The Hefted Shepherd

English shepherds use the word “hefting” to describe the way in which a flock of sheep has become accustomed and acclimated to a particular patch of land. Shepherds can also be “hefted” in this way, their lives and fortunes tied to a particular place and a particular flock that they love.

James Rebanks is a shepherd in the Lake District of England, working the land where his father and grandfather tended sheep and where many others have done so for thousands of years.  

His book, The Shepherd’s Life: A Tale of the Lake District, takes those of us who are uninitiated into the rhythms of life on those green “fells,” or hills — rhythms that haven’t changed much for shepherds over the course of hundreds of generations. Despite all the advances in technology and progress that characterize the 21st-century world, shepherding is still an ancient and unchanging way of life that is always about the sheep and the land.  

Most of us think of shepherding as an idyllic profession from a bygone age. We picture the green pastures and still waters of Psalm 23. We miss the fact that shepherding is also muddy, bloody, smelly and difficult work. It takes a practiced hand and an eye for detail that is honed over time. It’s not for...