My direct descendants were here to at least the 16 early 1600s in the same very small village. We've got records of people with the same name two or 300 years before that. And we would bounce around between sometimes what looks like pretty horrible poverty. The work I do is a continuation of their work and the continuation of everybody's work before me.
James Rebanks's family has raised sheep in the same small English village for at least four centuries. There are records of people with his same last name going back a few hundred more. Even his sheep are rooted in place: their DNA is from Viking times. It's enough to make anyone feel insignificant--and according to Rebanks, that's a wonderful thing. Listen as the author of The Shepherd's Life speaks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the deep pleasures and humbling privilege of being a sheep farmer.