How should we steward the places we love?

This timeless question, now more urgent than ever in an era of climate change, rampant waste, soil degradation, and water pollution, has challenged communities for centuries. Sir Roger Scruton proposed the solution to this timeless question must be found in and through our love of home—what he called Oikophilia—by focusing our gaze on immediate problems, needs and affections.

In this spirit, the Roger Scruton Legacy Foundation is pleased to announce a new online interview series, Rooted: Cultivating a Green Philosophy. We invite you to join series host Grace Olmstead as she considers responsible farming and stewardship practices that might care for our environment and ecology while also prioritizing the interests and needs of local farmers and communities. Guests of the series will include farmers, authors, and scholars from the United States and the United Kingdom.

27 June 2023: Mary Berry, The Berry Center, United States

The Berry Center Executive Director Mary Berry and her brother, Den Berry, were raised by their parents, Wendell and Tanya Berry, at Lanes Landing Farm in Henry County, Kentucky from the time she was six years old. She attended Henry County public schools and graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1981. She farmed for a living in Henry County starting out in dairy farming, growing Burley tobacco, and later diversifying to organic vegetables, pastured poultry and grass fed beef. Mary is married to Trimble County, Kentucky farmer, Steve Smith, who started the first Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farming endeavor in the state of Kentucky. If daughters Katie Johnson, Virginia Aguilar and Tanya Smith choose to stay in Henry County, they will be the ninth generation of their family to live and farm there. Her writings have appeared in various publications and collections, including “Letters to a Young Farmer: On Food, Farming, and Our Future” (Princeton Agricultural Press, 2016) and the introduction for a new edition of essays, “Our Sustainable Table”, Robert Clark, ed. (Counterpoint, 2017).

xx July 2023: Jamie Blackett, Arbigland Estate, United Kingdom

Jamie Blackett is a former army officer and a farmer on the beautiful Arbigland peninsula on the Solway Firth in Dumfries and Galloway. He is also an award-winning journalist and a regular columnist for the Daily Telegraph, Country Life and other publications. He appears regularly on television and radio as a commentator on politics and rural issues. His first book, The Enigma of Kidson has been adapted for the stage. Land of Milk and Honey is the sequel to his second book, the much-acclaimed Red Rag to a Bull. In 2020 he won the Charles Douglas-Home Memorial Trust award for journalism and his essay has been published in a short book On Wilding. Jamie is married with two grown-up children.

xx August 2023: Gabe Brown, Brown’s Ranch, United States

Gabe Brown is one of the pioneers of the current soil health movement which focuses on the regeneration of our resources. Gabe, along with his wife Shelly, and son Paul, own and operate Brown's Ranch, a diversified 5,000 acre farm and ranch near Bismarck, North Dakota. The ranch consists of several thousand acres of native perennial rangeland along with perennial pastureland and cropland. Their ranch focuses on farming and ranching in nature's image. Over 2,000 people visit the Brown's Ranch annually to see this unique operation. They have had visitors from all fifty states and twenty-four foreign countries. Gabe and Brown's Ranch have received many forms of recognition for their work, including a Growing Green award from the Natural Resource Defense Council, an Environmental Stewardship Award from the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, and a Zero-Till Producer of the Year Award, to name a few. Gabe has also been named one of the twenty-five most influential agricultural leaders in the United States. Gabe recently authored the book, Dirt to Soil, One Family’s Journey Into Regenerative Agriculture. He is a partner, along with Shane New, Kathy Richburg and Dr. Allen Williams, in Understanding Ag LLC. He is also an instructor for Soil Health Academy, which focuses on teaching others the power and importance of healthy functioning ecosystems.

20 September , 2023: Dr. Norman Wirzba, Duke University, United States

Norman Wirzba pursues research and teaching interests at the intersections of theology, philosophy, ecology, and agrarian and environmental studies. He lectures frequently in Canada, the United States, and Europe. In particular, his research is centered on a recovery of the doctrine of creation and a restatement of humanity in terms of its creaturely life. Professor Wirzba has published several books, including Agrarian Spirit: Cultivating Faith, Community, and the Land, The Paradise of God: Renewing Religion in an Ecological Age, Living the Sabbath: Discovering the Rhythms of Rest and Delight, Way of Love: Recovering the Heart of Christianity, From Nature to Creation: A Christian Vision for Understanding and Loving Our World, Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating (in its 2nd Edition), and (with Fred Bahnson) Making Peace with the Land: God’s Call to Reconcile with Creation. He also has edited several books, including The Essential Agrarian Reader: The Future of Culture, Community, and the Land and The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry. Professor Wirzba serves as general editor for the book series Culture of the Land: A Series in the New Agrarianism, published by the University Press of Kentucky, and is co-founder and executive committee member of the Society for Continental Philosophy and Theology.

xx October 2023: James Rebanks, Racy Ghylls Farm, United Kingdom

James Rebanks is a farmer based in the Lake District, where his family have lived and worked for over six hundred years. His No.1 bestselling debut, The Shepherd's Life, won the Lake District Book of the Year, was shortlisted for the Wainwright and Ondaatje prizes, and has been translated into sixteen languages. His second book, English Pastoral, was also a Top Ten bestseller and was named the Sunday Times Nature Book of the Year. Heralded as a 'masterpiece' by the New Statesman, it was shortlisted for the Ondaatje prize, and longlisted for the Rathbones Folio prize and the Orwell Prize for Political Writing.

xx November , 2023: Sophie Scruton, Sundey Hill Farm, United Kingdom

Sophie Scruton worked with Sir Roger Scruton from 1999 to establish Horsell’s Farm Enterprises, a firm that brought together all their interests. While Roger gave lectures around the world building a network of followers, Sophie built strong links with farmers, conservationists, and local historians. The small farms surrounding Sundey Hill Farm, the Scruton family home, were struggling in the business of turning grass into meat and milk. The solution, they felt, was to turn grass into ideas, and bring profit to the farm and the neighbourhood. Their project culminated in the Scrutopia Summer School programme where philosophy and friendship are cultivated.