But does she have a Ring doorbell on that tent and WiFi ? I'm down with the Holly Hobby vibe but all that nature and ditsy print wallpaper would stress me out big time. No jobs means no taxes so I wonder who funds all this twee.
73
I admit to being a cynic but you can make big fatal mistakes picking berries and mushrooms.
104
Escapism. Such a dirty word. But why? Who wouldn't want to escape, if only briefly a world which, clearly, does not adequately provide for the psychological needs of the average human being.
If baking fantasies and prairie dresses do it for some than who am I to judge.
173
Soooo happy. I hated air space design but was just about to sell my dark wood and buy in!
12
Am I the only one who found this statement jarring? "There’s not a lot of stuff you can do to make mistakes. I mean, it’s just going out in the woods and finding mushrooms..."
I'm assuming you _eat_ the mushrooms you've found, which opens up a world of possibilities for mistakes!
73
Cottagecore. Wonderful. In every generation, this trend emerges. The hippies called it "back to the land" and there was the Whole Earth Catalog, log cabins, women wearing Gunne Sax and spinning yarn from sheep they raised.Then in the 90s, Martha Stewart made it chic again to bake pies, grow vegetables, and repurpose antiques - no men necessary. I am so glad to see this gen going in this direction again. All best with it, kids.
232
During the reign of Louis XVI, there was a fashion for nobles, and even the queen herself, to have fantasy rustic villages and idealized farms built on their lands. They were called hameaus, and Marie Antoinette had her Hameau de la Reine at Versailles. It included a little farm that produced eggs, milk, vegetables and fruit. The queen would wear a version of peasant dress and engage in farming activities after servants made everything clean and pretty. In their own hameaus, nobles might play at being shepherds and shepherdesses. It was about returning to the bucolic simple life for fun and relaxation. The joys of cottagecore aren't all that new. French aristocrats of the 18th century invented the rustic fantasy life first.
160
I’ve never heard of this before today, but I’m enchanted. I can think of many, many worse ways for people to spend their spare time. I feel much calmer just reading the Article.
Well Done.
132
Cottagecore has existed for a long time in Utah. It's the idyllic story of a pioneer woman. The boy's version is more succinctly encapsulated in the video game Oregon Trail. Circa ~ before I was born. You'll find the two myths intersect in Orson Scott Card's futuristic "Ender's Game." The Fairyland game in particular is somewhat projective to the fantasy ideal. All of which relates back to German and Scandinavian folklore anyway. Cuckoo clocks, what have you.
Anyway, I won't knock it. I'm just not rushing off to buy a digital apron or anything. The game "Animal Crossing" is actually a pro-piracy meme by the way. Nintendo is sabotaging competitors and building brand loyalty.
12
This reminds me of Austen retreats, where people dress up in Regency outfits and live an 18th century fantasy. A supposedly simpler time, on estates in charming English villages.
46
Walt Disney penned the definitive visions back in the ‘30s, when life was gritty for most of us. Can’t you still see those bluebirds circling? One whole generation before, a foul, class-bound England was over-run with garden fairies and illustrators were putting ethereal women into ethereal scenery. But not boardrooms. Gnomes hadn’t yet become nocturnal flesh-eating monsters, it was possible to sit on the lawn without some malign tick crawling up your whatever, and the stupendous horror of world war hadn’t warped Dr. Dolittle into existence.
Even the frescoes at Pompeii work this theme, but with considerably more sex.
Just put an N95 on that woman, and keep her away from those bluebirds.
17
@Marat1784 haaa an n95. I came here to escape talk about you know what. sigh. Maybe I can cottage-tine.
17
This was my childhood living in the Ozark Hills in Missouri. I ate berries from the bush, drank water from a stream and read books while sitting beneath a willow tree. My dog sat by my side and then we would both get drowsy in the summer heat and fall asleep.
I am very glad that I had that foundation to support who I became as an adult.
176
Thank you for bringing the phrase “wonder based events” into my day. I feel a whole new chapter coming on.
45
As a former goat milker, may I correct an error? Either the disgruntled cottagecore person was making up the story about goat droppings on her Birkenstocks or that was one very sick goat.
Goats are famously tidy poopers, putting out something like firm little kibbles. The barnyard smells nice and it takes a good while to compost.
My working dogs used to follow the goats around, gobbling up the bounty. Yummm! Meat-flavored grain.
141
Depends on the mushrooms.....
24
I appreciate the ideas and the sentiments, I honestly do. But the scoundrel in me is thinking, this is just crying out for an SNL skit.
In fact, wasn't this kind of "aesthetic" one of the running themes in Portlandia? I am reminded when Peter and Nance went to visit Aliki Farms, to double-check on how well their local chickens are treated...
I'm sorry. I guess I'm too cynical for Cottagecore.
72
@pjc Ah, yes. Connor, I believe. Had an idyllic upbringing and still ended up on the plate.
