Rewilding our gentle lives
I’ve been posting lots of cute sheep photos since 8th January. Dot Dot finally gave birth after weeks of speculation, and days of looking like she would pop at any moment. Her twins, Max and Minnie, seem to be doing well, after an initial concern about Max and his toileting. He’s definitely perked up and, this morning, he gazed at me as I chatted to him.
But, how does this link, in a practical way, to living at a gentler pace?
I contemplate this question every time I’m on the farm, as I drive through the lanes nearby, when I eat one of our eggs, or plan the veg we’re going to grow in the raised beds.
And, how can you live at a gentler pace when your home is in a city?
Our life in rural Derbyshire is not all about floating among green fields full of buttercups, nor is it a slow way of life, as someone recently described it. There may not be as many traffic lights or cars on the road, and our priorities might have changed, but our lives are full.
I’ve learned that farming is relentless. Animals need daily care, often several times a day. In the short time that we’ve been involved on the farm, I’ve helped move more sheep than I can count.
Everyone pitches in when one farmer needs help. The annual walking the cows home event involved me, Phil the farmer, Patrick (a neighbour), Brian and his wife (neighbours), George, Alfie, and a passing cyclist.
Days are long, and action packed. They may include rounding up sheep who have managed to escape through a tiny gap in the hedge. Repairing fences damaged by Storm Someone Or Other. Milking. Hedge laying. Hedge cutting. Planting. TB testing.
The list goes on and on. And then begins again the next day. It’s a 7 day a week job.
Perhaps my phrase living at a gentler pace is inaccurate. Maybe living gently would make more sense.
Being gentle with ourselves, our loved ones, our animals, the planet.
My head explodes when I follow this thinking to its logical conclusion.
Very few people want to be startled awake from the dream of ordinary life in late stage Capitalism. If anything, they seek to immerse themselves in it more deeply.
The City as Dreamworld
That might be a story for another day. I’m convinced that a return to a way of living that is more gentle on all of us could change everything. Us, our sense of self, the world around us.
Rewilding on my Kindle!
A complete coincidence that two recent purchases are about rewilding!
I first came across here on Substack after reading a memoir piece. A compelling read and, as my friend so aptly said, it made my eyes leak.
I’m part way through The Rewilding of Molly McFlynn and loving it. I read a bit at the end of the book and highlighted:
Molly is turned on to a way of living that is gentle and in tune with the seasons as Mother Nature intended.
This is going to be the first book on the Gentler Pace reading list!
Following the rewilding theme, this is a new download that just aligns with everything I’m doing right now.
Thinking about rewilding - perhaps we have become tame. We’ve lost that connection to nature, to the wilderness. We need to allow ourselves to be wild again.