Five Important Things I Learned About Food from Joel Salatin
If you’ve seen Food, Inc., you know Joel Salatin.
He’s unforgettable. Really gives the whole documentary it’s juicy, natural flavor. He’s the farmer. You know the one I’m talking about. With the large glasses and the no-nonsense, down-home, slightly skewed sense of humor, shootin’ the breeze while the chickens go gracefully into their dark night behind him.
His mouth is the kind of mouth for which a sprig of wheat would stand in line just to get chewed on.
Not only is he outspoken for the return to more holistic, sustainable farming, but he lives it. Every day. On his own farm. He puts his money where his mouth is. I respect that.
If farming had rockstars, Joel Salatin would be the first inducted into the Hall of Fame.
In fact, my sister told me recently that Joel Salatin was her “Sting,” which I found funny, given the fact that when I saw him speak on Friday night, it appeared he was a rockstar. In a completely packed church full of foodies and farmers and real people. He smiled humbly at every standing ovation, shined even more brightly with every whoop and holler.
Quality is poopy, but Joel moves around A. LOT.
I actually found out he was speaking quite by serendipity, checking the Colorado Springs calendar of events the ONE time a year that I actually get around to it. Within seven hours of learning of his impending presence, I was IN his presence.
He’s an animated speaker, and in between schooling us on the joys of cow poop and the bleakness of eating food that’s been transported for thousands of miles, he jumped up and down, vibrated like a truck, “pushed” an imaginary scythe while explaining why wheat used to be scarce and valuable but now is oversold and overeaten.
In a nutshell: He was magnanimous.
After it was over, I had the opportunity to chat with him for a few minutes. I was so in the moment, I forgot to ask him for a picture together. But he did sign my book!
So, condensed below are practical ideas that I learned from Mr. Salatin’s lecture on Friday, as well as his answer to the question I was lucky enough to ask him personally.
Learn, dear friends, and enjoy!
Five Important Things I Learned About Food from Joel Salatin
1. If You Can Afford a Cell Phone, You Can Afford to Eat Better
I’m starting with the best story first, because it’s the one that involves me.
My question to Joel, rather generic because I had no idea how much time I’d have with him, was this, “One of the biggest issues my readers come to me with is that they cannot afford to eat better. Local, fresh, and/or organic foods are very pricey compared to the other options. What is the one piece of advice you have to offer there?”
This is where he grabbed my arm and shook me. SHOOK ME.
He said, “Whenever someone asks me this question, I take them by the arm and look them in the eyes and say, ‘Listen. Do you have a cell phone? Do you have cable? Drink beer on the weekends? I bet you do. If you can afford those things, you can afford to eat good food, real food. And if you tell me you still can’t afford it, I will tell you the issue isn’t with money. It’s with priorities.”
Priorities. That’s likely the only thing standing between you and healthier food. (And I think we’ve even talked about this here before, haven’t we?)
2. Much of Today’s “Food” Is Inedible to Even Worms
My favorite story from Joel’s lecture was about how he’d visited recently with some teachers in California who had done an experiment with their kids on the difference between real food and processed food.
In this composting experiment, they filled two bins with earthworms, dirt, and two different kinds of food: One of the bins contained things like apple cores and veggie scraps and food in its natural state. The other bin contained processed foods (think Twinkies and Twizzlers and fast food).
After two weeks, the teachers had the children go through the bins in search of the food. Nary a speck of food was found in the bin with the real food – the only thing left were worms and their casings. But in the processed food bin, every bit of food remained, whole. The worms hadn’t touched it.
As Joel asked the audience, “Do you really want to eat food that even WORMS won’t eat?”
3. “Official” Reports Are Often Wrong, If For No Other Reason Than a Narrow World View
This was touched on lightly at the lecture, but it’s important to remember. Joel discusses this extensively in his book, Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal.
Here’s a small excerpt as food for thought:
“If I could get every American who reads a government report to think first, ‘Now I wonder what these guys manipulated on this report, or what they neglected to put in it?’ before agreeing with or to anything that comes down from on high, this will be a victorious day for righteousness, indeed. One more time: I am not a conspiracy advocate. But I do believe that most experts come from the same school of thought, the same worldview, and therefore approach every problem from the same perspective. That gives consistent answers, and answers that for the most part are wrong.” – Joel Salatin, Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal, pg. 145
If you’re pro more governmental regulations in regard to food production, I HIGHLY recommend you read this book, just for an insiders look on what really happens at all levels, through the eyes of a farmer. Seriously. Stellar. (And funny.)
