Let your home be your happy place!

Hello friends and fellow Homemakers. We are Kim and Brandon and we are here to share our crazy journey through life, our home and garden, and the place we call the “Crocker Cottage”. We hope you will come along with us as we share our day to day life in our garden and in the home. 

So Who Are We?

Neither Brandon nor I grew up with a garden or a farm. I can remember stories from my mom and her time growing up on a farm in rural Virginia and she couldn’t wait to head off to the big city. That was her view in the late 70’s. Both my parents worked full-time. Later my dad did start enjoying roses and blooms that my aunt helped him to cultivate. And now, my mom and stepfather currently harvest a pretty good bounty from their blueberry bushes. So, while there wasn’t much gardening in my youth, there was always love in the home and I had a yearning to be close to the earth.

Growing up in Chicago, Brandon spent his youth in nature, climbing trees and scraping knees. When his family moved to Atlanta in 1992, he subsequently spent many years of his youth exploring the mountains and streams of north Georgia, which nurtured his love of the outdoors; and he found he had a passion for baking.

Beginning in 2009, our two paths combined, and we began our journey of love and exploration. In 2015, we were wanting to spend more time in nature and more time exploring the simple pleasures that life has to offer. I remember finding a raised bed kit from Costco and we dug out a little spot in the back yard. We grew some lettuce, tomato and carrots and one little flower all purchased from Home Depot.

We were excited to grow some food and share a little garden with our daughter. Let’s just say we didn’t yield much of a harvest, but we were bitten by the bug …and not just the mosquitos . We were excited to start looking at the back yard through a different lens. Where could we plant more…what could we plant …what do we like to eat …what can we afford …what kind of space will we need? But our main goal has been to learn how to be self-sustaining and to provide for the family, while teaching our daughter where her food comes from and how to eat nutritiously.

Things really began to pick up speed in 2020 as we expanded our garden by more that 100%, began homeschooling our daughter Fiona. And I began my journey baking, especially sourdough bread.

As we enter this new year, we are looking back at 9 years of this adventure for our family. What started as a little spot in the back yard has grown to an expanded back yard space with herb plants and towers and containers to a large front yard garden including an amazing green house Brandon built himself (with help from my stepdad.)

We are constantly learning and exploring everything life has to offer; and now, we look forward to sharing our journey with you! We hope to share any wisdom we have learned along the way and we hope you will find joy and happiness and a place to find refuge as you spend time with us here at The Crocker Cottage.