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Joel Salatin: Beyond Organic
Chelsea Green Publishing Company congratulates
Michael Pollan
on his new book
The Omnivore's Dilemma
A Natural History of Four Meals
featuring
Joel Salatin and Polyface Farm
No Bar Code
An Excerpt from Omnivore’s Dilemma
By Michael Pollan
An evangelical Virginia farmer says a revolution against industrial agriculture is just down the road.
I might never have found my way to Polyface Farm if Joel Salatin hadn't refused to FedEx me one of his chickens.
I'd heard a lot about the quality of the meat raised on his "beyond organic" farm, and was eager to sample some. Salatin and his family raise a half-dozen different species (grass-fed beef, chickens, pigs, turkeys, and rabbits) in an intricate rotation that has made his 550 hilly acres of pasture and woods in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley one of the most productive and sustainable small farms in America. But when I telephoned Joel to ask him to send me a broiler, he said he couldn't do that. I figured he meant he wasn't set up for shipping, so I offered to have an overnight delivery service come pick it up.
"No, I don't think you understand. I don't believe it's sustainable - 'organic,' if you will - to FedEx meat all around the country," Joel told me. "I'm afraid if you want to try one of our chickens, you're going to have to drive down here to pick it up."
Meet Joel Salatin "The High Priest of the Pasture"
Called "the high priest of the pasture" by The New York Times, Joel Salatin likes to refer to himself as a "Christian-libertarian-environmentalist-lunatic farmer." He lives with his family on Polyface Farm in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.
Salatin has developed a system of pasture rotation that produces nutrient-rich grass and maximizes the composting of animal waste. Each species on the farm is dependent on another. The cows, for example, eat the nutrient rich grass in Pasture A and then are moved to Pasture B. The chickens then move to Pasture A where they pick through the cow pies eating bugs and grinding the waste into the ground where it revitalizes the grass for the cows.
Salatin's innovative system has gained attention from around the country and he travels in the winter giving lectures and demonstrations. Salatin is the author of a number of books including his latest Holy Cows and Hog Heaven: The Food Buyer's Guide to Farm Friendly Food.
Books by Joel Salatin
Click on the book cover for more information.
