Joel Salatin: The power of local food
Salatin makes the power and mystery behind food and farming come to life for eaters of all walks of life.
His farm was featured in the bestselling book Omnivore’s Dilemma as the example of the ideal pastoral based farming model.
Though Salatin has long been a role model among alternative farmers with a very popular series of farming books, he has since become a bit of a superstar to mainstream America. His farm was showcased last year in the film Food Inc., which went on to be an Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary. He was featured in the wildly popular and uplifting film FRESH The Movie, which was shown at the Butte Valley Weston Price chapter meeting last summer.
Chaffin Orchards and Polyface Farms are both modeled on very strong but simple principles. The first and foremost is a foundation based on Permaculture fundamentals meaning that farmers don’t toil each year with annual plantings but rather invest in a perennial system that is self-replicating and long lasting.
Couple that with a non-toxic approach to farming though neither are certified organic for a variety of reasons.
The farmers believe in projects that utilize synergy and enhance one another. Chaffin employs livestock in its orchards to accomplish desired land management goals such as mowing, weed abatement, pruning and pest control. Salatin, from a drastically different climate, focuses more on utilizing and stacking livestock enterprises that enhance one another.
The animals all exhibit excellent health and do not require routine antibiotics like their feedlot counterparts.
The farm is thriving under this system while farmers watch the top soil get deeper and the farm fertility grow each year.
Polyface and Chaffin Orchards are both farms that were started about 100 years ago by forwardthinking individual’s with conservation principles in mind.
They had a strong understanding of nature and an almost instinctive knowledge on how to interact with the land leaving the least impact and enhancing the property for both the environment and the local community.
Ticket are $14 each.
For tickets go to chaffinorchards.eventbrite.com.
Co-Sponsored by the Butte Valley Weston A. Price Foundation Chapter.
Donate via PayPal
