The Marvelous Joelness of Joel Salatin

How much do you know about the food system and farming practices here in the United States?  I have been learning about them recently, but my education got a big boost a few weeks ago when I saw Polyfaces: A World of Many Choices - a beautiful documentary about Polyface Farms. 

Joel Salatin is the face of Polyface (oops, that was a pun), which is his home in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia - and a multi-generational, very unconventional, oh-so-cool farm.  Polyface means "many faces," and the farm's emblem is the simple outline of a tree, containing a cow, containing a chicken, containing a fish.  As alluded to, the uniqueness of their farm is that they don't focus on only one crop or animal, but they create a symbiotic relationship between pigs, cattle, rabbits, and chickens, by strategically moving them around the fields, woods, and ponds that make up the farm.  They help each animal to live the way it was designed to live, engaging in the functions that not only make it happiest but also contribute to the well-being of every other organism on the farm - not to mention whoever may eat the animal down the road.

The film covered how richly the Salatin's animal rotation system builds the soil and the land's fertility.  It also gave a snapshot of daily life on the farm (which, in the summer, includes the Salatin's internship program for young farmers), and some things Polyface has put its hand to, such as an annual "field day" for the community, tours of the farm, sales and delivery of their products, and an on-site farm kitchen.  The entire operation (especially some scenes involving juicy, delicious-looking tomatoes) seemed too good to be true in comparison to my experience of our food system as I shop in grocery stores and drive through farm-lands on road trips. 

Here's how all of this relates to the library: Joel Salatin is not only a famous farmer, but he's also the author of 10 books.  I was so interested in the ways of his farm, that I began listening to the audio-book version of Joel Salatin's newest book, The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs.  You can probably tell from this title that Joel is a bit kooky - what's really funny is that the book is hardly about pigs, though they do serve as one of the many illustrations of Salatin's points throughout.  From what I gather, this new book is different from his previous ones in that it is written specifically to call out Christians who believe it's okay not to steward the earth well.  His others aren't religious at all.  The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs has been even more eye-opening than the documentary was for me - in ways both disturbing and inspiring.  Even though I'm not a farmer (though now I want to be!), I can't wait to read more of his books to learn more about the animals, the environment, the industry, and how I can contribute to a healthier food system. 

Salatin encourages everyone to "farm" to the extent that they can - raising backyard chickens for eggs and feeding them with table scraps instead of filling up landfills, composting, adding on solariums to homes and churches for growing food in the winter, planting fruit trees and vegetables instead of growing a lawn, and collecting rainwater.  He also encourages buying locally whatever food you can't grow yourself.  So I thought I would provide a few related resources at the end of this post.  There are many of us in Albuquerque interested in such things!  If you know of anything I am missing, we'd love to hear about it in the comments.

Books
Joel Salatin's Books +
Permaculture
Raising Chickens
Composting
Books by Michael Pollan
Plowing with Pigs by Oscar and Karen Will
Worms Eat My Garbage by Mary Appelhof

Local Organizations & Farms in New Mexico 
Skarsgard Farms
Old Town Farm
Los Poblanos
Red Tractor Farm
Rio Grande Farm
Farm to Table
New Mexico Farmers' Markets
Soilutions

Links
The Micro Farm Project
Permaculture in Wikipedia
Seeds of Change [based in Santa Fe until 2010]

Also, check out our Home & Garden LibGuides which includes great information about our Seed Library, composting, mulching, water conservation, mini-farming, and xeriscaping.

New & Novel in Gardening and Urban Homesteading Books

Spring is in the air, and the fancy of young and old people alike turns to planting and growing!  Here are some of the latest books in the catalog to give you planning ideas for your garden or urban homestead, or at least to help some of us overcome our brown thumb.



