Joel Salatin giving talk in Olympia, WA

[Deberosa]

I just found this out - he will be at The Evergreen State College at 7:00 PM on June 5th (next Thursday) to give a talk. It's in Lecture Hall 1. And it's FREE!!!!

If you can make it, it will be worth it for sure, I've heard he is a great speaker as well as a great resource for sustainable agriculture.

[msta999]

I looked this guy up on the web and it sounds like he just went out, bought an old farm and started farming, then raised his kids to farm with him.

Just last weekend I read about a guy here who did the same thing, but bought a farm in stanwood (north of Seattle). The Stanwood guy has like 8 kids. So, as you can see, it is possible, if you have a good plan.

[MotherCharlotte]

I bet that will be a great talk. I've read a lot of good stuff about that guy--sounds like he really has his head screwed on straight.

[Deberosa]

Now I didn't see any of you there! ;D

The talk was alot of fun! Preaching to the choir here but you had to be there to appreciate the audience.

Joel started his talk with - Just so you know I am a Christian, Libertarian, Agronomist, Capitalist. ;D

You have to know The Evergreen State College to sense the sucking sound in the standing room only lecture hall. ;-) Heck I bet half of them were vegetarians. :o

I learned about the Three M's for cows - Mobbing, Moving and Mowing. The key is to concentrate them in one patch for a day and then move to the next one. Cows in a bunch don't pick out all the clover and then moo piteously like my two do! They have competition and they clear the area of ALL plants so others don't get them - no picking and choosing. THen he moves them to the next patch. Runs chickens after the cows. Runs pigs after the cows in winter quarters - keeps piling up straw with a layer of corn over and over again as bedding. Even his feeders raise up 4 ft to keep even with the bedding layer! Then he turns pigs loose who root for the buried corn and churns the area into compost. "Pigaerators".

Cows are meant to eat grass - e-coli in the guts of grass fed beef are not used to the acid environment as with beef fed silage, grain, etc. The e-coli of grass fed beef can't live in our gut -it's why e-coli is a new appearance.

Lots of great stuff I learned - if you ever get a chance don't miss an opportunity to hear him talk. Farming the way we've always done it simply won't work for the long term.

Drawbar, I was thinking of you - Joel's place is about the same size as yours!

Oh, one other tidbit. Permanent infrastructure is expensive and inflexible. He has movable everything. It also means you don't have to plan to be on land forever because of the investment or even own the land you farm. He says he gets stacks of information on people who own lots of land that can't be sold now and just want someone to manage it until the market picks up. FOR FREE! He also gets stacks of requests from retiring farmers for Joel to find him someone they can will their farm to so it stays in production. He doesn't do such matchmaking for obvious reasons but the point is there are opportunities galore out there to get started, it only takes some research to dig out the opportunities.

A great evening, even if I did have to venture into the ultra liberal center of Western Washington yet again... ;-)

[AlchemyAcres]

Very cool!
I talked with Joel on the phone back in '96 when we started raising pasture poultry and shortly after his first book was published.
Interesting guy.

~Martin :)

[Winston_Smith]

I subscribe to Acres USA which Salatin publishes and highly recommend it to anyone interested in organic and eco-agriculture. A while back I ordered a DVD which Joel made which gives a good overview of his whole operation. Pricey at $60 but what education is ever really free?! ;D However Joel is only doing what almost every farmer in the country was doing 75-100 years ago.

[Deberosa]

Yes, I've picked up some copies that have his articles in them. The trouble with Acres magazine overall is they seem to want to turn everything political and I am looking more for information. But it's worth watching for the good articles they have.

We've just been reading his article on Forgiveness Farming in Acres.

[taynormom]

I have read You Can Farm, Poultry Profits and I m wanting to read his Salad Bar Beef book next
I am currently reading Allen Nations on MIG.
I was thinking of the DVD and am glad you thought it was worth while Winston. I will be ordering it this summer . :)
I sure hope he comes to Ohio soon. Thought he is not to far from me :D
Really agree with alot he says .

[Deberosa]

I just ordered his book 'Everything I want to do is Illegal'.

It was a hoot ordering it at the local book store. ;-)


I bet they check it out before calling me that it's in!