23
Somewhat easier to accept than the kill-your-own-deer, tan-the-hides-yourself lifestyle described in a NYT article just a few days ago
57
I just really appreciate that it's -"-core" and not "-punk"
20
If there are no cars to steal or aliens to shoot, what is the point?
4
@Roger The point is that you aren't there.
45
@Roger I think your response is why this is more female oriented.
32
This article's patronizing tone is joined to the obsessively judging mentality of today's published world.
Too many adjectives, too.
30
May I just say, as someone who lives in a forest, when people endlessly remind everyone that mushrooms are dangerous and you can't just eat all of them...It is a as silly as telling people visiting a city that not every car is a taxi and you should be carful not to get in the wrong car-true perhaps, but maybe you only need to say it to a 12 year old? 5 year old?
And does anyone really need to be reminded that goats...poop? People have been creating environments and styles that comfort them forever. It's human, relax-there are much more important things to be bothered by.
42
I'm an elderly man living in Alabama and cottagecore, or any other kind of core, is a new concept for me. It all seems pretty strange, but if it helps people get through the day, then go for it. It appears to be harmless enough.
163
This read was a comforting welcome respite from the doom and gloom of COVD-19 updates. All practicalities aside,
escaping into the cottagecore nature scape sounds so lovely, perhaps this is the motivation I need to find some time to walk on a trail or enjoy my local park.
89
There are many, many historical antecedents to cottagecore. Some discussion of these would have enhanced this article and our understanding of the aesthetic. Prime among them, is the work of William Morris (1834-1896) and the Arts and Crafts Movement which similarly retreated into a pastoral aesthetic in reaction to industrialization. Arguably Morris' design for the Red House epitomizes the ideas contained within cottagecore - although predates the latter by 155 years.
239
@JGF Also: the 70s and the Firefox book series.
41
It seems like the writer is trying to make the story edgier by approaching this sort of back to nature behavior critically. In my experience, those who judge others who male different choices are usually trying to justify or overcompensate for undesirable aspects of their own lives.
If people want to live closer to nature, that is fantastic. If minimalists want to reject consumerism and have only what they need, more power to them. Life isn’t made better by embracing busy busy busy, more more more.
Yes, there are bugs and manure in the country. Yes, it is still bucolic. It is perfectly reasonable to choose bugs, manure, and peace over sixty-seventy hour weeks and developing autoimmune disorders from excessive stress.
I am neither cottagecore nor minimalist, but perhaps I wish I were a little more of both.
173
@Lee
What a great comment - spot on.
21
@Lee There are fewer and fewer "bugs" in nature any more, due to our use of poisons to kill the plants pollinators need for food and the insane obsession with sterile, fake-looking lawns (monocultures of non-native grasses) that use huge amounts of gasoline and polluting leaf-blowers (fireflies spend their first two seasons underground and in leaf cover...guess what happens when you mow and blow your lawn and leaves away)? I recommend planting a garden of native plants (in lawn or in pots) asap...see Doug Tallamay's book "Nature's Best Hope" and Pollinatory Friendly Yards on Facebook for guidance.
33
My bet is that most, or even all, of us have our stuffed animal or blankie that we turn to for a moment of comfort from the cares of the world. It's better than a heart attack at age 40! But like a lot of things, what can be beneficial in small doses can harm or even kill if overdosed.
9
So happy that there are small places people can find peace in this often chaotic world.
56
Ah, this explains why Ikea now has lace curtains? My local coyote just ate one of my excess of wild rabbits so real nature has its benefits.
18
@poslug The coyote got hungry so he ate. In nature plants and animals behave like themselves, they are not out to impress a viewer or to get upvotes.
22
This is less of a fantasy than you think. there are lots of people who live in small towns with lots of wild space around them, who have a life with animals wild and domestic and farms and gardens and daily chores and home cooking and beautiful surroundings.This is more so in Canada than in places like crowded cities. In these uncrowded places there is less hurry, less stress and more natural beauty, and more hard physical work,but as the population increases they are becoming harder the find. When we lose touch with that kind of peace and fulfilling physical work we will probably all gradually go insane, because the natural world, the world we came from and which shaped us, is vitally important.And when we lose touch with the calming earth we lose our grounding nfluence. Without that our oversized brains go rogue like microphones with a gain on them, searching constantly for stimulation. Natural wild stimulation is profoundly calming, artificial stimulation tends to be strongly exciting. Too much is damaging to the nerves. Have you ever come home from a concert with a headache?Do you live surrounded by steel and glass and straight lines and long for something green and soft and natural? Your body knows what it needs.
145
Sunny optimism isn't America's go-to emotion for today's demented social contract with president Trump as our president. Yes, baking and cooking and cottagecore may calm the rage of today's women who have been held incommunicado by millenia of male brutes and nice guys. Let's hear it again and often for "unplugging" from our age of anxiety, fear of pandemic and the patriarchy of demanding iPhones and plastic widgets that assault us in 2020 America 24/7.
