Tasty Tuesday~ Cottage Coffee

 Welcome to Tasty Tuesday at Dandelion House! Your go- to spot for trying something new, healthy, and frugal ( with a pinch of pretty) each week in your homestead kitchen.

 This weeks Tasty Tuesday recipe comes straight from the Cottage. Our cottage! This is the time of year we give way to a simpler life. Cottage Life! Our summer cottage is off grid so we make-do with  an old fashioned looking percolator coffee pot.Our model comes from Paula Deans Kitchen Collection. Here's the recipe! 

Cottage Coffee

Fresh ground coffee of your choice. ( We use DE-cafe Hazelnut cuz it's our favorite)!
Cold tap water
 For 5-6 cups of coffee you'll need a minimum of 1/3  - 1/2 cup coffee grounds.
( more if you like your coffee strong )

Never fill up your coffee pot above the holes on the inside of the pot.
It'll boil over every time. Trust me, I know!
Boil for 8 - ten minutes then turn off the burner and let the water drip down into the pot.
Serve hot right off the stove or pour into a coffee carafe to keep it hot!

We like to dip chocolate biscotti into our coffee... It's our Cottage Coffee treat!

Cream and sugar?

  Dip into The Farmgirl Friday Recipe Box when you're looking for an old fashioned favorite or a home- cooked meal made from scratch with love. You'll find recipes from the best homestead kitchens, inspiration for setting a beautiful table with all the charm of a farmhouse kitchen PLUS tips for stocking and organizing your pantry. 686 now following! 

July Sparkles

 

 Dear friends,

Happy Fourth of July! A proud day for any American! 

  With the holiday falling almost mid week I find myself running to get ready for a long weekend! 

So, in lou of our weekly Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop at Dandelion House, you're invited to come on over to the MaryJanesFarm Beach Farmgirl Blog for some July Sparkles! 

Heidi and Dolly are hosting this week so be sure to link up your fabulous posts on their blogs!  

Heidi of My Simple Country Living 
and White Wolf Summit Farmgirl Blog
Dolly of Hibiscus House and Dolly is Cooking

Wishing you all a safe and happy holiday! 

Window Box Beauty and Corgi in a Tub

 

Beach season is finally here along the northeastern seacoast and residents of our beach community are out and about adding summer touches to their cottages! 

I always look forward to this window box on our neighbors " keeper ". 

After a long walk  on the beach, Max always needs his belly rinsed off..

 

 

Fresh from the tub... Max, the cottage corgi!

Small cottage, small dog, BIG LOVE! 

Have a great day friends!

BEACH COTTAGE BASICS ~ off grid AND UN PLUGGED

 Cribbage, coffee and flowers

  Howdy friends! I missed you!

 We've just returned from our annual get away to our tiny off-grid BEACH cottage. How about a nice cup of cottage coffee while we catch up! It's percolated, do you mind?

Paula Dean Percolator

My husband recently went to work for a company that  sells " smart home" communication systems. Imagine controlling nearly every electronic device in your home with one controller?  SIMPLE! We got a new TV two years ago and I still don't know which controls turn on what! I'm much more savvy with a computer but we don't even take our laptops to the BEACH. We UN- PLUG on purpose leaving  all electronics except our cell phones ( without data packages) home. Oh, we could bring them but that would interfere with the peace and quiet we go there for.

 We do have outlets for charging our phones. In the olden days ( before solar ) we used to charge them in the car!

Let's start in the kitchen/dining room. We don't put on any airs at the cottage. It's under 500 square feet so there isn't a spare inch of room for fluff and foo foo! We like things cheerful, functional and clutter free! We have an apartment sized gas stove for cooking and baking which I love!

Max is always a willing blogging accomplice! I know what you're thinking and I agree whole heartedly! That flooring is hideous! We've made some improvements over the years and the kitchen dining flooring is the last thing to do on the inside list! Maybe, just maybe we'll get to it THIS fall!

I think a red and white checked floor would be fun! We could paint over the rustic pine planks that lay beneath the vinyl or just get some vinyl floor tiles and be done with it!

It's not elegant, maybe not even photo worthy but I LOVE my cottage sink. It's a reclaimed cast iron workhorse of a sink with the nicks and bruises to show for it! Note there is only one handle for water. That's because we don't have running hot water. We heat water on the stove for washing dishes and for tea or hot cocoa on chilly afternoons in the fall. 

Another thing on our to-do list is to remove the last of the sticky blue contact paper from the shelves left over from a 1970's re-do ( be glad you didn't see that phase) and paint them white!

  Before we get to the " inner workings" of solar power let's take a look at some of the other rooms!

Reclaimed dresser

 This is the master bedroom! Their isn't room for full sized nightstands on either side of the bed so we use midsized book shelves... they work great! Who wants dust knickknacks' on vacation? We want to read and rest which we did plenty of!  Besides, keeping up with Max's hair is more work than we want to do already! 

Futon on the sleeping porch

  I made the curtains and pillow covers from fabric I got at the 2.00 fabric store!

Valance

Instead of using a curtain rod I used grommets and hooks to hang the valances in the dining nook. 

