Sunday, November 22, 2009

Polyface Farms....Joel Salatin

Need I say more? Don and I loved "Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan and "In defence of food" more, both featuring Joel Salatin and his 'Beyond Organics' theories....We also have more than one of his farming titles. And of course both are in Food, Inc. an eyeopening movie now available at Blockbuster!

We noticed Joel Salatin was coming to speak for the farmer's institute 2 hours away and bought tickets. People travelled from the Kootenays to see him. He was dynamic, interesting, intelligent, inspiring, crazy and wonderful! We laughed our guts out and he made us think.

Food and the state of our food systems...industrial organics, Iowa corn, cattle feedlots, chicken barns, toxic manure waste...chemical fertilizers ARGH!

I can't even begin to try and copy one of his multi adjective descriptive sentences...they went on forever. Ok I'll try (hold on while I get hubby to try....)
"homogenized pasturized adulterated prostituted fecal coliform soup" that the industrial chickens are subjected to when they are processed yet the government is trying to shut down his chicken processing area on his farm. (Tests show his chickens have WAY less pathogens than supermarket chicken....)

If you haven't read the books or seen any movies about the state of our food systems, you probably have no idea what I am blathering about.


We were wowed.

I feel a sense of helplessness because I don't see anything changing in my lifetime.
When fossil fuels become too expensive there IS going to be a revolution. Food will no longer be so cheap and easily produced. Things will change. Fast Food won't be so cheap and hence it may not be so popular......
When the fossil fuel based chemical fertilizers dumped on Iowa and etc. farms and leached out into rivers (drinking water for many huge cities) and eventually into the gulf of mexico causing massive growths of algae doesn't alarm anyone, we are in big trouble.
When the president's wife wants an organic garden and is subjected to the pharmaceutical companies' wrath - how dare they promote organics when the chemcial industry makes it possible to produce a lot of food cheaply (....just WHAT IS cheap????), we are in big big trouble.
When my "organic" leaf spinach travels 2000 km to get to me, and I still buy it (I try not too) it is a small example of our problem.
When I see someone buying, and I kid you not, a pre - wow I don't know how to describe this - pre unwrapped (?) pomegranate at the store I was flabbergasted. There are people who don't even want to peel their own pomegranates!!!!
When a Saskatchewan farmer has to pay Monsanto because Monsanto's GMO canola fertilized his ORGANIC canola in a neighboring field and he is found guilty of "stealing" monsanto's patented technology, we are in trouble.
When people are becoming so obese because they are starving themselves eating processed unnutritious crap that leaves them hungry for more, but they eat more crap....until they can't move, we are in trouble.

Farms may revert back to a natural ecosystem of lifestock - manure - crop cycle but maybe not. I'm blathering, but I'm sad.



Maybe this article can describe what I saw better.....

1 comment:

Alison said...

It's a scary world out there. We all need to be the change we want to see. You are taking huge steps towards that goal, be proud of what you can do. I'd dearly love to do so much more, but for now I am pleased with the vegetables I grow in my small suburban garden. If we all take baby steps, we can get to a more sustainable world.