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gordcampbell's review against another edition
4.0
I'm sorry, Joel. I couldn't finish this. Heck, I could barely get into it.
This actually IS a good primer on the war in the countryside that's being waged between local producers and government. If you can get past the tone: Joel alternates between teacher, preachy and screechy.
Make no mistake: there IS a war being fought over food production and the deck is stacked in favour of large producers, feed lot cattle, battery cage chickens and massive hog operations. You'd think that properly cared for, healthy feed animals would be a no-brainer. But, in a lot of cases, it's either prohibitively expensive, ridiculously difficult or simply illegal to sell you the healthy, quality food that you need.
Joel is a pioneer in the local food movement and I support everything he does. I just couldn't read this book. Mainly because I'm well aware of everything he talks about. That said, for someone just getting interested in the subject, it's worth wading through.
This actually IS a good primer on the war in the countryside that's being waged between local producers and government. If you can get past the tone: Joel alternates between teacher, preachy and screechy.
Make no mistake: there IS a war being fought over food production and the deck is stacked in favour of large producers, feed lot cattle, battery cage chickens and massive hog operations. You'd think that properly cared for, healthy feed animals would be a no-brainer. But, in a lot of cases, it's either prohibitively expensive, ridiculously difficult or simply illegal to sell you the healthy, quality food that you need.
Joel is a pioneer in the local food movement and I support everything he does. I just couldn't read this book. Mainly because I'm well aware of everything he talks about. That said, for someone just getting interested in the subject, it's worth wading through.
rebelrider's review against another edition
4.0
This is the true story of a farmer trying to raise food naturally and sell it in America. He meets government opposition at every turn. He is told he cannot build a house under 900 square feet on his own land or sell chicken outside his own state because his facilities are not federally inspected. A great book for anyone who wants to know the problems a small farmer faces.
austinstorm's review against another edition
4.0
Joel Salatin is a fun mix of hippie and Christian libertarian. He wants to practice sustainable farming / permaculture, but the government makes it difficult for small-scale farmers.
The book is very readable - Salatin maintains a tone of righteous indignation (rant) throughout, but never puts you at arms length. I am not a libertarian, but this book had me cheering the whole way through.
The book is very readable - Salatin maintains a tone of righteous indignation (rant) throughout, but never puts you at arms length. I am not a libertarian, but this book had me cheering the whole way through.
letitbrie's review against another edition
2.0
Hooo boy. Where to even begin? At first, I put this as a 3. But then, as I wrote this, I changed it to a 2. Between the writing style and wading through bull, it just couldn't warrant the 3.
The amount of fundamentalist Christian bullshit in here was nauseating. A lot of the libertarian notions he said were naive at best, heartless at worst. All that being said, he did have some good points, if you look past the xenophobic, paranoid, egotistical, my-way-or-the-highway thinking. And while I found myself raging at several points (especially when he went on a couple anti-choice tirades - seriously, in a farming/food book?!), I also found myself modifying some of my views, and learning quite a bit.
I didn't like his writing style. With some basic editing, this book could have been probably 100 pages shorter. He repeats himself endlessly, has whole paragraphs interjected prepping up the topic that he's in the middle of, (e.g. Oh, wait for this. It gets better. Just get this. You won't believe this. I can't make this up, folks. Righteous, evil. They hate freedom! They are evil and are against righteousness.), goes on PAGES LONG rants completely off-topic. At one point, he makes an almost page-long list of miscellaneous political beliefs, so we "get where he's coming from." Sorry not sorry, your opinion on abortion or immigration or taxes has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the realities of the farming world. This book felt less like his intended purpose of getting information out there and more of a toddler temper tantrum thinking his opinion is the word of god (with the amount he quotes scripture and god-given rights and god-given creation and god-given blah blah blah, he may just well think he's the word of god) and everybody should listen to his opinion on everything. Plus, the amount of judgement in here is unbelievable. A long-time vegetarian doesn't know how to make a hamburger? Unbelievable. A person says one thing, so obviously he votes republican and thinks this and that and the other. And this person dresses this way or eats this food so obviously she's a tree-hugging hippie and doesn't understand anything about food and is passing anti-farmer legislation because she's just dumb.
