Food and the pastoral

In 2015 James Rebank’s The Shepherd’s Life was published to great acclaim. The book describes the way of life of shepherds in the Lake District, as practised by Rebanks himself, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather.

A number one bestseller, described by the Daily Mail, as ‘The surprise hit of the year‘ , Rebank’s book obviously struck a chord with huge numbers of readers, many of whom may have had little knowledge – or even interest – in the subject of shepherding prior to reading it.

And The Shepherd’s Life is not a one-off: recent years have seen the publication of a number of books about farming life that have risen high in the book bestseller charts, including My farming life: tales from a shepherdess on a remote Northumberland farm by Emma Grey (2022); Fletchers on the farm: mud, mayhem and marriage by Kelvin and Liz Fletcher (2022); amd various publications by the self-termed Yorkshire shepherdess, Amanda Owen, and by the TV presenter, farmer and friend of Jamie Oliver, Jimmy Doherty.

Why in our modern technological world are so many people fascinated by farming? Perhaps these books tap into a fear that we are in danger of losing connection with our past. Or perhaps they represent a desire to return to a simpler, more authentic way of living. With the increasing concern about climate change, and a greater awareness of the importance of sustainability and eating locally-produced seasonal food, perhaps it is no surprise that people are becoming more interested in knowing where their food comes from and how it is produced.

Reviews of these books often use the term ‘heart-warming‘ when describing them, and tend towards an idealisation of the rural life. But certainly James Rebanks in his writing dispels any illusions: whilst he loves the life he leads, it is difficult, hard work and full of challenges and compromises.

His second book, published in 2020, alludes to that idealisation in its title – English Pastoral. The term ‘pastoral’ comes from the Latin word for a shepherd (pastor) and literally means ‘relating to a shepherd’, with the overtones of care and guidance that the work of the shepherd involves. But the pastoral is also the term used to describe a genre of literature or art in which country life is presented in an idealized and romanticized way for a town-dwelling audience. The pastoral genre dates back to classical times and the writings of Hesiod (Greek – c8th-c7th BC) and Virgil (Roman 70-19BC). There is a significant pastoral tradition in English literature and art: the poet Edmund Spenser’s The Shepherds’ Calendar (1579), Shakespeare’s As You Like It (c. 1603) and the paintings of Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) are some examples.

English Pastoral is definitely not an idealisation of farming life. The book opens with Rebanks sitting on an uncomfortable chair in the offices of a law firm waiting to receive the deeds of his family’s farm following his father’s death. As Rebanks notes, the documentation is plentiful and complicated, mirroring the disorganised process of farm ownership: ‘a farm isn’t a fixed thing but often changes with every generation, as families buy or rent, or sell land. This history is messy and complicated..’ With the death of his father, Rebanks takes on the mantle of farmer but finds that it is not what he anticipated: ‘The months after my father’s death were the hardest of my life. I had always wanted to be the farmer, the captain of the ship with my hand on the wheel, but the moment it happened it felt empty. The world seemed a dull shade of grey.’

As well as navigating the difficult process of grief, Rebanks embarks on the challenge of trying to farm in the way he wishes but in a way that is appropriate for the 21st century. An opponent of artifical fertilizers and pesticides, and an advocate of the ancient practice of ‘mixed rotational crop and livestock farming‘ that I remember learning about in school history lessons, Rebanks also has to acknowledge that old is not always best – for example, ploughing is now known to be ecologically disastrous, a discovery that requires a radical rethink of how farming needs to be done. He finds himself at odds with both the business-oriented farmers who focus on the economics of farming and pay little heed to traditional practices, but also with the ecologists who he argues ‘know nothing about farming or rural lives‘. He acknowledges that ‘The current economics of farming are such that almost no genuinely sustainable farming is profitable at present‘, and that he himself has to work ‘off the farm‘ to provide an income for himself and his family – hence the books!

But despite the harsh economic realities, English Pastoral is not a depressing read. Rebanks writes beautifully about his love of the farm and the landscape: ‘The more I learn about it, the more beautiful our farm and valley becomes. It pains me to ever be away; I never want to be wrenched from this place and its constant motion‘. Perhaps this is the true meaning of pastoral: not an idealisation of the rural, but rather a profound love of it born from a recognition of its challenges and complexities.

The pastoral is also about community: the sub-title of the book is ‘An inheritance‘ and Rebanks writes at length about learning about the land and farming from his father and grandfather, and also about the inheritance he is passing on to his own four children.

And where there is community there is food, food which is part of this pastoral tradition and which binds people together. In two passages in the book Rebanks writes about food: his Grandmother’s kitchen and a birthday party for a neighbouring farmer.

Grandma’s kitchen becomes a ‘jam factory‘ every autumn, and Rebanks writes about how as a young child he is allowed to help her pick brambles and watch her make jam even though ‘She didn’t reckon much of men in the kitchen‘. Perhaps typically for a farmer’s wife of her generation, she ‘was an expert at turning the things the farm grew, harvested and reared into meals. Almost everything she cooked was home-grown, seasonal and local‘ and ‘she didn’t rate shop-bought food‘.

The same philosophy informs the catering at the 70th birthday party for David, one of Rebanks’ father’s best friends:

‘…there is enough good food to feed everyone twice over. The house-proud women of the family have filled the tables with homemade bread, sausage rolls, sandwiches, chutneys and salads, slices of home-cooked meats and puddings‘.

I chose to make sausage rolls from this list of delights; traditional and delicious, and appropriate for any occasion, whether you’re a farmer or not.

SAUSAGE ROLLS
Ingredients (makes 18-24 approx)
600g puff pastry (ready-made or you could make your own – for example, Paul Hollywood’s quick version – https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/cheats_rough_puff_pastry_91549)
500g sausagemeat
1 red onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons fennel seeds, toasted and lightly crushed in a pestle and mortar
1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water

Method:
Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat, add the onion and garlic and fry until softened (but not browned).
Turn off the heat, add the sausagemeat and fennel seeds and stir until thoroughly mixed.
Preheat the oven to 200C / 180C fan / Gas mark 6.
Lightly flour a worksurface, and roll out the pastry to a large rectangle, about 5mm thickness.
Divide the pastry in two lengthwise, and likewise divide the sausage meat mixture into two long sausage shapes and place down the middle of each pastry sheet, leaving a good 1cm on each side.
Using a pastry brush, brush the eggwash along the sides of the pastry sheets, and wrap each sheet around the sausage meat filling, pressing the two pastry edges together. Cut each long sausage roll into shorter sausage rolls (the exact length is up to you).
Place the sausage rolls on two lined baking sheets, seam-side down. Using a sharp knife, make a small incision (or two if you have made larger sausage rolls) in the top of each sausage roll. Then brush the top of each sausage roll with the remaining egg wash.
Place the sausage rolls in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until puffed up and golden brown.