Gain Your Copy Folks, This Aint Normal: A Farmers Advice For Happier Hens, Healthier People, And A Better World Constructed By Joel Salatin Distributed As Readable Copy

first read about Joel Salatin in Michael Pollan's, "Omnivore's Dilemma," and my impression from Pollan was that this guy would give the farmer's perspective on sustainability.
Well, he delivered on that aspect, Unfortunately, his continued usage of the hook, "folks, that ain't normal" began to grate on me,

I'm not sure why this repetition of such a cliched declaration ever escaped the editor's pen, but it did, And what may have come off as folksy, squeaky intonation a la Jeff Foxworthy imagine "you might be a redneck if, . . " coupled with the hillbilly notion that city folk, liberals and poor people are folks of the 'other' variety and all Salatin's wisdom begins to lose its luster.
Despite his efforts, this guy is no Mark Twain,

While I admire Salatin's savvy regarding sustainable farming, I can't ever see myself sitting down to a cup of coffee with him, because of his smarmy digs at people who are anything other than "country.
" While he describes himself as a libertarian of the Jeffersonian variety, his ideals are way right of center despite great effort to distance himself from conservatives.


I really want to like Salatin, but his words are too inflammatory, too laced with rage against the government, and anyone who is not like him.
This Bob Jones University graduate describes himself as a suitwearing presenter whenever he shows up for presentations and public talks, ostensibly so that people don't draw the wrong conclusion that he is aa bumpkin/uneducated idiot.


Nonetheless, Joel Salatin reminds me of Abe Lincolin's admonition that it is better to keep your mouth shut so that no one thinks you are a fool rather to open your mouth, thereby removing all doubt.
Judging from some of his revelations, like this gem, "I've got news for you, trees don't grow in hardware stores, " he ought to ditch the suit, That kind of thinking sprouts from a head under a straw hat,

There are times when Salatin's ruminations regarding sustainability make so much sense, However, when he peppers such sage advice with rants against government regulations that he does not agree with, or liberals who,"want to raise taxes so they can give it away" to the poor, the power in his message wanes, and his rhetoric becomes as parched and overused as the soil that he laments local sourcing owing to commercial scale farming practices where, 'just ain't normal.
. . becomes the clarion call for the middleaged pissed off, scared, countryfried WASP the same variety whose sentiments are echoed by the FAUX cable news network blowhards.


My suggestion is that you read Barbara Kingsolver's, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" and Michael Pollan's, "Omnivore's Dilemma" because they cover the same material, devoid of religiosity, and nativist, clannish bullshit.
Joel Salatin is such an insufferable ass that I couldn't make it past pageof his book which is a shame because I think he's probably right about how he does agriculture.
I think Joel does great work regarding farming and food production, But im not reviewing Joel or even his philospohy This is a book review and what I'm disappointed about t is the patronizing tone, Page"I have news for you: That lumber doesn't grow there in a hardware shop, . . "

Not exactly news to me, Is it to you There are many examples like that which I found annoying,

To even elect to pick up this book suggests the reader has an interest in health, food and the environment, There is also probably good reason to believe the reader has some knowledge in these areas and supports Joel's ideals,

So why does he write a book that repeatedly tells his readers they are ignorant fools Other than the tone, I found much of the book interesting.
Had he acknowledged his readers better, it would have made more sense to me, This just feels like the wrong book at the wrong time, If you want to be lectured at forsome pages, go for it, Sure, he can be humorous but he seems interested in packing in so many anecdotes and pieces of farming knowledge that the jokes seem rushed and flat.
And much of what he is trying to point out has at this time already been renewed as common wisdom, while the book has a tone of "look what I discovered!"

A good amount of what he has to say is surely correct, and has a certain wisdom to it.
And I definitely respect Salatin's experience, But in terms of delivery, I'd rather read some Wendell Berry matched with a little Michael Pollan and followed by some time with a real howto homesteading manual.
Once again, his cover photo and title fooled me, I sure thought this was going to be all about humanely raising chickens, It's not. The purpose of this book is to "awaken a thirst and hunger for some basic food and farming knowledge before, . . new age technosubjects crowds out all of this historically normal knowledge, " Salatin may agree with some of the things the left environmentalist agree with, but completely abstaining from meat is not the answer, Although a bit longwinded and even rambling at times, he will open your eyes to what's not so normal about our food system and point out things you can do to get closer to sustainability and normalcy.
You'll learn a lot about the food police and the power they have been given over small farming businesses since the industrial age, only to find our food supply and our earth's living soil now in grave danger.
Proof that their concern is not so much for the health of the people as it is for

their power and paychecks,

The case against CAFO's: p,

They claim we need to feed the world, and this is the way Americans can do that, and do it with efficiency,

