Joel Salatin and self sufficiency
- Thread starter me&thegals
- Start date
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
Oh, YEAH! This ain't farmin' like your granddaddy did it, to be sure. Unless your grandad was pretty progressive thinking, he probably farmed like his dad and his dad's dad always did it. If the farmers I've known would stop farming like their dads always did, they could actually make some money on their farm.
Joel Salatin is probably one of the few small farmers who isn't saying, "There's no money in farming anymore." He started out with about 35 acres of worn out hill farm and is now a multimillionaire. Of course, some of that money is from books and speaking engagements, but they wouldn't read the books or hear him speak if he didn't have some excellent ideas.
He still looks like any old farmer, he sounds like an old farmer, but his ideas are innovative and just good common sense, and they produce real, tangible results.
Joel Salatin is probably one of the few small farmers who isn't saying, "There's no money in farming anymore." He started out with about 35 acres of worn out hill farm and is now a multimillionaire. Of course, some of that money is from books and speaking engagements, but they wouldn't read the books or hear him speak if he didn't have some excellent ideas.
He still looks like any old farmer, he sounds like an old farmer, but his ideas are innovative and just good common sense, and they produce real, tangible results.
- Thread starter
- #13
me&thegals
A Major Squash & Pumpkin Lover
From what I've read, his way of farming improves the soil, takes intensive brain work and record keeping and lots of hard physical labor. His family took an eroding farm, let some go back to forest and uses the remaining 100 acres to grow grass, intensively moving turkeys, rabbits, chickens, pigs and cattle around in a very thought-out manner that ends up improving the soil, using no chemicals or commercial fertilizers and cutting back on pests (like flies). He gets an INSANE amount of meat and eggs off this acreage (over 30,000 dozen eggs, just for starters).
Any specific book of his I should start with?
Any specific book of his I should start with?
- Thread starter
- #14
me&thegals
A Major Squash & Pumpkin Lover
Now that we have so many new members over here, I thought I would toss this one out again and see if there are any fresh comments. I have 2-3 of Salatin's books on hold at my local library and can't wait to get them! Maybe I'm just experiencing that "first love" with a new idea, but right now I'm really fantasizing about trying to do something like he is doing. I would love to take our 30 acres out of "conventional farming" and renew the soil instead with grass farming. Gotta get my husband on board, though. And maybe wait until the kids are older and not taking as much time. Although....maybe this would be a perfect whole-family venture. Anybody else have this grass-farming lust?
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
Yep! And I don't even have a farm... 
nc chicken man
Sustainable Newbie
We went to Joel farm last marchand talked with him foe a while he has a little over 500 acres and has about 100 in pasture rest is mountains and woods it is amazing to stand in his pasture and look over the fence and see his neighbers pasture its like night and day.
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
And he started out real small, from what I've read. The man really deserves kudos for going against the grain and following his convictions.
The way I understand it, the farm was originally his father's. It was his father who did a lot of the work improving the land and his father who had many very unconventional ideas for the time. Joel inherited this land and ingenuity. I'm not trying to take anything away from him, I think what his family has done is amazing.....I just wanted to keep a bit of perspective. This is a multi-generational operation. It takes a lot of time to take a ruined piece of land and turn it into the haven, and the multi-million dollar operation that it is today!
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
I thought I would revive this thread and give an update on it. I am now starting to make some moves to do a mini grass farming experiment on my acre+ with sheep and geese as my grazers.
The sheep and geese are good companion grazers as they each prefer different species of grass, which keeps the grass cut nice and even.
I decided to do this for many reasons. I currently free range my flock of 30 dual purpose chickens and I would like to see if managed grazing of my existing grasses will encourage more growth of the nutritious grasses, as Mr. Salatin states.
This will give my chickens more nutrition for the space, so they require less boughten food.
As I plan to get bees this spring, this will also encourage the growth of the natural white clover I have in my yard~providing more food for my bees. More food translates into more honey to sell and use and to use in my value added products like beeswax candles and luminaries, salves, lip balms, etc.
I'm hoping if this is more beneficial to my grass in the orchard, it will benefit my trees also. I'm also hoping that I can let the sheep have some of the apple drops and utilize these fruits as food. (I am aware that the seeds of green apples can be toxic to sheep~never fear!)
I also wanted to save fuel costs of mowing and mower repairs as well. My John Deere is over 20 years old and the parts can get expensive. So I would like to retire him to pulling garden carts and mowing the small front yard until I can turn it into a parking lot.
Not to mention the savings in time~it takes about an hour or two to mow the whole thing, orchard and all.
What is the sense in growing this wonderful, nutritious green crop and mowing it down over and over? This way, it will provide food and will become more beautifully green as time goes on.
Also, the moving of the stock and repositioning of the temporary electric fence of the paddocks each day will force me to exercise more and build my strength, interact with my livestock more, and to know my land better.