4. If It’s Worth Doing, It’s Worth Doing Wrong
What’s stopping you from learning how to can, or from growing your first tomato plant, or from experimenting with cooking fresh foods in new ways? Or, even, what’s stopping you from meeting and getting to know your local farmers?
Is it … by chance … a fear of the unknown? A fear of failure? A hesitancy to get dirty and mess something up?
The ONLY way you’ll ever learn, ever get anywhere in taking control of the most important aspect of your life (your health), is by being brave enough to make some mistakes in the beginning.
Ditch the excuses, get dirty, and learn something new!
5. Expect a Fight For Your Food – And Expect It Soon
This was one of the last points Joel Salatin made in his talk, and it’s worth noting for future reference – for when you begin noticing more and more headlines about the “dangers” of buying food from small, local farms.
As these farms start taking more market share from the big guys, the goliaths WILL put up a fight. They may do it with new “studies” in the news, or by lobbying for stricter and more choking regulatory standards, or even through their close ties to governmental regulatory agencies (like the raid on the California raw food store, remember that?)
Be prepared to stand up for your rights to access the food you choose to consume, and consider this point whenever a new headline regarding food production or consumption crosses your path.
In short: Stay vigilant, and stay healthy.
Further Reading
I thought you guys might like to know more after all this, so here are a few places you’ll probably want to visit:
- Localharvest.org – where you can find local farmers, CSAs, and farmer’s markets, no matter where you are in the United States
- Joel Salatin’s article on Grist in response to a New York Times article denouncing the “myth of sustainable meat” – I fortuitously read this article the day before I saw Joel speak, and it got me really pumped. Dude knows what he’s talking about.
- Heal Thyself on Facebook – I HIGHLY recommend following this group. Not a day goes by without inspiring information about eating locally, healing yourself with foods, and more.
- Polyface Farms – Joel Salatin’s farming operation, where you can read about what he does and a little about what he believes.
- Food Inc website (Take Part) – Even though you saw the movie, did you know this site is FULL of ever-expanding information on the food system and how to make more conscious eating choices? Love it.
- Joel Salatin’s Author Page on Amazon – He really advocated reading his newest book, Folks, This Ain’t Normal, when I chatted with him as a starting point for understanding where we’re at in our food system and how to be a little more close to the food we do consume. But there’s also a book on starting your own farm. Get to it! I want to eat your veggies!
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50 Responses to “Five Important Things I Learned About Food from Joel Salatin”
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Thank you for putting my main arsenal of arguments into witty and well-spoken list form. I will now share and post appropriately. This will be much more effective than growling at people when they argue with me. Thanks, Leslie!
I heart Joel Salatin! Just needed to say that!
Amazing and wonderful, as always. These are such powerful messages. I could not believe that worm experiment! (Except of course, that I could…)
I found “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing wrong” most moving though. I often think about the changes I’d like to make…the things I want to do when I have more time, more money… And this inspires me to start doing those things now.
Wow – wish I knew if he was speaking in Denver soon. Thanks for including the list of additional reading resources; very helpful!
I often get asked how we can afford to eat the way we do. I always respond with the answer “priorities”. We don’t have cable, cell phones, expensive habits, the internet bill is our only extra outside from our utilities etc. We are quite “boring” by some peoples standards, but we love our lives, are present in our lives, and EAT WELL! so we are happy happy happy. It’s all about choices.
I don’t think your boring. I think all the extras we have are spoiling the next generation. How many youngsters do you see with cell phones. They are learning how not to talk to people face to face. Our expensive habit is eating out once a week at a diner. And we are perfectly happy with that. That’s our only entertainment. We play Scrabble, Monoply etc on Saturday nite, I make a large pizza and friends bring over the extras. This is what kids remember when they get older. They might complain now but later on they will see memories. You are right its all about choices and priorities.
I have a cell, no land line not home enough for anyone to be able to reach me. i do not have cable, internet or any other extras. I still cannot afford to eat organically so it is not all where priorties are sometimes its that we just do not make enough money to eat the way we want to.
