#mahtha

Guys. I do this.  I use a homemade pesticide to keep buggies off of my plants, so I thought for Mah-tha/garden week, I would find out what kinds of homemade stuffs she makes! Check it out! - Nat

Martha's homemade garden fungicides are simple to make and an environmentally friendly alternative to chemical products.

Baking Soda Solution for Leaves and Soil

Mix the following ingredients in a spray bottle:

2 tablespoons baking soda

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 pint water

Shake the mixture listed above and then add 1 tablespoon castile soap. Spray this mixture on your plant's leaves and soil. Repeat every five to seven days.

Milk Fungicide

Fill a spray bottle half with milk and half with water.

Shake and then spray on your plants.

Repeat this as needed every three or four days.

Beer As a Slug Killer

Place beer (any kind) in a shallow plate in your garden. The beer will attract the slugs, and drown them.

Apple Cider Vinegar As an Anti-Mildew Treatment

Spray raw apple cider vinegar on the leaves or soil of your plants. This changes the pH balance and prohibits or kills any mold or mildew that may be growing on your plants leaves or in the soil.

Not gonna lie, these were not fresh from my garden.  But they were fresh from someone else's garden, directly to the LaSalle Farmers' Market, directly to my kitchen!  So I thought I would see what Mah-tha would do with them!  - Nat

Roasted Radishes

Toss radishes with oil. Season with salt and pepper. Roast on a baking sheet at 450 degrees, stirring once, until slightly tender and charred, about 15 minutes.

I really like them.  My husband said he would "not go out of his way for them," which basically means they were OK.  I may have over-salted them, but the spiciness was definitely toned down, and it was a great way to add a unique side dish to the rotation!  TRY THEM!

P.S. I also got these amazing looking strawberries from Plow Creek Farms!

I don't think it's any secret that Martha Stewart like pets.  She released her own line of pet products for Lassie's sake!  But she also has a ton of cool crafts that you can make for your pet.  There are also a lot of crafts you can make if you just like pets and want everyone to know it.  I found some cool ones to show you! Enjoy! - Nat

SOCK FISH HOW-TO

Roll an 8 1/2-by-11-inch piece of paper into a cone for a funnel; secure with tape. Insert funnel into sock, and fill halfway with catnip. Knot just above filling.

Cut out eyes and a mouth from a piece of felt. Attach to sock with nontoxic fabric glue.

FISH CHRISTMAS TREE HOW-TO

Bring joy to your pet's tank with a plastic Christmas tree. Attach a plastic bead to the top with silicone aquarium sealant (ask a grown-up to help).Wrap lead plant weights around the trunk or set it in a suction cup (for filtration tubes) stuck to the tank's floor.

Menswear Mouse Toy

Treat a kitty to a game of cat and mouse with a few dapper toys. There's no mistaking these critters for the real thing -- they're constructed from brightly colored suiting and shirting fabric.

Dog-Cleanup Bags

Add some fun and fashion to everyday dog-cleanup bags.

Pet Silhouette Stationary

  Capture the contour of your furry or feathered friends, and use the image to personalize plain stationery or to mark the center of the universe -- aka the treats jar.

Pet Silhouette Tote 

Keep your pet -- or at least his image -- at hand all the time, and show everyone just how cute he is. Adorn a bag with a silhouette of his profile.

 Dog-Appliqued Infant Bodysuit

Martha, HELP! I have extended house guests coming!  What should I do to ready my house for their arrival, and how can I be the best host possible when they're here! - Nat

Put Your Best Foot Forward

Mah-tha wants you to spiff up your entryway!

Here:

Your house is only as clean as the soles of your shoes. And do you really need a more compelling reason than that to declare your home a socks-only zone immediately? To get family members and visitors to fall into step, try the "seed" method for getting guests to take off their shoes. Plant a few of your own pairs next to a basket of slippers by the door and hope they notice it and take the hint. Keep a few pairs of different size slippers (some more unisex than others) on hand to offer your guests. Or use humor and download one of our signs to get the point across.

Check out these signs!

Ready Your Guest Room!

