All Things Supercinski

You would do well to read The Omnivore’s Dilemma (BCS Library). Along with everything, you’ll get an introduction to Joel Salatin. The quotes below are taken from the latter half of the book.

Joel, who had described his politics as Christian libertarian environmentalist, wanted nothing to do with “institutional anything,” but especially the institutions of government. Daniel and Rachel had both been homeschooled. There were plenty of books, but, aside from the Staunton daily newspaper, which devoted more space to local car crashes than the war in Iraq, little media (and not television) penetrated the Salatin household.

… whenever I hear people say clean food is expensive, I tell them it’s actually the cheapest food you can buy. That always gets their attention. Then I explain that with our food all of the costs are figured into the price. Society is not bearing the cost of water pollution, of antibiotic resistance, of food-borne illnesses, of crop subsidies, of subsidized oil and water — of all the hidden costs to the environment and the taxpayer that make cheap food seem cheap. No thinking person will tell you they don’t care about all that. I tell them the choice is simple: You can buy honestly priced food or you can buy irresponsibly priced food. – Joel Salatin in The Omnivore’s Dilemma

Grass farming done well depends almost entirely on a wealth of nuanced local knowledge at a time when most of the rest of agriculture has come to rely on precisely the opposite: on the off-farm brain, and the one-size-fits-all universal intelligence represented by agrochemicals and machines. Very much on his own in a very particular place, the grass farmer must continually juggle the various elements of his farm in space as well as time, relying on his powers of observation and organization to arrange the appointed daily meeting of animal and grass in such a way as to insure maximum benefit for both.

Check out the What’s For Dinner? series posted here last January and Polyface Farms.

If you are in the BCS area, check out these local farms (there are others, feel free to let me know of those producers you are aware of.)

• Star Haven Farms
• Sand Creek Farm and Dairy
• Yonder Way Farm