Nestled in the lower peninsula of Michigan, growing a garden full of veggies and plenty of flowers to help my family to become healthier has been a passion of mine for years.
Here on the The Cottage Vegetable website, you will find pantry friendly recipes, canning ideas, and gardening tips to help bridge the gap between your garden and your kitchen.
About
My name is Chelsea, and I am a wife and a mom to three children that we currently homeschool. I grow veggies, fruit, medicinal plants, and flowers in my own garden each year. I am passionate about organic gardening, nourishing foods, and natural homemaking without the social media aesthetic being my leading factor! I have worked as a RN for 10 years and through that experience at the bedside, I have been passionate about living a healthy lifestyle through both conventional and holistic pathways.
I am determined to give recipes and tips that are pulled from personal experience. And yes, this website is AI FREE!
We currently live in a beautiful Michigan countryside setting of 3 acres. Along with my family we have a large garden, chickens, ducks, and our dogs named Rex & Starry.
Welcome to The Cottage Vegetable
-
Blueberry & Lemon Syrup | Water Bath Canning
Each jar costs me about $3.85; that’s including the fancy wild blueberries we had too. Storebought comparatives (that are somewhat “natural”) are $15 or more! This blueberry syrup has no food dyes, no thickeners, no artificial nothing. It’s just blueberries, lemons, sugar, and water. It’s very easy to make at home, and this recipe is Read more
-
Bagels from Scratch (using Yeast)
This recipe is 5 basic pantry ingredients and about 2 hours’ time total (from mixing to boiling to baking), and if you can make a cake, you can make bread. Here I go into tools you need, ingredients, and instructions on how to make bagels from scratch right at home, using yeast and not sourdough! Read more
-
Herbed Potatoes with Onions | Pressure Canning, Raw Pack, Potatoes in Water
Canned potatoes can be baked, fried, boiled, and even turned into soup. And for some reason, potatoes are more delicious after canning than in some fresh potato recipes turn out! And adding herbs and onions to the potatoes makes them even better. This is an easy raw pack method to get 7 pounds of potatoes Read more
-
Pork n’ Beans | Pressure Canning Red Kidney Beans with Bacon & Tomato Sauce | 7 Quarts
Pork n’ beans come with many names and can be made several different ways, but around here we tend to treat them like BBQ beans and keep things simple. This recipe avoids excessive sugar, no molasses, uses basic pantry items like your favorite bacon, red beans, diced tomatoes, and some spices to make that sweet Read more
-
Free Ranging Ducks on a Pond
Yes, you can free range ducks on a pond, year-round. In fact, ducks are incredibly easy to let free range, even if you have neighbors. They are creatures of habit, generally love their owners, stay close to their water, and don’t venture far (especially ducks who can’t fly). In this article I go into tips Read more
Thank you!
Subscribe
Subscribe (for free!) to keep up to date with postings, so you can grow useful and practical gardens and preserve those seasonal harvests for your kitchen with me:
No AI here! Declaration of a Genuine Blogger
social media
(but truly, subscribe to the blog if you really want to keep up with this corner of the internet)
My Printable PDF Garden Guide:
This 20 page, printable PDF file, is a guide to help you plan out your next garden that leaves behind the fluffy, trendy projects social media pushes, and helps nail down what you NEED to do for yourself.
Like I always say, “a frugal garden is one where every pound of produce is used”. And this 4-step guide is here to help you grow a garden where everything is found useful to your home.
Buy your digital copy today, so you can take use this winter taking your time getting ready for the next growing season!
Gardening for your Kitchen: A practical guide to plan and plant a backyard garden that actually helps you in the kitchen.
Sold through Pay-Hip for $5 (click HERE)
-Chelsea, The Cottage Vegetable
Contact
If you have a question, you can Contact via email here, I will respond as fast as I can:
The Cottage Vegetable 