I love this! Especially the worms and twinkies. Jeeze!
I saw Joel a year or so ago, also in a church, introduced by Michael Pollan. Speaking of whom, I’d add one more book: “Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Pollan, to your reading list.
Love and light!
Hi Leslie. I, too, have a big crush on Joel Salatin. (I also have a crush on Sting, which shows that in my mind the hottest attributes are simple: smarts and the guts to try to do good in the world!) I can’t recommend his latest book, Folks, This Ain’t Normal, enough. It tells you everything you should know about our food system and it’s a very entertaining read. It’s my favorite book of 2012–as I know no others will even be in the ballpark. Salatin’s a great guy, too, he’s letting me excerpt an entire chapter of Folks in my next issue of Greenwoman. The chapter’s titled “No Compost, No Digestion” and it explains, in detail, why the worms won’t touch Twinkies.
Hey, Sandra. Thanks for the second on his latest book (I was going to buy it on Friday before the lecture, but BOTH B&Ns were sold out of it, that day … go figure!)
Everyone else, just a reminder: Sandra is the owner of Greenwoman Magazine ( http://www.greenwomanmagazine.com ) – check it out!
Its not just in the USA! here in the UK, we have the EU government body (unelected by the way) in Brussels who pass laws that require producers of food to label them with LESS information about where they are from, how they are processed etc etc. All without public debate, all without public knowledge (unless you dig) all from unelected officials. cheers, mateys.
I only recently found your site and I’ve been loving it. But THIS clinched it. I’m a true fan.
Wow, what a great post! From now on, I am totally going to use the cell phone analogy! Thank you for sharing your points with us! :-)
Love every bit!! I posted #1 as my facebook status for the day. :)
I got to go see Joel Salatin a few years ago! He is very inspiring and Very down to earth!! Watched him in both Fresh and Food Inc. He is very encouraging too!! What he repeated over and over that day was it doesn’t matter how much land you have at the moment be it 1 acre or 1000 start TODAY!….
Lucky you!!! I want to see him too!!! I love his no nonesense approach to life!!! He is a great example of simple, good living!
I am trying to increase my families use of organic food. Yes, it is more expensive, but if you buy only the amount you are going to use, then I see no change in increase of food budget. There are seven days in a week so I only buy 14 fruits, apples, bananas, pears, watermelon etc. Some stores have these fruits that are about ripe enough to eat that nite. I only buy vegetables that are on sale. If its broccoli then that what we eat that nite and so on. If chicken is on sale that week then its chicken we eat and so on. Somethimes we eat chicken more then once a week, but cooking from scratch has let me run wild with new recipes. We eat out once a week at a local greek restaurant and for the three of use its around $30.00 a week. In the summer, although we live in the city we have built a garden behind the garage. Tomatoes, beans, squash, cucumber and lettuce. My favorite planting is potatoes. I usually get around 10 pds of red potatoes and share then with my mother. If I only knew how to plant rice. We eat alot of rice. All I can say it takes practice, patience and a little more time to prepare meals, but you will find that you will be using less time the more you practice and the food tastes great.
Love the worm story. How much simpler can it get? Joel’s on a mission, and I hope he lives a long, long life and gets to keep sharing his passion.
Excellent info and stuff to think about here. Looking forward to reading more via your links too. Hubby was floored by the worm experiment when I read it to him.
We don’t have a lot to spend on food, but I refuse to buy into convenience and junk just because it’s cheap.
I love Joel Salatin, too, he’s so inspiring and smart and actually gives me hope for the future. That is something I don’t often have, haha. I never knew he had written his own books, I first found out about him through Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma. Looks like I’ve got some reading to do!
I LOVE Joel Salatin! He’s so passionate about real farming and real food. He’s also in the documentary “Fresh” –a really inspiring documentary!!!! And it’s so true–If you can afford a cell phone, you can afford healthier food! Food is one of the greatest joys of life–More so than television and other manmade time wasters.
Wow this was a most apropos post. We are trying to become more self-sufficient, just recently acquired some little chicks, have a garden started and today I made my own ricotta for the first time. I love the idea of getting back to basics and not using so many chemicals in our lives.
