A few years ago, I was your typical office-worker: stressed out, uneven energy, overweight, and inconsistent complexion. Now I'm just your typical 28-year old urban hunter-gatherer on a quest to be healthy, and having a few adventures along the way. See my full bio.
Yes, I have a man crush on Joel Salatin. Featured in Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma and Food Inc., Salatin is a self-described: "Christian libertarian environmentalist lunatic". And he's an articulate (and entertaining) advocate of sustainable farming. Any time he speaks, you're pretty much guaranteed a show. He didn't disappoint as the keynote speaker at this year's Wise Traditions - Weston Price Conference. I've dug up a few videos.
First, here's a great TEDx talk he gave about his first foray into selling his eggs to restaurants. Listen to how he talks about The Essence of Egg. The Essence of Chicken. The Essence of Pig. And how he brings those animals to life by creating the right habitat for them at Polyface Farm.
Then think about The Essence of Human. What habitat brings out our human essence?
Here's a short clip on farming regulation. Money quote:"They need to grant us that at some point that a food ingestion is not a government event."
And here is an excerpt from his talk at Wise Traditions 2010 courtesy of Real Food Media.
Here are other Joel Salatin videos, Joel Salatin's books, Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma, Food Inc., and Salatin's Polyface Farm.
Comments
To Sacredness!Joel Salatin is
To Sacredness!Joel Salatin is brilliant.
I saw him first ;) All
I saw him first ;) All kidding aside, his perspective on TED and Food, Inc. are both filled with integrity and a sense of wholesomeness that makes me want to by a farm and raise my family on it. This is now a possible scenario under consideration after completing my education. Needless to say he is definitely an influential Christian libertarian environmentalist: not so much a lunatic in our eyes.
I apologize in advance, but I
I apologize in advance, but I can't help but to gloat. My house is 12 miles from Polyface. In fact, I'm heading out there tomorrow to restock my freezer. One thing they do mention on the website is that they want people to support their local producers - in fact the resources tab on their web page gives like to things like eatwild.com. They also take interns to teach their methods, and have links to their farms as well. I'm going out of town for Thanksgiving, and the host, who's a gastroenterologist, has asked me to bring as much meat from the farm as I can.
After watching Food, Inc.
After watching Food, Inc. (for maybe the second time) I wondered where Polyface was, so maybe I could order from it. I was delighted to see that they had a web presence and in fact arranged to sell their goods through it. Dismayed to see that I was nowhere near their service area. Would love to find something just like Polyface near where I live in Chicago. Still looking...
Right there with you on the
Right there with you on the man crush, John. I first saw him in the movie "Food Inc." I thought what he said about us being "a nation of technicians" was absolutely brilliant. Found it on IMDB:I'm always struck by how successful we have been at hitting the bull's-eye of the wrong target. I mean we have learned- for example, in cattle we have learned how to plant, fertilize and harvest corn using global positioning satellite technology, and nobody sits back and asks, "But should we be feeding cows corn?" We've become a culture of technicians. We're all into the how of it and nobody's stepping back and saying "But why?"
I also saw him for the first
I also saw him for the first time in FOOD, INC. and could not get over how beautiful his ideas were. So simple. Such common sense. Why is this not the norm? I remember saying "YES! That is what we need. He should go speak to some govt officials or something." I had forgotten his good words, so I am happy to see him pop up again. Good stuff. Thanks.
"He should go speak to some
"He should go speak to some government officials or something."Simply put, the government views Salatin and anyone like him as a threat. His ideas are not good for the powerful lobbyists who fund government. "Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal: War Stories From the Local Food Front" by Joel Salatin.