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Folks, This Ain't Normal: A Farmer's Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World

Joel Salatin

4.17 · Rating details · 3,437 ratings · 430 reviews

From farmer Joel Salatin's point of view, life in the 21st century just ain't normal. In FOLKS, THIS AIN'T NORMAL, he discusses how far removed we are from the simple, sustainable joy that comes from living close to the land and the people we love. Salatin has many thoughts on what normal is and shares practical and philosophical ideas for changing our lives in small ways ...more

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Hardcover, 384 pages

Published October 10th 2011 by Center Street (first published January 1st 2011)

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Oct 26, 2011 Erica rated it it was ok

Shelves: animals, gardening, food, survival, non-fiction

I'm about 1/3 the way into this book (I've had to return it because there are other people on hold for it) and I find Mr. Salatin to be something of a hypocrite. The funny thing is that I generally agree with many of his over-arching ideas, but the guy just comes across as a major jerk and I have a hard time taking him seriously. He's got some good points and some great ideas but he delivers them like a crusty old man, cane in the air, yelling, "Back in MY day, you whippersnappers wouldn't have I'm about 1/3 the way into this book (I've had to return it because there are other people on hold for it) and I find Mr. Salatin to be something of a hypocrite. The funny thing is that I generally agree with many of his over-arching ideas, but the guy just comes across as a major jerk and I have a hard time taking him seriously. He's got some good points and some great ideas but he delivers them like a crusty old man, cane in the air, yelling, "Back in MY day, you whippersnappers wouldn't have survived ten minutes and because of that, the world is falling apart."
He seems defensive about so many things that I don't find enjoyment in his thoughts on working in harmony with the land. His story is similar to Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life but while I found hers to be inspiring, enlightening, funny, and generally uplifting, I find his to be preachy, attempting to induce guilt, self-righteous, and pretentious.
I know he said he loves debate and maybe he feels that's what gives him license to foist his opinions upon his audience in an aggressive and sometimes unpleasant fashion. Maybe that's what lets him judge others in the exact same way he hates being judged. Maybe that's what allows him to label me, a tattooed and pierced video-game player, as "aberrant", though I also grow my own garlic, have butchered chickens, and gather/chop firewood every summer. It just seems to me that someone who lauds the concept of balance - with the land, on the farm, in life - cannot seem to understand the idea of balance among society. Not all of us can or want to be farmers. It's ok to be an accountant. It's ok to be a surfer. It's ok to be a video game developer. All these people make our society a much more rich place than it would be were we all farmers.
I think he's absolutely right: people should be more aware of how the earth works but I think he could probably probably learn some lessons as to how the world works.
I plan to finish reading the book, as pugnacious as I am finding the author. I have learned two things, so far (the various names for bovine and the existence of Small Plot Intensive Farming, something I plan to look into), and any book that teaches me stuff, regardless of my opinion of the author, deserves to be finished.

UPDATE: It took a long, long time, but I (grudgingly) finished this book. I got a lot out of it but this guy seriously irritates me so it was hard to separate the wheat from the chaff, which is something he explains in one of the chapters so look at me being all relevant and cutesy at the same time.

I would have liked bibliographical references. I can go through the effort of fact-checking his information but I would have liked to have had a list of resources as a starting point, were I to be so ambitious. As I've mentioned in other reviews, it is difficult to take someone seriously when they spout facts and don't offer backup. To me, that means the person's facts can only be regarded as opinion.

Some of my takeaways:
-I need to be better about personal water conservation. I'm in Colorado and he mentions that keeping rain barrels is illegal. However, I've come across some conflicting information, so now this is a point I will need to research. If I truly can keep rain barrels now, I will definitely begin to do so.
-I can feel pretty good about my own, personal efforts to live responsibly. I do compost, I garden, my husband makes our bread (we still buy flour, but we try to buy healthy flour), I buy local when possible, and we try to support our community as much as possible.
-I don't want to be a farmer. While the idea is charming and wonderful, the reality is a bit much for me. I like to solve problems, but I'm not great at logistics and running a household taxes my limited capabilities, as it is. I couldn't do a whole farm. However, I have even greater appreciation for the traditional farms in my area.
-I'm fairly proud of my early education. One of the things Salatin harped on in a chapter is how farmers are looked down-upon and no one would ever think of farming as a career opportunity. As I was growing up, farming was always shown to be a viable occupation. In my community, farmers are another type of civil servant. They may not be governmental entities, but they exist for the betterment of the community, much like teachers, firefighters, police officers, librarians (what a shameless self-plug, right??) and everyone else who works to help their neighbors and knows they won't be paid much to do so. Maybe that's why there were so many kids in 4-H when I was in school; farming was never seen as a hick thing to do. It was actual career option and was taken seriously.

