Sustainable Farmer Joel Salatin Goes "Beyond Organic" nice article

[big brown horse]

Beyond Organic

http://www.blueridgeoutdoors.com/6137/sustainable-farmer-joel-salatin-goes-beyond-organics/

This article brings up Joel's term "beyond organic". I'm also reading about beyond organic in The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan at the moment.

B.R.O.: Can you explain what you mean by beyond organic in describing Polyface?

Joel S.: Organic has become an extremely loose term that people dont really understand. Now its been codified by the government and prostituted, so industrial food can enter the marketplace under the guise of organic. Were beyond organic in that we put the animals on fresh grass and move them around all the time. We process at the farm with neighborhood labor.

Thought I'd share.

 

[noobiechickenlady]

Good grief I love this guy

BRO: What are your thoughts on vegetarianism and benefits to land use?
JS: Animals are one of the most healing things possible on the landscape, if theyre managed and raised properly, especially herbivores. The main reason for vegetarianism is an anti-vote against inhumane industrial agriculture. That is certainly valid, but I think it would be a lot healthier to turn that into a positive vote and purchase from grass-based farm outfits. The data that supports a conclusion that eating beef is a leading cause of global warming is based on grain-based industrial feed lot production. As soon as you go to a paradigm of a perennial, non-tillage, self-fertilized system, all that negative data goes out the window.

Thanks for posting!

 

[Aidenbaby]

Do you think he'd adopt me?

Don't beat me down but I haven't read any of his books. What book do you think is his best?

 

[bibliophile birds]

highlights for me:

We take the natural, moving, mobbing, mowing pattern as a template. Fertile soils of the world have been built with herbivores. This grazing allows grass to grow through its cycle. If everyone practiced this pattern, wed sequester all of the carbon thats been emitted in the industrial age in fewer than 10 years.

Good food should be aesthetically pleasing from field to fork.

Our ability to make our own food choices is being infringed upon by people who tell us its safer to feed our kids Twinkies and Mountain Dew than raw milk from a neighbor.

 

[big brown horse]

Do you think he'd adopt me?

Don't beat me down but I haven't read any of his books. What book do you think is his best?

Hee hee!

I am pondering which Joel Salatin book (only one...stupid budget!) would work best for me too.

Salad Bar Beef is just for cows, right? That is the only one my library carries too.

 

[bibliophile birds]

the only one i've read is Pastured Poultry Profits cause, you know, that's what i'm doing...

Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal is supposed to be good. I still think the section about him in Omnivore's Dilemma is the best intro to Joel.

 

[noobiechickenlady]

I really, really enjoyed Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal. I laughed, I cried, I kept it way past the due date to reread it a few times. Salad Bar Beef was beyond me a bit, but it goes into serious detail of how to manage pasture for as many cattle as Joel has. Granted, they started smaller, but still with way more land than I have and more cows than I would ever want.

BBH, my small town library doesn't carry any of his books, but they were able to get it for me through interlibrary loan. You should check & see if yours can do it. I think it's statewide. That way you could read them ALL

 

[Beekissed]

I've noticed his books are getting more expensive on Amazon than they were last year...wonder why......

I liked Family Friendly Farming and You Can Farm for general knowledge about his history and setup but Salad Bar Beef goes into more of how he manages his pastures, woodlots and ponds.

Here's a link to his books on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=stripbooks&field-keywords=salatin

 

[big brown horse]

I really, really enjoyed Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal. I laughed, I cried, I kept it way past the due date to reread it a few times. Salad Bar Beef was beyond me a bit, but it goes into serious detail of how to manage pasture for as many cattle as Joel has. Granted, they started smaller, but still with way more land than I have and more cows than I would ever want.

BBH, my small town library doesn't carry any of his books, but they were able to get it for me through interlibrary loan. You should check & see if yours can do it. I think it's statewide. That way you could read them ALL

Good idea. Looks like Everything I Want to do is Illegal is right up my alley. However, I probably won't want to return it!

 

[big brown horse]

I've noticed his books are getting more expensive on Amazon than they were last year...wonder why......

I liked Family Friendly Farming and You Can Farm for general knowledge about his history and setup but Salad Bar Beef goes into more of how he manages his pastures, woodlots and ponds.

Here's a link to his books on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=stripbooks&field-keywords=salatin

Thanks Bee!