The harvesting of down for making into value added products and the sale of goslings will further augment my extra income from this grass farming venture. Any extra money will be added to my winter feed expenses to keep the cycle going every year. The sale of weanling lambs will also further this feed money. If I can manage to have the lambs hides returned to me, I am going to tan them and sell them at my roadside stand also~more dividends!
So....hats off to Joel Salatin for planting a seed that will make my place produce more revenue~despite its small size, will improve the quality of my soil, and beautify my place with its green grasses, beautiful woolies grazing peacefully beside my band of geese, interspersed with colorful chickens, buzzing bees, and faithful guard dogs.
All this bucolic finery will draw customers to my place to ask questions, buy my wares and produce, and maybe just educate others in a wonderful way to return something to the land while drawing a living from it.
The sheep and geese are good companion grazers as they each prefer different species of grass, which keeps the grass cut nice and even.
I decided to do this for many reasons. I currently free range my flock of 30 dual purpose chickens and I would like to see if managed grazing of my existing grasses will encourage more growth of the nutritious grasses, as Mr. Salatin states.
This will give my chickens more nutrition for the space, so they require less boughten food.
As I plan to get bees this spring, this will also encourage the growth of the natural white clover I have in my yard~providing more food for my bees. More food translates into more honey to sell and use and to use in my value added products like beeswax candles and luminaries, salves, lip balms, etc.
I'm hoping if this is more beneficial to my grass in the orchard, it will benefit my trees also. I'm also hoping that I can let the sheep have some of the apple drops and utilize these fruits as food. (I am aware that the seeds of green apples can be toxic to sheep~never fear!)
I also wanted to save fuel costs of mowing and mower repairs as well. My John Deere is over 20 years old and the parts can get expensive. So I would like to retire him to pulling garden carts and mowing the small front yard until I can turn it into a parking lot.
Not to mention the savings in time~it takes about an hour or two to mow the whole thing, orchard and all.
What is the sense in growing this wonderful, nutritious green crop and mowing it down over and over? This way, it will provide food and will become more beautifully green as time goes on.
Also, the moving of the stock and repositioning of the temporary electric fence of the paddocks each day will force me to exercise more and build my strength, interact with my livestock more, and to know my land better.
The harvesting of down for making into value added products and the sale of goslings will further augment my extra income from this grass farming venture. Any extra money will be added to my winter feed expenses to keep the cycle going every year. The sale of weanling lambs will also further this feed money. If I can manage to have the lambs hides returned to me, I am going to tan them and sell them at my roadside stand also~more dividends!
So....hats off to Joel Salatin for planting a seed that will make my place produce more revenue~despite its small size, will improve the quality of my soil, and beautify my place with its green grasses, beautiful woolies grazing peacefully beside my band of geese, interspersed with colorful chickens, buzzing bees, and faithful guard dogs.
All this bucolic finery will draw customers to my place to ask questions, buy my wares and produce, and maybe just educate others in a wonderful way to return something to the land while drawing a living from it.
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
I forgot to add that I will also be ripping off Joel's ideas for:
Internal parasite control by using Basic H to deworm his livestock...but I'm going to extend its usage to pets and myself, for good measure!
For layering manure with carbonaceous material (bedding) interspersed with whole grains like oats and corn, in my winter feeding area~and then will be using his idea of letting a pig aerate the whole pile in the early spring, rooting for the fermented grains within the manure/bedding pack. This will further compost my manure, add more manure to it, and make it fine enough to spread on my garden easily.
For letting the chickens follow the herbivores to pick out any larvae in the feces~be it fly or parasites.
For letting the pig also root through, and preplow, my garden beds and containing the pigs to these areas with electric fencing. The pigs will remove any grubs, weed roots and left over veggies in the soil, add nitrogen with their feces and urine, and make spring plowing much easier. * I think my sister is going to give me a weanling Black Hog breed pig for this purpose. Then he will be sold at market and supplement the income made from this venture. *
Internal parasite control by using Basic H to deworm his livestock...but I'm going to extend its usage to pets and myself, for good measure!
For layering manure with carbonaceous material (bedding) interspersed with whole grains like oats and corn, in my winter feeding area~and then will be using his idea of letting a pig aerate the whole pile in the early spring, rooting for the fermented grains within the manure/bedding pack. This will further compost my manure, add more manure to it, and make it fine enough to spread on my garden easily.
For letting the chickens follow the herbivores to pick out any larvae in the feces~be it fly or parasites.
For letting the pig also root through, and preplow, my garden beds and containing the pigs to these areas with electric fencing. The pigs will remove any grubs, weed roots and left over veggies in the soil, add nitrogen with their feces and urine, and make spring plowing much easier. * I think my sister is going to give me a weanling Black Hog breed pig for this purpose. Then he will be sold at market and supplement the income made from this venture. *