21
@Nan Socolow Well, in my 74 years of living I have always believed in the equality of all people on earth as did my great-grandparents. I have never felt any rage toward anyone. I have lived my life my way on my terms and intend to do so for years to come.
18
@Leslie hear hear!!!!
2
The guilty truth about chickens: they are fun to chase.
Also, they get sick and gross, and, yes, there is a reason that the term "pecking order" came into our vocabulary.
16
Well, at least it's a change from Minimalism...All those interiors with the inevitable Eames recliner in the corner.
Though actually, every horizontal space in the Eames's home had some tschotchke sitting on it, and plants hung in macramé holders from the ceiling.
27
@Oriole : Charles and Ray Eames were amazing designers, very ahead of their time and true modern classics -- and yes, they did not have that "totally stripped down spartan" aesthetic you see in today's shelter magazines. They had "chotchkas" from around the world, especially pre-Columbian stuff.
22
I have a confession. after today's headlines, I thought this looks wonderful. I need this!
I live on 32 acres in a 100-year-old home with chickens, (21 rescued roosters) peacocks, ducks, geese, and a crapload of barn cats. it's very stressful. if we get sick and can't work...
59
A Long Island suburban kid, I grew up with Tasha Tudor books. Before Cottagecore, there were her wonderful illustrations and gentle lifestyle. She literally created the experience for herself, and then drew it.
Then, 35 years ago I married an actual farmer with cows, chickens, acres of fields, tractors, manure, and employees, and have lived the life myself, surrounded by a thriving, growing Old Order Mennonite community who lives and looks much like Tasha Tudor books in their 'prairie dresses' and buggies.
Folks - this is very hard work. There are always too many bills to pay, excessive rain or drought, market problems, animal and crop diseases, so tired, getting hurt, smelly clothes and boots, lawn to mow. A garden and orchard plus . . I also have a full time off-farm job for health insurance and adult conversation.
There is not much time to commune with faeries, cavort with dwarves, gazing lovingly into liquid calf eyes, or listen to the music of the earth, but yes, early in the morning when the sun first pinks the sky, or late at night when the stars are brilliant, there are still echoes.
The Mennonites? They are our neighbors, they are real people too, working hard long hours, so much laundry and mouths to fed, and never quite having enough to be without financial anxiety.
So, girls, please enjoy your fantasy, it is lovely, and there is it good to enjoy beauty and peace.
I did when I was your age.
But real life on the farm . . . it isn't the same.
224
@organic farmer Thanks for the reality check.
34
@organic farmer : I appreciate all your very hard work (and that of your Mennonite neighbors!) but I think these are "cottages" and not working farms. I live in the city, some folks here have a few chickens -- doesn't make your suburban bungalow into a "farm".
This is more like "gentleman" (or gentlewoman) farming -- someone said Marie Antoinette at Petite Trianon -- which is right on the nose.
45
Although I find the concept of cottagecore very appealing, and as reasonable a way to relax as watching a movie, I would point out a fault in the last paragraph:
A sense of sunny optimism pervades. Though cottagecore can appear cloyingly perfect on the surface, Ms. Tweedy insists, “There’s not a lot of stuff you can do to make mistakes. I mean, it’s just going out in the woods and finding mushrooms or berries or sitting down and reading a book outside.”
I hope the book one reads is a field guide to mushrooms: eating the wrong ones can really put a damper on your day.
34
@Rural Farmer Also the wrong berries...
16
Peeing outside under moonlight - one of life’s great pleasures.
16
@Ananda Using the indoor plumbing. Ah, nature vs. nurture, the great debate goes on.
7
I found this experience at Twin Oaks Community 1977-1983....a Walden Two experiment, still going strong.
9
”.....(The suffix “-core,” derived from 1980s hard-core punk music, is now used to delineate a type of genre or category.)
Hard-core as an adjective has been around for a long time, at least as early as the 1830s. Using “core” as a suffix is a recent, and overused, affect.
18
Guess I've been "cottagecore" my whole life and didn't know it. I've lived on a farm and I know it is not all roses - bugs, chores, the smell of manure, predators killing your ducks...however you don't have to live on a farm to know the whole "getting back to nature" and simple life thing is very beneficial. If you're a fan of cottagecore, let me recommend you look into: Permaculture. You don't need a farm to participate in small scale permaculture ideas in your yard, on a balcony, or even in front of a window. I'd also recommend looking into "Slow TV" - Norway and England have produced some great slow programs from firewood burning, canal boat trips, to artic reindeer sleigh rides in real time.
34
Why is cottagecore interesting but a woman wanting to live as a traditional housewife “regressive” and “right-wing?”
My wife works and I (having aged-out of advertising) make her tea in the mornings and have dinner on the table for her when she gets home. During the day I write and take care of other domestic things.
I am glad I don’t have to take the train to an office everyday. Man or woman, being a house-spouse can be bliss.
Tradcore for life!
59
Quote:
"...reactionary movements like “trad wives” — essentially right-wing mommy bloggers who advocate a return to regressive gender roles...servitude in the traditional binary framework."
