hello it's ruby and today i'm going to
be giving you a complete guide
to cottage core cottage core is an
aesthetic which has become
increasingly popular over the last year
and
it's no wonder really due to the
pandemic we have all had to
adopt a slower pace of life and that is
exactly what
this aesthetic embodies slow living
cottage core is all about
living simply and slowly and
appreciating the little things
it is about being present in every
moment and thus
living life to the fullest i truly
believe that to live our best life we
don't have to do a host of impressive
things
cottage core is also very much linked to
sustainability and living a sustainable
lifestyle so
living simply and living harmoniously
with nature so kind of
not consuming mindlessly it's like very
against fast fashion
growing your own food is a huge part of
this aesthetic
and making your food from scratch and
then another key aspect of the aesthetic
is domestic productivity
so i love productivity my channel has
very much focused on
but i love this focus on domestic
productivity it's doing things
for their own success it's in the
activity itself
that it gains its productivity it's not
necessarily working towards anything
further afield i think of domestic
productivity as not being worldly and
material success but rather
successes on a very small like domestic
level where you
are creating things on a daily basis and
you're doing things and you're seeing
the fruits of your labor but they're not
for some like far and mighty purpose
there isn't some elaborate goal in mind
it's creating small
beautiful pleasures and moments with
those that you love
including yourself so this video is
going to be separated into a few
different sections
just like with the dark academia video
that i did so we're going to start by
thinking about activities because as i
said in the other video
i think the crux of any aesthetic isn't
about perception it's not about how you
look it's not about the space it's about
the things that you do
long walks in the middle of nowhere just
you and the world
as one baking things for those you love
and yourself and sharing these in
precious moments
perhaps on a cold winter twilight
huddled up in blankets with good friends
by the fire
or maybe in the beginnings of a warm
summer afternoon laid out on picnic rugs
with your family
making your food from scratch and seeing
everything that goes into that food that
nourishes our bodies and our minds
being connected to the process and
feeling grateful that these foods are
here to keep us alive
holding delicate pressed flowers between
your fingertips
and just about being able to smell the
jasmine between the pages of the great
book you used to hold them in place
decorating your space with green and
flowers and inviting nature into your
home
writing long letters to your family and
friends filled with special memories
and maybe recipes you think they'd like
sending these often
is the main way of sharing what is
happening in your life writing short
stories and poems by hand in your
favorite notebook
perched outside and listening to
birdsong
waking up early and throwing your window
open wide to let in the sun
and new birdsong
lying outside on the grass even when
it's damp and feeling the colds on your
back
and the warmth on your face
making tea and watching the sun rise
from your cottage window
you'll teacup between two hands
reading your favorite books and poems
over and over and over and cherishing
the way the words sound on your lips
hugging trees and feeling the bark
maybe taking hatchings and trying to
identify them
leaning out of your window in your night
dress to listen to the world when you
wake up
or just before going to sleep
so as i said cottage core is very much
focused on living sustainably and more
simply and so i thought i would run
through some
quick ideas of how you can be more
sustainable eat seasonable food and grow
your own if you can what's really
important is sourcing mindfully so look
for local farmers markets
and try and shop local as opposed to
buying exported foods and this also
means that you can cut down
on the amount of food you're buying in
plastic packaging try to make things and
like food
from scratch when you can so instead of
going out and
buying it see if you can make it at home
first
don't buy into fast fashion by
secondhand or from
small businesses who make the items by
hand
and use organic materials i love neenies
and family
she makes everything from scratch and
it's all beautifully made really high
quality and buy secondhand whenever you
can
so charity shops are an absolute
blessing you can find
so many wonderful unique lovely things
in charity shops which have so much more
character as well
than things that you buy new you could
also consider becoming vegan to reduce
carbon emissions
and to limit the effect that you're
having on the environment and you could
also plant a tree which brings me onto
