I love cottagecore, personally. I find it the perfect escape from the bustling city, fast-paced job, and honking traffic at the end of a long day. Today, I’m going to show you very briefly a few things I like to do every day that taps into my cottagecore fantasy, and a bit about what a cottagecore lifestyle entails.
Cottagecore (a combination of ‘cottage’, the cutesy little village house, and the -core suffix used in fashion like normcore), is a modern reimagining of country living especially popular with teens on TikTok. There are quite difficult cottagecore activities, with some teens actually raising chickens or crocheting entire blankets, but there are some great and easy cottagecore hobbies you can take up if you’d like to dip your toes in!
One tenet of cottagecore is living green. This means buying secondhand clothes, eating out of lunchboxes, and most excitingly, growing your own vegetables. An easy way to get started is with a little kitchen garden, making the use out of things you might throw away, like carrot tops! The nobbly bits from your castaway carrots can be propagated and then made into pesto, or stir-fried in place of mustard greens. You could even repot the sprigs of herbs you can buy from the chiller section of the supermarket, leading to a neverending supply of mint, basil, or oregano that you can add to your meals for free!
If you’d like to have a bit more inspiration, why not see what the kids are doing? YouTube is filled with cottagecore TikToks, with step by step recipes on how to make dandelion wine, flower crowns, or pickled ginger. Maybe the kids are alright! Or, if TikTok isn’t your style, why not check out some more established rustic living YouTubers, like Li Ziqi, Dian Xi Xiao Ge, or TheCottageFairy.
If you’ve got any traditional recipes, tips, or tricks, why don’t you let us know on the Thousand Dollar Facebook page or Instagram? Meet other people who like to take it slow!
Photo by Sarah Pflug from Burst.
