[HN Gopher] 'Cottagecore' and the rise of the modern rural fantasy
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       'Cottagecore' and the rise of the modern rural fantasy
        
       Author : rustoo
       Score  : 77 points
       Date   : 2021-09-29 11:48 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.bbc.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.bbc.com)
        
       | davidw wrote:
       | This is, in reality, probably less 'green' than living in a city.
       | Multi-family homes tend to require less energy to heat and cool,
       | because you share walls. You can also walk to many things. My bet
       | is that most of the people living this way aren't so into the
       | 'rural lifestyle' that they don't own a couple of cars that they
       | use for ... pretty much everything in life.
        
       | 0des wrote:
       | What does the -core suffix mean in this context? I get that it is
       | a mix of words, like hardcore, nerdcore, etc.. but why? I figured
       | that was reserved for fringe extreme genres. Does anybody have
       | any info on this?
        
         | blakesterz wrote:
         | https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/what-exactly-is-co...
         | 
         | ": Cottagecore, a movement hearkening back to agricultural
         | life, skills, and crafts, is on the rise. "As a concept, it
         | embraces a simpler, sustainable existence that is more
         | harmonious with nature. Aesthetically, it's a nod to the
         | traditional English countryside style, romantic and nostalgic,"
         | says Davina Ogilvie, founder of Wovn Home, a start-up that
         | makes custom (but affordable and accessible) window
         | treatments."
        
         | levi-turner wrote:
         | In hip fashion circles, I've seen it crop up regularly.
         | Dadcore, Normcore and the like. I've always taken it to mean
         | the synthesized essence of an aesthetic, or at least the
         | adherents believe that to be the case.
        
           | sprkwd wrote:
           | Such a commentcore statement.
        
         | pdabbadabba wrote:
         | I don't consider myself an authority on this, but I take it to
         | be a gentle bit of comedic irony, used to describe aesthetics
         | that are generally the opposite what people associate with
         | "hardcore," the best known earlier use of the suffix. Compare
         | hardcore with, for example, prairiecore, cottagecore, dadcore,
         | nerdcore.
         | 
         | All of these terms describe an aesthetic that references the
         | stereotyped essence of a way of life. But these new uses
         | reference a way of life typically stereotyped to be
         | approximately the opposite of "hardcore."
         | 
         | All of them put a little smile on my face, but prairiecore is
         | my favorite: https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Prairiecore
         | 
         | Edit: Language is fun. There are eight replies to the parent
         | comment so far, and almost as many interpretations of "core,"
         | with different connotations. We're all sitting here
         | understanding the word "cottagecore" perfectly well, but having
         | subtlety--yet importantly--different subjective experiences
         | while doing so.
        
           | OldHand2018 wrote:
           | I greatly appreciate that very educational link.
           | 
           | I must take exception though, as the American tallgrass
           | prairie looks nothing like that photo. Checking wikipedia,
           | that would be pretty indicative of perhaps the very thin
           | shortgrass prairie from pretty far west (Colorado, Wyoming,
           | New Mexico) where the cowboy lifestyle was prevalent?
           | 
           | Tallgrass prairie is gorgeous and very colorful.
        
         | danmcs wrote:
         | Like -punk, it has been suffixed onto other words to
         | essentially mean "genre".
        
         | throwanem wrote:
         | It reminds me of the "-gate" suffix denoting scandal,
         | originally derived from the name of the Watergate Hotel, his
         | B&E crew's actions at which ultimately brought Richard Nixon
         | low.
         | 
         | Wiktionary [1] describes the "-core" suffix as a similar
         | backformation from the musical genre name "hardcore", and as
         | with "-gate", it seems to have developed into a general-purpose
         | inflection denoting a genre or subculture - to the extent, I
         | suppose, that those two concepts can any longer be
         | distinguished from one another, at least.
         | 
         | [1] https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/-core
        
         | zamadatix wrote:
         | I've always taken it as meaning/being related to the primary
         | literal meaning of core:
         | 
         | "a central and often foundational part usually distinct from
         | the enveloping part by a difference in nature"
         | https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/core
         | 
         | I.e. a <prefix>core person is one whose central foundational
         | part is based on <prefix>. Material related to <prefix>core is
         | from/for/focused on that type of identity.
        
         | eli wrote:
         | https://ask.metafilter.com/282658/What-is-the-meaning-of-the...
        
