A friend suggested I read James Rebanks, Pastoral Song: A Farmer’s Journey”, more than a year ago….It went on to my list, with 150 other titles. Inclusion doesn’t put it into some methodically followed cue. Some titles, my interest shifting, fall off the list, others jump to the front, other times, simple availability at the library, brings one my way. I always have two or three in process. I’m dogged and rarely give up on a book once begun so I’m reluctant to read a book based only on someone’s recommendation. With this one finishing wasn’t in question.

This book is a great companion to, “Wilding:
The Return of Nature to A British Farm
by Isabella Tree, which I read in February. Both discuss the problem of survival for small farmers in an economic world that favors efficiency, minimizing costs, externalizing that not understood or valued, in order to maximize profits. In both cases the authors come to reject the path laid out for them and choose another that prioritizes the health and welfare of the farmer, the land, in its broadest sense including the overlooked and essential lives of the countless wild things that comprise it. Continue reading →