Mostly, though, I just want to shove Mr. Salatin into a pile of his own pig manure and tell him that if he wants to get his message across, he might try being less of a sarcastic bully and instead think about being more welcoming to people who might be interested in changing the way they live but don't know how to go about doing so.

I would definitely recommend Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life over this book. Thank goodness Salatin also recognizes the power of Kingsolver's work; I'd have had to truly ignore him, otherwise. ...more

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May 29, 2015 Tara rated it it was amazing

If I had read this ten years ago I would of been tearing my hair out, given it 3 stars, and written a long, obnoxious review about how of course he's right about some things --but-- if he would only open his eyes and accept that if we got real reform and the right laws passed and cleaned up our institutions everything would be fixed!!

On this day though, after reading many off-the-beaten-path books through many years, after many afternoons sitting in inner-cities with foster kids thinking about t If I had read this ten years ago I would of been tearing my hair out, given it 3 stars, and written a long, obnoxious review about how of course he's right about some things --but-- if he would only open his eyes and accept that if we got real reform and the right laws passed and cleaned up our institutions everything would be fixed!!

On this day though, after reading many off-the-beaten-path books through many years, after many afternoons sitting in inner-cities with foster kids thinking about the welfare state, after many days standing in someone else's kitchen thinking about outsourcing work and industrialization and modernity, many years having listened to office-resident peers treat my caregiving jobs as "not real" work done by failures and being fascinated by the grotesque elitism and disconnect, after pondering the prescriptions offered by a for-profit world, dreamless of anything except quantity; well, on this day, I say: there were less than half-a-dozen paragraphs/sentiments I disagreed with.

And he earned those disagreements, even those very few slippery connections and rants which burst forth from him; him, a man profoundly horrified the cycle of misery, abuse, and degradation created by our elites in their quest for power.

I'm bemused by the reviews which fault him for daring to connect video-game culture, travel-addicted culture, or work-outside-the-home culture to the destruction of the earth. We all have our little idols and pleasures of course. But coltan mining, resource extraction, the psychological misery which makes people dependent on the pharmaceutical industry (not to mention the video-game and medical industries horrific pollution); well, read a little bit about those things and then go ahead and fault Salatin for seeing the bigger picture. I accept that my laptop and my record player and my thousands of printed books are dependent upon an infrastructure which should never of existed. I'm willing to lose them to create a healthier world, a world which I think offers its own gifts that we've just lost the sensory and emotional ability to appreciate. It's great you have chickens in the backyard, but is gaming so precious you're willing to wreck the Congo for it? Willing to set up the trash heaps in Ghana? At what point do we accept limits for ourselves, for our wants and dreams, and not just cast stones at the corporations who have simply, so often, given us the bread and circuses we demanded?

I have profound respect for Salatin. For that reason, I think part of the ending of the book is worth quoting, and worth keeping in mind by our yuppies, technocrats, pro-future-anything, pro-science-can-do-no-wrong-even-though-I-never-ask-whose-science-whose-rationality-whose-bias. Here they are:

"Long after we've experimented with the final bizarre thing to feed cows, they will still do best eating grass. After we've exhausted the drugs, vaccines, and transgenic modification, our animals will still want to express their distinctives, live in historically normal habitats, and fill their traditional role.
"Long after the final i-gadget has been discovered, we'll still yearn for hugs, kisses, and personal conversations. When we've traveled to the last exotic place and finished participating in the last recreational or entertainment venue on our list, we will want a haven and we will call it home.
"...I'm surrounded by loving family - multiple generations. I'm surrounded by enthusiastic young people. I'm surrounded by land that I've watched heal over these last fifty years, from a worn-out, gullied mess to verdant pastures supporting poultry, cows, pigs, and rabbits. The intensity of my feelings springs from the intimacy of my knowledge of this place, its surroundings, the weather patterns, the seasons. I believe this is historically normal, and I covet that for others. Now go be a normal person."
...more

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Oct 29, 2011 Melissa rated it liked it

Shelves: what-the-fuck-are-we-even-doing

Joel Salatin can be a little too folksy at times. I have a feeling that if he & I were to sit down & talk politics, we might shortly start shouting at each other. He tends to over generalize about people whose views he dislikes; for example, it's an awfully big leap to assume that a woman who complains to her HOA about a neighbor's tomato plant is also a Democrat. This does not make him even one iota wrong about the state of food in this country, however. There is information within this book th ...more