         | boringg wrote:
         | I assumed it was moving away from the core of a city to making
         | the cottage the 'new' core.
         | 
         | Also like other comment about hardcore maybe being part of the
         | etymology
        
       | tibbydudeza wrote:
       | Dealing with septic tanks - rotting uneven floors , shitty no pun
       | intended plumbing and electrics - broadband from the copper era.
       | 
       | No thanks - much prefer my modern sterile IKEA isocube.
        
         | kaybe wrote:
         | The one advantage of uneven walls and non-90deg corners is that
         | my DIY fixes to everything fits in nicely and even looks good
         | when done with care. Everything is easier to fix.
        
           | tibbydudeza wrote:
           | I call it artisanal DIY repairs.
        
         | LAC-Tech wrote:
         | As of writing, I live on a farm an hours drive from the nearest
         | grocery store. It's still a first world country, but people
         | have a lot less disposable income than the states.
         | 
         | The floor boards do suck, and the electricity gets cut more
         | often.
         | 
         | But I get 58.6Mbps down, 21.4Mbps up. Ground to ground
         | satellite.
        
           | qq4 wrote:
           | Mind mentioning your satellite isp?
        
         | Cthulhu_ wrote:
         | Same, if I were to move I'd go for something modern. That said,
         | it's an idealized lifestyle, everyone's guilty of some of that
         | - "I'd love to live in a van" but where do you shit? "I'd love
         | to become a digital nomad and live in a cheap 5-star resort"
         | but where do you keep your stuff? What about family and
         | friends? "I'd love to retire to a cabin in the woods" but what
         | about all the amenities you're used to, like electricity, heat,
         | food, water, and internet?
         | 
         | I mean don't get me wrong, I can see the appeal in
         | 'cottagecore', but at the same time I'm being realistic about
         | things.
        
           | BoxOfRain wrote:
           | I'm planning to move onto a sailing yacht next year. The
           | answer for things like digital nomadism, van life, and that
           | sort very much boils down to "own less stuff". For me if it
           | can't fit in my 40' of boat it's either getting sold or put
           | into storage.
        
           | tibbydudeza wrote:
           | Since I am close to retirement been watching videos about
           | tiny homes and van life and log cabin in the middle of the
           | woods and of late living on a narrowboat on the English
           | waterways.
           | 
           | But I then go camping and realize after a few days how much I
           | would miss my modern amenities.
           | 
           | Nostalgia.
        
           | dageshi wrote:
           | With DN'ing most just get rid of the majority of their stuff
           | before they go. That one really isn't that difficult.
        
             | lastofthemojito wrote:
             | It's not difficult for a subset of the population who lack
             | certain ties (or prefer not to keep close ties). Digital
             | Nomading is obviously much harder if you've got kids to put
             | in school, or elderly parents to check in on, or a partner
             | who wants to keep their non-remote job, etc.
             | 
             | When I was in my 20s and put everything in storage and
             | traveled for a while it was great. Now my wife and kid (and
             | the grandparents who want to see the kid), etc would make
             | such a move a lot tougher in a lot of ways.
        
           | orwin wrote:
           | I live in a van 2 month/year, sometime with a friend,
           | sometime alone. Pretty usefull to really visit/hike across
           | France, Spain, Italy (Balkans are next i guess).
           | 
           | Public toilet, camping toilet, or behind a tree, to answer
           | your question.
        
         | Ancapistani wrote:
         | It's amusing how different people's wants and desires are.
         | 
         | I live in a very small town from the POV of what I perceive as
         | the majority of HN - <15k people, and it's the largest town in
         | an hour's drive in any direction. My home is in a neighborhood
         | on the edge of town that was annexed only a few years ago, and
         | as a result even though my property has city sewer access, I
         | still have a septic tank. I dread the day that I'm unable to
         | legally keep it operational and have to tie in to city sewer.
         | It's just one more monthly bill I'll have to pay. The zoning
         | here is such that a homeowner can do any repair work they
         | please on their own without having to get a permit or licensed
         | contractor.
         | 
         | I have gigabit fiber and solid, level floors though. :)
         | 
         | I could easily increase my income by $75-100k if I were willing
         | to move to LA or SF. I'm not even tempted by it.
        