I am weary of this sneering at women like my wife who ardently desired to give birth to ten children as a fulfillment of her feminine power and chose to work at home rather than partake of "servitude" in the corporate rat-race.
Her traditional way of life has been a source of happiness for her and our entire family (now expanded to six grandchildren). Why does this render her a target for insults ("right wing mommy"..."regressive gender roles")?
One cannot insult a trans person, nor should we, but one can apparently insult women like my spouse with impunity. The double-standard and the arrogance behind it are very troubling.
93
@Michael Hoffman Thank you for your comment. You are absolutely right. If women have the right to chose what they do with their lives, then they most certainly have the right to be housewives.
Mutual respect and equality recognizes that each have us makes our own choices. Please respect the housewife as much as the corporate ceo.
50
@Michael Hoffman : lefty media is absolutely gotten on to the clown car headed for crazy town....when a homemaker, wife and mother is deemed "regressive" and "troubled" but a transgender non-binary person with a sex change operation is "normal and a model to be emulated".
19
@Michael Hoffman
I appreciate your sentiment but until your wife replies my question is how do you truly know what her motivation was and how she truly feels?
25
This was a hugely pleasant rabbit hole to dive into. I see a moss cake in my future.
33
@Sarah I was just looking up the moss cake recipe!
11
“There’s not a lot of stuff you can do to make mistakes. I mean, it’s just going out in the woods and finding mushrooms or berries or sitting down and reading a book outside.”
I'm pretty sure eating the wrong mushrooms can be a pretty big mistake.
Aside from that, I think everything described in the article sounds wonderful. Why not strive for coziness?
13
I get the yearning, but why does this all seem so sad to me?
24
OK, how can I lure these young people to live in my woods and take care of my garden and chickens?
34
@Leanne hahaha- I could never get my sons to mow or help care for the pets. Yet, as young adults, they recall fond memories of the comfort of no responsibility and days of unstructured play, reading and creating. But not a lot of help did I get as they grew older.
10
Breaking his promise like that is not cool. Too bad I voted for him.
Isn't posting anything about cottagcore on social media the antithesis of cottagecore itself. We are a deeply paradoxical society at times.
16
Is this a real article or a pitch for some mashup of HGTV/FX/Netflix/Chip and Jo Gaines show? If it's it the latter, will it have merch and/or some sustainable rev stream? How's it being monetized? C'mon, I want in on the action! What's the stock symbol?
15
I can already see the commodification of this movement by Urban Outfitters: faux moss figurines, prairie frock knockoffs from China, plastic garden trolls. Ugh.
23
@Doug Muise : you are too late, it's already here.
4
@Doug Muise They already had that stuff in in the early 2000s. It's just going to cycle back soon like the 90s did.
3
@Doug Muise Not UO - I see this as more of an Anthropologie collaboration.
12
Remember please that the world has always had a dark side. Cottagers a hundred years ago did not have antibiotics or pacemakers or whatnot. Two hundred years ago, there were no flush toilets. Nor were there any computers to feed your fears ... and your fears.
11
Sounds like a lovely fantasy. However, I would watch out about gathering those mushrooms. Better know about the poisonous ones.
7
“There’s not a lot of stuff you can do to make mistakes. I mean, it’s just going out in the woods and finding mushrooms or berries or sitting down and reading a book outside.”
Um, there are in fact quite a lot of mistakes that you can make finding mushrooms. Often of the terminal variety...
11
It's Tasha Tudor or Martha Stewart rebooted.
12
I can see a lot of potential mistakes in going out into the woods to find mushrooms. I hope they have a good field guide to identify the poisonous ones.
3
For all those making snarky comments: Although anything can become a dysfunctional escape, cognitive therapy teaches us that deciding to think a certain way can help our emotions. Which kind of fellow citizen do you want, one who soothes their soul baking imaginary pies or the other who murders multiple imaginary enemies with automatic weapons?
44
@Michele Jacquin
I don't think people really get how much of this is taking place in the virtual world.
3
@Michele Jacquin The one who bakes a real pie and brings it to my front door?
15
Absolutely horrifying.
3
I anxiously await hobokencore.
20
living a sustainable life is a challenge. I have lived in a "cottage-core" world since 2012. Changing one's mindset from urban to farm as well as realizing that sustainable living has busy periods and slow periods. Yes, bugs, excrement, and power outages are tge norm. However, the freedom from toxicity both gender and foodwise is worth it.
7
You think you might be to where you've read enough of this article to where you're gonna laugh a little and...
"Phoenix Tweedy, who is 21 and from Forest Grove, Ore., discovered cottagecore five years after cowering under her desk during morning period while an active shooter killed one of her classmates at Reynolds High School in nearby Troutdale."
...then it seems like there's absolutely nothing wrong with spending the day thinking about chickens and baking pies, compared with what the "real" world has on offer.
Enjoy yourselves, cottagefolk. You're not doing any harm and this is likely doing you some good.
