Rooted: Stories of Life, Land and a Farming Revolution

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Moving, intimate, tender and searing, this is a gem of a book with deep roots and fresh green shoots." The way this book is structured is very helpful for rewilding novices, with confusing jargon demystified and competing theories explained. The authors also make sure to cover the most common case studies, so you’re not left feeling embarrassed when someone brings up the Oostvaardersplassen in casual conversation. Funnily enough, I think we’re seeing a pivot on it because when the job was sitting on a tractor with no autonomy, the agronomist decided what was planted and how it was farmed and the merchant decided what price it was sold at, then it was a boring job, that carried none of the status and very little of the money it used to have. But the interesting thing about regenerative farming is that there seems to be a renewed enthusiasm amongst the younger generation, who are getting into farming again. I think it’s very intellectually challenging – you have to really understand how plants work and how they respond to the soil and how they have a symbiotic relationship with animals – but it’s also a chance for farmers to be heroes again because through the way they are farming, they are not only providing food but they are also stopping villages from being flooded downstream; they are cleaning rivers; they are sequestering carbon; they are improving the biodiversity on their farms that people who walk through it can see and love and appreciate. I think that this way of farming, which is of course a very old way of farming but rebranded, has attracted both a large number of farmers’ children who wouldn’t have wanted to do it otherwise and also new entrants into farming. We Are the Ark– Pioneer gardening rewilder, Mary Reynolds brings her warm and enigmatic style of rewilding to a wider audience in this captivating illustrated edition. Her thoughts align closely with my own on rewilding gardens, so I look forward to reading this one.

Rooted by Sarah Langford - Geographical Review: Rooted by Sarah Langford - Geographical

The acclaimed TV forager and adventurer brings British woodlands to life in this romp through the native trees of our green and pleasant land. It’s a great reference for those interested in restoring a biodiverse rural landscape. An honest look at the farming life today. Raw, earthy and inspiring' - Cal Flyn, author of Islands of Abandonment With Ben’s history working in Natural History TV, there’s a strong sense of story here with some astonishing statistics thrown in to emphasise quite how badly we need a conservation rethink. This is an inspiring read, though, with the final section giving a real sense of hope and building concrete ideas for the future. It’s a book I always recommend to nature enthusiasts who want an introduction to rewilding.Rooted offers us an honest look at the farming life today. It is not an easy way to make a living, but through Langford's personal story - and those of who she meets - we appreciate how it offers a connection with the land, and a firmer sense of our place in the world. Raw, earthy and inspiring. Cal Flyn, author of Islands of Abandonment Rooted offers us an honest look at the farming life today. It is not an easy way to make a living, but through Langford's personal story – and those of who she meets – we appreciate how it offers a connection with the land, and a firmer sense of our place in the world. Raw, earthy and inspiring." An honest look at the farming life today. Raw, earthy and inspiring ' - Cal Flyn, author of Islands of Abandonment

The Best Rewilding Books | How to Rewild

Jake is very much a bloke’s bloke. He’s the kind of guy you might meet down the pub on a Saturday night chewing over what that stupid politician did now, or talking incessantly about the weather. A gamekeeper for many years, after a short, successful stint in the London club scene, he’s not someone you would expect to be at the forefront of rewilding. I met him at an event and he was exactly how I expected – honest, enthusiastic and raw. That’s what makes this book so bloody brilliant – it’s relatable. Monbiot is not a farmer, which frees him to have an outsider’s perspective. At the same time, he gives little consideration to the cultural side of farming, the realities of rewilding and its impact on rural populations. He criticises “conventional organic farming” and “foodies”, which do not feel like the most important enemies. The ideas that we should eat “less and better” meat or that food should be more expensive are vividly challenged in the passages where he meets users of food banks.

Sarah Langford used her education to leave the farm for work and life in London. The same went for her husband. 83% of The population in the UK are urbanites now. Because of job situations Langford and her husband and small children returned to a family farm in what was to be a temporary situation. It soon became a passion and we get to see her awakening. The book itself is deeply steeped in science, with plenty of interesting and useful insights into the ways in which wild landscapes function, from fungi to Oak trees. There are plenty of great characters, too – you can see why ‘Wilding’ became the book that really helped to popularise the rewilding movement.

Rooted: Stories of Life, Land and a Farming Revolution

This very nearly made it onto the top 5 list – a great read, which explores the history and cultural importance of orchards, alongside the role they play in biodiversity. After reading this book, you’ll want to plant your own orchard – in fact, I actually did! In 2017 my husband, son and baby moved by accident from London to the Suffolk countryside. We expected to stay for six months. In the end, we stayed for two years, taking on the running of his small family farm. Our story is woven around the stories of other farmers I met in my secondnarrative non-fiction book, Rooted: Stories of Life, Land, and a Farming Revolution published July 2022 by Viking ( Penguin Random House). Part-memoir, part narrative account of a selection of farmers from around the country, it seeks to shine a light on the world of farming at a critical point in the future of the countryside.If you’re wondering about how to manage the community response to a rewilding project, then the discussion of Patagonia’s rewilding experiment in S America is very informative. There is also insightful guidance into how rewilders might navigate choppy political waters, and some predictions of future industry growth. Enthralling ... An unignorable call to understand the challenges facing not only farming but the Earth itself. Spectator Sarah Langford has reinvented a genre ... [as a barrister she has turned] her experience of 11 criminal cases into short stories that are as compelling as fiction, with the added fascination of being essentially true ... Immensely powerful. Jenni Russell, Sunday Times Moving, startling, uplifting, galvanising and unsettling, this plainly beautiful book is one of those rare few that changes how you see the world around you: the shape of fields seen from a train, the vegetables in a supermarket chiller cabinet, the earth beneath your feet and falling through your fingers."