Here's a shot of our small bathroom wall. Small but colorful! Outdoor showers are very common in beach communities. For us it's the perfect solution since we don't have an inside shower. Ours is solar heated by two barrels we refill with water from the hose as needed!  The sun does the rest!

Solar Shower

 We do have flush toilet ( luxury )!  It runs off of a solar powered pump that fills the tank with gray water collected from rain fall.

Solar Panels

Pump for filling the potty

Water tank and Gas tank

Drain for capturing rain water from gutters

You may have noticed a recurring theme in our cottage! Sailboats and...

DAYDREAMING!

After a relaxing week of resting my body and my brain I'm feeling inspired! I came home with way too much laundry to do but that's not all! I also have several book ideas swimming around in my head and I'd really appreciate your feedback!

 Also, if any of you has self-published a book ( eBooks count ) tell us about your experience!

 COTTAGE COOKING  ~ recipes from a small ( OFF- GRID ) cottage kitchen

YARD FLOWERS~   25 most reliable CUT flowers ( including heirlooms) for the hobby Gardner.

HOUSE FLOWERS~  Simple DIY floral arrangement's for the hobby Gardner  

                Give me a yes, no, maybe so in the comments section. I would love to know if any of these titles sound interesting or helpful to you! What other titles would interest you?

Do you ever UN-plug for a day or more at a time? What do you do with your time away from social media? Do tell! 

Thanks for sharing a bit of our " Home Sweet Cottage " with us and for stopping by for " flower a day " posts while we were away! 

Farmgirl Friday # 54

 

 Welcome to week # 54 of The Farmgirl/Guy Friday Blog hop! 

 If you've been looking for an online community where showing off your farmgirl/guy flare is not only okay, but, encouraged this is the blog hop for you! Share your daily doin's on your farmsteads whether you tend many acres, a backyard, community garden or an apartment balcony! 

Flower Farm Update: My greenhouse arrived last week and if the good weather hold through the weekend I should be able to show you photos next week! 

I don't know about you but all work and no play make this farmgirl and her farmguy grumpy. So, we packed a bag, the teens ( Max) and headed off to the cottage for some R and R and a little spring cleaning.

 

One of my favorite things to do is to open the windows and sweep out the cobwebs. It was the perfect day to do a little hand washing too! 

It was a clear, sunny day; just right for hanging out a pair of lace curtains to dry 

while we brewed a pot of camp coffee!

Paula Dean Percolator

Naturally, we brought some fresh eggs from home to enjoy with our coffee! We made southwestern scrambled eggs for breakfast.

SOUTHWESTERN SCRAMBLED EGGS 

9 Eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup salsa

1/2 cup shredded Monterrey jack cheese

 ( or if you like your eggs real spicy ) substitute with pepper-jack cheese.

1/4cup chopped sweet onion

2 tablespoons butter

Mix eggs, salsa, cheese and onion in mixing bowl.

Melt butter in skillet until melted.

Add egg mixture and scramble to your liking .

Salt and Pepper to taste.

Top with crisp bacon crumbles, a dollop of sour cream and you've got your self a tasty southwestern breakfast no matter where you are!  

These eggs are also de-lish wrapped in a burrito sized soft flour 

tortea! Serve with black beans on the side. Yum!

Now, on with the hop! 

  Here are the rules for the Farmgirl/guy Friday Blog Hop! 

1.) Write a post about your farmgirl lifestyle and brag a little about your farmgirl talents while your at it! Include lots of photos of your farm, crafts, animals, quilts, home decor projects and thrifty make overs, your backyard garden, chicken coop, recipes, studio or workshop. You get the idea!

2). Leave your entry in the Mr. Linky space to your Farmgirl Friday post.

3). Please include the Farmgirl Friday button ( or link back here ) in your post and remember to share this hop with all of your blogging friends!

Thanks so much for all you share each week! I hope you are all enjoying the sweet offerings of spring!

 

Seaside Cottage Christmas Wreath

 Here's a quick and easy way to bring some coastal flair to your holiday decorating! 

Purchase some sea shells from Michaels Craft Store, grab your glue gun and get going!

You can glue your shells onto a fake evergreen wreath or a live one. Plan an arrangement you like and just glue. I love the mixture of traditional pine-cones and seashells together! 

Stay tuned for more Seaside Christmas decorating ideas! 

Happy Holidays friends!

Monday Morning Glories

September weather is my favorite of all seasons! There's something about the clear skies and mild temps that get me feeling my happiest of all months of the year. We are just weeks away from falling leaves and shorter days which makes these last bloomers of September all the more special. I snapped these shots while at our cottage this weekend. Our neighbors plant them around the fence that surrounds their veggie garden every year. Check out this years blooms!

Here's a shot of this charming garden from a distance. Keep looking, it gets better!

 They look so elegant climbing the fence around the compost pile. ( see the squash in the bottom left of the photo ?)

I didn't photo shop these at all... Just look at that glowing bright,  white center! 

I'll be adding these images to our Cottage Collection of Dandelion House Original Note Cards! 

 Be sure and take time to savor what's left of sweet September! 

I'll be back soon with images for our Fall note card collection and a few early fall fix-ups from our house to yours!