Hugs!Cat
How did the ricotta turn out and where did you find instructions?
http://www.tastykitchen.com has an amazing lemon ricotta recipe (with step by step instructions). But with a quick google search you can find plenty of recipes out there for ricotta.
What a wealth of information ~ thank you so much!
We had planned on going to see him ourselves but the animals are taking over! All of his books are excellent reads and packed with info for farmers and lay-folks alike. And it’s so true what you/he were saying about the big companies putting up a fight against the little guys. Vermont is just the latest state trying to have GMO foods labeled and striving for accuracy in food labels. Monsanto is threatening to sue them if they do it. Don’t even get me started on how very wrong this is! Additionally, as we try to think of new value-added products to add to our farm store, almost the first thing that comes out of our mouths is “Is it legal?” Just like Joel says in his book title, “Everything I Want to Do is Illegal”!
Eating well really is not that expensive, especially when you consider you will save money on healthcare by BEING healthy. My first recommendation is always to stop buying anything that comes in a box. Even if it is labelled organic. It is still processed if it is in a box. The easiest way to do this is not going down the aisles in the grocery store. Stick to the perimeter.
Joel is so right about the conspiracy issues. They may not be organized conspiracies, but when big ag and the chemical companies have infiltrated the regulatory agencies to the degree they have, they are regulating themselves, making policies that favor them over any competition, and deciding what the official recommendations are for how people “should” eat. Waaaay too much conflict of interest there to trust the “powers that be”.
~Ramy Jisha
Texas Daily Harvest
http://www.texasdailyharvest.com
Organic Dairy and Farm
Northeast Texas
I am SOOO jealous of you right now!! The first book I ever read about local food, farming, governmental control and the whole process was ‘Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal’ and it changed my life! Its what started me on my own REAL food journey. He is my rockstar hero! Well, him and Michael Pollan. I’m in LUV with both of them! :)
I’ve been reading your posts for some time now. Today’s was by far my favorite!!! Thank you for reminding me about Joel. I saw him in Food Inc and didn’t realize that he is an author and such an advocate for local and healthful food! I’m travelling in the US (we’re Canadian) with my hubby right now and hope to catch Joel at a speaking engagement! Wish me luck and thanks again!
Things worms don’t/can’t eat that I do: meats including seafood, citrus fruits, mayonnaise, alliums, many more. Seems a rather flawed test…
I think its more about processed vs whole foods that’s the issue with the worm test. Obviously shrimp and oranges are whole, real foods…but shrimp flavored ramen noodles and orange flavored soda aren’t. The point is to eat REAL things…not packaged, processed garbage.
OH, I LOVE that first one about if you can afford a cellphone, you can afford to eat good food. That is so true…and it really is about priorities. We don’t have a lot of money in our family…but we do hold the very strong conviction that it’s important to eat good, healthy food!!! You can’t put a price tag on health…and we definitely can’t afford hospital bills…so we do what we can on our end. we’ve cut out some unnecessary expensives to make that happen…and it’s been so worth it :) Love and hugs from the ocean shores of California, Heather :)
I love that man! In my few moments with him last spring, I BEGGED him to run for president. He’s not interested:/
I’m jealous. I live up in FC and I so wanted to go see Joel…first book I read was “Everything I want to do is illegal” and then read the others as soon as I could get them from the library. I’ll be adding them to our personal library this year. We’re getting chicks within the next week, hubby is looking into Boer goats over the next few years…and we’ll be getting a garden going this next month (although with this weird spring, I’m thinking we should already have started, but we just moved 4 weeks ago (with only 3 weeks notice) and didn’t have a house until literally the day before we were to be out.
I’ve always figured if you can afford junk food and fast food you can afford to eat healthy. Healthy food tends to be cheeper than prepackaged foods and trips through the drive through. It is often just a matter of taking time to cook.
Following the will a worm eat it rule it a good thing to follow for most foods. I also like to consider things like how much time was spent manufacturing it? If it was manufactured/man made how long before it goes bad? In that case the longer it stays ‘good’ the worse it is. I’ll eat yogurt, I’ll eat cheese but I won’t eat Kraft singles or pudding cups.
You’re right, it’s fear. Fear of failure – that’s why I haven’t planted the peas yet. Because I’m scared it won’t work. What the hell? How ridiculous. That’s it, I’m planting them this week. And I’ll even plant them in the gorgeous glazed ceramic pot that I was saving for an ornamental tree – because f*ck it – it’s a seed looking for somewhere to grow – as if it matters where!!