the sponsor of today's video which is an
amazing company called treedom
treedom is committed to planting trees
and supporting smallholder farms
and agroforestry projects whilst doing
so this means that by planting a tree
with them you are not just helping the
environment but helping people as well
one of the really cool things is that
you can see the impact your tree will
have before you
choose the one you want to buy today is
earth day and
the theme this year is restoration and
planting a tree is a restorative thing
that you can do for the planet it's a
small thing but can make a huge
difference
you can really easily donate and plant a
tree with one click and then follow the
story of your tree
and its agroforestry project online
which is so cool like it has its own web
page where you can track
what's happening honestly this is such a
cool thing you can do and i will leave
a link to the website down below
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okay so now we're going to think about
how to make your living space more in
line with this aesthetic and how to
decorate your bedroom for example to
kind of emulate this one thing which is
a huge part of this aesthetic is flowers
and wildflowers in particular so
with spring here and summer on the way
to
collect flowers and put them in pretty
milk bottles and
jugs and vases and just have flowers
all over your room if you can also stick
up dried flowers this is especially good
in autumn and winter when you
don't have access to fresh ones find
little trinkets to decorate your space
things with a story behind them also
botanical prints are a great
thing to put up in a cottage core
inspired space you could even try doing
your own
and finally decorating your space with
beautiful books
so there are gorgeous illustrated books
and obviously the added benefit
is that there are always books around
which you can dip into which i think is
the most important thing in any space
now on to cottage core essentials a
ceramic mixing bowl
very important for when you're doing
baking and
these ones are so traditional and so
pretty having a nice tea set
i think is really important you can find
really nice tea cups and charity shops
really affordably like with charity
shops open it's really worth going and
taking a look i found a huge set of tea
wear for 14 pounds the other day and
i'm so happy with it also i think
there's something really special about
loose leaf tea
um and even making your own tea leaves
framed photographs of people that you
love
and also polaroid prints watercolor
paints
jars and glass pots for pens and
paint brushes and flowers a candle stick
holder
and lanterns a picnic basket very key
for all of those picnics
okay so next i'm going to go through
some outfit inspirations so i put
together a few outfits
and hopefully this can give you some
inspiration for outfits
you can try
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okay so next let's go on to book
recommendations because of course i
couldn't make a video and then not
recommend books related to the aesthetic
so first the poetry of emily dickinson
if you didn't know emily dickinson is my
favorite poet she lived most of her life
secluded in amherst new england and her
poetry was very introspective in a very
progressive way and very much drew on
nature
if you didn't know emily dickinson was a
very keen gardener and she
loved flowers she often included them in
her letters actually reading her letters
too is
is something you might enjoy also for
poetry i'm going to recommend this
poetry anthology which is the four
seasons anthology by every man's poetry
and also the romantic poets uh anything
by the romantic poets
uh so think keats shelley wordsworth
byron because they all draw on nature
you know that is
one of the predominant themes of the
romantics also walt whitman's poetry oh
my goodness if you haven't read walt
whitman before then you're in for a
treat
so um in particular i'd say start with
song of myself
possibly his most famous poem at least
his most acclaimed next for books
uh the green gage summer by rumor
goddamn which is one of my favorites and
i don't know why it hasn't received more
attention
this is about four british children who
go on holiday with their mother to
france
but their mother becomes ill as soon as
they get there and so they end up
staying at this
remote hotel for the summer by
themselves next the alice in wonderland
books say alice underground and alice's
adventures through the looking glass
uh anything by thomas hardy in
particular far from the madding crowd
thomas hardy of course he's famous for
his descriptions of rural landscapes and
for setting his books in
the countryside a house moving castle by
diana wynne jones uh
you've probably seen the studio ghibli
film in the book is fantastic too
the secret life of bees by sue monk kid
of course i couldn't recommend cottage
core books without mentioning anne of
green gables or anything else by ella