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Aug 23, 2012 Wendy rated it liked it

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 168 "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 al ...more

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Feb 01, 2012 Tuck rated it really liked it

Shelves: ill, wine-and-food

Joe salatin has become famous over the decades as a Virginia farmer who uses older folkways of farming to successfully have a modern and profitable farm. So he does not use any chemicals or pharmaceuticals in his rather large livestock operation , but rather composted fertilizers, and symbiotic animal living for soil and animal health respectively. And has been wildly successful, from about 100 acres of arable (and 400 of woods/forest) he and his family have taken a highly eroded and worn out fa ...more

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Jun 10, 2014 Ken rated it really liked it

Shelves: finished-in-2014, food

This is The Omnivore's Dilemma with a teaspoon of local yokel and a tablespoon of political swagger. Author Joel Salatin is a proud foodie libertarian, and if you sense an oxymoron in that pairing, you'll need to read his no-nonsense book to get the lowdown.

Yep. Joel wants to kick some ass. Mostly big government ass. Strangely enough, he finds himself allied with all the liberal Democrat foodies when it comes down to what we should be eating. It's the government that drives him mad. The "food p This is The Omnivore's Dilemma with a teaspoon of local yokel and a tablespoon of political swagger. Author Joel Salatin is a proud foodie libertarian, and if you sense an oxymoron in that pairing, you'll need to read his no-nonsense book to get the lowdown.

Yep. Joel wants to kick some ass. Mostly big government ass. Strangely enough, he finds himself allied with all the liberal Democrat foodies when it comes down to what we should be eating. It's the government that drives him mad. The "food police," as he calls them, who hide under the auspices of letters like FDA and USDA and FSIS and do their best to put little guys (read: your local farmer) out of business with onerous regulations and expensive licenses that only the big boys (Monsanto, Cargill, Tyson, et al) can afford.

How convenient. The very Big Food players who rotate employees and lawyers with the U.S. government in the name of protecting us. As Joel says repeatedly in this book: "Folks, this ain't normal."

Salatin is not only a farmer, he's a scientist who's done his homework on health, nutrition, and agriculture. As he points out, there are scientists and there are scientists. When the government lays out food rules in favor of Big Food, they always do it "in the name of science," but it's the same science that advocates genetic modification of food, irradiation of food, wholesale use of pesticides, herbicides, and gassing, cloning, additives, mass vaccinations and antibiotics, CAFOs, etc.

Right. Science in Big Food's back pocket. Scientists and lawyers who supposedly know more about food than your local farmer does. "Folks, this ain't normal."

And if you think having a Democrat in the White House whose wife is into health, nutrition, and gardening is of some comfort, think again. Salatin writes: "President Obama named Michael Taylor, the longtime Monsanto attorney who shepherded transgenic modification into the world, as his food czar. Taylor will be officially interpreting what the Food Modernization Act's demand for 'science-based' food requirements means. This phrase, brand-new in history, is used eleven times in the final law. Whose science will it be?"

In a word: Monsanto's. Oh. And President Obama's, whose selection for Sec. of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, is also in bed with Big Food and their bankrolled "scientists."

More vintage Salatin:

"Food safety is completely subjective. I don't think for a minute that most of what's in the supermarket is safe. But it's been deemed safe because it only kills you slowly. While thousands of people die due to unnatural food and nutrient-deprived food, the food police go after a cottage-industry cheesemaker because two people get diarrhea."

The chapters is this book run the gamut, from dissertations on composting toilets to down-and-dirty agronomy lessons to, yes, even Obamacare (stretching it, but it came with his Libertarian rant), so clearly you may enjoy some parts more than others. Still, Salatin's is an interesting voice. And an informative one. And certainly a lively one.

I may not agree with 100% of what Joel Salatin writes, but I agree with the vast majority, right down to the fact that libertarians and foodies make strange bedfellows who might just find good reason (before it's too late) join forces and defeat the well-heeled and entrenched dragons that besiege us from Washington.

If you care about food, you should give it a read. ...more

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Feb 23, 2018 Julie rated it it was ok

Shelves: 21st-century, american, non-fiction

A definite meh. I was looking for more down-to-earth validation than preachy libertarianism.

What I heard: blah blah blah blah blah.

Not that I don't agree with some of his practices and suggestions, as those who are truly aligned with the land would hear, but I was drowning in full-throated white noise because of an inherent arrogance that runs like a spine throughout the book. I found this book as annoying as Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, which I reviewed here.

