English Pastoral is, in some aspects, an autobiography which is divided into three distinct parts.
In the first one, Rebanks is a kid, and he learns how to work a farm. This first part is full of anecdotes of him spending time with his grandfather, who taught him the farm life and the cycles the farm (crops and animals) go through.
In the later parts of the book, the number of anecdotes/memories diminishes, being almost non-existent in the last part. Over time, farmers realise that he "old ways" are not enough anymore, leading to the industrialization that is at that point much more established in other countries, such as Australia and the US. However, such progress has its drawbacks and dangers, and the author describes them very eloquently and in a very informative manner. Since we, the readers, learnt from his grandfather about how each part of the farm life depends on the other pieces, when industrialization comes, with pesticides and fertilisers, it is very plain to see how what was until then elegantly balanced suddenly starts crashing down, and trying to quickly fix a problem starts its own chain of events.
I loved the first two parts of the book. It's written beautifully and the way the two of them match together really brings down the main message to the reader: the danters of industrialization for the soil.
As a non-native speaker, I found myself frequently looking up words in the dictionary, and realised that even in my mother tongue it would have been difficult at times to assign a species name to a picture of a bird, for example. This did not diminish my enjoyment of the book, but it made me wonder how young readers would find it, and whether it's a more appropriate read for more mature audiences.

Thanks to #Netgalley for the ARC.

Reading this book made me so angry about the way that the world is going. We are increasingly living in a world where the lowest price is the prime focus for people rather than the quality of what they consume and where "who cares about how it is produced" has become the norm.

This heartfelt and heart-rending book tells a story of the land from first-hand experiences of a real, multi-generation, farming family where, over the years, animal husbandry has become a forbidden phrase in their community and productivity its replacement. Where the consumer does not care that bottled water costs more than the same volume of milk and that the cows producing that milk are fit only for slaughter after their second pregnancy because they are expected and dosed to make sure they produce twice their normal volume of milk; up to 10 gallons each and every day.

Fortunately there are some farmers who see the error of those industrial ways and are moving towards their roots, where land and food actually have value; a move we should all support.

If you have a genuine interest in your environment and/or the food that you eat and/or the way that farming has become the food industry to the detriment of us all, I would strongly suggest that you read this book.

Gentle, insightful story. The ups and downs of farming life beautifully told. Very nostalgic and heartwarming, but with an understanding of how hard life could and can be in farming communities.

This was a brilliant book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. James Rebanks is a farmer in Cumbria. He comes from generations of farmers on the same land and muses over the changes that have taken place on the same land and within farming in general within the UK.
Rebanks explores the changes of farming methods from small family farms, to larger farms that focused on machinery, genetics and businesses to now looking at a striking a balance between two- allowing ecosystems to flourish which in turn makes the land better and richer through returning to older methods, rewilding projects etc. What is good is he does so without a rose tinted naive outlook but is realistic at the challenges faced too.
The book makes it clear that with modernity and our instant culture of now we are ruining and losing many aspects of our land. So many things are interwoven and if one thing is changed for the immediate benefit of one group, this may be at a massive and destructive cost to others. We need to think long term about the ecosystems, land, nature, wildlife and not just look at the end products wrapped in plastics in the supermarket. So many of the answers we are looking for our rooted in history if we look, even if we didn’t know why things worked like they did at the time.
What particularly stood out for me in this book was how Rebanks showed many themes are intertwined. With farming modernised and following business models and looking at scientifically engineering genetics of crops and animals this has a negative effect on the quality of soil, isn’t sustainable, wildlife is lost and becomes extinct and interestingly human communities too begin to break down. We are more entertwimed then we realise and we need to wake up and start thinking about this soon.
History, anthropology, ecology nature, farming and memoirs are all in here- a must read for everyone!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Press for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had loved James Rebank's first book 'The Shephard's Life' so I couldn't wait to get my hands on this. This book is a beautiful tribute to the land and farming. As someone who has grown up on a farm and knows the abuses and poor farming practises that are prevalant throughout the farming and food industry I loved that this book dealt with these topics in such a carefully considered way. I also loved his own stories of growing up with farming and nature. Highly recommend this book!

James Rebanks family has been farming in the Eden Valley in Cumbria for many years. He learned his craft particularly from his grandfather whose methods of framing owed much to the past. His own father stood on the cusp of the old and the new economical and industrial framing which caused him a great deal of internal conflict. Now it is James turn to inherit the land - in which direction will he err, the old or the new?

As I’m surrounded by two farms and enjoy watching the annual cycle of activities I was interested to read this. It is a really well written book which captures the colours, the wildlife and the landscape beautifully, in places it is almost lyrical as it’s a love affair with the land. He is passionate in how he discusses and presents his views on how he wants to farm and his concerns about modern farming. I love the sections where he recounts his early life on his grandfathers farm whilst he imparts his wisdom. His grandfather sounds like a wonderful man and a truly great teacher with his respect and love for his animals and the land. His care for the curlews eggs just sums up the goodness in his heart. His grandfathers methods are the old ways which is extremely hard work but is ecologically sound. However, James and his father are caught between making their farm pay and balancing that with nature in a rapidly changing world. Much of the book looks at the ‘progress’ of the business school approach to farming, the growing industrialisation, enormous machinery, the widespread use of fertilisers and ripping up of ancient hedgerows. He debates thoughtfully and passionately the ethics of modern farming and the demands of the supermarket and the consumer for cheap food which obviously negatively impacts animal welfare. I found this very interesting as it does make you step back and think about what we take for granted as we gaze at the supermarket shelves.

James makes the decision to go for the new English Pastoral of the title, shepherding the land and his livestock in a caring way that will not make him rich but will bring joy and be a wonderful inheritance for his children. I love reading about the changes that he makes and I’m sure his grandfather would be smiling down in wholehearted approval. The curlews will be pleased too.

This is a very intelligent, inspirational, well researched and thoughtful book which reflects on the massive rural change and examines what the future may hold. He advocates diversity and protecting old systems but equally the need for efficiency in order to feed a growing population. There’s real ‘food for thought’ here.

With thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Press UK.

This was an incredible book and I think everyone should read it to understand about our countryside and where our food comes from. It is the tale of the authors journey through farming and remembering the old ways of his grandfather and father.
He takes on a journey to a hillside farm in the Lake District and the reader learns all about the nature, the animals and farming practices good and bad. James Rebanks is passionate about farming and by the end of the book the reader understands why. This book should be mandatory reading in schools.

James Rebanks is to farming what James Herriott is to animals.

His book looks at the life and times of 3 generations going through the ups and downs of farm life in Cumbria and the changes to farming and agriculture over that time.

James has a lovely relaxed, but informative way of telling his story and this takes him from Cumbria in England, across to New York, then Australia and back to Cumbria.

James comes across as the lovely type of man that you would like to sit and chat with over a few drinks down at his local pub. His farming life and his family mean the world to him.

If you are interested in farming, or country life in general, you will really enjoy this book.

The only criticism I would give personally, is that I would have liked to have seen the book go along a set timescale so that you could get an idea what was going on in the world at the time. Also photographs of the farm and family would have been a nice feature (I do not know but maybe these will be in the published work).

#EnglishPastoral #NetGalley

What an incredible ode to the countryside, and a stark reminder of how precarious its future is. James Rebanks is a wonderful story teller.