           | giantg2 wrote:
           | "The zoning here is such that a homeowner can do any repair
           | work they please on their own without having to get a permit
           | or licensed contractor."
           | 
           | Wow, that's pretty strict for a "small town". Most places
           | allow you to make _repairs_ without a permit or contractor as
           | long as you 're not making changes.
           | 
           | For example, I needed a permit to put in an interlock and
           | receptacle for a generator. If something breaks the
           | receptacle, I can replace it with the same model/type/size
           | without a permit. If I replaced it with a different type/size
           | then I would need a permit. On a side note, the inspections
           | are mostly a joke and just a way for the municipality to make
           | money (permit costs more than the materials in many of my
           | cases). The inspector had no idea about electrical stuff and
           | didn't ask any questions about wire gauge/run, receptacle
           | sizing, receptacle height, or how the breaker box was
           | balanced. You know, the stuff that's important to do right to
           | avoid fires, etc.
        
         | cottager2 wrote:
         | Having just bought a cottage, here are some things that have
         | changed recently.
         | 
         | 1. P2P wireless means you can cheaply get a 50/10 internet
         | connection in remote areas. This is plenty for most users. Also
         | starlink is apparently pretty good.
         | 
         | 2. Just pay someone to pump your septic. You don't have to pay
         | city taxes covering sewers so you probably come out ahead.
         | 
         | 3. Plumbing and electrical is usually exposed, making it very
         | easy to work on. For plumbing, shark bites and pex are way
         | easier than soldering copper.
         | 
         | One thing that does suck about owning a cottage is needing to
         | worry about mice...
        
           | tantalor wrote:
           | > worry about mice
           | 
           | Get a cat or two.
        
             | tibbydudeza wrote:
             | Got that covered - got 6 of them but probably only two of
             | them are active mousers.
        
               | nicwolff wrote:
               | I live in a cottage in the woods and my cat brings live
               | shrews _into_ the house to play with. Cats!
        
               | tibbydudeza wrote:
               | Fortunately we only had one cat who did that and she is
               | now a pensioner and prefers less strenuous activities
               | like sun bathing and sleeping.
               | 
               | Trapping a mouse at 1am in the bedroom is not so
               | endearing.
        
           | silicon2401 wrote:
           | What's a good resource to learn about septic? I'm interested
           | in moving somewhere more rural at some point in the future
           | but have no idea how septic works. I admit a slight
           | squeamishness at the thought of our waste accumulating in a
           | tank, but the part that I'm more concerned about is not
           | knowing what the risks or processes involved are.
        
             | giantg2 wrote:
             | https://www.epa.gov/septic/how-your-septic-system-works
        
         | Veen wrote:
         | Yes, I learned my lesson after moving into a 400-year-old
         | thatched cottage because I thought it was quaint. The roof and
         | windows leaked. It had limited central heating and was largely
         | heated by a multi-fuel burner. That meant spending an absurd
         | amount of money on wood, which I had to schlep around and split
         | while the weather was appalling and then spend far too long
         | lighting a fire and keeping it going all day, only for the heat
         | to escape out of the ill-fitting single-glazed windows which
         | couldn't be replaced because it was a Grade II listed building.
         | The lovely ceiling beams and all the doors were slightly too
         | low, so I was constantly banging my head on them.
         | 
         | All in all, not a great experience, although it looked very
         | cosy in Instagram photos.
         | 
         | On top of which, this "cottagecore" trend is one reason none of
         | the locals in my area can afford to buy a house. The house
         | prices have skyrocked since Londoners decided living in the
         | middle of nowhere was cool.
        
           | lastofthemojito wrote:
           | I live in one of the few newer homes in an old mill town and
           | it's great. I get to stroll the narrow streets, and admire
           | the quaint architecture all around.
           | 
           | The locally quarried stone used for the walls of the oldest
           | buildings (which obviously made things difficult for
           | accommodating additions containing bathrooms and kitchens).
           | 
           | The charmingly narrow and irregular front doors on some
           | houses, making it an impossible dream to move a typical new
           | couch or appliance in.
           | 
           | The turnbuckles used to stabilize some houses after all these
           | years, and those cables being one more thing to hit your head
           | on.
           | 
           | Then I get home from a walk and enjoy the central air
           | conditioning, tall ceilings, modern windows and level floors
           | of my home. I know some of my neighbors in the older houses
           | really enjoy them. They research the history of the houses
           | and are enthusiastic about maintaining them and keeping
           | things mostly original. The house basically becomes a hobby.
           | Just about everybody likes looking at quaint old houses, so
           | you have to find out if that's you or if you'd actually enjoy
           | living in one too. I know I just like looking at them.
        
