I loved this book, a lyrical/practical, detailed/philosophical look at how we live on this earth through the eyes of an Oxford-educated, third generation farmer of a hills farm in the Lake District of England.

Rebanks is not your average English farmer or shepherd.  While working on his family’s sheep farm, he took evening classes to get into Oxford and graduated with a double first in history.  He returned to the farm, wrote two books about shepherding and then this volume won the UK’s Wainwright Prize in 2020 for the Best Nature Book.

His writing style is an unusual combination of practical information (what varieties of wildflowers grow on his boggy field, what varieties of sheep and cattle are best, how to recover a beck (i.e. creek or river) that has been straightened by the local Water Board) and beautiful, evocative prose about the joys and benefits of country life, farming, and family.

The book traces the evolution of his family farm and agriculture in general from his childhood days walking the hills with his grandfather through the attempt to ‘industrialize’ the farm with his father in order to make ends meet (artificial fertilizer, removal of the hedges and stone walls, draining the bogs, planting and harvesting modified grass, etc) to his inheritance of the farm and his conversion of it to a more eco-friendly, sustainable operation respecting nature and tradition rather than trying to compete with the single crop American Midwest model.

In the footsteps of his hero Wendell Berry, Rebanks argues for a more humane and earth-friendly approach to farming where the consumer and the farmer are engaged and partnered in the essential activity of feeding the world while at the same time respecting the diversity and importance of the natural environment.

This is a fine book and a pleasure to read.  I’m heading out now to walk the 10 acres of pasture land we own across the dirt road here in Vermont.  While reading this book I had visions of sheep and cows grazing on that land—not a practical plan at my age and stage of life, but one that was great fun to dream about.  Read Rebanks and dream along with me.