81
Phoenix Tweedy? Really?
I just read five articles about Coronavirus and then come across a story with someone named “Phoenix Tweedy”
Just want to say thanks NYT...I needed a good laugh.
9
@Madame DeFarge I grew up in the 60's living across the street from a lovely older couple named Mr & Mrs Tweedy. So, that part is a "real" name. And there are plenty of young folks out there now with the first name of "Phoenix". So, while it is humorous, I think it's for real too.
5
so all the 60s back to the land hippy dreams without actually having to shovel manure or give up Grubhub?
9
Tiny homes are “escapist fantasy.”
Yes, especially if your homeless.
10
You might want to check the origin of the term hard-core as it goes back to 19th century and its present usage dates to the 1930s.
8
We used to call this “dropping out.” It’s not exactly what citizenship means.
7
First world privilege. They pretend to lead a simple rustic life and yet never have to kill a chicken with their bare hands to prep for the evening dinner. Claim the simplicity but push away the hardships.
24
This article should be edited for clarity. Is this about a video game, a lesbian community, a tv show or what?
14
Ye gods, New York Times social-trend self-parody on steroids.
And how could you write this whole piece and never mention either Beatrix Potter or Waldorf schools, both totally obvious influencers of this thing?
25
Oh please, also wash your hands on TikTok
More hipster fantasy stuff, like Kinfolk
They wouldn't live 2 hours on a real farm without a cellphone or ability to upload their rurality
16
"linen-scented"? What does linen smell like? Might the author mean something like lavender-scented linen sheets"?
15
@Diana. Mystified me too, so I googled it. Seemingly, the fragrance priests have developed something with that name and the market has swished it into candles, sachets and cleaning supplies. Got me thinking about the general image that women are far more sensitive to odors than men, although the nasal priests do seem to be male. My man cave, of course, has a subtle aroma of Marvel Mystery Oil, which is easier to explain.
12
@Diana Wright : yeah, it is weird.
I have quite a bit of real linen as I collect vintage clothing and embroidered goods.
Periodically I need to launder and iron items. (It's a lot of work, by modern "drip dry" standards!).
Linen has no odor of any kind -- no more than cotton or other fabrics.
What I THINK they mean is the very pleasant scent of linen or cotton or even modern percale…when you wash it, and then LINE DRY it outdoors in the sunshine. The air and breezes and sun impart a very pleasing odor -- natural -- not chemical.
But trying to capture it in a bottle or candle….is just so fake.
15
@Diana Wright I think it refers to that "clean laundry hanging on the outdoor clothesline" smell.
8
"Not a lot of men..." is all I need to read.
A male human could not write the equivalent remark in the NYT without being diced and sliced (justifiably).
This is sexism - plain and simple - and it doesn't help.
7
Official Artist: Thomas Kinkade.
19
‘Twee’ says it all.
15
We glorify the past when the future dries up.
31
Cottagecore is misspelled "cottagcore" in paragraph 2 of the "The ‘Core’ Curriculum" section.
3
One mistake would be picking and eating poisonous mushrooms !
4
Twee Shall Overcome.
23
"Take modern escapist fantasies like tiny homes, voluntary simplicity, ..."
Ah, the "Urban Sneer" that the world so widely admires. Not your own choices, obviously; so therefore - "escapist fantasies."
Just a little twee there, for you and your homies down at the Central Perk. Oh; right; "Style" section – snide du jour is bread and butter.
Mirror, mirror; on the wall...
14
...as long as y'all vote...
24
The writer's condescension is the true goat dung of this piece. Who doesn't want an escapist fantasy right now? Whether it's cottagecore or video games or music or nature, people need their happy place. I think the author needs to find theirs.
41
While I understand the correspondent’s alienation from the world of Cottagecore, her tone of mocking superiority undermines her reporting and only served to alienate and turn off this curious reader. Perhaps a more patient, gentler approach to these gentle people might yield some deeper insights.
37
I get cottagcore. I even live it, a little, on three acres in Oregon’s Yamhill Valley. Yes, there’s dog poop to deal with, and agricultural chemicals drain off the fields, and the Coast Range mountains I see from my front porch are studded with clearcuts. But the tactile, peaceful slow pleasures—juncoes and flickers, applesauce from our own trees, those tiny bright green spots on the white blossoms of a patch of galanthus—pull us out of our heads, our striving and our self-importance, and direct us toward contemplation. Maybe the gauziness of cottagcore is not about sentimental evasion of reality, but an admission of the evanescence of beauty, and the elusiveness of the soul.
36
Wow, an abundance of sour grapes in this article. And then,
among all the dismissive calumny and arch snark, a sentence
starting, "The only way to find satisfaction in life is to
abandon ..."
The _only_ way ...
Just a jot of irony, I know--but then, I'm a minimalist at
heart.
Speaking of which, I think I'll go feed my Fallacy. You know
the one: "that by exerting control over one’s environment
and making it appear perfect, one can regain control over
one’s life."