           | closeparen wrote:
           | Dealing with historic preservation would seem to defeat the
           | purpose of living in a rural area.
        
       | dqpb wrote:
       | It's great until you realize everything has lead in it.
        
       | wonderwonder wrote:
       | Its the result of complete burnout of a large portion of society.
       | So many people feel they work too much and dream of just getting
       | away to something simpler. I think its a reflection of so much
       | going wrong currently with society and the way we live in
       | general. But I'm just some guy on the internet; I am probably
       | projecting :)
       | 
       | Edit: I often think about buying a cheap old isolated house on a
       | couple acres in Italy, fixing it up and just putting the world at
       | arms length. Kids and wife make it impractical so I will continue
       | to trudge :)
        
       | mothsonasloth wrote:
       | Just another manifestation of people realising their life of
       | metropolitan decadence is wrong, lacks meaning and is damaging to
       | the human spirit.
        
         | knownjorbist wrote:
         | ...while ignoring the reasons people headed in that direction
         | in the first place.
        
       | tantalor wrote:
       | Really interesting twitter thread by @SarahTaber_bww breaking
       | this down from yesterday:
       | 
       | https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1443225915073437698.html
        
         | tibbydudeza wrote:
         | All MLM's seems to come from Utah.
        
         | newaccount2021 wrote:
         | not really interesting - subliterate drivel/anger from someone
         | who can't seem to handle the idea of people who are different
         | than themselves
        
       | krapp wrote:
       | I'd recommend this video essay by Rowan Ellis on cottagecore and
       | the LGBT community, and some of the more problematic aspects of
       | the community[0].
       | 
       | [0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5odKiL7jRW0
        
       | dweez wrote:
       | "The industrial revolution and its consequences have been a
       | disaster for the human race" but make it instagramable
        
       | aussiegreenie wrote:
       | Living a more sustainable life is the key to human survival. If
       | you can grown your own food and produce local cleaner energy,
       | humanity _MAY_ survive. The existing American-model life
       | guarantees human civilisation will not live past 2040.
        
         | jtsiskin wrote:
         | Why? Wouldn't centralized larger farms be more efficient?
        
           | giantg2 wrote:
           | Depends on what efficiency your measuring and if you have any
           | other factors to consider. Larger farms tend to be more
           | economically efficient (at least for basic commodities, or
           | because the margins are to low to support a farm under a
           | specific size). But it's not a one to one comparison because
           | the models and practices differ. You could say that a COFO is
           | more efficient than a small ranch because they produce more
           | beef on fewer acres and utilize brewer's grain from ethanol
           | production. It's possible that a small farm raising organic
           | wagyu might actually be more economically efficient since
           | it's a higher margin product.
        
           | AngryData wrote:
           | You can't actually compare them very well because commercial
           | food production uses fossil fuel derived fertilizer to feed
           | its yields. Small subsidence farms often don't use any fossil
           | fuel derived fertilizer, and is thus infinity sustainable,
           | but also low yield. Big commercial farms rely almost entirely
           | on fossil fuel derived fertilizer, which is unsustainable
           | unless we pull ass tons of clean renewable energy out of our
           | butts to replace it, but have extreme yields.
           | 
           | We can make artificial fertilizer without fossil fuels, but
           | the energy cost is atleast 10x what our current usage is for
           | fertilizer and is already over 1% of global power. And we are
           | still a ways off of producing an extra 10% of global energy
           | output via completely clean power.
        
         | horns4lyfe wrote:
         | Heh. Ok, can I have all your money in 2039?
        
         | hirundo wrote:
         | In the year 1975 I was told the same thing about the year 2000.
        
         | vesuvianvenus wrote:
         | Australia is a well developed country and an analogue to your
         | "the American-model". I'd call it the "Developed Industrial
         | Nation"-model to be more precise.
         | 
         | Not implying this with you, but I think it must be a trend of
         | Australians to consider Americans "elitist"-- that the rich,
         | obese Americans are the greedy ones ruining everything.
         | 
         | It's just funny to me, since Australians follow the same model
         | of western-european-derived economics & western-european-
         | derived government.
        