A ...more

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Dec 26, 2011 Michael rated it it was amazing

Shelves: nonfiction, where-it-all-went-wrong, life-lessons, green

I'm a big fan of Joel Salatin. I first came across him in the excellent documentary Food, Inc., then read more about his Polyface farm in The Omnivore's Dilemma. He's written several books; Folks, This Ain't Normal is his newest, and the only one I've read so far. I'll write my review in two sections, because I had two strong reactions to the book.

First, Joel Salatin makes farming seem like the most interesting thing in the world. His farm (and I am simplifying here) takes sunlight, turns it int I'm a big fan of Joel Salatin. I first came across him in the excellent documentary Food, Inc., then read more about his Polyface farm in The Omnivore's Dilemma. He's written several books; Folks, This Ain't Normal is his newest, and the only one I've read so far. I'll write my review in two sections, because I had two strong reactions to the book.

First, Joel Salatin makes farming seem like the most interesting thing in the world. His farm (and I am simplifying here) takes sunlight, turns it into grass that's eaten by cows who produce protein via milk and meat. His chickens eat the bugs out of the cow poop, and produce eggs. Pigs trample the cow poop mixed in with hay to create compost, which is used on the grass. Salatin has essentially created a closed system of food production that runs on sunlight, uses no drugs or chemicals, and creates incredibly healthy food. His work is both simple and profound. So as a book about the workings of Polyface Farm, this is great. I learned a ton about artisanal and heritage foods, as well as how difficult it is for small farmers and producers to get their products to market. Also, Salatin does a wonderful job demolishing the moral vanity of the "we're vegetarians/we only shop at Whole Foods/We only buy organic" crowd by describing the true costs associated with these choices. Bravo (and this is coming from a guy who probably fits into that particular group!)

Which brings me to my second reaction. Reading about the governmental regulations farmers like Salatin face makes me want to join a militia and revolt. The confluence between Big Ag, Big Pharma, and Big Government is staggering. The USDA essentially works for Monsanto, Tyson, and other massive business interests who use lobbyists to create a business climate that is deeply inimical to the needs of small farmers. It's no wonder people don't farm anymore: they, quite literally, are regulated out of business. The inconsistencies, contradictions, and ham-handedness of the government is remarkable. I found myself becoming quite angry as I read. Quite angry.

Another, related, part of the book that was disturbing was Salatin's discussion of the inheritance tax. Basically, if farmland is rezoned by some bureaucrat as commercial land, or as agricultural land (which is what it is, of course, but bear with me) instead of regular old land, the price of the land increases dramatically. Not only does this cause small farmers to face huge tax bills, but it makes farms--land rich, money poor--eligible for the inheritance tax. So imagine a situation where your parents buy five acres of land for $10,000 in the 1940s. Nothing special about it; just land. Some zipper head in the county offices decides that your parent's land is now commercial land, and it's worth $1,000,000 fifty years later. Sure, your parents could sell the land and make a tidy profit, but if they want you to inherit the land and continue farming...you need to come up some some ridiculous amount of money to pay the inheritance tax. Same land. Same farm. Big chunk to Uncle Sam to 'spread the wealth around' as a famous Marxist recently put it. Just reading about this made me want to take up arms.

This is an excellent and informative book about how food is produced (and not produced) in America. It is also an eye-opener with regard to how much control the government and big business want to have over what we eat. Each day that goes by makes me want to move far away from people and go live in the woods of Maine. Each day I realize how much freedom we have ceded to Washington in the name of things like security and equity. This book has certainly added fuel to that particular fire. ...more

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Jul 19, 2012 Natalie rated it really liked it

Shelves: food-politics

As someone who lived in South America once upon a time, who saw what life is like when food is LOCAL (little shops on every corner, people who rode big huge tricycles through the streets selling rabbit, milk, open air "ferias"/farmer's markets, etc.) and loved every minute of it, this book resonated with me.