Am I then twee? Making the bed and washing the breakfast
dishes always makes me feel better. Or am I core? Minimal?
Maximal? Doily-challenged?
Fortunately, I don't need a goat to poop on my shoes to
resolve all ambiguities. I have a cat for that.
30
To the author and to the times, could you write a more biased article if you tried to? This really smacks of high minded elitism mocking the completely harmless pastimes of a few - primarily because of the look back to a simpler, albeit more conservative approach to the day to day. Get off your high horse. This same attitude is what causes class division, and actually feeds the negatively that might make someone attracted to the very lifestyle this article is about. Live and let live. Oh, but not if it's a movement that seems old-fashioned?
32
"based on colonialism’s original, and continuing, sins"
Huh. Just like this newspaper, I suppose?
10
“Twee,” says it all.
2
“People want to be closer to nature,” said Kai Chow, a creative director at the Doneger Group, a design consulting agency in New York City. “The biggest trend in interior design is bringing the outdoors indoors.”
Irony is truly deceased! What is frightening is that she doesn't seem to see it. Brain melt......ahhhh
8
Here comes VR ‘round the bend! Who cares about pesky reality — eh?
1
Lifestyle Porn. It started with magazines like Kinfolk showing matte images of minimalistic, wood paneled, white linen, perfectly poured coffee dates and has evolved into this. Someone tell me how you get the privilege to "maybe bake something," take a walk whenever you want and forage for mushrooms and wildflowers without needing to punch a clock, pay a bill or have any modern day responsibilities? It's fantasy.
13
@Ldub It's a trust fund.
9
Still trying to figure out how you managed to fit in lesbianism, transgender oppression and a pungent whiff of misandry into what could merely have been a lifestyle puff-piece in a non-NYT setting. Very impressive.
18
@Peter Piper : "political correctness uber alles".
4
@Peter Piper Don't forget about colonialism and non-binary genders.
7
Also known as playing milkmaids at Versailles.
17
There’s an entire genre of romance novels devoted to hunky Amish farmers and the fantasy of a wholesome, rural life. I gather it’s mostly evangelical women who read it, but it springs from the same longing for simplicity and pre-technical living. Google it: the cover art is eye popping!
7
I have sky blue walls and a moss green couch. Wood floors. I tend a garden. I set my table with linen napkins and fresh flowers. I have book cases in every room in my house, and a row of cookbook on my counter. How is this a thing? It's simply my taste.
It seems like everything under the sun turns into a movement, virtual or no. Or maybe 'is monetized into a movement' is the preferred way of saying it.
60
@CC , YES, with curated kitchens and bedtops, perhaps the weeds as well.
5
We live in our minds.
So, we have to choose what makes us feel good and what makes us feel bad, and pursue the good. Finding balance along the way.
If you try too hard for the principles of cottagecore you could be more stressed out than trying to live your quotidian life.
My personal solution.
Knit.
Crochet.
Repeat.
19
Lets not forget that generation X grew up with cottagecore: Little House on the Prairie. I was Laura’s age when this show came out and was an AVID follower. I’ve spent much of my life living cottagecore as a result. The bus came by and I got on, that’s where it all began. First 10 years was completely off the grid, rain catchment and all, but then the power came in ‘96. Then I spent 14 years living near a big city (Honolulu) and at the end of that stint I was advised that all my pain and suffering was possibly fibromyalgia. And I refused to believe that. I left my marriage and moved back to that old rural community and my neighbors were still there! They brought me food and hugs and I barely left my cabin. After 6 months I was pain free and a year later: happy! This lifestyle isn’t for everyone but for some it is the only possible way to live.
43
Sounds delightful to me, I have to say.
One line stopped me short, though - no one should be foraging for mushrooms unless they are absolutely certain they know what they are doing.
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@Rachel Agreed. We know someone whose mother died after eating foraged mushrooms. And she was a skilled forager. Yikes!
6
"The only way to find satisfaction in life is to abandon all idealized depictions and acknowledge that messy humanity will always find a way to seep in."
You have to make your own magic, and spending time in nature and learning extensively about the natural world that actually surrounds you is a magic all its own.
35
Alvin Toffler predicted these attempts to live outside of contemporary modes as "enclaves of the past," in his book Future Shock. My heart goes out to the individual whose school experience ended in hiding from a shooter. This is something Toffler missed in anticipating the confusion of an accelerating technological environment: the retreat from the violence of the future.
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@Tom
To be fair, the past four thousand years have been violent ones for most people.
8
Having lived off-grid in a little rustic cabin with my two small boys for a time (maybe similar to some of the commenters), I found myself smiling along at this younger generation's desire to live closer to nature: there were so many gifts, lessons, memories, that have stuck with me all through other life phases that weren't so remotely located ... until thinking of how savvy I'd had to learn to be to avoid dangerous mistakes, like not reaching into the log pile without kicking so rattlesnakes or black widows weren't startled into a bite, like filtering even clear, rushing water to avoid nasty stomach ailments...