       | giantg2 wrote:
       | I dream of quitting my job and living on some land. My wife
       | refuses to "live in the middle of nowhere, where there's nothing
       | to do". I guess I shall continue to work a job I hate in order to
       | live in this expensive area.
        
         | tibbydudeza wrote:
         | I follow a youtube channel of a chap and his wife who left the
         | city and relocated to a rural area to do sustainable farming
         | with ducks and geese.
         | 
         | It is interesting but it is very hard work to husband animals
         | but they seem very happy.
         | 
         | https://www.youtube.com/c/GoldShawFarm/videos
        
         | LAC-Tech wrote:
         | You have a disagreement with your significant other, and the
         | resolution you came up with is "ignore what I want and just go
         | with what they want" ?
         | 
         | That doesn't sound great.
        
         | xnyan wrote:
         | It takes some effort, but you can have it (mostly) both ways. I
         | live in a little rural town (Hillsborough, NC) that has farms
         | in the woods and a great tiny downtown with several really good
         | restaurants, pubs, and even a tiny art scene and it's only 15
         | minutes away from Duke/Durham, NC with tons of great dining,
         | shopping, events and so on.
         | 
         | I'm sure there are plenty of other situations like this, nice
         | semi-rural/rural towns on the edge of a metro and all it's
         | services.
        
           | giantg2 wrote:
           | Yeah, most places I was looking at would be 30-60 minutes
           | outside of large city, and only a short 10 or so minute drive
           | to the local town.
           | 
           | She told me one day that she never wanted to leave the
           | current county (her home county). Now she is also determined
           | to move into her old school district (much more expensive and
           | more developed), even though the school scores aren't much
           | higher than the current one and just with the money that we
           | save in property taxes we could send a kid to a private
           | school. Needless to say, this issue doesn't come down to
           | having a rational discussion to find solutions that fit both
           | of our criteria. I'm wrong, she's right, always.
        
             | sprkwd wrote:
             | Think there might be bigger issues going on there.
        
       | slibhb wrote:
       | Having escaped the necessity of living in certain ways, we find
       | outselves voluntarily adopting older forms of human behavior.
       | 
       | That's what exercising is. It's what gardening is. It's what
       | having pets is. These are behaviors that mimic the surface
       | characteristics of old ways of life (hunting, farming, animal
       | husbandry).
        
       | octokatt wrote:
       | Heidi came out in 1881 [0], right around when the phone was
       | invented and after Switzerland had a decade or so of political
       | turmoil [1].
       | 
       | When things get complicated, nostalgia for the simplicity of
       | rural life, without things like dirt or economic scarcity, tend
       | to come to the fore [2].
       | 
       | [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi [1] http://history-
       | switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch/timeline-sw... [2]
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostalgia#As_a_political_tool
        
         | giantg2 wrote:
         | Sometimes the economic scarcity is relatively less scarce than
         | in urban areas. For example, at least during the depression
         | those with farms had to ability to grow their own food.
         | 
         | To be fair, sometimes the government would allow urban
         | households to garden in a 1/4 acre or so plot in designated
         | areas as part of a program to help people be more self
         | sufficient. Although my grandfather said not many people took
         | advantage of that.
        
           | barry-cotter wrote:
           | > For example, at least during the depression those with
           | farms had to ability to grow their own food.
           | 
           | Those without farms overwhelmingly didn't need to. The only
           | place in North America to have widespread hunger during the
           | Great Depression was Newfoundland. If most people didn't take
           | advantage of allotments it was because it wasn't worth it.
           | After the fall of the Soviet Union lots and lots of urban ex-
           | Soviet citizens grew their own food. They needed to.
        
       | mymythisisthis wrote:
       | The ending of Don Quixote...
       | 
       | Don Quixote replied that he himself was to be called the shepherd
       | Quixotize and the bachelor the shepherd Carrascon, and the curate
       | the shepherd Curambro, and Sancho Panza the shepherd Pancino.
       | 
       | Both were astounded at Don Quixote's new craze; however, lest he
       | should once more make off out of the village from them in pursuit
       | of his chivalry, they trusting that in the course of the year he
       | might be cured, fell in with his new project, applauded his crazy
       | idea as a bright one, and offered to share the life with him.
       | "And what's more," said Samson Carrasco, "I am, as all the world
       | knows, a very famous poet, and I'll bealways making verses,
       | pastoral, or courtly, or as it may come into my head, to pass
       | away our time in those secluded regions where we shall be
       | roaming. But what is most needful, sirs, is that each of us
       | should choose the name of the shepherdess he means to glorify in
       | his verses, and that we should not leave a tree, be it ever so
       | hard, without writing up and carving her name on it, as is the
       | habit and custom of love-smitten shepherds."
       | 
       | https://www.gutenberg.org/files/5946/5946-0.txt
        
