Martha Stewart Living October 2020

INSPIRING FALL READS Uprooted (Timber Press) tells through essays and photography how gardener and writer Page Dickey broke ground on a new plot (and new chapter) in Connecticut. In Life in the Studio (Artisan), ceramist Frances Palmer shares just-roll-up-your-sleeves advice on throwing pottery, growing dahlias, cooking her tried-and-true recipes, and everything in between. Sean Scherer’s Kabinett & Kammer (Vendome) is a visual feast for collectors, full of ideas for displaying beloved objects.…

ONE THING IS CERTAIN: A lot feels uncertain right now. As I write to you in August, I’m wishing for a crystal ball to tell me what October might bring. This is the fourth issue the Living team has published from our home offices (and dining-room tables), and I’ve learned from the previous three that so much can happen between when I type this note and when you read it. The pandemic numbers are rising in the country, and the toll is staggering. Challenges fill the news daily, and the September back-to-school situation isn’t looking the least bit familiar. I’m hoping things will be better when this reaches you. We are living through profoundly trying times. And yet these days I do find comfort in the things I can make better,…

ON THE ROAD GRAPE ESCAPES A very good vino poured in a verdant setting is transporting—even at a winery just outside of a city. Take in the endless rolling hills of Barboursville Vineyards (shown), a half hour from Charlottesville, Virginia, with a bottle of the estate’s flagship Octagon red blend and a plate of the restaurant’s fresh tagliatelle (bbvwine.com). Here, three more spots for a getaway in a glass. ALBUQUERQUE Gruet Winery makes quite a splash in this desert town. Its much-lauded bubbly sparkles to life on machinery imported from Champagne, France; watch the process on a tour (with an advance reservation). gruetwinery.com GENEVA, N.Y. Book the weekend Tasting Table experience to sample Ravines Wine Cellars classics in élevage—directly from the cask or barrel—and enjoy them paired with seasonal bites like braised-beef sliders. ravineswine.com WESTMINSTER, MD. Kick back…

IN ANOTHER LIFE, I would just grow trees. I love their incredible variety. They can be tall and majestic, weeping or cone-shaped; have trunks with smooth or exfoliating barks; and produce blossoms that smell like perfume or delicious fruit or nuts. Some sprout up quickly, while others take what seems like forever to develop into proud centenarians. I wish I had the space in this column to share with you all the different seedlings I have ordered over the past eight years. It has become a near-obsession of mine to see how many babies I can grow into strong saplings, and then plant in the woods and along the roads and paths to create allées on the farm. Trees are unquestionably important to our environment, providing oxygen, cleaning drinking water, helping…

SIP & REPEAT Spooky Specials Amaro, an herbal Italian liqueur, gives these cool cocktails a fall twist. Make it a double, for your toil and trouble. Bitter Martini Pour 2 ounces gin and ¾ ounce amaro (such as Amaro Nepèta) into a cocktail shaker of ice; shake 10 seconds. Strain into a chilled martini glass, garnish with onion-olive eyeballs (use the tip of a paring knife or a small melon baller to carve a ½-inch well into one side of a large cocktail onion; insert a pimiento-stuffed-olive slice; skewer), and serve. Extra Dark & Stormy Muddle 1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger with 1 teaspoon superfine sugar in a highball glass. Add ¾ ounce fresh lime juice and crushed ice. Top with 1 ounce dark rum, then 1 ounce amaro. Peel a long strip of orange zest.…

Drawers for Days An antique dental cabinet Lorna scored for $90 at a country auction solved one of her kitchen’s biggest setbacks: It had just one drawer, by the sink, with room only for her everyday flatware. “You can find lots of old office-supply furniture with great compartments like this,” she says. After sanding off the rust, she brushed on super-glossy oil-based paint, lightly sanded it again, and gave it a second coat. The yard-sale shelf with the jars mounted above used to hold nails and screws. Lorna painted the frame to match, cleaned the jars, and filled them with spices. Salvaged Storage Left behind in Lorna’s basement by a previous homeowner, this cabinet was in, ahem, rustic shape before she brought it upstairs, painted it to fit right in, and gave it…