Radiance of the Ordinary: Essays on Life, Death, and the Sinews that Bind

by Tara Couture

From the author of the popular Slowdown Farmstead a raw, poignant collection of essays about cultivating authenticity in this age of great pretend.

When she was young, Tara Couture had a deep fear of death. In her twenties, determined to manifest her long-time dream of owning a farm, she worked alongside a cattleman whose perspectives on life and death would come to transform her own. When she found herself in the passenger seat of the cattleman’s truck out on the Alberta prairie, in search of the bison herd from which they would harvest an animal, she could hardly believe this was the life she was living. But even more surprising was the realization the experience awakened in that life and death are inextricably connected. When we shield ourselves from death—or from any of the hard things in life—we close ourselves off to the beauty and richness of a life fully lived.

Full of evocative prose that elicits the smells, tastes, cold winds, and sticky summer sweat of Tara’s place in the world, Radiance of the Ordinary elegantly explores the moments both complex and mundane, laden with grief and light with wonderment—from butchering and birthing cows to motherhood and the tragic loss of her youngest daughter. Throughout, the reader is reminded that the work we choose to engage with, the way we make our homes, the food we put into our bodies, the relationships we nurture, and the attention we pay to the ordinary moments—this is what matters. Taken together, these essays provide an unforgettable meditation on what it means to be alive in the twenty-first century.

Genres: Faith, Nonfiction

224 pages, Hardcover

Published September 2, 2025

Reviews

[Jon Larson · Rating 5 out of 5]

How do you classify such a book? How about, “Deep Thoughts” by Jack Handy? No, but more accurately, rich life from the simple. You see, the simple is tossed away by us because the simple is too be ignored. It doesn’t dazzle and excite the senses. It is boring, repetitive and doesn’t deserve our attention.

But maybe we have it all wrong. Instead of screaming across the water at 100mph to get our thrills, we can slow the boat down and pay attention to trees along the banks, the slow ripple of the current, the fish just under the surface. We can become curious and fascinated by the life all around us if we take the time to unhook our lives from the technological grip it has on us, go outside and let our senses take in the wondrous mystery of life.

How can any depth of meaning be obtained as you cruise at warp speed through life? Maybe we all have it wrong. Maybe we all have been lied to about what is truly significant.

Tara captures this beautifully in Radiance of Ordinary. My wife and I have followed her writing for some time, and this book continues her thoughtful reflections on living more meaningfully. While she writes from the perspective of a woman and a mother, I found much of her wisdom resonated deeply with me as well.

It’s a book that lingers—and one I know will stay with me for a long while.

[Angela Jarrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tara has a way with words that nearly brings you right on to her Canadian soil. I have observed her raw wisdom over the years through her Instagram account, in little squares that have opened eyes to see the beauty in the seemingly ordinary world of farming. However, Tara and her family have allowed themselves to be used to reflect the radiance of creation and all of its details and intricacies. I hope this is just the beginning of her writing. Many of us desire to experience this lifestyle and yet are unwilling to make the sacrifices in order to achieve it. Thank you Tara for inspiring us to make choices that support those who are making those sacrifices day in and day out. 10/10 recommend!!

[Lori Malone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read.This.Book. I found it to be deeply impactful. We move through our glorious world disconnected from that which sustains our very lives. Couture writes with
sensitivity and insight in such a way that left me breathless at times. I will ponder this book for a long time, and will read and reread for years to come. Thank you to Heather Heying of The Darkhorse Podcast and Natural Selections Substack for recommending this author. Forever grateful.

[strawberry jellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to skip going to the grocery store, because this book made me sob on the way home. Highly reccomend.

Tara has a beautiful voice for speaking on the themes of life and death. Her shared perspective as a woman who has gone down the road farther than I have was insightful. I feel better equipped to address my own life after reading a little about hers.

[Natalie Wang · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’d like to preface this with the fact that there are many essay collections I readily enjoy; however, this was not one of them. Couture drolls on - page after page - about her farm to table lifestyle and how it’s superior to anything else. Of course, she cannot directly say this, so her writing is couched in sententious and condescending language. It really gives MAHA. This is not the first doctor’s wife, cloaked in privilege, able to remove herself from responsibility that extends beyond her little bubble. Climate crisis? Who cares? Everyone should just adopt her lifestyle!
There is a desperation in her writing: she wants us to know she’s living her fantasy life with her fantasy husband in her natural fabrics with her long winded musings about the world’s mysteries. It was a struggle to finish, as the ick factor was strong. Am I against this lifestyle? No. However her palpable disgust for the way others live was pretentious and tiring.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW just wow. I had read a small portion of this book in an article for The Free Press. i liked what I read so I ordered the book. I listened and read. This book is beautifully written and I am so glad to have the physical book to go back and re-read some of the beautiful bits and some of the bits so beautifully written I sucked in my breath and had to pause and weep. Although I know she'll never see this but I still send out a prayer of Thanksgiving to Tara Couture for such a deep and moving book. There is most definitely is the radiance of the ordinary.

[Aggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book was like reading letters from a wise aunt. As someone who also lives out in the country and owns some cows and chickens, I appreciated her input on those subjects as well as many others. Her chapter on motherhood was probably my most favourite one. I am that 30 something year old who was struggling to find my purpose and Tara may have just spared me some years and energy struggling with this. She covered other topics that I have been thinking about a lot and has helped me think through them. She reminds me why it’s so important to learn from those who go before us, to have mentors who are older and have seen and experienced more than we have. It gives you a fuller perspective of life (and even death).

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written. Exquisite descriptions. I felt like I could clearly see the farm and the lives being lived there. I just didn’t want this to end!