       | redis_mlc wrote:
       | I grew up in a farming area, and my family had a 30'x30' garden.
       | 
       | Farming is a lot of work. It's a job, not a hobby.
       | 
       | Even the garden was a fair amount of work, but more importantly,
       | it's a lot of veggies to eat after harvest. I had tomato
       | sandwiches daily for months. Plus insects to control. Doable, but
       | not glamorous like the "cottagecore" photos.
       | 
       | If I did a serious garden again, I'd focus on becoming a skilled
       | grower of certain veggie strains over a period of decades, and
       | not focus on quantity.
       | 
       | Also, know your soil. If you're in an urban area (or downwind)
       | that used to have steel or auto factories, then your soil is
       | contaminated with heavy metals.
        
         | zwieback wrote:
         | ...and fighting off deer, literally sent by Satan to devour my
         | tender green shoots
        
           | dls2016 wrote:
           | Six foot fence keeps the deer moving along... but those fat
           | groundhogs climb right over.
        
           | blfr wrote:
           | That's just venison delivering itself.
        
             | throwaway0a5e wrote:
             | Not if you have white collar standards for "sportsmanlike
             | behavior" it's not.
             | 
             | That said, I agree with you. If I want X pounds per year of
             | venison I'm gonna get it and I see no reasons to spend a
             | few hours sitting in the woods during a particular part of
             | the year to do it.
        
         | PaulDavisThe1st wrote:
         | It's not just a lot of work, depending on how much you can
         | automate irrigation and weeding, it's a fairly sure-fire bet
         | that you cannot travel during the summer.
        
         | madaxe_again wrote:
         | Eh, you can do it the hard way, or the fantastically lazy way.
         | We just grow tangles - basic trellis of offcut branches, and
         | then seed with a variety of complementary species, a few
         | sacrificial pest magnets, and a few pest repellers. Irrigation
         | is all automated drip, no feed - river (lovely and clean -
         | there's very little upstream of us, no industry) floods our
         | garden each winter, does the job nicely.
         | 
         | What grows, grows, what doesn't, doesn't - and this year, even
         | through a bitter drought, we have enough that we're giving it
         | away. Harvesting involves rummaging, so it isn't exactly
         | scalable - but for feeding a household, it's perfect.
         | 
         | We have deer and boar here - so we also plant hemlock around
         | the border of the garden, which they stay well away from. Also
         | helps to piss on their trails nearby - discourages them from
         | visiting. The boar, we actually take advantage of - there's a
         | meadow they love to turn over every spring, digging for tubers
         | - which we then throw potatoes in.
         | 
         | I mean, outside of that, off grid life is humblingly
         | challenging - but I've never been in better shape, and growing
         | food is easy enough if you just let nature do its thing.
        
           | zhynn wrote:
           | I like your description of "pest magnets", I have been
           | referring to them as plant tanks. My overgrown raspberries
           | tank the japanese beetles for the blueberries. Plus the yield
           | of the raspberries isn't significantly dented by the japanese
           | beetles.
           | 
           | My favorite piece of equipment is my wood chipper: I can turn
           | all of the delivery boxes into mulch. And yard waste. And...
           | basically any other biomass that will turn to dirt in 6-12
           | months.
           | 
           | We are not off-grid (dude, that's so much work). But I build
           | most of my projects out of found materials (raised beds out
           | of old fencing, etc). I tried my hand at making a basket out
           | of grape vine, but grape vines are really "shreddy" and the
           | basket is no fun to use. I was going to try coppicing some
           | willow next -- baskets are really useful.
           | 
           | It's a fun hobby, but I am lazy. And I still end up with too
           | much produce (though I have a lot of space, so that makes it
           | easier).
        