Sure your house is not a hotel, but your guests are not going to want you to bug you for all the essentials, so take some of the stress out of that and have some essentials ready ahead of time!

Here:

With the addition of a few niceties, your spare bedroom will be as inviting to visitors as a fine hotel room. Set out essentials such as towels and an alarm clock, then provide little luxuries as well: bottles of water, foil-wrapped chocolates, and a few cut blooms in a vase.

Give Them the Down Low!

If your guests are staying for an extended period, give them an idea of what there is to do in your area, in case you are going to be working, or aren't able to join them in the fun!

Here:

Provide a small desk or a cleared tabletop, and stock it with pens and paper, note cards, envelopes, and stamps. Compile a list of some favorite local places -- restaurants, cafes, museums, antiques shops, movie theaters -- and provide timetables, if appropriate, for buses, ferries, or trains. A telephone in the room is a convenience, but not a necessity.

Get Rid of Confusion

If you have multiple guests staying, make sure they are able to reuse towels, etc by assigning each person a color! 

Here:

Sew loops of colorful twill tape (in a variety of shades) onto the corners of a look-alike batch of bathroom or beach towels to help guests distinguish theirs from everyone else's. That way, when your house fills up with visitors, everyone can keep track of his or her own -- and no one will have to get up close and personal with someone else's dirty laundry.

Get Preppin!

Make sure that everything your guests will need (in the bathroom or otherwise) is stocked and visible.  If your bathroom is not one with tons of storage space, make sure guests know where to look so they don't have to run to you for more TP!

Here:

One thing that I stumbled upon on the Martha Stewart website are these really cool videos about how to cook and prepare food!  They have really neat thumbnails:

And then on the actual page you can watch cool videos!  There are some about knife skills, how to prepare meat, fish, poultry, vegetables, fruits, and then cooking fundamentals like how to clarify butter and other fun things!  These videos are awesome, because it is not always easy to find visuals on how something should turn out.  And here they all are in one place!  Check some of them out!

Ash and I are at an age where a lot of our friends our having babies. AND WE’RE PUMPED ABOUT IT!  We love babies.  We love parties.  So a baby shower is our idea of a great time.  For inspiration Wednesday, I searched the internet for some new and different ideas to spruce up a baby shower, because believe me, we’re gonna need them!

  Hello.  How can you leave Martha (MAH-THA) out of baby shower planning?  Here are a couple of my fave ideas that her and her team came up with!  I especially like the modern baby shower!  I think it’s a cool, different look for a shower and it could leave you open for a lot of new ideas

  Brunch Shower - http://www.marthastewart.com/268476/brunch-shower-for-baby

Tea Party - http://www.marthastewart.com/272169/tea-party-baby-shower

Modern Baby Shower - http://www.marthastewart.com/265650/the-modern-baby-shower

I love the idea of vintage mixed with baby items.  How about a vintage dresser filled with goodies for baby? Or how about owls?  How about owls, indeed.

http://blog.hwtm.com/2012/02/gorgeous-vintage-style-owl-baby-shower/

A DIY mobile station would be a fun play on a baby shower craft.  A lot of showers do the DIY onesies, and I’ve seen some really cute ones, but what about a mobile station, where each attendee makes a part of the mobile, then the host can assemble it for the mom-to-be.

http://www.ontobaby.com/2012/01/diy-baby-shower-with-make-a-mobile-station/

  And how about Co-Ed showers?  Why do Dads get left out of the fun?  Or maybe they want to get left out of the fun...  Personally I don’t always like the games that are played at showers, bridal or baby.  But what if you took the cringe factor out of some of the games? Then maybe dads, grandpas and husbands would want to come? Or not...  I found a couple games that I think men would be interested in, or at least would tolerate.

  The Guess the Baby Game: In this game, everyone that attends the shower brings a baby picture and then you get to guess which picture matches which adult!  Competitiveness totally gets men involved in the shower! 

http://www.eventlucky.com/?attachment_id=861

    Don't Say Baby - This game is pretty self explanatory and it also plays to the competitiveness of men. I've also heard that it can get pretty physical, but I will let the pictures do the talking.

  http://atthedspot.wordpress.com/tag/custom-love-gifts/