Then, I read the last sentence: “There’s not a lot of stuff you can do to make mistakes. I mean, it’s just going out in the woods and finding mushrooms or berries or sitting down and reading a book outside."
I do hope the book is one identifying which mushrooms and berries are poisonous.
97
I should preface this by saying that I had never heard of Cottagecore before, and I'm not what you would describe as twee. But I don't see why there seems to be a desire to criticize this aesthetic, or to compare it unfavorably to the rigors of farm life or the messiness of "real life." This isn't Farmcore. Lots of people live in little cottage-like homes and don't farm - it's actually a somewhat realistic objective. And lots of people living rural/semi-rural lives have for a long time embraced idealized images of their life - you will see in the artwork and decorations of their homes. It's totally possible to buy a little home and live there, and forage, and bake. Yes, you might have to work as well, but okay. I live in a city, I am in my mid-thirties, but I bake homemade scones (get a pastry cutter/blender and it's pretty easy); I have a sweet little garden; I enjoy making my home a nice place to be; I like to make things special; I burn beeswax tapers; I have handmade things and real wooden furniture and natural fabrics; I like to curl up with a book and I make a nice cup or pot of tea every single day. I also work and have a family.
More importantly, perhaps, is that this is an accessible version of something that rich people having been doing forever. Go to Versailles and check out Marie Antoinette's cottage. The wealthy have always had their retreats. Why do we disparage the non-wealthy for wanting them too?
362
I’m not sure who you mean by ‘non-wealthy’, but it certainly doesn’t include working people. We still have affluent privileged petty-bourgeois aping the pastoral fantasies of the plutocracy.
12
It’s an outgrowth of the magazine industry. You enter the aspirational world of the perfectly decorated house in the country, the beautiful food on the table, the picturesque clothing that is not practical for your everyday life. It’s not the end of the world, it’s an escape and an inspiration. You can’t obtain this perfection but you can make a few jars of jam, bake a pie, and knit a little. I like it, will check it out.
27
"...cottagecore offers a vision of domestic bliss without servitude in the traditional binary framework." Ahhhh, yes.
I grew up on a small family farm that had some very significant challenges, but also many grounding memories which I often reflect on and still work to include in my life today. Before my sons grew up to be honors college grads and engineers, they spent days and days in the summer with books stacked beside them in the hammock under the ginormous maple tree in our back yard. Stuffing cherry tomatoes from the garden in their mouths like they were candy and building cities and stories with blocks my dad made them from re-claimed two-by-fours.
There were challenges and difficulty in their upbringing as well (mine), but the easy pace, unplugged education and safe creative play gave them freedom and self-determination.
40
This does remind me of the back-to-the-land movement of the 70’s. Although in my case it was straight from NY to-the-land, never having lived in the country. NE winter off the grid was indeed a shock.
Learning hands-on country skills- lambing in snowstorms, cleaning barns, growing most of our own food- was a wonderful experience. I’d do it again in a NY minute.
32
Fantasy? As if living in tiny expensive apartments, buying organic food at some over-priced supermarket, and slaving all day in a cement bunker for minimum wage working for overlords of a corporate oligarchy ISN'T living in some kind of capitalist fantasy nightmare?
It's unfortunate that this kind of life is largely only available to the rich (I'm afraid Marie Antoinette was the first to live this lifestyle), it's nice that a new generation realizes the insanity of "hustling" in jobs that don't matter to accomplish other people's goals, burning themselves out for no reason other than to fan the flames of capitalism.
I can't afford to quite my dayjob but when my wife is playing Skyrim on the projector, I've got my oil heater going, baked something in the oven, and I'm reading some nice winter tales by a warm light under a soft blanket...well I'm just glad I'm doing that instead of trying to catch up on some TV show media wants me to watch or buying expensive alcohol and overpriced fast food that commercials would like me to waste money on.
Even if I can't slow time down to the cottage-core extent (and "core" doesn't originate with music, it originates as a pornography term), I can at least buy local quality goods and try to slow down and do things well as much as possible.
If you are interested in this way of thinking I recommend the film "Brother Sun, Sister Moon" about Saint Francis and his minimalist lifestyle (do one thing and do it well; own nothing).
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@Darin Oh, it's funny you mentioned that film! One of my all-time favorites! And I doubt many people know of it. Kudos!
15
Wait, there’s no booze in Cottagecore? No mead or barrel-aged uisgebeatha or cider?
I’m out.
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@Darin
I like your comment except for “ I'm just glad I'm doing that instead of trying to catch up on some TV show media wants me to watch “. You can’t put all TV in one category-I can’t count the number of wonderful movies and other shows I’ve watched on PBS and streaming media that have given me joy or insights into human nature.
14
How utterly bizarre. Aside from the English influence, that people try to create something virtual instead of simply living it, is a sure sign of their psychological dependency on technology. The effects of technology's invasion into the mind have barely been documented or explored, except by the businesses who knowingly use psychological studies, I'm sure, to enhance their penetration and increase dependency. It must be counteracted, but in a real way. This is not healthy at all. It bodes ill for the future of our species.
