Wilding: Returning Nature to Our Farm by Isabella Tree

2018 publication about a venture in the UK. Lots of good photos!

One can make an argument that the internet is the enemy of books and reading. And there is little doubt that in our world we receive most of our information and entertainment visually, through television in my lifetime, and now more and more through various streaming services. I mention this not to bemoan a loss but to see that at least on one occasion that most seductive of media, YouTube, led me a to a book. Of course, how I got the YouTube site evades my memory; probably, like most such discoveries, I stumbled into it. But I must admit that I have a predilection for nature videos (wolves are a favorite). In any event, I stumbled upon a YouTube clip on Knepp Farms in the UK. Perhaps it was this one,  or this one, or this one, or this one. From there I came across the fact that Isabella Tree, along with her husband, Charlie Burrell, were in charge of this rather amazing story. The YouTube videos provide a peak, but Tree's book provides an in-depth tour and one well worth the time and effort as we continue to negotiate our way through the Anthropocene world. 

The story in a nutshell arises from Burrell's inheritance of Knepp farm, a large estate located in Sussex. Burrell had received a degree in agronomy and seemed a fine heir indeed to take the helm of the enterprise, aided by his wife Isabella. But after 17 years of farming, Burrell and Tree realized that they weren't making enough money to justify the enterprise despite following the standard advice. Much of the land was consisted of a clay base and had been farmed to the bone. So, in 2001, they decided to chuck it all and re-wild. 

Re-wild? Or wilding? Both terms may be new to most readers, but I hope that they become commonplace. In short, Charlie and Isabella decided to turn the property back to nature and to end their tenure as farmers. This is the story told by Tree's book. 

The account Tree provides is detailed and (for the most part) enthralling. (My only hesitation is that she identifies so many species of bugs, beetles, and butterflies; worms; mammals; flowers, trees and shrubs; and birds--to mention only some of the life forms that come to her attention at Knepp. Sometimes I felt overwhelmed by all the mentions.) Tree also provides accounts of the responses of neighbors (skeptical when not our-right hostile), the conservation folks, and government bureaucrats. In our world, a piece of the UK doesn't simply go wild without a great deal of hubbub. Nature may have her way in the end, but for Knepp to go wild required a great deal of persistence and cajoling by Tree and Burrell and their supporters. Tree provides this account without rancor and with a modicum of sympathy for the various human impediments that they encounter. 

But while I found her account of their struggles with human impediments instructive, it's the other fauna and flora that steal the show. One of the first things Burrell and Tree did was to introduce some large herbivores to the land, including three species of deer, wild horses, longhorn cattle, and a breed of pigs that were as close as they believed that they could come to imitating wild boars. (Boar and beaver introductions are on their wish list.) While one can't identify with precision at what point an ecology can be most dramatically changed, the Knepp experience (and others) suggests that large herbivores have profound and unexpected effects upon a local ecology. All the newly introduced and mostly untended large grazers thrived, and as they thrived, so did the trees, shrubs, grasses, and the soil--along with all the creatures dependent on these plants. 

Tree also writes a lot about trees. Oaks and others. She dispels the myth that the UK was once a great forest where the canopy ran for the far north to the sea. Instead, what she discovered at Knepp (among their very many discoveries) was the existence and prominence of "wood pasture" in the British environment. This is a topic about which I knew nothing coming in (except that I'd read somewhere the tale of the squirrel who could travel from the north to the sea without ever leaving the canopy), but the dispelling the fable of the unbroken canopy, along with other of the accounts and observations in the book, demonstrate for me the limits of our knowledge. And Tree mentions neglected treasures left by her Victorian ancestors who cataloged the natural world. She also reveals the value of generations of husbandmen and farmers who observed and built upon the ways of the natural world and whose knowledge we've lost or ignored to our detriment. 

Roxana Robinson's blurb for the book on the edition I read (the NYRB edition)  is worth quoting because I agree with it wholeheartedly: 

As a writer, Tree is both elegant and deeply informed, and the story is full of poetic awareness and scientific foundations. 

Indeed, Tree goes on at length about the scientific study of what they're doing, but she also recognizes the soul of the endeavor as well. Neither is she afraid to challenge prevailing opinions. In discussing the management (to the extent they must) of the large herbivores (Exmoor ponies, cattle, and deer), she sings the praises of the quality of the beef and the healthiness of the fats (loaded with omega-3 fatty acids compared to other beef). And in the face of a thriving pony herd that must be controlled by humans (there are no large predators), this means either selling the horses at a financial loss and condemning them to (shall we say) an uncertain future, or culling the herd and considering the virtues of horse meat for human consumption (no kidding). It's refreshing to read someone who's knowledgeable about the value of meat raised under optimum conditions that benefit the animals as well as humans. Vegans and vegetarians may not be happy about such frank considerations, but Tree doesn't allow readers to shy away from the realities of the situation. 

Tree ends the book with a consideration of the uncertainties and hopes she and Burrell and their supporters have for Knepp. Brexit, for instance, means that the European farm subsidy system will end and the British will have to make some consequential decisions about agricultural and conservation policies. She makes some suggestions about what should be adopted. The Knepp project also has hopes for the introduction of new species, both through Nature's course and through human choices (as I mentioned above, boars and beavers seem to top the list). 

Tree's book was a delight to read. One pervasive thought that I've held for some time is that we humans are--must be--gardeners. And as gardeners we must work with Nature, bending and trimming as we may but knowing that Nature in its grandeur and magnificence and wisdom will always have the final say. Instead, we've too often treated Nature like a mine that we will strip as fast and as forcefully as we can until it's worthless, totally spent. You can imagine--and now observe--how such as attitude must end. But Tree points the way down a garden path that we all should tread.