             | madaxe_again wrote:
             | Agreed on the wood chipper - we've fed vast volumes of
             | organic waste through ours as we've 8ha of badly overdense
             | and bramble/suspended dead wood choked woodland to manage,
             | and the mulch is dead handy for paths and garden beds - our
             | soil is very low in carbon, so everything helps.
             | 
             | Re: weaving, vines are impossible, rett them first - soak
             | 'em, maybe in lye, and then pound them with a rock to get
             | fibres. Baskets, willow works great - we've goat willow all
             | over, here, and use it for smaller stuff. Bigger stuff we
             | use olive, as green it's supple and dry it's like a rock,
             | and very rot resistant - we've made half baskets on a steep
             | hill slope to catch runoff and encourage tree growth - the
             | oldest ones (two years) are hosting self-seeded oak
             | saplings now, which is kinda cool.
        
           | mikro2nd wrote:
           | We just had a Porcupine break into the protective cages to
           | dig up and eat our entire Potato crop last night.
           | 
           | It can be challenging.
        
             | giantg2 wrote:
             | I hear they can be used as a substitute for beef in stews.
        
               | mikro2nd wrote:
               | And the vegetarian option is.... ;)
        
               | sprkwd wrote:
               | Get rid of the Porcu- and keep the -pine? :)
        
               | harpersealtako wrote:
               | Finding an adventurous gardener friend who is willing to
               | trade you fresh veggies for a dead porcupine
        
         | zhynn wrote:
         | My focus is on "lazy gardening" -- or how much can I get nature
         | to automate things. How much can I use waste biomass as a
         | resource. Etc. I end up with a lot of failures, but the
         | successes are really satisfying. The main challenge is that the
         | feedback loop is ~1yr which means that it's not a hobby for the
         | impatient. :)
        
       | schnevets wrote:
       | I love my backyard garden (even though my Brussels Sprout
       | experiment this year proved to be a huge waste of time). I also
       | love the aesthetic that cottagecore is revitalizing. I love
       | drinking at local wineries, buying stuff at my local farmer's
       | market, brewing beer and swapping bottles with homebrew friends,
       | etc...
       | 
       | But holy shit am I repulsed by the influencer aspect that is
       | growing with this "movement". Ways of Seeing taught that
       | publicity (aka marketing) is tied to envy. There is such a deep
       | schism between the Web 2.0 communities that exchange ideas on a
       | forum and the vapid glamour shots posted on Instagram and Tik
       | Tok. I think the takeaway is "Don't trust anyone in your hobby
       | who is making money off their social media account."
       | 
       | Maybe this is why I like homebrewing: everyone is a bearded,
       | chubby 35 year old nerd and there no way to make a 5 gallon
       | carboy of bubbling alcoholic liquid into something "glamourous"
        
         | dpeck wrote:
         | | "Don't trust anyone in your hobby who is making money off
         | their social media account."
         | 
         | That is a remarkably accurate, but sad observation. There's
         | always been folks trying to hustle in various hobbies and
         | interest groups, but these days they seem to take up all the
         | oxygen in a space.
         | 
         | The glossy image/clip video nature of things seem unavoidable
         | and make many people with humbler aspirations more reluctant to
         | share their works, thoughts, and perspectives if they aren't
         | able to be turned into the visual equivalent of a sound bite.
        
       | mymythisisthis wrote:
       | Marie Antoinette and her friends would dress up as young
       | shepherdess or milkmaids and wander around the hamlet pretending
       | to be peasants, while still surrounded by the comforts of a royal
       | lifestyle. A team of real farmers appointed by the Queen looked
       | after the farm and the animals, and produced fruits and
       | vegetables consumed at the royal table.
       | https://www.amusingplanet.com/2019/11/hameau-de-la-reine-mar...
        
         | leokennis wrote:
         | I think this is not a lot different than Bezos types visiting
         | Burning Man on a VIP package.
        
           | LAC-Tech wrote:
           | Aren't most of the people at burning man pretty
           | fashionable/wealthy? Peasants compared to Bezos sure, but not
           | the population at large.
           | 
           | More like the king among the minor nobility.
        
             | ben_w wrote:
             | Yes, but "pretty fashionable/wealthy" would also describe
             | most users on this forum.
        
           | weregiraffe wrote:
           | As if Burning Man itself isn't a LARP.
        
             | dopamean wrote:
             | I was going to say this. Burning man is for those types.
        
               | [deleted]
        
           | JohnWhigham wrote:
           | Yup, the time-honored tradition of the rich LARPing as the
           | commoner is as alive as ever.
        
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