[A. Reiter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tara is intimately connected to the natural world, her prose clear and yet exquisitely gentle. This is not a book of “how to”, or personal lauding. It is a humble confession, a nuanced and vulnerable conversation between reader and author. An inexorable journey toward unimaginable grief, and how she continues afterward. I was moved to tears, I re-read passages with quiet wonder, and resisted sharing screenshots of what felt like a third of the text. This book is something special, one part love letter to the Divine, one part healing, one part memoir. She is more than enigmatic Baba Yaga in the woods: this woman has made herself vulnerable, to love, and to gift others with her heart.

[Aubree Narad mcintosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first to rate Tara’s wonderful book, what an honor. I have found so much connection to life, the real and raw, grief and love, deep wisdom as well as the simplicity of life woven throughout her words for years. I have traveled through my own grief with Tara’s writings accompanying me, always at the most synchronistic times, serving as a sweet balm for my aching soul. This book brought me from ear to ear smiles all the way to deep, heartfelt, tears. The best kind of journey from one of the most authentic souls to grace the earth at this time. It’s a pleasure to know you from afar and I hope to sit around that campfire one day.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

“The policemen with hats under their arms told us.
‘Are you the parents of Mila?’
And down we fell. Tumbling over and under. Our bodies battered against rock. A beast snatching our ankles and pulling us down, down, down into the black[…] In those early days, there was a pain in me so exquisitely and endlessly raw that I was panicked by it. I knew nothing of what to do or how to live with such pain. I found myself on the floor of my bedroom, imagining how I could use my fingers to peel away the floorboards beneath my body. If only I could shave the wood with my fingernails, shard by shard, until I made a hole big enough to slither into. It was a constant thought, my deepest wish. I couldn’t escape the pain. It pulled on my hair and chewed on my stomach.”

Wow. This book will make you cry, and also make you want to run and buy a membership at your local food co-op and count the days until the farmer’s market opens so you can subscribe to a CSA and buy beef from a farmer who knew the steer’s name and make your own bread and butter and jam from scratch and wrap your arms around a tree and dance barefoot in a meadow and praise God for his Creation, not necessarily in that order.

[Maren Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tara’s book is beyond soulful — it’s almost like stepping into an entirely different epistemological framework, one that is gentle, attentive, and embedded. This book is beautiful, and I found myself crying constantly as I read it: tears of grief, tears of longing for a different world, but also tears of homecoming. There’s something about this book that made me feel seen and understood, connected to the ongoing storying of humanity. So powerful, the multitudes a memoir can contain in the hands of a skilled writer. But more than that, it’s Tara’s soul itself that shines through this book, and the soulfulness of it makes it penetrate so deep. The grief within these pages is oceanic and full of wisdom. A wisdom we all must learn to embody, sooner than later. Our souls and stories are all entwined — fractals within fractals, entangled webs within the complicated, painful, devastating, beautiful experience of being human in this wounded, gorgeous world.

That’s how this book makes me feel. Tara knows how to be human. And I feel more human for reading her words.

That much I know.

[Adrienne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is quite literally, without hyperbole, the most beautiful book I've ever read. Couture's language is poetic and ethereal. But it's also the way she sees the world, the way she finds meaning in ordinary things, that genuinely just takes the reader to another world. I was so sad to finish this book that I put off reading the last chapter for a couple weeks. I just didn't want it to end!

But I finally did finish. And you know what I did? I went right back to the first page and started again. I could read this book over and over and over. So much wisdom, insight, honesty, and beauty in one little book. I'm going to gift it to several people for Christmas.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily my favorite book I have ever read, hands down. Far more than 5 stars. This book awakened things in my soul and made me all around ravenous for a grounded, rooted life where I am awake to receive all of it fully. Tara beautifully captures the hard, the wonderful, the small, the big, the in between and just how magical ALL of it truly is. I am already re reading to my husband. Then I’ll listen to the audio. Then I’ll read again. And again and again.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This might be my new favorite book. The wisdom. The poetic tone of wording. The cozy farm tales. The sad, raw, messy real life stories. It’s so good. This book inspired me to get out my common place book after some 10+ years of not writing in it (and using my notes app instead) because of the simplicity of writing for myself and slowing down more. It was a great book to start the year off, hopefully moving towards a slower lifestyle.

[Heather Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book brought me to my knees (in the best way). Recently, I was in a climbing accident and have been healing from a TBI. Reading this book helped me through many a hard day. I love the humor, the presence, the spirituality woven through every chapter. Thank you Tara. 10/10 recommend!

[Stella Schlegel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly beautiful writing. Real. Honest. Right. Inspiring. Raw.

[Emma Troyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, whole, saddening and satisfying.

[Dawn Gallop · Rating 5 out of 5]

All I can say is incredible!!! I cried, I laughed every emotion possible. A must read!! Absolutely a masterpiece!

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful way with words, such love and gratitude and pain and grief and acceptance.

[Brianne Levandoski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found myself tearing up multiple times. Such a beautiful book. It was an honor reading Tara’s book after following her on Instagram for years. Beautiful!

[Felicity · Rating 5 out of 5]

a book of wisdom

[Esmeralda_L+L · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly beautiful book. Inspiring and convicting.

[Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tara’s writing style is beautiful, but she always comes across so self-righteous.

[Janice · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read ... for too many reasons to innumerate. Someone told me that I could have written this book but I didn't realize why he thought that until I read it. Tara has put down in words experiences that closely parallel my own in many ways. Not all ways - of course - but in some substantial ways. Our values closely align as well - which is so refreshing in today's world. Thank you Tara ... even for the teary parts, of which there were many.