Thanks lovely! :-D
Loved this post! Since I started eliminating buying new plastic from my life (nod to Beth Terry here!) I noticed that the first things to go, i.e. food packaged in plastic, turned out to be the most $$ in the budget! Convenience foods, single servings, microwaveable dinners, pre-packaged meats & veggies all added cost. Now that I buy in bulk, buy only what I need at the meat counter, shop the veggie aisle carefully or go to the farmer’s market, my food budget is about half of what it was.
And how excited was I to discover that, just a few days ago, the most delicious pork chop I ever ate at a local restaurant came from, yes you guessed it, Polyface Farms! Talk about synchronicity! And there are about a dozen restaurants in my town which use meats & eggs from Polyface. Better still, the farm is just an hour down the road from me. A trip to the farm is definitely in my future.
I don’t say much, but I’m here, I support and share everything crunchy with everyone I know and I’m a Crunchy. Today I have something earth – shatteringly important to say. I received an extremely important email yesterday. It came after I had logged off for the day. It’s so important this is probably the most important bit of news you’ll hear this year. We have our chance to finally stand up and CLOSE MONSANTO’S DOORS FOREVER! We’d be foolishly stupid not to move on this. I beg, plead, implore, no COMPEL you join us and make this happen.
Donate and share this with everyone. Plaster your local hang outs with it, paper your neighborhood, email everyone in your address book, get it into the media – FaceBook, Twitter, Linkedin, actual local news channels whatever doesn’t matter just get this OUT!
You say your “crunchy” well PROVE IT! Yes prove it to them to everyone put your money where your mouth is, walk the walk talk the talk. I donated a dollar for every family member I have. I’m doing what I can where I am with what I have. Stand up and FIGHT! I DID so can you.
This is a call to arms into the biggest battle we will ever face. If we lose here we lose ALL! Who will care if we use coconut oil for deodorant, baking soda for toothpaste, and vinegar for cleaning? It WON’T matter one bit if all of our food is dangerously infected with gmos and there will be no sense in being crunchy anymore. EVER. PERIOD! That’s right it will be futile to be crunchy. it is that serious!
If we force them in Calif to print 2 labels for all products they will do one or two things; 1. The manufactors will STOP using all gmo ingredients in their products to avoid the expense of printing 2 ingredients labels – the special gmo alert for Calif and the regular one for the rest of country. 2. They will go ahead and spend their profits to print the two labels. Anyone with a head for business knows they will simply REMOVE all gmo ingredients from their products. Once this happens this means LESS business for monsanto. Less business means less profits for monsanto. Less profits means they CLOSE DOORS FOREVER. If they can’t sell it they WON’t make it! Now you see the big picture!
DO NOT stand on the sidelines leaving us brave few to fight this battle alone. It’s our battle YOUR battle we fight. 8 out of 10 legal voting residents of Calif have said NO to monsanto. Once ballot is approved they will vote to label everything that contains gmo so they know. 80% of our country said if the labels were there they too wouldn’t buy ANYTHING gmo. We’re into the tipping point now lets’ flip this thing over! The old paradigms are finally being questioned so lets’ close monsanto! Pass this in calif and it’s better than any law we could hope to get on state by state basis. Calif is the 8th largest economy. What happens there happens EVERYWHERE! WE WIN!!!!
”I can’t afford it”. Do you have a cel phone/extra car/extra home/video games/expensive habit/ect… You CAN afford it – you must! Even if you donate just ONE DOLLAR it will be a dollar going to fight against the beast known as monsanto!
Join us we are Legion and we are here to finally slay the beast named monsanto. Our lives and childrens’ lives depend on it. We are ALL in this together. We can win but we have to fight together. Lets’ be the ones that tell our childrens’ children the fairy tale how a group of brave souls stood up and slayed a mighty beast named monsanto. Make this our future reality by standing up and fighting with us today.
If not us WHO??? If not now WHEN???
You say you want change, you say you wish you could do something – NOW is your chance stand up and be the hero just say no to monsanto!
BREAKING NEWS!!!!
This is the link where you will find your battle plans. Arm yourself and CHHHAAARRRGGGEEEE!
