the kitchen. It's the dishop that
you decanted into a nice bottle with a bar poor
top bore. So you know, let Andrew probably talk about
(24:27):
that because he you know, but because I've always thought,
you know, the sink, kitchen sink, it's so pretty and
you know, but such a simple idea. Yeah, yeah, the
soap bottles are so ugly and uh and and sorry,
Paul mall Off, you're my favorite dish. So but the
clear clear pal mall of is my favorite because it's clear,
(24:50):
and in those days, I don't think they were even
making clear. So mine was green, of course, but it
still looked better than the bottle of the plastic bottle
on my sink. So that was that was very That
was not my very first good thing. The very very
first good thing was when I painted the handles of
some small garden tools orange and I said, uh, now
(25:10):
my garden tools won't get lost in the garden. It's
a good thing because you'll see them. And that's when
it that's when everybody picked up on it's a good thing.
And uh and I continued with that French and my
second favorite, but my second favorite good thing is this
the best the hand cultivator from Japan. Yeah, and of
(25:34):
course you can see this is this is the version yea,
and it's uh, this one is Christine because this is
this you know. I bought as many as I could
so so so we never want to run out of these.
Particular of the one, the one we use all the
time has lost all its pain, so maybe it's ready
for a new coat. Well, I I totally agree. That
(25:57):
is my favorite garden tool to this day. I discovered
that shape hand cultivator in Japan on my first trip
sometime in the late I think I went to Japan
the first time around something and I discovered that tool.
And at that time, that tool costs a dollar ninety
in yen um uh in uh in outside of it
(26:21):
I think it was outside of Kyoto, and that's where
I found it. And boy, that has I have made
an awful lot of those tools and sold an awful
lot because it's really a great, great hand tool. I'm
glad you. I'm glad you like that. That's that's great. Now, Dennis,
what about you? Do you have a favorite good thing.
I think my very first good thing was the um
(26:43):
the copper tube being post guard, you know, with the
copper tool being with a copper cap. I've had to
replace a few of these because you call your post
by and whatnot. You stand it up in the garden
and you hammer that down into a corner, say of
a guard it in and then your hose goes around
it on the path and doesn't rip through your through
(27:05):
your flower bed. Yeah, I started making those. I was
trying to think. I remember that was a Turkey Hill road. Yeah,
a long time ago, and I had lots of brick
and gravel paths everywhere in my garden. It was a
very like william S Williamsburg esque kind of garden. And
I kept dragging my hose. I had to have somebody
(27:26):
stand there while I pulled the hose. It wouldn't go
into the flowers. And that's when I came up with
that copper that copper pipe. We still have them, I
still have them there still. I went out to the
garden this morning and washed that off. I'm like, I said,
you better get back. The hose is going to hit
the flowers. Spring. I got solded for bringing it in
(27:46):
he said, where did you get that? I said, it
was out there. I'll put it back when I'm done.
Oh and what about you, Andrew, what's your favorite good thing?
As Bernie mentioned, it's definitely the dish soap and the
by the side of the sink. It's just such a simple,
effective idea that you know, takes something that's not very
attractive and makes it attractive. I mean sometimes you actually
(28:07):
just want to look at the bottle because it's so
beautiful it's sitting beside the sink, you know, and it
encourages you obviously to do dishes as well. So but
there's just so many good things that have just been
so inspiring, and you know, I like the idea that
it's something that is nice. It appeals good things. Just
the name appeals to so many people. I remember one
of my girlfriends little girls, uh was in her kitchen
(28:31):
putting a saucer of water under the cat food dish
and the mother looked at her. He said, what the
heck are you doing? What are you putting water on
in a dish for? And she said, well, I learned
this good thing on Martha's show because it keeps the
ants from getting into the food. So this was like
a four year old girl telling her mother that she
(28:52):
had seen it on my show and that that just
made me understand that good things were widely appealing and
widely useful to all ages. So so thank you, thank
you for that. That's amazing. Andrew Richie, you edit your
own cookbooks. I did get a copy of your cookbook
(29:13):
last year. Yes, but you're an amazing editor. You're amazing.
What do you do for a living? Actually work at Anthropology,
which has nothing to do at all with editing. But
I'm a manager at an Anthropology store here in Ottawa
and Canada. Um, and I just like the environment of
the creativity of it. Um. If you know anything about Anthropology,
(29:34):
it's there's lots of display, there's lots of sort of
artistic merchandel. It's a store we visit often. And Anthropology
has now fostered another store called Terrain. Terrain Yeah, I
know you love Terrain. I have not done there. They're
not in Canada, but I really well when you come
down again, if you come down again, I will take
(29:54):
you to Terrain in Westport, Connecticut. It's one of the
one of the liveliest, nicest stores. And uh it's basically
a garden store that's branched out into home goods, to
at nursery and now they have a very nice restaurant,
and I think they must have maybe three or four
of them now scattered on the East coast. You would
like it a lot. We actually, after the tax still
(30:16):
closed on Saturday, we needed, of course, you know, we
needed to go do more shopping. So we actually drove
down to Westport Um not for terrain, actually because I
had never Dennis had visited Turkey Hill when you did
the garden to it. I had never seen Turkey Hill
in person. So we had to do a drive by,
I said, because he said, Well, they said, well what
(30:37):
should we do? We had our friend Jennifer was another
Moment's person that we met. She lives in Minneapolis, and
so she when she heard that we were going to
the sale, she asked if she could come along and
I said absolutely. And so after we got down with
the sale and they said, well not, what should we do?
And I said, wow, you guys want to go see
Turkey Hill? And there was like gas in the inside.
(31:00):
Let's go, let's go. And then so of course we
drove by. We drove up and down um, you know,
up and down the road hoping that you know. I
was that these people must think we're crazy driving up
and down, you know, just looking because it was just
you know. And then of course we went to terrain
and then we had the best seafood at West Fair
Fish and Chips. So we published the Martha Stewart Living
(31:21):
Magazine for thirty years. Last year was the thirtieth year
of publication. How many issues do you all have? I
have everything from onward, so every issue from right up
to the last issue. Um. I have all of the
special issues. I have all of the baby issues, all
(31:41):
of the kids issues. UM. I don't have every day
not a lot of everyday food and not a lot
of weddings. Um. And I also have I don't know
if you probably remember this, Martha, but it's your first newsletter,
the first newsletter that you ever published before the magazine.
I love that. Yeah, And that's such a treasure to
me too to have that it was something that you
(32:02):
had done before the magazine even started. And it's just
it's so personal too. It's one of my treasures. I
have a whole notebook of those I should I should
republish some of those because those were kind of interesting.
They were lots of good information too. And what about you, Dennis,
how many copies do you have? We have every issue
(32:23):
and duplicates of several And what's great about them is
when I pulled them out, I said, well, this is
still better than any magazine I can get on the
new Stepe absolutely know, even one that's twenty three years old.
The content is still just as relevant and informative and
visually just evergreen. Well, that's that's the word. We tried
(32:44):
very hard to make everything evergreen. Uh. And we we thought, well,
if this is the way to plant a tree, this
is the way we're going to write the instructions of
how to plant a tree, and we won't change it
until we find a better way to plant a tree.
So that's the way. That was our philosophy from day one,
is always to to try to try to get in
(33:07):
words the end pictures, beautiful photographs of the best way
to do everything. And so so here we have three
men who who can attest to the fact and they
still live by it. This is pretty fabulous. What's your
favorite cover, Andrew? I actually have it right here. I
have two of them. There's one with you on the
cover in one without you on the cover, But the
(33:29):
one with you on the cover is this one with
the photograph by William A. Brown Bits and it's teeny
Weenie and Mozart, and I think you're sitting in at
Lily Pond. That was no, that was yeah, that was tricky. Here.
The cats don't travels. Cats do not go from I
(33:51):
took them once. I took five cats once to Lily Pond,
and I spent three days searching for five and they
discovered every little nook and cranny that has had a
lot of nooks and crannies that I will never ever
take my cats elsewhere. So but Mozart, Mozart was my
(34:14):
favorite favorite of all cats. Mozarts was so beautiful. And
then what's the other what's your other favorite? This is
the one on the cover. Yeah, Christopher Baker took the photo.
You know, I think that's the first. That one is
the first issue I bought. I just think it's so stunning.
