Book Review: Joel Salatin – Folks, This Ain’t Normal

After attending one of his seminars at a Mother Earth New Fair, I purchased a book by Joel Salatin, Folks, This Ain’t Normal.  Joel is a great speaker and an exceptional author on the small-scale food production situation.

More on the Author

Joel Salatin and his family have a farm on a hundred acres in northern Virginia.  When his parents first started working the land, it was unproductive.  Now, they raise beef cattle, pigs, rabbits and chickens in a healthy way that nourishes the land and produces abundance enough to sell to others.

However, his methods are not those of the major agricultural corporations. As a result, food laws have created many obstacles to selling his nutritionally superior meat and eggs to consumers.

About the Book

Joel explains his philosophy about raising happy children, healthy livestock and a better environment throughout the chapters of this book.

What I particularly liked was his no-nonsense approach to all of these ideas despite describing himself as a “Christian libertarian environmentalist capitalist lunatic.” 

The Joel Salatin Approach to Work

He gives his own children, as well as farm apprentices the opportunity to generate income through their own efforts and ideas while working on the farm.  In other words, there is a structure of exchange that the people there can contribute to and enhance.  What is really novel in these times is that there is no age limitation.  The youngest child has a chance to work, produce and be paid for his or her efforts.

The Cycle of Livestock

Another amazing part of Joel Salatin’s Polyface farm is how they use their livestock to enrich the soil, and keep all the different animals healthy.  Mob grazing, where animals get food from a limited area, is the practice they have put to good use.  Joel has an in-depth knowledge of how much land a certain number of cows can graze in a day, depending on age, calves, etc.  He uses egg-laying chickens to follow up after the cows, remove pests that can create cow disease and scratch the manure into the soil.  By moving both cows and chickens regularly, the field plants are able to grow back and maintain their nutrition.

The Problem with Our Current Situation

Additionally, Joel Salatin addresses what is happening to our society.  Children raised to entertain themselves with cell phones and video games.  Teenagers and adults spending too many hours texting.  Food that is made from animals that have to be vaccinated to keep them alive long enough to be butchered.  Plants that are either genetically designed and/or sprayed with poisons to stop insects and disease.  Government regulations that stop small farmers from selling naturally-grown produce and meat without spending millions of dollars and hours.  All of these and many more issues are covered and how they are destroying our health.

My Thoughts

This was a great read, entertaining and informative.  Joel Salatin traces his family’s farm from it beginnings to the present and why they have found themselves pioneers of what really works in a more natural agricultural setting.  His talks and writings have inspired me to raise livestock on our property.