Heat Wave, The Lunatic Farmer

With highs in the 30s and 40s, this week has felt like a heat wave. Though windy, it’s nice to have some weather to work in. The snow that had been covering the ground for most of the month is finally disappearing. A few lingering patches of snow that will soon disappear with today’s rain. 

On Monday Amy had an afternoon delivery to Chilhowie and Abingdon. The transit van had been acting up again, so it was back in the shop. The ole trusty suburban on standby, scheduled to make the route in its place. On the way out to the barn to load it with coolers, the suburban decided to call in sick as well. The motor had next to no power and cut off multiple times on the way to the barn. Amy barely got it turned around and back to the house. Already pressed for time, we decided to pump up the flat tire on the Volvo for the delivery. With every seat and every square inch packed tight with coolers of meat, the orders and herd shares barely fit. With no room left for car seats or kids, it looked like all the kids were coming to wrestling practice with me for the evening. Thankfully all vehicles are repaired and running well now. 

With record breaking amounts of wood burned over the past few weeks to heat our house and water, it was nice to have a chance to cut some wood and add to our pile for for a change. 

On Wednesday we got meat back from the processor, so we spent most of the morning sorting beef and pork as we organized it into the freezers. We had been completely sold out of beef kidney fat. Now that we are stocked back up, Amy rendered some of it yesterday to make more beef tallow. She also kept the on-farm kitchen going with multiple batches of chicken bone broth. 

We are not big TV watchers, but we all thoroughly enjoyed watching “The Lunatic Farmer” on Angel Studios. We were not subscribers of Angel Studios but signed up for a month just to watch this documentary on Joel Salatin. It was worth the $12. Though we don’t know Joel Salatin personally, his perspective on farming and life has been very influential to our family and farm. 

About 8 years ago, we began making a series of major changes. Adding chickens to the farm, adding pigs to the farm, finishing our cattle, adding freezers, selling locally, setting up at farmers markets, Amy quitting her teaching job to help farm full time, and so on. We had dreams of farming together as a family and providing good local meat to out community. Joel Salatin was instrumental in inspiring those dreams. We wanted our farm to look more like Joel Salatin’s farm. At that time we were reading all his books and even went to visit his farm. 

More than just a brilliant man, he is a good man, with a heart to steward God’s Creation in line with His design. As opposed to the current food industry which is dead set on fighting against God’s design.

“In the industry there’s one goal: faster, fatter, bigger, cheaper. That has nothing to do with nutritional quality, preserving soil, preserving water, or preserving acres for future generations.” 

Though it’s in our nature to be short-term focused, Joel has a generational mindset. Multiple generations working the farm together is important for long-term sustainability. Most farmers are reluctant to pass the baton to the next generation. I admire Joel for passing the baton to his son Daniel when Danial was in his early 20s, putting him in charge of the daily farming operations. I hope to do the same with my kids, assuming they are as eager about farming as I was. 

When asked, “What do you say to the Christians who might agree that this is proper care, but we have to feed the world?” Joel responds, “Not only does this feed the world, it’s the only system that can. Our county average is 80 cows days per acre. We’re averaging almost 400 cow days per acre. That’s five times… The fact is: there is so much more abundance here than we can imagine.” 

Our food industry is currently producing a lot of food. Though heavy government subsidies give the illusion of producing vast amounts of cheap food, our current system is very costly. And I’m not just taking about the cost of dollars. The cost of soil, the cost of water, the cost of our health as a society. As smart as we humans think we are, this world is not our creation. Our little brains and high technology can’t create life. We can only work along side God’s design for life. When we do, God provides abundantly. The more we work against God’s design, arrogantly assuming that our way is better than His, the more all life suffers. Leading to desolation, hunger, and thirst.

I am not a pessimist. But I am a realist. And I’m not going to ignorantly look away from the harmful consequences caused by our current system. Yes the food industry is producing a lot of food right now. But it won’t last. Without change, soil will become exhausted. Aquifers and water tables will become depleted. Springs will dry. Systems will collapse. And printing more government $$$ won’t fix it. 

And I’m not proposing government legislation to fix it. (Although if the government wants to help, un-subsidizing and deregulating would be a good place to start. And stop.) The change I’m advocating for must be voluntary. And I’m not just talking about the willful change of farming practices. I’m talking about the voluntary change of consumers, myself included, to value food that was raised right. Producers will produce what consumers value. The more consumers value good food, the more good food will be produced. 

Repentance is a consistent theme throughout the Old and New Testaments. Repentance isn’t a change enforced upon us from God. Repentance is a voluntary choice we make ourselves. If I could describe our farm in a word, I’d say that we are a repenting farm. We are not a perfect farm and never will be. Therefore, I pray we will always be a repenting farm. Taking responsibility for our choices. Admitting our wrongs even when our intentions are good. Praying for forgiveness. Praying for direction. And being willing to change. The more we are willing to work in line with God’s design, the more plentiful the harvest will be. 

One more quote from Joel on “The Lunatic Farmer” documentary:

“I think that if you say you’re a Christian and you have not faced some real stiff opposition… you’re either hiding your light under a bushel, or you’re a wimp, or you’re too blind to see what’s going on.”

Have a good week.

Will