RACHEL BEARN was forced to halt the pace of life when she became chronically ill in her twenties. But something born out of privation blossomed into a kinder way of living, one in harmony with the natural rhythms of the earth, the counsel of the Bible, the Church’s year, and the habits that were second nature to our grandmothers.
She calls it “a Christian guide to embracing the handmade and homegrown”. It is a veritable Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management in some respects, packed with practical suggestions for everything from making lavender soap and and garlic butter to cutting down on screen time and and looking after your knitwear; for living life at such a pace has lost us all connection to the home, she suggests.
“Too often the home is purely somewhere to sleep. . . A home is a prayer space, a church, a school room, a rest place, a sanctuary, a safe place, a space for celebrations and a place for mourning . . . a place where life happens . . . where God’s work gets done.”
She offers simple slow-paced seasonal celebrations and gatherings: lighting the daily Advent candle; baking an Epiphany tart; creating an Easter tree; holding a candlelit winter-solstice dinner party — and, of course, being in tune with nature.
The entrepreneur Deborah Meaden is known to start each day walking barefoot on the grass. In Rachel Bearn’s world, you can choose stargazing or forest bathing, or a simple daily walk. Just live and breathe and craft and make. And do it slowly.
A Year to Slow Down: A Christian guide to embracing handmade and homegrown
Rachel Bearn
SPCK £14.99
(978-0-281-09113-3)
Church Times Bookshop £13.49