Fresh Connections – The Parfitt Way Blog

Joel Salatin – High Priest of the Pasture; Saturday June 2, at 2pm at the BPA Theatre

What first caught my attention was the listing of earthworms as one of the principles of Joel Salatin’s Polyface Farm. Standing proudly with Transparency, Individuality, and Community – earthworm enhancement is a guiding and defining value leading to the success of game-changing farmer and prolific author Joel Salatin. Describing himself as a Christian-libertarian-environmentalist-capitalist-lunatic-farmer, Joel has been featured in The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan, and the documentary films Food, Inc. and Fresh. Joel came to farming as part of an extended family of innovative, full-time and part-time farmers. As far back as 1961, 9 years before the first Earth Day, Joel’s father saw the wisdom of grass farming, controlled grazing, and composting. That foundation is a keystone of Joel’s success, both as a farmer and a highly respected public figure in the food movement of today.

A closer look at the guiding principles listed on Polyface Farm’s website gives us some insight into what drives Joel’s life and success. Transparency is critical to Joel’s belief that trust between farmer and consumer can only be achieved through a practice of “no trade secrets, no locked doors and every corner being camera-accessible”. Individuality – siting a direct link between honoring the “pig-ness” of the pig (the cow-ness of the cow, etc.) and the health of our society, the farm is operated with a great deal of respect for the animals by providing them with a habitat that honors their unique physiological distinctiveness and needs. The value of Community dictates that the farm’s products are never shipped. Operating on the idea that we should all eat locally, Joel abides by his belief that we should only eat food that requires less than 4 hours travel time from the farm to our kitchen. Following Nature’s Template means that natural patterns provide the “best practices” manual for farming. Long before mad cow disease made the news, Polyface farms fed their cows appropriately as herbivores, not omnivores. And our old friend Earthworms: prioritizing soil health means stimulating soil biota means earthworm enhancement.

The New York Times has referred to Joel Salatin as the “High Priest of the Pasture”. Joel’s passion goes far beyond the health benefits of eating wholesome local foods. He believes strongly that his way of thinking on a large scale would change the strongholds of economic, political and social power, evidenced by the following quote from Treehugger.com: “Just imagine if people began discovering their kitchens again, and if the average household instead of popping irradiated, amalgamated, prostituted, reconstituted, adulterated, modified, and artificially flavored, extruded bar coded, un-pronounceable things into the microwave, actually prepared whole foods for all-down-together family meals…if we quit feeding cows corn….70 percent of the world’s arable land could return to perennial prairie polycultures building soil and sequestering carbon, that would completely destroy the power of the grain cartel, the multi-national corporations and petroleum usage.” (Joel is rather fond of modifiers in his sentences.)

Bottom line – it seems the cure for much of what ails us and the world – truly is a happy cow.

Don’t miss your chance to hear Joel speak at the Bainbridge Performing Arts Theater on Saturday, June 2. Tickets are $22/adults and $12/students with ID.