The colors, the composition that was again here in Bedford,
(34:39):
Um with Kevin Sharky using my tulips from the garden
in that black iron, beautiful black iron urn. And uh,
those tulips. He did the arrangement and that's a typical
Kevin Sharky arrangement. A few lilocks. Beat isn't it gorgeous? Yeah?
(34:59):
So beautiful. And Bill is still Bill is still a photographer.
Bill a brno as he was, he's like a breakthrough photographer.
Um and who did the cats? I forget the cats
was actually a brand of bits. And then Christopher that
was also as this one was Chris. Christopher Baker did
the flowers. Yeah, that's right. Chris Baker was one of
(35:21):
my first photographers and he did my Christmas book, my
first Christmas book and uh and and Christopher we had
I think thirty days to photograph that Christmas book and
by the thirtieth day he was almost broken because it
was a tremendous amount of work. And then he went
(35:42):
on to work for us for years afterward. We're still
good friends that I have one of his most beautiful
platinum photographs, platinum printed photographs in my front hall at
at the farm here. Uh and uh and he has
talented children and he's he's amazing. I'm amazing photographer. Do
you have a favorite cover, Bertie? Yeah, So my favorite
(36:05):
is this one. The Great Wall of China, well China,
because I remember the first time I just came in
the mail, I mean I stopped there was oh good,
you know, I don't know, don't feel so bad having
so many dishes. I love, you know, just how it's
displayed and just you know, it's just really comforting. And
actually my second favorite is actually I'm tied with Andrew
(36:26):
because this is the issue with the article about esthetic
transfer ware. That yeah, from that and you you got
some good stuff at the tag Sail, didn't you. I did. Um,
you know, my my prize pieces now to to almost
complete my collection of aesthetic transfer ware. So but yeah,
this is probably my favorite cover if I had to pick.
(36:47):
But you know, it's hard to pick. When people ask me,
I said, well, the one I'm currently looking at. Yeah,
so you guys, you guys remind me a little bit
of Frisch Carch. You know Fritz from the magazine. He
was are collecting editor. I mean, we had a collecting
editor and Nature editor, a uh many cooking editors. But
(37:08):
the collecting was something that appealed to so many people
because we we did stories on so many different collectibles
and uh and I think that that really when we
did fire King Fire Kings, the prices skyrocketed for fire
King and they still are way up there for the original. Well,
I think the thing that the collecting articles did was
(37:30):
a lot of people didn't see the beauty of the
utility of a lot of stuff. They just thought, Okay,
this is just junk or whatever. But the articles collecting
articles really highlighted, you know, the item that was featured,
like no class. You know, Um, I remember the article
about milk glass. That was just amazing because and you know,
I was happy with that because oh I can find
(37:50):
no class, you know, I did than other things. And
I think Venice has his favorite cover right there. Yeah.
I mean mine obviously is the very first one that
got introduced me to you and your your whole brand,
and so went about paint. Yeah, and you know the
rest is history, you know, and we're still we're still painting,
(38:11):
we're still choosing colors. Were still I just did. I
just painted the tenant house after the tag sail. The
tenant house was kind of empty because we took a
lot of stuff out of there. When my daughter came
up one day, that's her house and she just took
everything off the shelves and put it all on the floor,
and she said, I want this empty, and uh so
(38:32):
I so with all the walls, I just I repainted
the walls, just subtle shades of of in a low
V O C paint from from Texas Build fabulous, fabulous
water paint. Uh and the walls looked very beautiful. But
we're still doing it. Say, we'll never stop doing what
we love. And that's what the whole basis of living
(38:55):
was doing things that you love, to beautify your homes,
to make it nicer for everybody to live in really,
and and and and the chores and the and the
projects don't have to be break your back. They don't
have to be terribly expensive. They can just be uh Oh,
I've decided I really love I really loves to where
(39:16):
I'm going to start a little collection of my own
and display it on this wall. And that's what people
do now, and they then it gets them interested in
other things. And that's what I think we engendered a
lot of was was a delight in and collecting, displaying,
using all these beautiful things. You make good friends through
(39:36):
the process, yes you do. And that's indeed because I
think we always when we get together with other Martha
Moments members, I think we're all on that same way
length and we appreciate the same you know, doing things
nicely and all that. So when you get together, it's
just like it's like your old friends in a way.
But it's not even just doing it nicely. You your
(39:57):
guys are doing it wonderfully. And I am so proud
when I when I look at your work. So remember
at Bernie Wong Green, Um, Dennis, do you have a
handle to Yeah, I mean I'm not active on Instagram.
My Instagram is really the both of us, uh, you know, Denis, Yes,
that's what That's what I figure you're talking about each other. Yeah,
(40:19):
And I'm more on Facebook and with with the things
that we do, and so you know, it's so it's
kind of that way. It's not so time intensive for you.
You know, sometimes it takes time to do social media.
So tell tell me about it. I try. I try
very hard to. I've tried very hard to limit my
(40:41):
my viewing and my posting to just not not very
much in a day because I don't have time either.
But it's so fascinating to look at my good friends
and see what they're doing and Andrew, how long does
Martha Moments take of you? Well, I try to do
at least two or three a week to you posts
a week on the Instagram page. So it's at Martha
(41:02):
Underscore moments um. And then it's it's kind of moved
away from the blog a little bit to the social
media aspect, which I think is just sort of the
reality of life today. So there's the people have a
shorter attention spec Yes, exactly. Yeah. So there's the Martha
Moments Facebook group which has almost six thousand members now,
and then there's the Instagram page, which has almost five
(41:25):
thousand followers. So the Instagram is a good opportunity to
kind of really focus something on one post, one idea,
one photograph, one moment um and really highlight that. And
I'm very long green. Um. We actually it's it's almost
it's very spontaneous. It's really how we live, you know.
I we just it's just how we live and we
(41:47):
just happened. I'll just snap a photo. I'm like, okay,
let's have a photo that like when he decided to make.
But you want to know something, Bernie, Bernie, the differences
your photos are really good, Yes, and when you post them,
it looks so just amazing, every single one. So you'll
be getting after this podcast, you'll be getting a lot
more followers, all of you. So so be prepared. But yeah,
(42:11):
be ready. But but really and truly, Uh it's uh,
it's incredible what you what you make of the material.
And now, Bertie, you cook a lot? You are do
you also do things for people's parties and stuff or
are you catering a little bit? Yeah, so we cook
a lot because we were trying to have to eat
out as much because we like our own you know,
(42:32):
we make our work meals and and we could well
plus the fact that we make things better than we
can find when we go out, so and we have
a nice setup, and the fact why not and you know,
and Dennis, you know, we both collect cookbooks and we
love reading through them and just you know, so why
not cook a lot? And uh and yeah, I used
to have a business making wedding cakes. So now we
(42:55):
just do them for friends and family. Uh, you know,
we we try to not ever tell is because we
can't keep up. So it's just people who know we'll
call us and say, hey, can you make me some cookies?
We're like, okay, we hope we can. We're not at work. Well,
sometimes you make like a thousand cookies and they're so good,
like on an epic scale. Yeah, well, you know, we
(43:18):
love Actually, you know, it's it's I have to blame Dennis.
I usually like to make, you know, just two or
three batches just in. Dennis was like, well, why bothered
You're only going to make Yeah, it's like, oh, we
can make some Why don't want to make some extras?
You know? And so yeah, we do everything pretty much
on the grand scale. And now, now, Dennis, we didn't
talk about your occupation. You are a nurse. Yes, I
(43:40):
work at a state psychiatric hospital um where we all
pretty much forensic patients. So those are individuals who have
committed horrible crimes but who are mentally ill. But the
nice thing about that is I have a kind of
a unique schedule. So that's why I can, you know,
we can do the things that we'd like to do
(44:00):
because I end up working sixteen hour days and I
work five of those days every two weeks, and so
then I have eight days off in a row. Do
you have a stressful job? Yeah, but can't you can't?
You can you take your overflow cookies to the hospital.
Well not for the patients, but that my coworkers love
(44:22):
it when we do. Because when we make stuff, I said, well,
why don't we make an extra You can take one
to work or I'll take them to work, and the
people just love it. Co workers get you know when
like the other day we had we had to use
up some bananas, so we just made two banana cakes
and oh, these would be great at work, you know,
co workers would love them. So that's what we usually do.
We share with co workers. And I'm like, for Christmas,
you know, we don't tend to buy gifts because most
(44:44):
of our friends already have everything. We don't know what
to buy them, so and they appreciate getting something homemade.
And we learned that, you know, from reading the magazine.