The reality is a house of cards waiting to collapse, Since CAFO's are so large, cheap fuel and energy costs are the ONLY way they can continue, As soon as energy costs return to normal again, and they will, it's all over,
. Cattle are hauled in from all over the states,
. Manure becomes a hazardous waste, so they fall into slurries through slats which have to then be hauled off farther and farther away, and to California to be used as fertilizer.
They still manage to become overwhelmed and spill over and create runoffs that destroy lagoons and even whole communities,
. As toxicity increases, the transportation necessary to sustain it increases,
. Grains must be transported from farther and farther away because the region can't grow enough grains to feed the CAFO cattles,
. Upon slaughtering, the finished product has to be shipped throughout the country and overseas because the region can't consume thatamount of meat,

What we don't see:
The square miles and "miles of land required to produce the grain, and the square miles of land to handle the manure generated by that facility.
You don't see the pumps, augers, pipes, trucks, slurry lagoons, slurry spreaders, and trains bringing material in and hauling material out, " p.

He expounds on some things that are NOT normal:

, Kids spending their summers lounging around inside the house all day, only to expend their energy in the late after hours getting into trouble, whatever that may be and the starting the process all over again, Being a night owl is not normal for humans, Teens used to be considered an asset, productive members of society, Now, they are considered a liability, Every parent should read the first chapter, I wish I had read this before raising my kids,
. To eat with reckless abandon, without conscience, without knowledge, p.We are a nation more disconnected with our food and knowledge of where it comes from than ever in history, We scan a credit card, open a plastic bag, and nuke it in a microwave p,.
. Now, even rural country is eating the same canned and processed, nutrient deficient foods that inner city folks are eating, meaning they are now just as disconnected to food and its source.

. Not to be prepared for any emergencies is not normal, weather, politics, economics, bioterrorism. Food security is not at the grocery store, It's not in the government, And it's not in the emergency services, It's not sustainable!!
. UNPLUG! Men spendinghours a week on video games or Facebook is not normal, Neither are kids spending hours on end socializing on their phones through Facebook, chat, etc, . .
. The amount of plastic and aluminum foil we use daily is not normal, If you have to, then use paper products, At least, that is biodegradable,
. Long distance distribution now defines our food system, . . themiles from field to fork is NOT normal, Onlyof the foods we consume is actually grown there,
. The fear of taking risks, trying new innovative, sustainable ideas so much that the government has to make up laws to protect ourselves is NOT normal.
We have become a society ruled by fear,
. Not knowing how to cook in today's high technoglitz kitchens, . . not only NOT normal but should be a crime, Historically, the kitchen has alwsys been the hub, Something was always roasting, baking, simmering, rising, etc, . . Today, even I don't want to be in my kitchen because then I have to do all that damn cleaning too, EXHAUSTING!!
. Multisyllabic sciencespeak, unpronounceable lab concoctions on our food labels is NOT normal, p.
. Food that does not parish in just a few days is NOT normal,
. Feeding the soil reconfigured chemicals, such as NPK fertilizers, is NOT normal, As a gardener, or farmer, if you take care of the carbon brown matter, hydrogen, and oxygen, the NPK nitrogen, potassium, and will take care of itself.

. To treat water with such disdain as to make it illegal to even capture it in rain barrels, such as it is in Colorado, is NOT normal.

. Sprawling corrals of beef lots, pig lots, chicken cages where's upon's are fed corn and soy to quickly fatten them up for the market.
This is NOT normal.

I have read articles that have demonized cows as one great cause of greenhouse gases and how they leave behind such a large portion of earth's carbon footprint, polluting the shit out of it, and I believed it.
Scientists have now developed "fake" meat that are beginning to sell in fastfood restaurants, They have also learned to grow meat in a lab from cells, But, according to Salatin, the properly grazed cattle restarts the juvenile growth phase in prairie grasses, By "pruning" it, the grasses are stimulated to greater solar activity, photosynthesis activity otherwise, it becomes dormant and dies, creating CO, Also, it is being fertilized naturally with their urine and poop, p.Antibeefers refuse to differentiate the difference between that of industrial farming and ecofriendly pasture farming, Remember that agendas drive data, not the other way around, p.

Tillage crop farms, and gardens, is not a sustainable practice, Tilling burns out organic matter because it hyperoxygenates the soil and then isn't able to retain nitrogen, That's one reason the land needs to lay fallow everyyears, like the Bible also says Leviticus:"But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord.
Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards, ", but now more often because of our farming practices of using single GMO crops and the exhorbitant chemicals and synthetic fertilizers used, I wonder why the author doesn't mention this Bible verse or how he incorporates it into his farming practice

For home gardens, to avoid having to till, mulch beds with grass clippings.
That will slowly replenish the soil with nitrogen as it decomposes, This is what Salatin does in his home garden, p.I also have my compost pile that I can use on my gardens,

Job:"But ask now the beasts, and they will teach you ask the fowls of the air, and they will tell you: Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto you.
"

You can learn a lot about the proper way to handle and raise animals, and how the earth restores itself, in turn how you should handle your garden, by watching.
Whether a vegetable or animal, the sacrifice of its life is only sacred IF it had a life well lived, p.