Did you know that before 1946 there were no supermarkets? Well, that's what Joel Salatin says. I have yet to fact check it (and I need to feed my kids breakfast, so I can't right now, sorry). ...more

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Nov 07, 2011 Cathy rated it it was amazing

This was a very interesting book. How is life different than it was a scant 80 to 100 years ago? Dramatically. People - particularly American people - are for the most part completely disconnected to their basic needs. Food, water, energy, heat -- all essential for life, are provided to us by some process we mostly don't understand. If we suddenly found ourselves without them, or the means to procure them, we would all literally die for lack of knowing how to get them ourselves. In a word, we ar ...more

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Jun 29, 2013 Mike Moskos rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, 2013-read, audible-com

You'd have to read whole lot of books to get the volume of information Joel packs into this book--I know, I think I've read most of them. Get past what so many other reviewers' described as his rant, and you'll see he's years ahead of many other writers (including the eloquent Michael Pollan who is about 5 years behind Joel's thought, but is nonetheless an incredible read). No surprise of course, Joel and his family have been living this way for a long time. Like Will Allen, his farming practice ...more

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Sep 08, 2013 Shiya rated it it was amazing

This was a fabulous book, though I have mixed emotions about some of the topics covered. I came across Salatin's work by way of a TED Talk given by Michael Pollan (author of "In Defense of Food"). Salatin is a permaculture (worth looking up on Wikipedia) farmer of Polyface Farm in Virginia. He has come up against numerous roadblocks to what he terms more normal ways of living, eating, and producing food. He provides a comparison of how current North Americans generally think of food, water, ener ...more

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May 31, 2014 Yblees rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction

Mr Salatin has developed some excellent methods for sustainable farming, most of which is so scalable, I'm able to make use of his ideas in my own back yard to keep 2 (yes, just two) urban hens happy. An excellent, entertaining read about thinking outside the box.

Somebody should probably tell him the installation of rainwater tanks in Australian urban areas only started in the last few years,and is by no means widespread in every city. As recently as 13 years ago, it was difficult even to inst ...more

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Oct 19, 2011 Meg rated it it was ok

Shelves: half-read-or-hibernating

This just feels like the wrong book at the wrong time. If you want to be lectured at for 300-some 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 ...more

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Feb 28, 2012 Naftoli rated it it was amazing

Shelves: farm, 2012, truth

As well as an informational book about agriculture both large & small and nutrition, it is also a call to action. Many themes are embedded in this book not the least of which is 'how do we take back our autonomy from the government that purports to know what we should eat?'

This books educates and challenges. Joel Salatin has a sharp wit and an even sharper tongue; he does not hold back. This is not a book for the person who likes the status quo; this is a book for one who wants to know what is ...more

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Jun 22, 2016 Karlyne Landrum rated it it was amazing

I'm about 5 years behind on my book reviews, but I just couldn't let this one pass without giving it five stars and a few words. I hate to say that any book is "important", because it just sounds so la-di-da pretentious, but the truth is that, whether he meant to or not, Salatin has written a book that explains what's going on in our American psyche - a vague uneasiness, a feeling of perplexity, of anxiety about how we live. We yell for "change" because we know something's wrong, but - what if w ...more

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May 04, 2012 Catherine rated it it was ok

I'm completely onboard with the premise that as a society we are too removed from the process of growing, raising and producing food. The work that it takes to prepare and plant and the time and care to raise healthy animals, most people have no experience. I miss planting and canning and talking about planting. I digress. I just didn't appreciate the preachy tone.

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Jun 02, 2013 Holly rated it it was amazing

This should be a must read for everyone who eats! ;) First time I read it, but this time I listened on audio book, which was even better! It is read by the author which really added to the experience.

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Jan 17, 2015 Ginnette rated it did not like it

Joel Salatin is such an insufferable ass that I couldn't make it past page 50 of his book - which is a shame because I think he's probably right about how he does agriculture.

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Aug 26, 2017 Melyssa Williams added it

Shelves: unfinished

I was excited to read this, but my excitement quickly faded. In all honesty, it was too horribly depressing to finish. If I had a do-over button, I'd go back and live the way Salatin wants me to, and the way I've always wanted to, but instead I have sugar-addicted, technology addicted, children, who rarely do chores, and oh - I can't grow a damn thing. Even my windowboxes die a sad death. I bought the same starter cabbage plants my neighbor did (we literally got them at the same farm): her's spr ...more

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Mar 11, 2019 Christina Ridgeway rated it it was amazing

It took me a long time to finish this book but it was worth it! As previous reviewers may have pointed out, Joel is Christian and not afraid to pepper his work with his beliefs- looking past that to the meat of the book though there is a wealth of information everybody in western society should be learning, especially in regards to the food industry.
As a person who finds "getting back to basics" even with a tiny garden, important and healthy (for mind and spirit) this book shed light on things ...more

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Jun 30, 2018 jb Byrkit rated it really liked it

Very informative book on food and government.