And you know, we try to package to them like
in a nice box or in like if you're giving
somebody a bakington, you fill it up with cookies, you know.
Try everything looks picture perfect with Bernie Wong Green. What
(45:15):
about you, Andrew, you're cooking a lot. Well, you actually
taught me how to bake. I never really had even
sort of ventured that way. But when COVID happened. We
were kind of trapped in our houses for all that time. Um,
I realized that I had sort of bookmarked all of
these baking recipes in all of your cookbooks, and oh,
you know, one day I'll do it. One day I'll
make it, And then here I have all this time
(45:37):
on my hands. I just decided, Okay, well, now is
the time that I'm going to do it. So I started.
I did have an exercise bike nearby, just so you know, um, yeah,
and a freezer full of goodness. Um. But yeah, I
just started baking, and then also used your magazine as
kind of inspiration for styling the photographs of the finished product.
(45:59):
Someone like Aisha Patel, who worked with you for so
long in the style department, was such a big inspiration
to me and her styling of the photographs, and I
just decided to photograph them, put them together and make
a sort of like a very small cookbook for family
and friends. Um. And that was really rewarding to me.
So I just saw I shall last week and the
(46:21):
mushroom dinner. Did you did you post on the yes
a Gail's how He's gorgeous townhouse in Greenwich village. Uh
see these these gentlemen that I am talking to today,
This fan base knows my editors, they know the photographers,
they know the the everything that that we we, the
(46:43):
artists that drew the drawings. I mean, it's really great.
I Shaw would be so thrilled to know that you
were using her name. Yeah, I'm gone her. Yeah. We
were so glad because Hannah was posting some really fun
live videos and I was so glad I was available,
So I kept logging a side. Oh what's Hannah showing us? Now?
This is so cool, Martha. I don't know if you
(47:04):
can hear if we have chickens and we just en
We let them out during the winter to throw them
around in the yard and good are patio right now.
So I apologize if they're making noise because typically I
don't hear them. But but good for you. I went
to the to the Northeast Poultry Congress this Saturday with
(47:24):
Chrispitts Miller, and I got myself a pair of Bourbon
red turkeys. They're beautiful and they're gonna be They're gonna
be laying a lot of eggs and I hope I'll
hatch some some new ones. Um, and I got myself
some new coaches. I had a mail coach and a
black coach and a big one from last year and
(47:45):
no wives. So I got him some wives and he's
gonna be he's very happy. So yeah, we're still we're
still after at the chicken things. But I hear that
there is a network of people out there that look
for some of the product that we've produced. And there's
even a quarterly tag sale. Is that? The which which
tag sale is that? So that's the Martha Moments group,
(48:07):
the Facebook group which has as I say, almost six
thousand members now from all over the world. Um. Seasonally
we do a tag sale, so we sort of allow
people on the group to sell Martha Stewart books, magazines, products,
merchandise amongst each other. Um. And it's amazing what people
have and it's a really good way I think to
(48:30):
sort of get So when is that? When is that?
The next one will be in the spring? So I
do like spring, summer, fall, winter, Um, so probably I'm
guessing I haven't really decided on a date, but probably
April or May will open that up for the months
we'll be watching watching for that. Okay, And what are
the what are the products that Martha fans covet the most.
(48:53):
I think the I think at the moment the green mixers,
the Kitchen Aide green mixer, and I think, yeah, now, um.
I actually, before I was able to get one and
find one, I actually called Kitchen Aide and asked them, Okay,
how do we go about getting a color back? And
(49:14):
they said what color are you talking about? So I
told them and they said, oh, you know, that's a
retired color and we you know, they don't bring them back.
I actually even went to their headquarters and went on
a tour and brought it up again and uh and
they said, well, this keep calling because she said if
you bother them enough, they will bring back retired color.
(49:36):
So maybe Martha had called because it is Martha Green
on the mixture that stays on the bottom, Martha Green. Yeah,
oh yeah, no, it's definitely Martha Green. And don't don't
tell anybody, but I do have some of those. Yeah,
I'm gonna have to do another green green tag sails.
(49:56):
People have been asking and they're like, when do you
think Martha's Texas is? I want to Oh. I was like,
you know, I think Martha needs to rest and think
about it. So what what should every Martha fan have?
Would you say? I would say that every Martha fan
should probably have the first issue of the magazine if
they can find it. It does come up on eBay
quite regularly. What's what's the price now? On eBay it
(50:20):
usually starts around sixty dollars, which is the deal there
these days, because it is a deal. Yeah, I've seen
some go for hundreds. Yeah. Oh, I've seen some go
for hundreds of dollars. I'm yeah, this is it right here?
I know for his first issue recently, Wow, oh my goodness. Yeah,
(50:41):
and that that in my Ralph Lauren flannel shirt. Yes,
with your Armani sweater and your Haynes t shirt by Haynes.
Anything Martha by Mail now is very coveted by fans.
Um it's the then Illy was so superior and just
(51:03):
it was fantastic. But as far as something that everyone
should have if you bay, this was what I was
going to pine out. This was the first thing I
ever bought from the catalog and this little spatula but
it looks so harmless. Is that it just will change
your life in the kitchen when you bake cookies that's
in our that's in our new Martha Martha dot com tools.
(51:26):
That's my favorite spatula of all time. I I made
chicken wings yesterday and I roasted them on a flat
sheet cookie sheet with salt, and then to get them off,
I used that upside down. So that worked perfectly and
it got every speck of crust off. It was so great.
(51:49):
That is the best. So glad that folks can order
a version of this now on Martha dot Yes, and
we ordered so just to have good. Do you use
the square adle for your jelly making? Yeah? Yeah, we um.
It's now a collection, Martha. Every time a new version
comes out, we get at least one, so we have,
I think from the one from Macy's and the one
(52:11):
the Peroratory and we're excited. Oh yeah, I used that.
I used it yesterday. I was making dog food and
I had to take out the all the fish, the
fish from the broth for the dog food, and I
used the perforated one and it was perfect. I'm really
excited for the perforated one for you know, just all
kinds of jobs I can think of all. So again,
(52:32):
those of you who are listening who don't know what
the heck, we're talking about just uh, just look at
Martha dot Comfort some of our new products. UM. But
I am, I am thrilled to have talked to you guys,
and and and I am I am so relieved that
you are fans, that that actually you're You're such intelligent guys,
(52:54):
but you do appreciate quality, and I'm it makes me
so happy to hear you extol the virtues of what
we've tried to do for the last thirty years. I
always say learned something new every day, and uh, and
I have learned a lot from you today. It's a
it's an amazing conversation, and I would love to continue
(53:15):
it again, uh in a few months and see what
else you've discovered. Thank you so much for spending time
with us, and UM and Dennis, Andrew, Bernie, and thank
you and the many others out there for celebrating my company,
the company that I built from scratch. I'm proud to
hear that all the work we've done and continue to
(53:37):
do elevates living uh so that people like you are
interested in it. And I'm so happy to to have
spoken to you. To read Andrew's blog, go to Martha
Moments dot com and to follow Bernie go to at
Bernie Wong Green All one word again, thanks guys for
(54:01):
taking the time. I hope I didn't keep you from
your from your dedicated work, but it was such fun.
You are great. It was such a pleasure. Martha. Thanks Martha.
It was really fun and anytime. Thank you.
To all of our listeners. I'd like to hear from you.
Do you have a question? Only I can answer something
you've always wanted to ask me. Send questions to me
at TikTok Instagram or at asked Martha at Martha Stewart
dot com. I know, I don't know how many people
actually interview their fan base groundbreaking yea, So it's very
(00:26):
heartwarming to me, so I will begin. Over the years,
my colleagues and I have worked tirelessly to teach, to inform,
to delight, and to inspire throughout the process of building
an iconic and groundbreaking brand. I am lucky to have
built a following. Some fans are casual observers, and some
(00:49):
fans become very devout followers. Three of my most devoted
fans are Andrew Ritchie, Bernie Wong, and Dennis Landon. Andrew
as the creator of the Martha Moments blog, which is
a wonderful resource for all things Martha. Bernie manages an
Instagram account that features food, gardening, and my many products.
(01:11):
Dennis is equally enthusiastic about the Martha brand and has
been a big supporter of me for years. We all
met last year when these three traveled all the way
to New York to shop at my Great American Tag Sale,
and today I thought it would be informative and fun
to get together via video to find out why the
(01:31):
Martha brand attracted them so much. Welcome to my podcast, Andrew, Bernie,
and Dennis. It's very nice to see you via via zoom. Um. Okay,
but but you look good. You look the same as
you looked at the tag sail and uh and that was.