The Four Season Farm Gardener's Cookbook by Barbara Damrosch and Eliot Coleman

Women and Their Gardens: A History from the Elizabethan Era to Today by Catherine Horwood

The Anxious Gardener's Book of Answers by Teri Dunn Chace

A Nature Lover's Almanac: Kinky Bugs, Stealthy Critters, Prosperous Plants & Celestial Wonders by Diane Olson

The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution to Save Food by Janisse Ray

The Essential Urban Farmer by Novella Carpenter and Willow Rosenthal

The Weekend Homesteader: A Twelve-Month Guide to Self-Sufficiency by Anna Hess

The City Homesteader: Self-Sufficiency on Any Square Footage by Scott Meyer

The Thinking Beekeeper: A Guide to Natural Beekeeping in Top Bar Hives by Christy Hemenway

A Rich Spot of Earth: Thomas Jefferson's Revolutionary Garden at Monticello by Peter J. Hatch

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Seed Saving and Starting by Sheri Ann Richerson

How to Grow More Vegetables: (And Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops) Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine by John Jeavons

The Complete Guide to Saving Seeds: 322 Vegetables, Herbs, Flowers, Fruits, Trees, and Shrubs by Robert Gough and Cheryl Moore-Gough [eBook only in our catalog]

Your Farm in the City: An Urban Dweller's Guide to Growing Food and Rising Livestock by Lisa Taylor, and the gardeners of Seattle Tilth

The Heirloom Life Gardener: The Baker Creek Way of Growing Your Own Food Easily and Naturally by Jere & Emilee Gettle with Meghan Sutherland.

Heirloom Fruits & Vegetables by Toby Musgrave



For more titles, try a subject search under "Seeds", "Bee Culture", "Gardening", or "Sustainable Living".  You can also pay a visit to the library's subject guides on Composting and Mulching and Mini-Farming!  Subject guides are created by library staff.

For gardening assistance, contact the Master Gardeners!  You can call their hotline at 292-7144 or 243-1386. The hotline is available 7 days a week, from 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m, and you can find Master Gardener volunteers at select branches in the spring.

Don't forget to take advantage of free xeriscape and landscape conversion seminars, courtesy of Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority, at the Cherry Hills Library!  For more information, visit the Cherry Hills Library website or the ABCWUA website.

Last but certainly not least, NMSU Cooperative Extension Service features how-to guides and circulars covering such topics as gardening, health, clothing and sewing, family resource management, and livestock and range management.

Spring is upon us!

Ignore for the moment the fact that there was ice in the bird waterer last week, and that we may still get a freeze well into April.

Gardener’s spring is upon us, that time when the buds are swelling, the earthworms are shallow under the mulch, and gardeners get distracted if they spend too much time indoors on the weekends. Some of the fruit trees are already in bloom (and we cross our fingers that they won’t get nipped by a late freeze), many bulbs are starting to emerge, and a fine winter crop of gardening catalogs are awaiting attention.

At the Libraries, we are seeing many gardening books checking out as people plan their gardens. We are also seeing new and increasing interest in what has come to be called mini-farming – what one book* defines as “becoming more economically independent on a small holding.” Another name for mini-farming is backyard homesteading, which reflects the pioneer spirit and desire for independence that leads people to grow their own food.


Mini-farming encompasses not only high-yield vegetable gardening but also raising chickens and other livestock, food preservation, disaster preparedness, and self-reliant living – all of the old-timey rural skills that were once common across America.

To help people brush up on these skills or learn them anew, your library has developed a new resource: the Mini-Farming LibGuide (LibraryGuide).
In the Mini-Farming LibGuide you will find selected library items and links to useful City of Albuquerque and Extension Service resources. Follow the helpful list of links on related subjects to search your library’s Encore search & discovery engine for titles on those subjects.

Here are a few of those subjects:

• beekeeping
• biodynamic gardening• build a chicken coop
• canning food• community gardens
• country recipes• disaster preparedness• food preservation• growing your own food• kitchen gardens
• old-fashioned recipes• raised bed gardening• raising chickens• rural home economics• self-reliant living
• self-sufficiency• sustainable gardening• urban farming


The Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Library System is here to help you in your quest to grow good food for your family, and make the most of your land!
* The Backyard Homestead, Mini-Farm & Garden Log Book by John Jeavons, J. Mogador Griffin and Robin Leler

Written by Scott, ABCLS Staff Member.