montgomery the most quintessentially
cottage core character i think in all of
literature
love aubrey by suzanne lafleur uh this
is about a young girl who
is at the beginning of the book left
alone like she's just in the house by
herself she's been left home alone the
great goddamn by meg rossoff which is
about
a long summer where everything changes
within this um
kind of upper class family me and emma
by elizabeth flock which is one of my
favorites
i need to reread it it's set in 1960s
north carolina i think the go-between by
alfie hartley one of my favorites
and about a boy called leo looking back
at the summer he was 12 when he became a
go-between between
these uh two lovers and very much again
like atonement
weinsberg ohio by sherwood anderson this
is a collection of short stories
which all sat in one village in
i like weinsberg ohio wonderfully
provincial
to killing mockingbird by harper lee
pine
by francine tune which is kind of like a
winter spin
on this aesthetic the secret garden by
francis hodgson bernat of course had to
be on here and then
i said this is one of the most uh like
associated books with this aesthetic
which is beatrix potter
um so i've included the collected works
of bittrex potter um
because i didn't think i could not and
then also books which are
like which teach you about nature and
about animals and plants
so i'm including this one the secret
life of the otter by andy howard which
is a wonderful book filled with gorgeous
pictures
and teaches you a lot about these
amazing creatures
so next four tv recommendations and with
an e little house on the prairie the
daryl's
the world of peter robertson friends as
i said beatrix potter and
also gravity fools then for films the
2019 little women
greta garwick which is probably my
favorite film of all time
sense and sensibility to olivia which is
the story of
roald dahl and his daughter who passed
away matilda a quiet passion which is
the life of emily dickinson
wonderful film miss potter the life of
beatrix potter the secret garden
both film adaptations so the one from
the 1990s and then the recent one from
last year
the earlier one is definitely a lot
better than the live action remakes of
beauty and the beast
cinderella and maleficent uh the secret
world of arietti
think about in the great fairy rescue
which is a random one to put on here but
like from recollections of my childhood
it feels like this one should be on the
list
the guernsey literary and potato peel
pie society
finding navalan that's the story of jay
and barry alice in wonderland
chitty chitty bang bang which is such a
classic nanny mcphee and the big bang
moonrise kingdom roald and beatrix this
fictionalizes an encounter between roald
dahl and beatrix potter and then for
music we've got the finding neverland
soundtrack the cider house rules
soundtrack
anything by jack johnson
the soundtrack for forrest gump
uh anything studio ghibli
brandy carlyle's music
we'll say the secret sisters
joshua raiden
the and with the knee soundtrack of
course this was my most listened to
thing
last year on spotify so thank you so
much for watching this video
i hope that you enjoyed and i hope that
it gave you some inspiration into this
aesthetic
um you can find so many ideas and
beautiful photographs on
pinterest and i might link my pinterest
board below actually if you want to just
have a look
i wouldn't say that i totally associate
with this aesthetic
i think with all aesthetics it's really
important to be mindful going in it's i
don't think it's a good idea to copy
them
um and to live up to them
i think the great thing about online
aesthetics and kind of the growth of
this which
we've seen so much you know this last
year like seeing all of these aesthetics
popping up
and i think the great thing about them
is that you're able to see yourself in
them and you're able to get inspiration
and connect with like-minded people to
you so
um there are aspects of the cottage core
aesthetic which i do relate to
and i do very much enjoy and it's
wonderful being able to find other
people online who also
enjoy that but always be mindful gained
with aesthetics and
um like pick and choose take bits from
different ones
ultimately it sounds cheesy but the
important thing is staying true to
yourself and making sure that you're
acting in the way that makes you
happiest
and um potentially there are aspects of
cottage call which would help you
act at your happiest i think it could be
easy to become
almost obsessive over emulating a
particular aesthetic and always staying
within the bounds of that
but as i said i think the beautiful
thing about aesthetics is that they
can help us to live more in line with
our own values so
just kind of make sure that you don't
become sidetracked by an aesthetic if
that makes sense
anyway thank you so much for watching
and i hope that you have a productive
week
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you