I think I'm still recovering from the tag sail. That was.
(01:54):
That was a very big effort on a lot of
people's parts. But boy, I think I think I expended
the most energy, just because gathering all that stuff from
all the different places that it came from was exhausting.
But to have people like you they're talking to the
rest of the buyers was so so fabulous And I
(02:17):
cannot tell you how much it meant to them to
have you there also. Now, I don't know, I don't
know if very many podcasters actually have interviewed their fan base.
But here we go. We're talking to We're talking to
three guys. You know, these are men, They're not women fans.
These are men fans who have kind of adopted the
(02:40):
Martha brand as something to focus on and uh, and
it's uh, it's quite astonishing to me that this has happened. Uh.
And you know, you know, I I know I have
friends and I consider you my friends. But it's hard
sometimes for a human being to think, oh my god,
I have a fan base, and that's how I feel.
(03:01):
I feel, Oh my gosh, it's uh, it's uh. And
when people say, oh, don't you get tired of people
asking for your autograph? I always say absolutely not, because
if they don't ask for my autograph, maybe they're they're
already forgetting me. But uh, but I think we've made
an impact. And I think that you guys, with your wonderful,
wonderful outpouring of information all things Martha, have really helped
(03:25):
support that that work that we have done over the
last thirty years as the Martha Stewart Living brand. So
thank you. I want to thank you. When when were
you first introduced to the Martha brand. Let's start with you, Bernie.
I was introduced um, to be honest, I you know,
I came as a foreign student from Malaysia and it
(03:48):
was my first Christmas without post parents, away from my
parents because it was not convenient to travel. And I
decided I'm going to bake cookies because I'm feeling really homesick.
So I turned on and let me and on the
TV to keep me company, and of course your show
was on, and I heard your voice and I was like,
who is this nice lady? She is not annoying like
(04:09):
a lot of other cookie shows. This is much better,
you know, she's actually and I said, oh, she's Martha Stewart.
I've never heard of her, and it's and it was like, oh,
and she's actually teaching me things I want to know
and I'm interested in I'm gonna learn. So that's that
was my What year was that, Bernie? That was nine six,
(04:29):
I think, or it's a long time ago. And what
about you, Dennis. Um, I actually bought my house that
we live in in Memorial Day and I was trying
to you know, do things around um, you know, improvements
around my house. And I was talking to a colleague
(04:51):
about like a year later because I wanted to like
get into the space and then try to figure out
what I wanted to do with color and that sort
of thing. And so I was talking to a colleague
and she said, you know, she said, there's a magazine
that I get that um, it's an issue that has
um the issue about painting, you know, like the interior
(05:11):
of a house in different techniques and stuff. And she said,
I'll bring it for you. So she brings it, and
what it is is this very issue from I Love
that issue from April May. And so I took it.
She said, she said, you can borrow the magazine, but
I want to back. It's like, okay, I look at
(05:32):
home and I started looking and then it's like I
got sidetracked because I started looking through it and the
whole painting section I was like the last of my
interests on it because there were so many other things
in the magazine. I got my attention, and so I
started getting the magazine. Um. Shortly thereafter, like I went
(05:53):
to the news stand and then started my own getting
the subscription and been getting it ever since. And the
house is still painted all the Martha colors here, so
how lovely. Now. I just want to point out that
Bernie and uh and Dennis our partners and lived together
in where do you live? Madison, Wisconsin? Madison, Wisconsin, far
(06:15):
from Malaysia, Bernie very far now to Andrew Ritchie, when
were you first introduced to the Martha brand? What attracted
you to my brand? It was definitely through the magazine. UM.
I was in college actually in Toronto, and every time
I would do groceries, I would just see this gorgeous
magazine at the news stand with these evocative photographs of
(06:39):
flower arrangements and cakes, and it just sort of entranced me,
and I just became so enamored of the visual style
of the magazine. Really, UM, I had gone to art
school in high school, so I had sort of like
a very aesthetic i I think, and it really just
sort of appealed to me. And then as I sort
of went through the magazine, I was realizing how much
(06:59):
it was a teaching me, um, how to things that
you know, my parents and that the generation of my
parents sort of neglected to teach. I think a lot
of their kids, um, how to make a bad how
to cook, how to um organize. UM. So all of
these things kind of like came into my life through
the magazine. But it was really the visual side of
(07:20):
the magazine that first piqued my interest. It's funny that
you say about but your parents forgot to teach you
because I remember my brother's a dentist in Buffalo, New
York and UM, and he said, Martha, he said, there
is an increased um incidents of tooth decay in children.
And I said, well, why what do you account? What
(07:42):
do you why because he said, because mothers are back
to work and they're not teaching their children how to
brush their teeth and not making sure the kids are
brushing their teeth. So it's the same thing mothers went
back to work, the single no parent household. The kids
were uh, they came ledg key kids and they didn't
know that nobody was teaching them anything about the domestic arts.
(08:05):
And my first real goal was to teach and inspire uh.
And it worked and worked on you three guys, which
is very nice. You you you got, you got the
message loud and clear, and that you were three men
who really spearheaded UM a big following of other followers
(08:26):
that your men. It's also indicative of the fact that
my fastest growing audience at the present time is men.
Because we were geared. We were geared totally towards women.
You know, advertisers wanted to know what age women were
we attracting. They never asked about the men. Now they're
asking about men. They want to know who is the audience.
(08:47):
Andrew Ritchie, you're You're the best editor that I know, really,
and your blog is so beautifully edited. It's called Martha Moments.
When did you start this blog and why so? I
started it in two thousand and six, which is a
really long time ago now that I think about it. UM,
I basically just wanted to build an archive, yes for fans,
(09:10):
written by a fan from a fan's perspective, UM, where
collectors could come and find out about UM, you know,
the magazines that you had published, the books that you
had published, and basically just sort of elevated again. UM.
I had actually written for a Save Martha dot com.
I know you remember Save Martha dot com during the Yes,
the early two thousand's. This was when I was having
(09:32):
legal problems. Everyone you probably if you're listening, you probably
know about those. And Andrew Ritchie was one of my
foremost supporters. Thank you. UM. What I found was that like,
not just you were sort of being undermined, but your
work was also being undermined, which I found very upsetting
as someone who had learned so much from it. So
when you were back at work and you were, you know,
(09:55):
back on television. UM, I wanted to really create something
that brought the work back and sort of made it
put the spotlight back on the goodness of the work
because it has really enhanced my life and so many
other people as well. So what did you think of
as a Martha moment and where did that name come from? Well,
the name actually comes from Oprah Winfrey. UM. She used
(10:17):
it once on her program when she was with you.
I think you were doing a weddings segment and you
had put a gardenia floating guardinia in a dish with
water and candles, and she said, oh, I'm having a
Martha moment. And at that time you can hear Roper's voice.
I know you can hear Roper's voice saying that. Um.
At that time, it was kind of a thing to
(10:39):
say you were having a Martha moment. So if you
made a beautiful cake, or if you set a beautiful table,
you would have a Martha moment. UM. So when I
actually sat down to write the blog, I knew that
that was going to be the title, because people could
have a Martha moment any day, anytime. UM. As long
as there was beauty, as long as there was some
kind of utility, some kind of you know, fascination with
(11:01):
the every day, that's a Martha moment. So that's how
it all kind of began. And people also say, it's
so Martha. Yeah, you know, that's a that's another phrase,
Martha moment is lovely and thank you oprah. Uh. But
it's so Martha is another thing I hear a lot
um and and how flattering that is too, because people
(11:24):
really respond to good ideas, and they also respond very
much to the other phrase that I use a lot.
It's a good thing. So it's a good thing, is
still a very alive and well. And people still joke.
They think it's a joke now you know, Oh it's
a good thing, and they laugh at yeah, yeah, yeah.
