I think people wanting to reconnect with nature has been a thing since at least the Industrial Revolution at least. Like we can say Marie Antoinette, with her fake farm, was kinda cottagecore. In fact her thing of frolicking with sheep and servants dressed up as farmers and then going home to a palace at the end of the day is arguably closer to the current cottagecore trend than whatever libertarians in Vermont are up to.

I find cottagecore interesting because my initial reaction to it was that it's extremely off-putting for the same reasons others have mentioned, but at the same time I can see where the appeal comes from. I don't think it's from the same place as the off-the-grid apocalypse dudes.