Ultimately, this was a good book to get some good information, but there was more muck to wade through than good information.
The amount of fundamentalist Christian bullshit in here was nauseating. A lot of the libertarian notions he said were naive at best, heartless at worst. All that being said, he did have some good points, if you look past the xenophobic, paranoid, egotistical, my-way-or-the-highway thinking. And while I found myself raging at several points (especially when he went on a couple anti-choice tirades - seriously, in a farming/food book?!), I also found myself modifying some of my views, and learning quite a bit.
I didn't like his writing style. With some basic editing, this book could have been probably 100 pages shorter. He repeats himself endlessly, has whole paragraphs interjected prepping up the topic that he's in the middle of, (e.g. Oh, wait for this. It gets better. Just get this. You won't believe this. I can't make this up, folks. Righteous, evil. They hate freedom! They are evil and are against righteousness.), goes on PAGES LONG rants completely off-topic. At one point, he makes an almost page-long list of miscellaneous political beliefs, so we "get where he's coming from." Sorry not sorry, your opinion on abortion or immigration or taxes has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the realities of the farming world. This book felt less like his intended purpose of getting information out there and more of a toddler temper tantrum thinking his opinion is the word of god (with the amount he quotes scripture and god-given rights and god-given creation and god-given blah blah blah, he may just well think he's the word of god) and everybody should listen to his opinion on everything. Plus, the amount of judgement in here is unbelievable. A long-time vegetarian doesn't know how to make a hamburger? Unbelievable. A person says one thing, so obviously he votes republican and thinks this and that and the other. And this person dresses this way or eats this food so obviously she's a tree-hugging hippie and doesn't understand anything about food and is passing anti-farmer legislation because she's just dumb.
Ultimately, this was a good book to get some good information, but there was more muck to wade through than good information.
colleen27's review against another edition
2.0
Too stridently political and too quick to assign the most malevolent of motivations to the "front line" government officials who are charged with carrying out policies created many levels above them. Salatin raises some very good issues but the strong anti-government tone that pervades his writing obscures his point at times.
dreesreads's review against another edition
4.0
So, 2/3 of the way through this book I lost it to the library queue, and finally got it back.
Basically, Joel Salatin is a nut. I believe he would not necessarily argue with that. He's all over the place, hates Democrats, hates Repulicans, is a homeschooler and hates school systems, is a rabid Christian who thinks people have a responsibility to treat the Earth well (rather than use it up "because God gave it to us"),hates big business, hates environmentalists, hates illegal immigrants (though I think he really hates those who hire them, enticing them to come), hates inspectors, hates hates hates. Who doesn't he hate? Domestic animals, farmers, small businesspeople, and people who want to buy his product.
Following his train of thought can be a bit confusing given his tangents. This book is part general rant, and part chronicle of his experiences trying to sell organic, locally raised food locally. Of trying to run a small farm with as few outside inputs as possible--fertilizer comes from his chicken truck and ponds, and so forth. Traditional, pre-industrial, heavy-workload farming. He deals with inspectors and regulations made to "protect" the consumer from "dangerous conditions" at farms and facilities. But all these regulations do is encourage big business--and big business keeps getting more breaks. Tax breaks, and the removal of innovative practices from the marketplace.
Trying to purchase organic and locally raised food myself, I know so much of this is true. But Salatin has some false assumptions: 1) that farmers are better than other people, and somehow more deserving of actual tax breaks, etc, and 2) that every small business person has integrity and doesn't want to grow into a huge $$$ business (how does he think we got to this point? Conglomerates didn't just fall from the sky--they started small!). Just last year a TV station here in LA investigated some of the licensed "local growers" at farmers' markets--and they are not local growers at all. They buy stuff at the downtown flower/veggie market early in the am and then resell. Clearly, this licensing/permitting does nothing and means nothing--it's a scam.