(11:45):
So you're the three of you showed up at the
tag sale. Now, everyone who's listening, I don't know if
you know about the Tag Sale. We did a TV
special about it called The Great American Tag Sale. And
I decided I had an overflow of UM collectibles, a
big overflow from I had sold my house in East
Hampton that was chalk full of beautiful things UM. I
(12:09):
had Barnes full of beautiful things here at my farm
in Bedford, New York, and I decided I would have
a charity tag sale to benefit my hospital at Mount
sign I called the Martha Stewart's Center for Living and
we did raise just shy, just shy of a million dollars,
which I was so proud of. And uh, and I
(12:30):
don't miss anything much. It's kind of heartbreaking to part
with some of the things that you collect, But boy,
I think we caused a lot of joy. And you
guys certainly helped engender a lot of goodwill by your
presence and I really appreciate that. What was it? What
was it like for you? Bernie? Um? It was like
(12:51):
a dream because I had never had the chance to
um come to any of your shows or come to
any of your book sightings, you know, for one reason
another my first time meeting you in person. So that
was that alone, was you know? I was like when
I when I met you the cocktail party the night before,
I thought, Okay, I don't care if I don't find
(13:11):
anything I wanted to buy, because I'm already happy that
I'm here. Yeah, of course, you know we got we
I think we found everything. We've got a huge didn't
you have a trailers attached to your car? Because you know,
and then you know the chairs, the green chairs we're
sitting on. Oh look you have those beautiful chairs powder
(13:31):
coated by Martha. What else did you get at the
tag sale, Bertie? Oh? We you know, we got we got.
The other favorite thing was the chairs that are reproductions
of the ones on the front cover of Entertaining. Oh
the Ring, the Ring, Chippendale Hepple white. Actually those are
heaval white chairs. Yeah, we have been stored away now.
(13:51):
We're currently shopping for new buildings. Put me so and
every A lot of stuff that we found that we love,
like the green metal phrase that you know I always
use for my tea time on my Instagram that I love,
you know, the metal market people Instagram Instagram Bernie Wong
Green Uh. And you will just be you will be
(14:14):
so happy to see this Instagram because it's not only
not only highlights beautiful green things and Martha things that
he has collected, but it also highlights the great talent
of Bernie is as a as a cook. You make
beautiful things, Bernie and Uh, when you were making your jam,
it was the most beautiful because I had never seen
(14:36):
those jam pots that you use full up here, full disclosure.
Those are his jam pots, and Dennis is the one
that introduced me to them. Oh those are those are great?
And I was like a big naysayer of those darn
jam pots until I used one and I thought, where
have these been all these years? Do they still sell them? Yeah?
(15:00):
And I think that I think that the Ball company.
At first, I think you should have a line of these, Yeah,
but I do. Um. The thing is the thing that
there's they're so incredibly um good for is for people
who are either handicapped or elderly, people who used to
make jam the old fashioned way but now can't stand
(15:20):
at a stove and certainly stand and stir. Yeah, it
does the stirring for you. That's the best part. Yeah, No,
it does the stirring. It does it contemperature control, so
you're not gonna burn your jam, You're not gonna have
boiling over your stove. All that syrup. Well, I I
use a French method of making jams and jellies, which
requires uh macerating the fruit in the refrigerator for a
(15:44):
couple of days. So I do that. But you can
do it with that jam podchare sure. What I like
about the idea of it is that it's temperature controlled
and then that it's self contained. You know, Yeah, that's
what I like about it. And so what did you
get from the jags sale Andrew? I was a little
limited by what I could bring back into Canada, and
I had a smallish car, so I didn't have a
(16:07):
lot of room to bring stuff home in. I would
have kept stuff for you. Oh you would have Oh
now I know, yes, Okay, I should have written my
name on something we welcome getulous I did. Yeah, so yeah.
One of the wicker plants stands that I think you had.
It was either at Lily Pond Lane or at one
(16:28):
of the houses at Cantido Corners um and it was
painted a beautiful sort of um Cylon green darker sale
on green, really beautiful. And it's in my dining room
now with a beautiful Boston fern on it, and every
time I look at it, I think of you, and
I think of that wonderful experience. I think there is
(16:48):
still a bureau and there is also I think a mirror,
and there's also a table still waiting to be picked up.
Paid for and not picked up. Okay, um, this little
caramel glass squirrel acorn. Yeah, I was the last one.
I wish I wanted a pair, but they we'll find
(17:11):
you more. We'll keep a lookout. Okay, thanks Bernie, Bertie,
Bertie finds everything. He Bertie, you are an inveterate visitor
to consignment shops, to tag sails, to uh to antique shops.
Actually Dennis is too. And that's the one of the
things other than for all things Martha, that we love
(17:33):
that we connected on is our love for treasure hunting.
And I always joked that first of all, you know,
we will introduced to each other on Martha moments, So
you know I didn't. Oh, I didn't know that. Really,
that's so touching to me. By the way, we became
pen pals, and Dennis suggested, why don't we do jam swamps.
So we were mailing each other jams and you know.
(17:55):
And then and then, of course I remember Martha did
article about the world's longest yard sale. Oh yes. And
then so Dennis was attending this yard tale. I was
resisting because I said, I need to not buy so
many things. So Dennis said one year and says Hey, hey,
you know I'm coming to start the yard sull in Alabama,
which is only less than an hour from where you're living.
(18:16):
You might have a hand deliver the jams. Oh. I
was like, perfect, you can pick up your comment for me.
And so I said, well, and he came with two
of his friends, Claire and m and uh. So I said, perfect,
my excuse to make brunch. So I made brunch for them.
They came and um, that was our first meeting. You know,
that's uh when Martha Moment's friends get together, we you know,
(18:38):
we pull all the stuff. You're like, let's do Let's
do it very Martha. And we did that. And I
didn't go to the sale the first year, but I
saw Dennis his pictures that I'm going to the next year.
So the following year I went on the sale, and
then you know, I only went for one day, and
the next year I went, you know, more of the sale.
So you know, it was like we were dating on
(18:58):
the world's longest yard sale. I just hunted for and
the first thing we found that morning was a two
cup measuring cup from Kmark with green numbers on it
with a y. We have a whole cabinet fills. But
but those are the greatest, and again we use these
(19:19):
all the time. These are probably what thirty years old, yep,
more more than thirty as good as what they were
on day one. Now, there have been many companies out
(19:41):
there that have educated readers about domestic life. What attracted
you to my company, my brand, my magazine in particular,
so Andrew, I think it was just the clarity of
the instruction and the presentation of the ideas. I had
never really seen a magazine that elevation at the home
to such a beautiful standard. Um, And that was kind
(20:05):
of encouraging to sort of help you move to the
next level. If you knew how to do something like say,
bake a cake, let's take it to the next level.
Let's make it even better, even nicer. Um. And again
it was all through the photography, through the you know,
inspirational videos that you did on the television show as well. Um. Yeah,
(20:26):
just basically the presentation of the ideas that was just
so innovative and new. It just felt very um. You
lauded it to like a new level and that was
really inspiring. And Bernie, Bernie, what did you think, like,
I'm very visual like Andrews you can tell from Instagram,
but and also to pick it what he said also,
not only is it beautiful, Um, it's sort of like
(20:49):
the magazine. It gives you the tools, information you need,
the techniques right there, and it's one of those things
you read and like, oh, okay, so that's how you
do it. That's not so hard, or I can We'll
take a little bit of practice. And it's just very
empowering that way. You know, you you you do things
you thought. I never knew I could do that, But
then here are those instructions that you try. No, this
(21:11):
is fun. That was easy, and look how pretty it is.
Let's do it again. You know, it's just it's very empowering.
I guess it's yeah, and it's such a complete vision. Um.
I would say that I find you your products you
very uniquely designed and very user friendly, and you know,
to me, I think that they're set apart from all
(21:33):
the other product lines out there. You know, some people
like put their name on just anything, but the lot
of your items are I should say most of your items,
or maybe maybe I shouldn't even say, oh that they're
uniquely designed and user friendly and they're extremely functional as
(21:54):
well as useful, you know, and and well and well made. True,
I could I can add will made because like like you, gentlemen,
I really care about utility and I care about longevity.
I care. I don't want to make anything that's planned obsolete.
And you know, at the at present time, I don't
want to say, oh, this will last you for three
(22:15):
years and then you have to buy a new one.
Many many companies think that way. Uh, there is a
lot of a lot of economic books have been written
about about planned obsolescence. I don't believe in that at all.
In fact, my favorite towels at present are the towels
that I designed for Kmart in the nineteen eighties. Uh.