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May 14, 2012 Jessica rated it it was amazing

Shelves: farming, 5-star, top-10-of-2012

I already loved Joel Salatin before I read this book, but now he's my absolute hero! If you know who I'm talking about you've probably read The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollen and/or seen the documentary Food, Inc. and if you don't know who Joel Salatin is you ought to because he is single-handedly changing the food and farming world for the better. In Folks, This Ain't Normal Salatin expounds on everything related to food and farming in our society today and how far away from normal we rea ...more

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Jun 09, 2013 Brian Burt rated it really liked it

I was fortunate enough to see Mr. Salatin speak during his book tour, and he was engaging, funny, and passionate. I came away from that presentation convinced that he has crucial insights into where we've gone wrong in favoring the industrial over the local, especially with regard to food. The book definitely adds weight to the arguments he put forth during his speaking engagement.

This book did surprise me in some ways. It's more overtly political than I expected, and the tone is a bit curmudgeo I was fortunate enough to see Mr. Salatin speak during his book tour, and he was engaging, funny, and passionate. I came away from that presentation convinced that he has crucial insights into where we've gone wrong in favoring the industrial over the local, especially with regard to food. The book definitely adds weight to the arguments he put forth during his speaking engagement.

This book did surprise me in some ways. It's more overtly political than I expected, and the tone is a bit curmudgeonly. It's funny, and satirical, but at times it reminded me of that grumpy old guy with the house on the corner who's always yelling at the kids to stay off of his lawn. ;-)

The points about the benefits of traditional (a.k.a., "normal") local food systems vs. the modern ("abnormal") industrial food systems certainly convinced me. What I honestly did not realize was how profoundly government agencies / oversight ("the food police") - and the lobbying of well-intentioned but naive environmentalists (myself included, I'm afraid) - have crippled the efforts of local producers like Salatin and like-minded independent farmers. Salatin rails against the USDA, the FDA, the FSIS, the IRS, and other federal bureaucracies that have made his life (and livelihood) a living hell over the years.

Salatin points out that the federal regulatory regimes supposedly intended to ensure food safety (and generally supported by "greenies") are in actuality tools of the very industrial producers they're ostensibly designed to check. In his experience, the mega-sized agribusinesses and their lobbyists cozy up to legislators to make certain that the new regs favor their "mass-production" model while shutting out innovation from smaller local producers. The costs of compliance are manageable for a huge operation but are utterly prohibitive for small-scale operations like Polyface Farms. Often, well-meaning environmentalists who believe "the agribusinesses can't be trusted" become unwitting co-conspirators by supporting these heavyweight regulations to the detriment of the small farmers they ultimately want to help.

Salatin's libertarian streak is evident throughout the book as he rants against the IRS, the nanny state, and federal oversight in general, bemoaning the loss of personal responsibility. He also ridicules the "connected world," the willingness of most of America to suckle on celebrity gossip and reality TV, and the plague of kids playing XBox instead of doing home & garden chores. I see a lot of truth in what he has to say, but (as an info technology pro for my day job) I struggled with the extreme positions he sometimes takes. No TV in the house? If the Salatins have made that work for decades, that's awesome, but I don't think it's a terribly practical admonition for most of America.

Overall, this was an entertaining and educational read. Similarly to Bill McKibben's advice in "Eaarth," Salatin believes decentralizing and reducing regulation (and federal government intervention in general) are our best shots at restoring some semblance of normality to our lives. He makes a strong case on many fronts. When I look at the complete ineptitude in the U.S. Congress these days, a major downsizing (and corresponding reduction in federal taxes) makes a lot of sense. Hey, Washington, D.C., let us eat what we want - we don't need your approval to know it's healthy! And it doesn't have to be bathed in chlorine or irradiated to make it safe to eat if it's grown in a clean environment to begin with!!!
...more

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May 07, 2015 Leah Markum rated it really liked it

Shelves: owned-shelves, applied-sciences, 2015-reads, state-and-province-challenge

Caution: this book is a thought-provoker. If you are not intellectually qualified to discern fact from philosophy and integrate that information into your brain without barfing it out because it challenges conceptions made from incomplete knowledge or pre-existing philosophical leanings, you will likely flounder in this book.

The short of it: this is the story of a small-time, 100% locally based farmer. He gives examples and philosophies from those examples on the hows and whys of modern agricult Caution: this book is a thought-provoker. If you are not intellectually qualified to discern fact from philosophy and integrate that information into your brain without barfing it out because it challenges conceptions made from incomplete knowledge or pre-existing philosophical leanings, you will likely flounder in this book.

