Cottage Life

The go-to source for cottagers, the award-winning Cottage Life offers valuable advice as well as profiles, how-to articles, recipes, essays, issues pieces, and lifestyle stories that help readers look after their cottages, entertain guests and, of course, kick back and have fun.

S’more stuff • How you can read, watch, stream, listen, and visit—Cottage Life is everywhere

Contributors

Cottage Life

Editor’s Note: Pour a cup of coffee and fire up the grill

Your Letters: Chitter chatter, let’s get at ’er

Waterfront • Are you pumped for the first long weekend of cottage season? You will be after reading this!

The Great Lakes’ Most Wanted invasive carp

Quiz: Is this legit beer lingo?

Get your caffeine fix on this floating roastery

Fancy a G&T on the dock? Try this eco-gin

Say hello to the new Canadian Canoe Museum

A curious watercraft mystery

Bizarre moments in the history of condiments • NO BURGER OR hot dog would be the same without the proper toppers. Here are some significant—okay, mostly bizarre—moments in the history of your favourite condiments.

Trash panda jokes

Reporter: Face of FOCA, ’cue news & beef biz

Workshop • In spring, head outside to take care of the cottage and what surrounds it.

Are your trees healthy? Time for spring inspection

DIY pothole fix

How to build a “beaver deceiver”

Stuff we like: Shoe Goo

Best paints for masonry

How to store your paint cans • Storing sealed paint cans lid-down helps the contents last longer

“Cottage Q&A: How do we bring back our frogs?; repair gappy deck boards; who’s responsible for a downed tree in the lake?; jelly-blob mystery; voles vs. waterlines”

Why changing land trust use is good for the environment • Land trusts aren’t new, but the way they’re being used is changing. That’s good news for cottagers concerned about the climate crisis

Severe weather is putting rural insurance at risk. Here’s what you need to know • How wildfire, floods, and severe weather are impacting the availability and the cost of cottage insurance

These beautiful micro cabins prove you don’t have to go big for big impact • Thinking of a bunkie? These micro cabins prove you don’t have to go big for big impact

Expand your weekend repertoire beyond bacon and eggs. Our 2024 Grill Guide: breakfast edition • The usual for breakfast, darlin’? This weekend, we have something special to try instead. Cottage Life’s 2024 Grill Guide—The Morning Edition

You don’t need a ticket for this family’s epic summer concert. Just paddle up or drop anchor • Every summer, Baptiste Lakers paddle up or drop anchor in front of a boathouse stage and take in what might be the best free concert in cottage country

These cottagers bought when the pandemic real estate market was at its peak. Four years on, do they regret it?

The $12,000 Hole to Nowhere: If you’re thinking of drilling a well, read this first • If you’re thinking of drilling a well, first learn from one writer’s hard-earned lessons. Here’s a deep dive into what you need to know

When the days warm up in spring, the endangered Blanding’s turtle starts getting busy • When the days warm up in spring, the endangered Blanding’s turtle emerges from boggy winter waters and gets busy breeding

If this cat were a genre of music, it’d be screamo