
A Day in the Life of a Modern Shepherd - kwindla
https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-uk/the-tweeting-of-the-lambs-a-day-in-the-life-of-a-modern-shepherd
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danaliv
I had the great privilege of spending a couple days on the Rebankses' farm
during lambing season two years ago. If it hadn't been for the ATV and the
plastic overalls I'd have sworn I'd traveled through time. James's family and
their neighbors are carrying on traditions that have been part of the land
there for well over a thousand years. (Some of the local language even comes
directly from the Old Norse brought over by the Vikings—"fell," for example;
compare with Icelandic "fjall.")

I have enormous respect for their way of life. It is backbreaking, never-
ending work, especially during lambing season, and they wouldn't give it up
for anything.

~~~
digi_owl
> "fell," for example; compare with Icelandic "fjall.

Or the Norwegian "fjell". Another term that stuck out to this Norwegian was
"beck", as you find pretty much the same term, "bekk", in Norwegian.

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linkmotif
An editorial about rural America and the global economy by James Rebanks, the
subject of this piece: [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/01/opinion/an-english-
sheep-...](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/01/opinion/an-english-sheep-
farmers-view-of-rural-america.html)

~~~
GlenTheMachine
“We have all become such suckers for a bargain that we take the low prices of
our foodstuffs for granted...”

This is spot on, but it elides the arguable good that low food prices bring.

For full disclosure, I grew up on a working beef cattle farm, and my side
hustle is to raise a flock of twenty sheep with my wife, who is a
veterinarian, in the Maryland suburbs. So I'm sympathetic to small farmers and
local agriculture. But the story is more nuanced than that.

American agriculture, like much of American industry, has optimised for the
highest possible production at the lowest possible prices. This has a lot of
side effects, some good, some bad. The good, of course, is that food is far
less expensive than at any time in history, and real famine is almost
nonexistent - true, there are local famines, and those are horrible, but
they're cause more by politics and war than by farming practices.
Historically, people who weren't farmers soent something like 40% of their
income on food. That number is now closer to ten percent in industrialized
countries. Don't overlook that fact when thinking about hunger in America. It
exists, to be sure - but it would be a lot worse without industrialized
agriculture.

The downsides, of course, are numerous. You have to have massive economies of
scale to compete, which means more and more farm land is in the hands of fewer
and fewer farmers - who, often, are working land owned by investors or
corporations. It not only encourages massive use of pesticids and chemical
fertilizer, it actually demands it. It degrades the soil. It contributes to
the existence of plant diseases, both by its focus on planting monocultures
and by the pesticide use, which breeds resistant parasites. And it reduces
genetic diversity in crops.

Animal agriculture is also affected. Corporate farming produces poor quality
of life for livestock, reduces genetic diversity in livestock, increases
public health hazards through antibiotic overuse and zoonotic disease
outbreaks, and encourages overconsumption of meat.

And both contribute significantly to global warming.

But, unfortunately, most people vote with their pocketbooks most of the time.
What would you do if your grocery bill went from $150 a week to $300 or more?

~~~
linkmotif
> What would you do if your grocery bill went from $150 a week to $300 or
> more?

It depends on why, and whether I could afford it. If one can afford a 100%
bump in food expenses, and can effect it by choosing to buy better food, then
it would be worth it in my opinion. The problem to me is that real,
sustainable food is basically impossible to come by. I’ve tried farmers
markets, etc, but those establishments aren’t about “real” eating either.
Americans shopping at all tiers of the food system experience commerce that is
entirely catered to a post-seasonal shopping experience. You go to a grocery
store and 90% of the shelves aren’t food at all—in the sense that it’s usually
some kind of starch and palm oil packaged with salt—then the rest is confused
about what time of year it is. If I could spend 200% more on food I would, but
seasonal, real food is nowhere to be found. What I want is a real Whole Foods.
Such a store would not have shelves of boxed garbage. It would sell dry
foodstuffs, out of season produce that keep well in low oxygen chillers
(apples, etc) and whatever was in season and is practical for eating. All the
food would be highest quality. But such a store wouldn’t exist because
Americans must be able to buy rhubarb, salmon and kiwis any time of the year,
and won’t come back unless you have them.

Greetings from MD too. MD sheep and wool is coming up:)

~~~
GlenTheMachine
You _can_ eat sustainably. It just takes a lot of work.

If you eat meat, buy half a cow or a pig (or a sheep!) from a local farmer.
Have it butchered and store it in your freezer. This is actually cheaper than
buying meat at the grocery store, if you can afford the upfront cost and have
a chest freezer.

Buy your milk and other dairy from a local dairy. This is not cheaper, and
will require either that you make a special trip to pick up the milk, or if
you're lucky your dairy might have a delivery service.

Get your fruit from a local pick-your-own orchard. Can what you can't eat.

Get your vegetables from a farm stand. True, often this isn't actually local,
but mainly that's because people want vegetables that aren't in season yet. So
farm stands start stocking tomatoes in June, even though tomatoes don't ripen
until July at the earliest. So do your homework and only buy what's in season
and locally grown. Again, buy in bulk and can what you don't eat immediately.
Supplement with a garden in your backyard. Ideally, have a small greenhouse as
well so you can extend your growing season. Build a corn crib, buy a truckload
of field corn from a local farmer and store it. When you need flour, seed the
corn and run it through a grain mill.

In some places there are farm produce co-ops. If you have one locally, join
it. They'll ship you a box of vegetables every week during the summer,
whatever is in season.

Raise a small chicken flock in your backyard. Eat the eggs and feed them off
the leftovers from your vegetables.

To be certain, this costs a significant amount of money and it's a ton of
work. It also requires certain preconditions - that you live somewhere where
there are local dairies and orchards and farm stands (although those are true
in a lot of the world) and that you have enough land for a garden and chicken
coop. And it will require wholesale changes to your diet. But it's what your
great grandmother did.

~~~
linkmotif
Thank you for this very practical list of suggestions. Reading through them
it’s clear they go a long way. We do some of these things already. I’m going
to keep this list around for more to practical things to do.

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alva
The Herdwick Shepherd is one of my favourite twitter accounts. How different
our perspectives on life must be. Him outside dealing with the ups and downs
of life, death and weather on a daily basis. Me, sat in an office reading a
flexbox cheat sheet for the hundredth time.

~~~
eigenvector
For a humorous take you can follow the 'Cat Shepherd', which is an Irish
shepherd tweeting from the perspective of one of her farm cats.

[https://twitter.com/1CatShepherd](https://twitter.com/1CatShepherd)

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textmode
Herdwick Shepherd @herdyshepherd1 4h "Mum, I'm in the @NewYorker" "Oh, that's
nice" "Well er... sorry in advance for the swearing" Miss my dad, who wouldn't
even have heard of it, and wouldn't give a F.