11
This reminds me of the mori kei aesthetic I saw floating around Tumblr/Pinterest for a long period. It emphasized living in the woods, natural elements, and loose layers of clothing. It originated in Japan. Mori kei is a lot less popular than it used to be, but cottagecore seems to draw on its style.
14
@freshfriedsalad Mori kei was the first thing I thought of, too. We "mori girls" are still around, wearing our layers of skirts, smocks, and cardigans.
3
Maybe all this time with the TV on and with our electronics at our fingertips our imaginations are starving. Growing up I was outside all day and creating other worlds (situations) in my head and in nature. Not a lot of people now spent time outside there houses/handhelds or their heads. There is another movement (less expensive then moving, etc) of living in historical costumes. Haven’t seen it in real life but on instagram #historicalcostume
13
I’m living the cottagecore lifestyle on acreage on a gravel road. I’m surrounded by woodland creatures, deer, bears, foxes, raccoons, tons of birds, etc. I can even bake pie from the blackberries on the property. The best part is I can drive to “civilization” within 20 minutes. Or even ride my bike. And the air is cooler up here.
87
Baking grand desserts can be a great burden. Farming does involve dung, dirt and bugs. What this movement, like the back to the earth movement of the 70s reminds us is that we need to connect with nature and meaningful human relationships. These are both powerful antidotes to the relentless desire of the media to make us little more than consumer cogs in wheels of commerce.
Nature connection, people connection. These matter. Don’t let anybody try to sell them to you. They aren’t for sale.
119
Reading this article is the literary equivalent of eating an entire bag (one pound) of refined white sugar. Dear God.
I hope these farms have good, strong gates with locks — on the outside.
15
@Mike
Don't read beyond the first paragraph of anything that offends your sensibilities so very much.
14
This reminds me of Miss Lavendar, the beautiful gray-haired lady who lived in a cottage in Anne of Avonlea, the sequel to Anne of Green Gables. Her stone cottage in the woods was perfumed by rose petals and she had elaborate tea parties for herself and her young maid. Even after she was married off in Victorian fashion, Anne and Diana still love visiting the cottage to escape their everyday and renew their friendship.
32
@SBC Check Amy Sedaris and her spoof "The Lady who Lives in the Woods"!
4
@Brian33
I will!
I lived the cottage existence on a 40-acre Colorado farm for four years, baking bread, milking goats and a Jersey cow, and spinning wool from my sheep. It was a lot of hard work but mostly a lovely, loving experience.
Unfortunately, as with most kinds of farming, you can only do it until the money runs out.
When the world is too much with me, I can go back to Harmony Farm in my mind—a gift that keeps on giving.
115
A Wordsworthian, I see. I think William and Dorothy both would have liked this movement very much.
The world is too much with us; late and soon
Getting and spending we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
28
@Bluebeliever41 I hope you'll seek and find new lovely, loving experiences in your new environment in parks, at the farmer's market, in your kitchen, on your windowsill. Harmony Farm taught you to live a better life, a gift graciously received.
7
We own a cottage in the hills--and I'm talking serious hills. Even the temp is different. it's my husband's family homestead going back to the early 1800s. But living there, even the consideration of it, was too much of a shock for this girl who grew up 45 mins out of Manhattan. Off the grid is great but be prepared for Country Shock
20
I lived in a log home on a dirt road in the very small town of Andes NY for 10 years. If you are looking for real life cottagecore, that town is as close to it as you can get. My wife and I loved living there until I got Reynauds syndrome and had to move.
The biggest problem, besides the very cold winters was the lack of quality health care nearby for serious illnesses or injuries.
The place is gorgeous. We still dream about it.
41
@William Feldman What I understand from this article, true cottagecore would not have you logging in to the digital edition of the NYT.
3
Love this. And nice to hear that even some younger folk realize the benefits of the analog world. This 56 year-old sure does miss it, in many ways. I mean sure, I'm pretty tech/social media savvy but yet, I feel that we sure have lost a lot in the way of our day-to-day social interactions. No one stopping by for an (unannounced) visit. No one calling on the phone (or even Skype etc) for a live conversation. Everything must be planned in advance, and most 'communication' is via text or Messenger. I do delight however, when I see (with somewhat regularity) young folks around me...on the train...in a coffeeshop etc., who are at times reading real books (books made of paper!)... or they are writing in a journal (with a real pen!). ;-)
48
After yesterday’s headlines, having a calming alternate universe of beauty and nature to escape to makes perfect sense to me, even if it’s just a fantasy.
That said, if I see one more photo of someone holding a chicken...
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@Barbara Brundage
Hahaha - I completely agree with you! If you've ever tried to catch and hold a fast, wriggly, smelly, pecking chicken - you would NOT romanticize it at all.
14
@Barbara Brundage: Agreed! That's why I have ducks <3
6