THE GOOD IN TRADITIONALISM

'The most traditional farmer in the district had the healthiest soil.'
James Rebanks, English Pastoral, p.144.

A HEALTHY WORK ETHIC

'He thought that pride in your work, no matter how modest the task, was the mark of a good man, so he mucked the cows out as if he were being judged on it every day.'
James Rebanks, English Pastoral, p.79.

THE DAMAGE REVOLUTIONS CAN DO

'The last forty years on the land were revolutionary and disrupted all that had gone on before for thousands of years - a radical and ill thought through experiment that was conducted on our fields.' 
James Rebanks, English Pastoral: An Inheritance, p.6.

IF YOU WANT TO BELONG YOU NEED TO PARTICIPATE

'...our sense of belonging is all about participation. We belong because we are part of the work of this place.' 

James Rebanks, The Shepherd's Life, p.146. 

BEAUTY

'My grandfather had an eye for things that were "beautiful" like a sunset, but he would explain it in mostly functional terms, not abstract aesthetic ones. He seemed to love the landscape around him with a passion, but his relationship with it was more like a long tough marriage than a fleeting holiday love affair. His work bound him to the land, regardless of weather or the seasons. When he observed something like a spring sunset, it carried the full meaning of someone who has earned the right to comment, having suffered six months of wind, snow and rain to get to that point. He clearly thought such things beautiful, but that beauty was full of real functional implications - namely the end of winter or better weather to come.' 

James Rebanks, The Shepherd's Life: A Tale of the Lake District, p.72.