(22:36):
Those they're fabulous towels. They were made, I remember, made
in Brazil out of hundred percent cotton, and they are
I still have them. I have them in my whole
house in Maine. Every bathroom and there's like twenty bathrooms
up there in Maine has these towels um in the
in the bathroom and they're still as good as they
were when they were made in the nineteen eighties. So
(22:58):
so that's that's important to me, and I'm so glad
that you recognize that in the product. I'm jealous of
the way you display everything when I I look at
your at your Instagram every single day and I notice
how your displays are and there's you're so organizing. I
just want to buy another house and display everything the
way I think I probably have everything you have. We
(23:20):
moved in together, you know, both of us long time collectors,
and um, we actually have a problem right now. We
are actually looking for a property to display everything because
we have to rotate our displays at the moment. Well,
if you find someplace, I'll add, I'll add to your
archives any anything that's missing that I have, your welcome
to display. Make it, make a little let's make a
(23:42):
little museum. That's so funny because I was just thicking
of that the other day because that we a little destination.
You're you're you want to do it. Here we go,
Here we are, we're being entrepreneurial. And by the way, Bernie,
what's your favorite good thing? You know, it's really really
hard to pick, and um, I think I discovered that
(24:05):
my favorite. If I had to pick a good thing,
I think I'm tired with Andrew because he had shared
on his on the Market of moments. What his favorite
good thing was was the dish show. I'm staring at
it right now by the kitchen. It's the dishop that
you decanted into a nice bottle with a bar poor
top bore. So you know, let Andrew probably talk about
(24:27):
that because he you know, but because I've always thought,
you know, the sink, kitchen sink, it's so pretty and
you know, but such a simple idea. Yeah, yeah, the
soap bottles are so ugly and uh and and sorry,
Paul mall Off, you're my favorite dish. So but the
clear clear pal mall of is my favorite because it's clear,
(24:50):
and in those days, I don't think they were even
making clear. So mine was green, of course, but it
still looked better than the bottle of the plastic bottle
on my sink. So that was that was very That
was not my very first good thing. The very very
first good thing was when I painted the handles of
some small garden tools orange and I said, uh, now
(25:10):
my garden tools won't get lost in the garden. It's
a good thing because you'll see them. And that's when
it that's when everybody picked up on it's a good thing.
And uh and I continued with that French and my
second favorite, but my second favorite good thing is this
the best the hand cultivator from Japan. Yeah, and of
(25:34):
course you can see this is this is the version yea,
and it's uh, this one is Christine because this is
this you know. I bought as many as I could
so so so we never want to run out of these.
Particular of the one, the one we use all the
time has lost all its pain, so maybe it's ready
for a new coat. Well, I I totally agree. That
(25:57):
is my favorite garden tool to this day. I discovered
that shape hand cultivator in Japan on my first trip
sometime in the late I think I went to Japan
the first time around something and I discovered that tool.
And at that time, that tool costs a dollar ninety
in yen um uh in uh in outside of it
(26:21):
I think it was outside of Kyoto, and that's where
I found it. And boy, that has I have made
an awful lot of those tools and sold an awful
lot because it's really a great, great hand tool. I'm
glad you. I'm glad you like that. That's that's great. Now, Dennis,
what about you? Do you have a favorite good thing.
I think my very first good thing was the um
(26:43):
the copper tube being post guard, you know, with the
copper tool being with a copper cap. I've had to
replace a few of these because you call your post
by and whatnot. You stand it up in the garden
and you hammer that down into a corner, say of
a guard it in and then your hose goes around
it on the path and doesn't rip through your through
(27:05):
your flower bed. Yeah, I started making those. I was
trying to think. I remember that was a Turkey Hill road. Yeah,
a long time ago, and I had lots of brick
and gravel paths everywhere in my garden. It was a
very like william S Williamsburg esque kind of garden. And
I kept dragging my hose. I had to have somebody
(27:26):
stand there while I pulled the hose. It wouldn't go
into the flowers. And that's when I came up with
that copper that copper pipe. We still have them, I
still have them there still. I went out to the
garden this morning and washed that off. I'm like, I said,
you better get back. The hose is going to hit
the flowers. Spring. I got solded for bringing it in
(27:46):
he said, where did you get that? I said, it
was out there. I'll put it back when I'm done.
Oh and what about you, Andrew, what's your favorite good thing?
As Bernie mentioned, it's definitely the dish soap and the
by the side of the sink. It's just such a simple,
effective idea that you know, takes something that's not very
attractive and makes it attractive. I mean sometimes you actually
(28:07):
just want to look at the bottle because it's so
beautiful it's sitting beside the sink, you know, and it
encourages you obviously to do dishes as well. So but
there's just so many good things that have just been
so inspiring, and you know, I like the idea that
it's something that is nice. It appeals good things. Just
the name appeals to so many people. I remember one
of my girlfriends little girls, uh was in her kitchen
(28:31):
putting a saucer of water under the cat food dish
and the mother looked at her. He said, what the
heck are you doing? What are you putting water on
in a dish for? And she said, well, I learned
this good thing on Martha's show because it keeps the
ants from getting into the food. So this was like
a four year old girl telling her mother that she
(28:52):
had seen it on my show and that that just
made me understand that good things were widely appealing and
widely useful to all ages. So so thank you, thank
you for that. That's amazing. Andrew Richie, you edit your
own cookbooks. I did get a copy of your cookbook
(29:13):
last year. Yes, but you're an amazing editor. You're amazing.
What do you do for a living? Actually work at Anthropology,
which has nothing to do at all with editing. But
I'm a manager at an Anthropology store here in Ottawa
and Canada. Um, and I just like the environment of
the creativity of it. Um. If you know anything about Anthropology,
(29:34):
it's there's lots of display, there's lots of sort of
artistic merchandel. It's a store we visit often. And Anthropology
has now fostered another store called Terrain. Terrain Yeah, I
know you love Terrain. I have not done there. They're
not in Canada, but I really well when you come
down again, if you come down again, I will take
(29:54):
you to Terrain in Westport, Connecticut. It's one of the
one of the liveliest, nicest stores. And uh it's basically
a garden store that's branched out into home goods, to
at nursery and now they have a very nice restaurant,
and I think they must have maybe three or four
of them now scattered on the East coast. You would
like it a lot. We actually, after the tax still
(30:16):
closed on Saturday, we needed, of course, you know, we
needed to go do more shopping. So we actually drove
down to Westport Um not for terrain, actually because I
had never Dennis had visited Turkey Hill when you did
the garden to it. I had never seen Turkey Hill
in person. So we had to do a drive by,
I said, because he said, Well, they said, well what
(30:37):
should we do? We had our friend Jennifer was another
Moment's person that we met. She lives in Minneapolis, and
so she when she heard that we were going to
the sale, she asked if she could come along and
I said absolutely. And so after we got down with
the sale and they said, well not, what should we do?
And I said, wow, you guys want to go see
Turkey Hill? And there was like gas in the inside.
(31:00):
Let's go, let's go. And then so of course we
drove by. We drove up and down um, you know,
up and down the road hoping that you know. I
was that these people must think we're crazy driving up
and down, you know, just looking because it was just
you know. And then of course we went to terrain
and then we had the best seafood at West Fair
Fish and Chips. So we published the Martha Stewart Living
(31:21):
Magazine for thirty years. Last year was the thirtieth year
of publication. How many issues do you all have? I
have everything from onward, so every issue from right up
to the last issue. Um. I have all of the
special issues. I have all of the baby issues, all
(31:41):
of the kids issues. UM. I don't have every day
not a lot of everyday food and not a lot
of weddings. Um. And I also have I don't know
if you probably remember this, Martha, but it's your first newsletter,
the first newsletter that you ever published before the magazine.
I love that. Yeah, And that's such a treasure to
me too to have that it was something that you
(32:02):
had done before the magazine even started. And it's just
it's so personal too. It's one of my treasures. I
have a whole notebook of those I should I should
republish some of those because those were kind of interesting.
They were lots of good information too. And what about you, Dennis,
how many copies do you have? We have every issue
(32:23):
and duplicates of several And what's great about them is
when I pulled them out, I said, well, this is
still better than any magazine I can get on the
new Stepe absolutely know, even one that's twenty three years old.
The content is still just as relevant and informative and
visually just evergreen. Well, that's that's the word. We tried
(32:44):
very hard to make everything evergreen. Uh. And we we thought, well,
if this is the way to plant a tree, this
is the way we're going to write the instructions of
how to plant a tree, and we won't change it
until we find a better way to plant a tree.