The short of it: this is the story of a small-time, 100% locally based farmer. He gives examples and philosophies from those examples on the hows and whys of modern agriculture--an unhealthy industrial paradigm--and the hows and whys of traditional agriculture--a better capacity for a healthy industrial paradigm. This is not a stereotypical food book of a hippie broadcasting his or her ideals. Joel Salatin does make philosophical statements as he does not take an academic approach to this book (though he does include some statistics), but he grounds the book by his experiences trying to compete in an industry essentially reserved for big companies and his, frankly, ingenious yet pragmatic alternatives.

The long of it: This book has had some negative reviews. There is a reason for this, and you'll see it in personal interactions if you're the sort to ask questions and speculate: most people don't like it when you step on their toes. Most people like things simple. They like to not have to think about non-leisurely things. They don't like to be told to take a step back and ask questions. They don't like to consider something that they took for granted.

Joel Salatin likes to step on toes. He doesn't write with a "my way or the highway" attitude, but he does expect those who pick up the book to contemplate the things we prefer to let others--even strangers--think about and act upon. It's okay. It's a book. It can't kill you. We can only learn if we challenge our existing ideas. There is no requirement to agree with him, but there is a requirement to see things from a different perspective.

Joel Salatin is an old-fashioned farmer: he has poultry, swine, and bovine commercial livestock and grows his own self-sustaining crop garden. Save for the egg mobiles the chickens live in at night, these animals are free ranging. Three-quarters of his property is forest. He and another farmer run a local abattoir (meat-processing facility).

He expresses non-agriculture-related philosophies built from the life he has lived at times that will irk the average reader. (We all have perspective limitations, and his include assuming that all video games are bad and science destroys spirituality, yet simultaneously and he respects what science is capable of as long as it's not tainted by economic influence.)

At such times I wanted to rate this book a two or a three. However, rest assured this man has the inside story on the hows and whys of the small-time farmer failing in our modern culture and how we can be far more ecologically and economically more responsible. His insights are no-nonsense and his "alternative" ideas are so common sense you want to cry for the human stupidity (or laziness) that led our society to live in a non-responsible manner. This information is so valuable I wish everyone, consumers and workers in the industry, would read and openly consider. If anything, the advice in this book is built on experience, not the hippie idealism that most books in this genre follow without considering the pros and cons of their philosophy and others. ...more

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Oct 27, 2013 Nancy McKibben rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: readers interested in sustainable agriculture, food, Big Agriculture, and what we can do about it

Shelves: reviewed, food-and-cooking, non-fiction

Folks, This Ain’t Normal
By Joel Salatin

Despite the folksy title, this book is a manifesto written by a farmer who takes the scholarship of agriculture to places that I hadn’t expected it to go. Clearly there is much more to farming than the little we city folk know of it, and Salatin, both erudite and down-to-earth, is just the man to set us straight, which he does not hesitate to do.

The book’s title is its theme: the way we live on earth is not historically, traditionally, or culturally normal. Folks, This Ain’t Normal
By Joel Salatin

Despite the folksy title, this book is a manifesto written by a farmer who takes the scholarship of agriculture to places that I hadn’t expected it to go. Clearly there is much more to farming than the little we city folk know of it, and Salatin, both erudite and down-to-earth, is just the man to set us straight, which he does not hesitate to do.

The book’s title is its theme: the way we live on earth is not historically, traditionally, or culturally normal. Salatin has impeccable credentials as the foreword points out:

Personally, I have long thought that Joel Salatin’s Polyface Farm was an excellent example of how high-value, direct-marketed farms like his could be an engine for rural economic development. Joel currently has fourteen employees; he buys all of the supplemental feed his pastured chickens and pigs eat locally, and his animals are all processed locally. Using sweat equity, he has built a two-million-dollar-a-year food business without any government loans, assistance, or subsidies. To me that’s a story that should be on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

Salatin has not, to my knowledge, been so far featured, because our culture has accepted Big Agriculture, factory farms, farm subsidies, and many other anomalies as the new normal.

I learned a lot from this book. Salatin is a pioneer of synergistic farming, although he would probably insist that he is only doing what farmers have done for centuries. His chickens, for instance, are pastured in mobile hen houses that protect them while allowing them to range and eat insects, and are moved to a different area of pasture each day, which also fertilizes the pasture.

He talks about the American tendency to anthropomorphize animals, often to their detriment. A visitor to the farm, for example, criticized Salatin for leaving his cows crowded together, when in reality they were only exhibiting their herding instinct. He explains the importance of diversity on a farm, and how the raising of animals and the raising of crops are not only complimentary, but necessary.

