Farmin'

Here is Adam with Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms.

An old friend used to say "Farmin' aint easy, farmin' aint easy."
But it can be fun!
Last week, Adam and I went to two lectures by Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms in Virginia. He is the "grass farmer" featured in The Omnivore's Dilemma.
On his family's land, he has a system of rotating chickens, pigs, and cows in succession over the field to raise both animals and healthy soil in a way that maximizes the qualities of the animal, provides a rich healthful diet, and minimizes purchased feed and fertilizers. It's simple and amazing.
Check out the Polyface site.
I think what we liked best about meeting Joel Salatin was the kinship we felt to him. He described himself as a "Christian-Libertarian-Environmentalist-Lunatic Farmer," and we can identify. He farms, goes to church, owns guns, homeschools his kids, votes for Ron Paul, and wants the government out of his personal life :)
Everything on his farm is open access and all ideas will never be patented. He's an open source guy.
He totally reminded me of Adam.
It was fun to be in a Seattle audience with people who respect him but you could tell they were a little uncomfortable/surprised he wasn't a Democrat or as "progressive" or "politically correct" in other parts of his life like they might have expected.
Yay for farmin'!