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/05/01/monsanto-vs-gmo-labeling.aspx?e_cid=20120501_DNL_art_1
I haven’t read through the comments but these were my thoughts:
Point 1-I have a cheap cell phone with a cheap plan out of necessity (DH, kids, no home phone), I cannot afford cable and I cannot afford alcohol. So its not just priorities. I buy the food I can. I can’t afford to buy lovely organics. I just cannot do it. I buy the best that I can, though, and make as much as I can from scratch. So I guess that rubbed me the wrong way. What about us poor folk?
Point 5-Seriously saddened me, though I have to say I’m not surprised. Reminds me of the fight on midwives and homebirth.
Despite being turned off by his view on being able to afford good food, I’m going to request his book from the library. It sounds like a seriously good read, esp if his book carries the same kind of energy you describe him having in person.
I love love love love LOVE Joel Salatin! Reading Folks, This Ain’t Normal was a life changing event.
Polyface is near me. I have visited the farm just to see the baby chicks. :-) I am so very happy for the Salatins and their success. One thing Joel says over and over … and I will repeat … is we all have choices. There is likely a farm near you that farms the same way. You have to go find it. Start with a place like localharvest.org and find a few places you can patronize. Ask questions, get to know who raises your food. If it isn’t raised, it isn’t food.
But I’m still holding out for an oreo farm and a tequila tree. I’ll find one.
Just loved your article on Joe and his way of life. Can’t help but get inspired when I read articles like this. Love my organic garden and all of those worms too. Keep telling people Crunchy!
I have been unemployed for a year and a half. It hasn’t been easy. We’ve cut our costs down to the bare bones. No cable, no cell phones, no new/used clothes, no health insurance, etc. We finally applied for food stamps and got them. It was the happiest day of my life, because I could finally buy good food. We don’t buy a lot of meat, but when we do it is organic. We can’t buy a lot of organic, but I do where it counts and read the labels. I also shop at Farmer’s Markets. I may not have much money, but I do have a voice when I purchase my food.
Thank you for this summary. Loved the bit about the worms. We have chickens who are extremely omnivorous, but who won’t, apparently, eat marshmallows.
I <3 this post! I always wondered about the people that say they can't afford organic, sustainable or even real food. I don't think that income doesn't contribute as a factor to that, but I really wonder.
I would ask: Did you try everything? Did they really give farmer's markets a try and fully research the options they have there? Do they grow their own produce (which is really easy to grow organic)? Did they go to supermarkets, co-ops, local stores and check out the sales, bulk offers, even stuff that you can get for free? Even some food banks have organic and whole food occasional, did they try looking there for options? Did you try a bartering system, where you can trade time, volunteering etc. to people, farms and non-profits in exchange for sustainable food? Do they know someone that can fish (this can be a good option for fresh, sustainable and even affordable seafood depending on where you are)? Do they know people that have gardens? Do you have friends/neighbors/anyone that has fruit trees? Do you know that you don't have to have everything organic all the time?
I think there are several factors that go into why someone thinks they can't afford real wholesome food. There are things like income, location (food deserts can be really harsh), priorities and even just ignorance (considering how we've grown up in a fast food, convenience and quantity-over-quality food culture, that's understandable). There are other things to consider because at the supermarket, you may think you are getting a good deal on packaged food and even produce, but to me, it's been a popular myth; I have been to farmers markets around me and from I can see, taste and bought with my minimum wage income that I practically got jipped in quality and quantity at the supermarket, especially when it came to produce.
Just came across this and I wanted to comment…although I realize I’m behind. I totally believe in this. I saw Food, Inc. and I have to say – I’ve been saying we need to eat our food the way God made it for a long long time. I believe that 100%. I’ve never been one to buy pre-packaged foods in any form so that’s a non-issue for us. I’ve always stayed to the outside edges of the grocery stores. (Veggies, fruits, meats, dairy) But I also believe that our meats (and our gmo veggies, fruits, and grains also) are killing us as they are now in the commercial food industry. We have been working towards eating non-gmo for a while in our home. For us it is a slow process but I really want to be rid of all the hormone injected meats.
