The Salt Stones: Seasons of a Shepherd’s Life

About this episode

The episode explores the lessons of shepherding and its connection to ecological healing and a sense of belonging.

Have we forgotten how to truly participate in the natural world? What can the ancient practice of shepherding teach us about ecological healing? How does physical labor connect us to the land, memory and belonging? In this episode of the Speaking Out of Place podcast, Professor David Palumbo-Liu speaks with Helen Whybrow about her book, The Salt Stones: Seasons of a Shepherd’s Life.  Besides being a detailed account of the day to day, season by season life on her farm, where she and her family raise sheep, build a broad community, and maintain Knoll Farm, a center for activists, writers, artists and others to share ideas on how to promote healthier and more just ways of living together and in the environment, The Salt Stones is at base about the ways we are losing a sense of belonging, not only with others and with other forms of life on this planet, but also with the cycles of existence, of life and of death. Whybrow shows time and again that it is mostly a matter of developing ways of seeing and noticing what is all around us, and learning about and respecting the ways that generations of people and non-human animals have existed together in sustainable and…

People in this episode

Host: David Palumbo-Liu

Guest: Helen Whybrow

Topics covered

• shepherding
• ecological healing
• belonging
• sustainable living
• community
• physical labor

Keywords

• shepherding
• ecological healing
• belonging
• community
• physical labor
• sustainability
• land
• memory

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Knoll Farm

Books & works: The Salt Stones: Seasons of a Shepherd’s Life, Dead Reckoning, A Man Apart

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