So that's the way. That was our philosophy from day one,
is always to to try to try to get in
(33:07):
words the end pictures, beautiful photographs of the best way
to do everything. And so so here we have three
men who who can attest to the fact and they
still live by it. This is pretty fabulous. What's your
favorite cover, Andrew? I actually have it right here. I
have two of them. There's one with you on the
cover in one without you on the cover, But the
(33:29):
one with you on the cover is this one with
the photograph by William A. Brown Bits and it's teeny
Weenie and Mozart, and I think you're sitting in at
Lily Pond. That was no, that was yeah, that was tricky. Here.
The cats don't travels. Cats do not go from I
(33:51):
took them once. I took five cats once to Lily Pond,
and I spent three days searching for five and they
discovered every little nook and cranny that has had a
lot of nooks and crannies that I will never ever
take my cats elsewhere. So but Mozart, Mozart was my
(34:14):
favorite favorite of all cats. Mozarts was so beautiful. And
then what's the other what's your other favorite? This is
the one on the cover. Yeah, Christopher Baker took the photo.
You know, I think that's the first. That one is
the first issue I bought. I just think it's so stunning.
The colors, the composition that was again here in Bedford,
(34:39):
Um with Kevin Sharky using my tulips from the garden
in that black iron, beautiful black iron urn. And uh,
those tulips. He did the arrangement and that's a typical
Kevin Sharky arrangement. A few lilocks. Beat isn't it gorgeous? Yeah?
(34:59):
So beautiful. And Bill is still Bill is still a photographer.
Bill a brno as he was, he's like a breakthrough photographer.
Um and who did the cats? I forget the cats
was actually a brand of bits. And then Christopher that
was also as this one was Chris. Christopher Baker did
the flowers. Yeah, that's right. Chris Baker was one of
(35:21):
my first photographers and he did my Christmas book, my
first Christmas book and uh and and Christopher we had
I think thirty days to photograph that Christmas book and
by the thirtieth day he was almost broken because it
was a tremendous amount of work. And then he went
(35:42):
on to work for us for years afterward. We're still
good friends that I have one of his most beautiful
platinum photographs, platinum printed photographs in my front hall at
at the farm here. Uh and uh and he has
talented children and he's he's amazing. I'm amazing photographer. Do
you have a favorite cover, Bertie? Yeah, So my favorite
(36:05):
is this one. The Great Wall of China, well China,
because I remember the first time I just came in
the mail, I mean I stopped there was oh good,
you know, I don't know, don't feel so bad having
so many dishes. I love, you know, just how it's
displayed and just you know, it's just really comforting. And
actually my second favorite is actually I'm tied with Andrew
(36:26):
because this is the issue with the article about esthetic
transfer ware. That yeah, from that and you you got
some good stuff at the tag Sail, didn't you. I did. Um,
you know, my my prize pieces now to to almost
complete my collection of aesthetic transfer ware. So but yeah,
this is probably my favorite cover if I had to pick.
(36:47):
But you know, it's hard to pick. When people ask me,
I said, well, the one I'm currently looking at. Yeah,
so you guys, you guys remind me a little bit
of Frisch Carch. You know Fritz from the magazine. He
was are collecting editor. I mean, we had a collecting
editor and Nature editor, a uh many cooking editors. But
(37:08):
the collecting was something that appealed to so many people
because we we did stories on so many different collectibles
and uh and I think that that really when we
did fire King Fire Kings, the prices skyrocketed for fire
King and they still are way up there for the original. Well,
I think the thing that the collecting articles did was
(37:30):
a lot of people didn't see the beauty of the
utility of a lot of stuff. They just thought, Okay,
this is just junk or whatever. But the articles collecting
articles really highlighted, you know, the item that was featured,
like no class. You know, Um, I remember the article
about milk glass. That was just amazing because and you know,
I was happy with that because oh I can find
(37:50):
no class, you know, I did than other things. And
I think Venice has his favorite cover right there. Yeah.
I mean mine obviously is the very first one that
got introduced me to you and your your whole brand,
and so went about paint. Yeah, and you know the
rest is history, you know, and we're still we're still painting,
(38:11):
we're still choosing colors. Were still I just did. I
just painted the tenant house after the tag sail. The
tenant house was kind of empty because we took a
lot of stuff out of there. When my daughter came
up one day, that's her house and she just took
everything off the shelves and put it all on the floor,
and she said, I want this empty, and uh so
(38:32):
I so with all the walls, I just I repainted
the walls, just subtle shades of of in a low
V O C paint from from Texas Build fabulous, fabulous
water paint. Uh and the walls looked very beautiful. But
we're still doing it. Say, we'll never stop doing what
we love. And that's what the whole basis of living
(38:55):
was doing things that you love, to beautify your homes,
to make it nicer for everybody to live in really,
and and and and the chores and the and the
projects don't have to be break your back. They don't
have to be terribly expensive. They can just be uh Oh,
I've decided I really love I really loves to where
(39:16):
I'm going to start a little collection of my own
and display it on this wall. And that's what people
do now, and they then it gets them interested in
other things. And that's what I think we engendered a
lot of was was a delight in and collecting, displaying,
using all these beautiful things. You make good friends through
(39:36):
the process, yes you do. And that's indeed because I
think we always when we get together with other Martha
Moments members, I think we're all on that same way
length and we appreciate the same you know, doing things
nicely and all that. So when you get together, it's
just like it's like your old friends in a way.
But it's not even just doing it nicely. You your
(39:57):
guys are doing it wonderfully. And I am so proud
when I when I look at your work. So remember
at Bernie Wong Green, Um, Dennis, do you have a
handle to Yeah, I mean I'm not active on Instagram.
My Instagram is really the both of us, uh, you know, Denis, Yes,
that's what That's what I figure you're talking about each other. Yeah,
(40:19):
And I'm more on Facebook and with with the things
that we do, and so you know, it's so it's
kind of that way. It's not so time intensive for you.
You know, sometimes it takes time to do social media.
So tell tell me about it. I try. I try
very hard to. I've tried very hard to limit my
(40:41):
my viewing and my posting to just not not very
much in a day because I don't have time either.
But it's so fascinating to look at my good friends
and see what they're doing and Andrew, how long does
Martha Moments take of you? Well, I try to do
at least two or three a week to you posts
a week on the Instagram page. So it's at Martha
(41:02):
Underscore moments um. And then it's it's kind of moved
away from the blog a little bit to the social
media aspect, which I think is just sort of the
reality of life today. So there's the people have a
shorter attention spec Yes, exactly. Yeah. So there's the Martha
Moments Facebook group which has almost six thousand members now,
and then there's the Instagram page, which has almost five
(41:25):
thousand followers. So the Instagram is a good opportunity to
kind of really focus something on one post, one idea,
one photograph, one moment um and really highlight that. And
I'm very long green. Um. We actually it's it's almost
it's very spontaneous. It's really how we live, you know.
I we just it's just how we live and we
(41:47):
just happened. I'll just snap a photo. I'm like, okay,
let's have a photo that like when he decided to make.
But you want to know something, Bernie, Bernie, the differences
your photos are really good, Yes, and when you post them,
it looks so just amazing, every single one. So you'll
be getting after this podcast, you'll be getting a lot
more followers, all of you. So so be prepared. But yeah,
(42:11):
be ready. But but really and truly, Uh it's uh,
it's incredible what you what you make of the material.
And now, Bertie, you cook a lot? You are do
you also do things for people's parties and stuff or
are you catering a little bit? Yeah, so we cook
a lot because we were trying to have to eat
out as much because we like our own you know,
(42:32):
we make our work meals and and we could well
plus the fact that we make things better than we
can find when we go out, so and we have
a nice setup, and the fact why not and you know,
and Dennis, you know, we both collect cookbooks and we
love reading through them and just you know, so why
not cook a lot? And uh and yeah, I used
to have a business making wedding cakes. So now we
(42:55):
just do them for friends and family. Uh, you know,
we we try to not ever tell is because we
can't keep up. So it's just people who know we'll
call us and say, hey, can you make me some cookies?
We're like, okay, we hope we can. We're not at work. Well,
sometimes you make like a thousand cookies and they're so good,
like on an epic scale. Yeah, well, you know, we
(43:18):
love Actually, you know, it's it's I have to blame Dennis.
I usually like to make, you know, just two or
three batches just in. Dennis was like, well, why bothered
You're only going to make Yeah, it's like, oh, we
can make some Why don't want to make some extras?
