Cosmos are one of the easiest things to grow in the flower garden. (see my 3 easiest flowers to grow guide here) They don’t love a ton of water, they don’t like a ton of fertilizer, they just bloom. The only issue I have with them is they need a lot of support. Which, don’t we all these days? This year I changed a lot of things in the garden up. One of the major ones being I flipped my rows from vertical to horizontal. This has made a huge difference in the management of my garden. Not only are the paths able to be wider, the amount grown is more manageable for me. When I was planning my gard ..read more

I’m sitting at the coffee shop having an afternoon tea watching it absolutely downpour outside. I’m typing this recipe about a month later than I had planned but the truth is everything that I am able to do creatively is wrapped up at the farmhouse right now. Half of my cooking utensils are boxed up in storage and to make this pot pie I had to ad lib alot. In fact, I didn’t have a rolling pan so I put a piece of plastic wrap over my puff pastry and smashed it with the flat side of a jelly roll pan until it was the size I needed it to be. This season of life is good but strange. I miss my home ..read more

I didn’t really plan on moving the first week of cookbook club but we did and we’re finally getting settled into the temporary rental house. I have a small kitchen and my essential pots and pans. I feel like as we progress on we can get into more of a natural rhythm but we will be announcing the second book of the club soon. My goal is to be doing a new book each month and were running just a little behind but I am soaking up the last month of our first book: Supper Simple by Half Baked Harvest.  For this recipe you don’t need any special equipment with the exception of a slow cooker. If ..read more

I have been collecting cookbooks since Joe and I first got married (thirteen years this June!). I come from a long line of skilled cooks yet, I never really developed a passion for it until I was living on my own and had my very first solo home kitchen. Back in the days where Joe and I had no other responsibilities but ourselves, work and the dogs, I would make us extravagant dinners after work. We would spend the time prepping together and watching baseball. Opt In to Cookbook Club Here         Now that the Tigers have been a bit on a cold streak and we have added a farm ..read more

How can it be over eight years since we moved out to the farm? It feels like we should still be unpacking boxes. Shhh… Don’t tell anyone there is still a box or two of unknowns lingering in the corner of the basement. The last eight years on our farm have taught us many lessons about sustainable living and we’ve adjusted to many changes. We have expanded our garden every year, and it now occupies about one acre of our property. We freeze and preserve as much as we can and save the seeds from season to season so we can replant. We also have added animals to the farm, our Icelandic and Southdow ..read more

These Christmas traditions are what make all the hustle and bustle of this holiday season worth it to me. We were never real tree people until Otto was born (funny how kids do that for ya) and ever since then we decided welp, time for a real tree. It was a happy decision not only because our neighbors are Peterson’s Riverview Nursery, but there is nothing like the smell of a fresh new tree. As Otto grows older he has more and more of a say in what tree comes home with us. We had to do some serious negotiation when he wanted to take home the 2 foot tall young trees. He thought they were “cute ..read more

I have not necessarily been a scrooge this year when it comes to decorating our farmhouse for the holidays, but more exhausted Santa. We went all out for Christmas this year at The Found Cottage and between that and pending renovations in the home, I just didn’t feel like hauling out all the bins of Christmas decor. I decided to narrow it down a bit and unboxed my Santa Mugs, Putz houses, Ornaments for the tree, Bottle Brush Trees and candles. Simple, pretty and still fun to decorate the house with. They were Otto’s favorites too so that helped. The Dancing Santas will have to wait until Chri ..read more

Just one more thing checked off the Christmas list, Ottos meeting with Santa Claus. This year Otto is all in on believing in Santa and he was adamant that he had to get Santa his list. When my friend Sarah announced she was doing mini sessions with Santa I signed us up thinking it would be a low stress way for Otto to meet Santa without having to wait in line at the mall. (and also not sit where a million other children have sat). When we arrived and Otto heard the Ho HO HO coming in from the other room his little body stiffened like one of those fainting goat’s you see on the youtube videos ..read more

When my grandma was moving to her condo she gifted me a stack of her Country Women Christmas books from the 90’s and they are FULL of amazing church cookbook style recipes. Some of them are scary jello’s with floating fruits in them but other recipes like these no bake potato chip chocolate bites are absolutely amazing. I love a good cookie, like this recipe here, but sometimes when you don’t have to fire up the oven and monitor things carefully it’s just nice to make some good old fashioned no bake items. The original recipe came Nancy Currie from Schaller, Iowa in the 1996 issue of Country ..read more

I don’t really care to think back to how long ago high school was for me. It sometimes feels like just yesterday while a million years ago all at once. Maybe I’m thinking more about high school because The Bachelor franchise feels so fixated on it this season. (can we be done with that please? We’re in our 30’s). No shame in my game, I’m obsessed with that show. However, this is not about the show but rather who we started out as and who we’ve become today. I grew up in a small town that really isn’t so small anymore. The cost of living and great schools have drawn a lot of people to the area ..read more