The first time I heard the phrase “Grandma Core” was in a thrift store while sifting through a box of forties era recipe pamphlets, Someone had written the phase with a smiley face on a scrap of paper and taped it to the box.
That was a few years ago and I was a little taken aback to learn there was an actual name for my style and living intentions. And I was a little annoyed that it has a strangely ambiguous connotation that some might interpret as negative. You now often hear it referred to as the more palatable “Cottage Core.”
Lately, I’m hearing these phrases everywhere as social media influencers claiming to be deinfluencers tell us about a better way to live than with fast food, fast fashion and lots of junk from the store. It’s an aesthetic but it’s more than that.
They show us their thrifted finds, clotheslines, and bowls full of cherries on a window sill. They show us doilies on side tables with handmade baskets used to disguise tv remotes and charging cables. They show us the bread they baked and their farmers market bounty.
It’s quiet and slower. There’s no tv over the fireplace. Instead, there’s a vintage painting and with thrifted brass candlesticks. There’s no harsh light or rushing.
If the internet were scratch and sniff, these videos would smell of apples simmering in cast iron, rising yeast, and of freshly laundered towels.
This grandma or cottage core concept fits well with my attempts at embracing analog living.
Soft sheets, textured throws, a cozy corner to read, something bubbling on the stove top or baking in the oven. Feeding the birds, soft light, knick knacks, a bowl of hot popcorn, a quiet hobby, meals on the porch. Thrifting for things that were made to last, using what you have, cooking instead of ordering, fixing instead of replacing.
I enjoy this slower pace of life.
I have built a lovely, quiet little life for myself – a grandma core life if you will. Soon I’ll have more energy and time to be out adventuring. In fact, White Lightening goes for an oil change and tire rotation this week. I’m already thinking about day trips and am excited to be out exploring again soon.
But I’m also grateful to have this quiet, lovely home to come back to after a long day of adventuring.
Grandma core? Cottage core? Analog living? You can call it anything you like but I think it’s pretty fabulous.