You know? And so yeah, we do everything pretty much
on the grand scale. And now, now, Dennis, we didn't
talk about your occupation. You are a nurse. Yes, I
(43:40):
work at a state psychiatric hospital um where we all
pretty much forensic patients. So those are individuals who have
committed horrible crimes but who are mentally ill. But the
nice thing about that is I have a kind of
a unique schedule. So that's why I can, you know,
we can do the things that we'd like to do
(44:00):
because I end up working sixteen hour days and I
work five of those days every two weeks, and so
then I have eight days off in a row. Do
you have a stressful job? Yeah, but can't you can't?
You can you take your overflow cookies to the hospital.
Well not for the patients, but that my coworkers love
(44:22):
it when we do. Because when we make stuff, I said, well,
why don't we make an extra You can take one
to work or I'll take them to work, and the
people just love it. Co workers get you know when
like the other day we had we had to use
up some bananas, so we just made two banana cakes
and oh, these would be great at work, you know,
co workers would love them. So that's what we usually do.
We share with co workers. And I'm like, for Christmas,
you know, we don't tend to buy gifts because most
(44:44):
of our friends already have everything. We don't know what
to buy them, so and they appreciate getting something homemade.
And we learned that, you know, from reading the magazine.
And you know, we try to package to them like
in a nice box or in like if you're giving
somebody a bakington, you fill it up with cookies, you know.
Try everything looks picture perfect with Bernie Wong Green. What
(45:15):
about you, Andrew, you're cooking a lot. Well, you actually
taught me how to bake. I never really had even
sort of ventured that way. But when COVID happened. We
were kind of trapped in our houses for all that time. Um,
I realized that I had sort of bookmarked all of
these baking recipes in all of your cookbooks, and oh,
you know, one day I'll do it. One day I'll
make it, And then here I have all this time
(45:37):
on my hands. I just decided, Okay, well, now is
the time that I'm going to do it. So I started.
I did have an exercise bike nearby, just so you know, um, yeah,
and a freezer full of goodness. Um. But yeah, I
just started baking, and then also used your magazine as
kind of inspiration for styling the photographs of the finished product.
(45:59):
Someone like Aisha Patel, who worked with you for so
long in the style department, was such a big inspiration
to me and her styling of the photographs, and I
just decided to photograph them, put them together and make
a sort of like a very small cookbook for family
and friends. Um. And that was really rewarding to me.
So I just saw I shall last week and the
(46:21):
mushroom dinner. Did you did you post on the yes
a Gail's how He's gorgeous townhouse in Greenwich village. Uh
see these these gentlemen that I am talking to today,
This fan base knows my editors, they know the photographers,
they know the the everything that that we we, the
(46:43):
artists that drew the drawings. I mean, it's really great.
I Shaw would be so thrilled to know that you
were using her name. Yeah, I'm gone her. Yeah. We
were so glad because Hannah was posting some really fun
live videos and I was so glad I was available,
So I kept logging a side. Oh what's Hannah showing us? Now?
This is so cool, Martha. I don't know if you
(47:04):
can hear if we have chickens and we just en
We let them out during the winter to throw them
around in the yard and good are patio right now.
So I apologize if they're making noise because typically I
don't hear them. But but good for you. I went
to the to the Northeast Poultry Congress this Saturday with
(47:24):
Chrispitts Miller, and I got myself a pair of Bourbon
red turkeys. They're beautiful and they're gonna be They're gonna
be laying a lot of eggs and I hope I'll
hatch some some new ones. Um, and I got myself
some new coaches. I had a mail coach and a
black coach and a big one from last year and
(47:45):
no wives. So I got him some wives and he's
gonna be he's very happy. So yeah, we're still we're
still after at the chicken things. But I hear that
there is a network of people out there that look
for some of the product that we've produced. And there's
even a quarterly tag sale. Is that? The which which
tag sale is that? So that's the Martha Moments group,
(48:07):
the Facebook group which has as I say, almost six
thousand members now from all over the world. Um. Seasonally
we do a tag sale, so we sort of allow
people on the group to sell Martha Stewart books, magazines, products,
merchandise amongst each other. Um. And it's amazing what people
have and it's a really good way I think to
(48:30):
sort of get So when is that? When is that?
The next one will be in the spring? So I
do like spring, summer, fall, winter, Um, so probably I'm
guessing I haven't really decided on a date, but probably
April or May will open that up for the months
we'll be watching watching for that. Okay, And what are
the what are the products that Martha fans covet the most.
(48:53):
I think the I think at the moment the green mixers,
the Kitchen Aide green mixer, and I think, yeah, now, um.
I actually, before I was able to get one and
find one, I actually called Kitchen Aide and asked them, Okay,
how do we go about getting a color back? And
(49:14):
they said what color are you talking about? So I
told them and they said, oh, you know, that's a
retired color and we you know, they don't bring them back.
I actually even went to their headquarters and went on
a tour and brought it up again and uh and
they said, well, this keep calling because she said if
you bother them enough, they will bring back retired color.
(49:36):
So maybe Martha had called because it is Martha Green
on the mixture that stays on the bottom, Martha Green. Yeah,
oh yeah, no, it's definitely Martha Green. And don't don't
tell anybody, but I do have some of those. Yeah,
I'm gonna have to do another green green tag sails.
(49:56):
People have been asking and they're like, when do you
think Martha's Texas is? I want to Oh. I was like,
you know, I think Martha needs to rest and think
about it. So what what should every Martha fan have?
Would you say? I would say that every Martha fan
should probably have the first issue of the magazine if
they can find it. It does come up on eBay
quite regularly. What's what's the price now? On eBay it
(50:20):
usually starts around sixty dollars, which is the deal there
these days, because it is a deal. Yeah, I've seen
some go for hundreds. Yeah. Oh, I've seen some go
for hundreds of dollars. I'm yeah, this is it right here?
I know for his first issue recently, Wow, oh my goodness. Yeah,
(50:41):
and that that in my Ralph Lauren flannel shirt. Yes,
with your Armani sweater and your Haynes t shirt by Haynes.
Anything Martha by Mail now is very coveted by fans.
Um it's the then Illy was so superior and just
(51:03):
it was fantastic. But as far as something that everyone
should have if you bay, this was what I was
going to pine out. This was the first thing I
ever bought from the catalog and this little spatula but
it looks so harmless. Is that it just will change
your life in the kitchen when you bake cookies that's
in our that's in our new Martha Martha dot com tools.
(51:26):
That's my favorite spatula of all time. I I made
chicken wings yesterday and I roasted them on a flat
sheet cookie sheet with salt, and then to get them off,
I used that upside down. So that worked perfectly and
it got every speck of crust off. It was so great.
(51:49):
That is the best. So glad that folks can order
a version of this now on Martha dot Yes, and
we ordered so just to have good. Do you use
the square adle for your jelly making? Yeah? Yeah, we um.
It's now a collection, Martha. Every time a new version
comes out, we get at least one, so we have,
I think from the one from Macy's and the one
(52:11):
the Peroratory and we're excited. Oh yeah, I used that.
I used it yesterday. I was making dog food and
I had to take out the all the fish, the
fish from the broth for the dog food, and I
used the perforated one and it was perfect. I'm really
excited for the perforated one for you know, just all
kinds of jobs I can think of all. So again,
(52:32):
those of you who are listening who don't know what
the heck, we're talking about just uh, just look at
Martha dot Comfort some of our new products. UM. But
I am, I am thrilled to have talked to you guys,
and and and I am I am so relieved that
you are fans, that that actually you're You're such intelligent guys,
(52:54):
but you do appreciate quality, and I'm it makes me
so happy to hear you extol the virtues of what
we've tried to do for the last thirty years. I
always say learned something new every day, and uh, and
I have learned a lot from you today. It's a
it's an amazing conversation, and I would love to continue
(53:15):
it again, uh in a few months and see what
else you've discovered. Thank you so much for spending time
with us, and UM and Dennis, Andrew, Bernie, and thank
you and the many others out there for celebrating my company,
the company that I built from scratch. I'm proud to
hear that all the work we've done and continue to
(53:37):
do elevates living uh so that people like you are
interested in it. And I'm so happy to to have
spoken to you. To read Andrew's blog, go to Martha
Moments dot com and to follow Bernie go to at
Bernie Wong Green All one word again, thanks guys for
(54:01):
taking the time. I hope I didn't keep you from
your from your dedicated work, but it was such fun.
You are great. It was such a pleasure. Martha. Thanks Martha.
It was really fun and anytime. Thank you.
Host
Martha Stewart
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!