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.

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Cottage Life

Editor’s Note: Frozen in paradise

Your Letters: Let’s talk it out

Waterfront • Winter is a time to chill at the lake! But not literally: see p. 18 for our hot buttered rum recipe. It’s both relaxing and warming.

Reporter: Caring caribou, fungus is fun & invasive fight

How to buy a cottage in winter

Clever gifts for cottagers • If you’re struggling to find a gift for that cottager who refuses to divulge their holiday wish list (“Oh, I don’t need anything this year”), no worries. One of these items should fit the bill. Because everyone needs something in their stocking.

Can’t decide which festive beverage to enjoy this season? Use our handy diagram • Can’t decide which festive beverage to enjoy this season? Use our handy Venn diagram to narrow down your choices. Or hey, go ahead and indulge in all of them! It’s the holidays.

Tips for trying fondue at the cottage

Are you prepped for winter? Take our true/false quiz • ARE YOU PREPPED for what Old Man Winter plans to dish out this year? Take our True/False quiz to find out. Answers on p. 20.

Blue-green algae has a new enemy

Workshop

A traditional woodworking technique for seamless corners

How to rip a bevel on a table saw

These portable saunas used to be what?

Five tools you can rent

Need-to-know info before you attach a plow to your vehicle

Cottage Q&A: Mystery prints; Lyme vaccine; mouse-proof appliances; winter driving advice; a mosquito in January?

After a century of cross-border collaboration, the U.S. is slashing funding that protects our water. Now, a diplomatic storm is brewing • After a century of cross-border collaboration, the U.S. is slashing funding that protects our water. Now, a diplomatic storm is brewing

After the untimely tear down of their beloved cabin, this family built a modern successor primed for all seasons • After the untimely tear down of their beloved cabin, this family used clever, sustainable solutions to build a successor primed for all seasons

Every year, no matter how frigid the weather, these snowmobiliers take to the ice to help their community • Every February—no matter how frigid the weather—these snowmobilers take to the ice and help their community

Underneath the frozen ice, there’s much more going on than you’d think. Here’s a peek below the surface • In the depths of a frozen lake, there’s much more going on than you’d think. Here’s a peek below the surface

Photo contest winners! Here are the best shots of 2025

Photo contest submissions that made us laugh • These photos didn’t get top marks, but they sure made us chuckle

The balsam fir plays an important role in the forest • The balsam fir shines at holiday time, but its role in the forest is just as important

Parting Shot: A shooting star