By feeding chickens ALL kitchen scraps, this might eliminate the need for any grains at all, reducing the costs associated with it, If every household did this, "it would reduce the amount of land tilled, which would reduce erosion, which would free up more land to be covered in perennials, which would build soil, and ultimately stimulate springs to flow again" p.
I didn't know chickens could live off of kitchen scraps alone, I could just use their poop from the coop to the compost pile to fertilize my garden beds each season, CLEAN OUT THE COOP!

At the end of every chapter are lists of ideas and things you can do to be a better steward of our earth:
.
Eat bioregionally. Learn to buy and eat in season fruits and vegetables
, Buy local fruits and vegetables farmers markets first, then supermarket
, Limit processed foods for two reasons:,They are deficient in nutrients and they are excessive in plastic waste,
. Create and focus on an edible landscape,
. If gardening, extend your garden season by growing brassicas, carrots, greens, etc, . . cold weather crops.
. Build a solarium on south side of house to grow plants,
. Preserve your own food in season by dehydrating, freezing, canning, pickling, etc,
. Use recycle grocery bags.
. Use reuseable tupperware for lunches, snacks for road trips, Instead of purchasing the Keto Snack packs, make your own,
. Use the short thermos' for soups, hot or cold, potato salad even stays old
, Turn off the TV or the cell phone Facebook and read,
. Take a fastfood sabbatical.
. Visit local farms instead of vacation trips,
. Start a domestic hobby: quilting, knitting, carving, woodworking, repairing anything, etc, . .
. Limit your video or Facebook time,
. Eat more grassfed beef
, Learn how to dress game and prepare it,
. Cook from scratch.
. Make condiments from scratch: mayonnaise, ketchup, etc, . .
. Make breads from nonGMO flours and other ingredients,
. Prepare hearty soups and bisques often, Freeze some for rainy days,
. Replace your parakeet with an indoor chicken, They're quieter, you can recycle all your kitchen scraps and get back an egg in return,
. Get a vermicomposting kit and feed your kitchen scraps in return for nutritious worm fertilizer,
. Purchase and consume only parishable foods, If not sure, set it out on the counter for a couple of days and if it doesn't change in appearance, taste, odor, or texture, you've just wasted your money on dead stuff.
Don't buy it again. Dead stuff irradiated or whathaveyou doesn't have anything left to give, to create new cells, new flesh, new bones,
. Compost all things that will rot, and stop filling up landfill with biomass,
. Reduce your energy use by growing your own food, build a solarium on the south side of the house, entrtain at your own home, . . no need to go travelling all the time,
. Capture rain water in barrels for watering plants, All homes should have a cistern to capture rain from gutters coming off the roof,
. Use grey water for flushing toilets, . . a great idea but not financially possible for us, Reroute pupes to flush from your large cistern that collects water from roof runoff,
. Patronizegrassbased herbivores: beef, dairy, lamb, bidon, elk, etc, . . to support soil building practices on earth,
. Clear unwanted brush, dying amp unwanted twisted trees from forests, This allows new saplings to flourish, which produce more oxygen and takes in more carbon than old, dying trees,
. Add deep bedding carbonaceous diaper to chicken coop, pig pens, or barns to sop up and break down animal poop,
. Do NOT purchase chicken, meat, or pork from animals grown in CAFOs,
. Look at your expenditures and see what is unnecessary, Add that amount to your organic foods budget,
. When someone says rmthey can't afford good organic foods, look around their house for alvohol, coffee, tobacco, soda, frozen dinners, snacks, flat screen TV, iPods, tattoos, etc.
. .
. To help keep small business afloat, shop the underdog, even if it means paying more,

America's food companies only care about their bottom line, They could care less about your health, It's about taste manipulation, shelflife, and cheaper products, Period! In fact, in, Obama hired Michael Taylor, a longtime Monsanto attorney who helped bring in the transgenic modigication of seeds, as his food czar.
. . a brand new position inside the government, p.

The bottom line Vote with your food dollar because ", . . with EVERY bite, we are either healing or hurting our neighbors, the soil, and ultimately the world" p,and our own health. Organic farms are not subsidized financially as the big CAFO farms or farms in the back pockets of bog brother, growing Monsanto seeds, The higher prices for organics reflect the "true" cost of growi g that food and labor costs,

Polyface farm has on their reusable bags: "Healing the Planet One Bite at a Time", I should make a small wooden kitchen sign like this as a reminder, .