Problem is, right now, we can’t afford that. And no, we don’t have cell phones, we don’t have cable, and we don’t drink beer (or liquor or wine for that matter). In fact, the only bills we have are the mortgage (for our small 1000 sq ft house), electric, water, and car insurance for our 1 car and that’s only in the form of the minimum as required by the state we live in. I also have the bare minimum amount of clothing I can survive with. I do spend money on educating my children – I’m a homeschooling mom – but not so much that it would feed us non-gmo or non-hormone injected meat if we saved that money.
This year I planted my first garden (all heirloom) and I’m absurdly excited about it! I have no idea what I’m doing but I’m reading everything I can find and I’m learning as I go.
So, anyways, I love this post and intend to continue checking out your blog. I’m totally with you. But I had to comment because although I know without a doubt we are the exception, not everyone can truly afford to eat like this. In my area, for example, a free range chicken, after having researched everything around me and comparing prices, goes for a minimum of $20. For one chicken. Right now, there is no way I can pay $20 for one chicken. But, I do try to minimize the amount of meat we eat by cooking non-meat meals 4 to 5 times a week. (I don’t call them vegetarian meals because although they are, we’re not vegetarians and don’t intend to become vegetarian. Note: We have no issues with vegetarians.)
I had to throw my 2 cents in. We are a very low income family of 7. We still eat healthy foods even though we can’t afford health insurance right now. We saw Joel in Fresh and Food Inc too and knew that raising chix his way was the only way we could afford clean meat. It is SOOO easy, y’all! We have 2 pens, meat birds and layers, that we move twice every day. Hubby built them out of scrap pallets and some hardware cloth he bought. We live on 1 acre, but have had 25 meat birds on a 1/4 acre lot before. I understand there are codes and not everyone can do this, but thankfully, even though we lived in the city we could. I shop the famers market every week to get the best deals on fresh local veggies and fruits and I buy in bulk the grains (I grind myself) and other staples we eat to save as much money as I can. For our family we pay around $450 a month for groceries. BTW, chix don’t have to eat expensive feed…we found out that fresh grass and leftovers/scraps get eaten quickly by our ladies :)
Karsten
G’day Leslie, I’m a new ‘Crunchy’ and am loving your site. You have got me enthused to get back into making my own cosmetics and who knows what else. The more I read the more I love it.
Quite a few years ago my sisters did an experiment with a hamburger from a very well known Mc-burger chain (not mentioning any names of course). They put it in a jar and kept it for 2 years…yes, 2 years and it didn’t change apart from the lettuce, no mould, no nothing. Even sweating in the jar didn’t change it. What on earth was in it?? It made me reassess my eating habits and I have NEVER eaten anything like that since. I cook from scratch and we eat very well. It can be a bit of a chore sometimes but when that happens I defrost a ‘freezer-surprise’ meal which is something I’ve prepared and frozen. I support our local farmers when possible but that gets difficult when the big supermarket chains are gobbling up our local butchers, greengrocers and bakeries. And I get SOOO cross when I want to buy a favourite brand and find it has been removed and replaced with a ‘home brand’ ARGH! If I had the space I’d grow my own meat but am lucky to have a few friends who have lambs and beef cattle. I’m trying to keept the possums (Australia) off my vegie garden so I can be a little more self-sufficient (someone told me to errect an electric fence, husband is an electrician and he’s working on it!). I don’t mind sharing my vegies but they eat more than their share!
I read somewhere that if our grandmothers were alive and went to our supermarkets they wouldn’t recognise most of the food. We eat so much crap nowdays. Like some readers comments here I avoid the middle aisles as much as possible and always keep in mind ‘would Nan recognise this food?’ Asking myself that question always turns me back to my cookbooks.
Just as an aside, most of us who use cotton buds (I think you call then Q-tips in the USA) would remember not so long ago the cardboard stick was replaced with a bendy plastic one. I was annoyed but hey, such a trivial thing right? Well, a few months ago Swisspers brought out a cotton bud labelled as ‘organic’ with a carboard stick. Yay! A robust cardboard stick again! Well, my euphoria was short-lived because when I went back to buy another pack a few months later they weren’t available despite me looking in several large supermarkets and small chemists (drug stores?). So I emailed the company asking if this was a supermarket plot to take over the world etc by removing well-known brands and replacing them with home brands and they replied “yes”. OMG!
I’m going to buy Joe Salatin’s book.
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