Salatin raises many troubling issues. He believes that the function of the USDA and the FDA are to limit market distribution (drive out the small farmer) rather than to protect consumers and farmers, and he has plenty of anecdotal evidence and statistical research to support his belief. His scientific, agricultural, and financial expertise belie the image of the farmer as a hayseed, and helps the reader appreciate the intellectual challenge of farming.

And did I mention, he’s funny? This is a serious book, but Salatin retains his sense of humor.

Salatin suggests, at the end of each chapter, steps that his readers may want to take in their personal quest to limit Big Agriculture and eat better food. It’s a thought-provoking book, and a must-read for anyone who cares about food or farming.

...more

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Aug 28, 2015 J rated it it was ok

I 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 - imagi I 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 suit-wearing 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 over-used 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 middle-aged pissed off, scared, country-fried 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. ...more

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Mar 12, 2016 Zade rated it it was amazing

Joel Salatin is an icon of the sustainable agriculture movement. His Polyface Farm enjoys international renown and Salatin is in great demand as a speaker and educator. He is also quite personable and down-to-earth, having not let his celebrity go to his head.

If you have a chance to listen to this book on audio, I highly recommend doing so. Saladin narrates it himself and his irascible humor comes through so clearly in the recording that for once, I think the audio book is at least as good as t Joel Salatin is an icon of the sustainable agriculture movement. His Polyface Farm enjoys international renown and Salatin is in great demand as a speaker and educator. He is also quite personable and down-to-earth, having not let his celebrity go to his head.

If you have a chance to listen to this book on audio, I highly recommend doing so. Saladin narrates it himself and his irascible humor comes through so clearly in the recording that for once, I think the audio book is at least as good as the print text--not a claim I make for many non-fiction books.

Now, I recommend all of Salatin's books, even for non-farming people. He has earned through hard work a great deal of insight into farming, animals, ecology, and economy. This book, however, is particularly good because he addresses such a wide variety of topics, all linked by the theme that our culture has strayed from what is "normal" (meaning sustainable and healthy). He is by no means a Luddite, but he definitely takes issue with a lot of the core values (or lack thereof) in modern American society. Because he covers so many different topics in these essays, there's something of interest for everyone here. And because he does such a good job of linking apparently diverse subjects, you'll likely find out you're interested in things you didn't think you would be.

A word of caution: approach this book with an open mind and be willing to listen to what Salatin says even when you disagree with him. And you will disagree with him more than once. Saladin is an independent thinker and does not easily fit any mold. He is a conservative Christian, Libertarian, Eco-warrior farmer who expresses himself bluntly and without apology. He also has a great sense of humor, a deep humanity, and a willingness to learn from others and admit his mistakes.

This book is great fun to read and full of fascinating stories and great information. It will make you laugh, make you angry, and inspire you to think seriously about how you live and what you value. ...more

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Jan 29, 2013 Elaine rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction

This guy makes a lot of sense. The current culture we live in has disconnected us from what had been 'normal' for centuries in terms of food production and how we live. We're SO used to getting 99 cent hamburgers, or trying to get the 'best deal' on food, that it's easy to not think about how it got there. Yes, modern technology has given us a lot of great conveniences, but it doesn't always mean it's better. The author talks about returning to natural ways of raising food, but using modern tech ...more

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Aug 24, 2011 John rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2012

This is an outstanding book about America's food system and how radically it has changed in the last half-century. Salatin uses the refrain, "Folks, this ain't normal" throughout the book as he discusses the way things are versus the way they used to be. It is not as though Salatin is Luddite, either. He embraces the use of technology and innovation in ways that are beneficial. He is wary about the way technology and innovation undermine the values our society holds dear.

This is fundamentally wh ...more

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About Joel Salatin

Joel Salatin

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Joel is a nationally renowned speaker on organic farming and "relationship marketing." He is on a mission to develop emotionally, economically and environmentally enhanced agricultural enterprises, and facilitate their duplication around the world. Part of that goal is to produce the best food in the world.

Joel espouses an agricultural paradigm shift that sees plants and animals as partners rather ...more

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“The first supermarket supposedly appeared on the American landscape in 1946. That is not very long ago. Until then, where was all the food? Dear folks, the food was in homes, gardens, local fields, and forests. It was near kitchens, near tables, near bedsides. It was in the pantry, the cellar, the backyard.” — 95 likes

“Read things you're sure will disagree with your current thinking. If you're a die-hard anti-animal person, read Meat. If you're a die-hard global warming advocate, read Glenn Beck. If you're a Rush Limbaugh fan, read James W. Loewen's Lies My Teachers Told Me. It'll do your mind good and get your heart rate up.” — 28 likes

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