He also does not recognize that these problems aren't just issues for small farmers. Any person trying to start a small business may run into them--zoning or CC&Rs keeping you from working in your own home, the "need" to use an industrial kitchen for those trying to start a cooking business of any kind, insurance, and so on and so forth. These regulations have made it incredibly difficult for many people to build their dream. He does call out Republicans who claim to be for small business, but do everything they can to crush small businesses in favor of the big guys (and their lobbyists).
That said, there is a lot of food for thought in here. I agree with him that our country is a mess--rampant fear of everything is encouraged by the government to create more regulations to benefit those who already have the money and power. And the public eats it up, spending the day watching Fox "News" and getting more scared of even walking out their door.
I would truly love to hear his take on the government corn subsidies (which he touches on and thinks should be totally removed), which create so much extra virtually inedible corn, which is then turned into super-processed cheap "food", which is making Americans fat, and is being fed to poor kids around the country for free as part of the federal school lunch program. So the government is paying for that corn twice, and then a third time when those who eat it need health care under Medicare or kids' programs, or VA programs, or prescription drug programs.
*sigh*
Basically, Joel Salatin is a nut. I believe he would not necessarily argue with that. He's all over the place, hates Democrats, hates Repulicans, is a homeschooler and hates school systems, is a rabid Christian who thinks people have a responsibility to treat the Earth well (rather than use it up "because God gave it to us"),hates big business, hates environmentalists, hates illegal immigrants (though I think he really hates those who hire them, enticing them to come), hates inspectors, hates hates hates. Who doesn't he hate? Domestic animals, farmers, small businesspeople, and people who want to buy his product.
Following his train of thought can be a bit confusing given his tangents. This book is part general rant, and part chronicle of his experiences trying to sell organic, locally raised food locally. Of trying to run a small farm with as few outside inputs as possible--fertilizer comes from his chicken truck and ponds, and so forth. Traditional, pre-industrial, heavy-workload farming. He deals with inspectors and regulations made to "protect" the consumer from "dangerous conditions" at farms and facilities. But all these regulations do is encourage big business--and big business keeps getting more breaks. Tax breaks, and the removal of innovative practices from the marketplace.
Trying to purchase organic and locally raised food myself, I know so much of this is true. But Salatin has some false assumptions: 1) that farmers are better than other people, and somehow more deserving of actual tax breaks, etc, and 2) that every small business person has integrity and doesn't want to grow into a huge $$$ business (how does he think we got to this point? Conglomerates didn't just fall from the sky--they started small!). Just last year a TV station here in LA investigated some of the licensed "local growers" at farmers' markets--and they are not local growers at all. They buy stuff at the downtown flower/veggie market early in the am and then resell. Clearly, this licensing/permitting does nothing and means nothing--it's a scam.
He also does not recognize that these problems aren't just issues for small farmers. Any person trying to start a small business may run into them--zoning or CC&Rs keeping you from working in your own home, the "need" to use an industrial kitchen for those trying to start a cooking business of any kind, insurance, and so on and so forth. These regulations have made it incredibly difficult for many people to build their dream. He does call out Republicans who claim to be for small business, but do everything they can to crush small businesses in favor of the big guys (and their lobbyists).
That said, there is a lot of food for thought in here. I agree with him that our country is a mess--rampant fear of everything is encouraged by the government to create more regulations to benefit those who already have the money and power. And the public eats it up, spending the day watching Fox "News" and getting more scared of even walking out their door.
I would truly love to hear his take on the government corn subsidies (which he touches on and thinks should be totally removed), which create so much extra virtually inedible corn, which is then turned into super-processed cheap "food", which is making Americans fat, and is being fed to poor kids around the country for free as part of the federal school lunch program. So the government is paying for that corn twice, and then a third time when those who eat it need health care under Medicare or kids' programs, or VA programs, or prescription drug programs.
*sigh*
smacdonn's review
5.0
Really good book about a farmer who just wants to raise his animals and sell the meat to his community. Very interesting take on raising animal and local food. I may not agree with his politics (a bit too libertarian for me) but his thoughts on farming are awesome.