Books

Item Description

"The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer" by Joel Salatin (paperback)

Foodies and environmentally minded folks often struggle to understand and articulate the fundamental differences between the farming and food systems they endorse and those promoted by Monsanto and friends. With visceral stories and humor from Salatin's half-century as a "lunatic" farmer, Salatin contrasts the differences on many levels: practical, spiritual, social, economic, ecological, political, and nutritional.

In today's conventional food-production paradigm, any farm that is open-sourced, compost-fertilized, pasture-based, portably-infrastructured, solar-driven, multi-speciated, heavily peopled, and soil-building must be operated by a lunatic. Modern, normal, reasonable farmers erect "No Trespassing" signs, deplete soil, worship annuals, apply petroleum-based chemicals, produce only one commodity, erect Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, and discourage young people from farming.

Anyone looking for ammunition to defend a more localized, solar-driven, diversified food system will find an entire arsenal in these pages. With wit and humor honed during countless hours working on the farm he loves, and then interacting with conventional naysayers, Salatin brings the land to life, farming to sacredness, and food to ministry.

Divided into four main sections, the first deals with principles to nurture the earth, an idea mainline farming has never really endorsed. The second section describes food and fiber production, including the notion that most farmers don't care about nutrient density or taste because all they want is shipability and volume. The third section, titled "Respect for Life," presents an apologetic for food sacredness and farming as a healing ministry. Only lunatics would want less machinery and pathogenicity. Oh, the ecstasy of not using drugs or paying bankers. How sad. The final section deals with promoting community, including the notion that more farmers would be a good thing.

Item Special Note

Pick up/shipping information: At auction close, item will be available for pick up in Sebastopol, CA on the designated pick up days or it can be mailed at the winning bidder’s expense. The shipping cost of this item will be $3.50 plus the cost of insurance. Winning bidder is responsible for all fees.

If more than one item is won, we will combine shipping. Items are shipped via Priority Mail Flat Rate Shipping with the United States Postal Service. If the items do not fit into a Flat Rate box, the best shipping option will be chosen by the auction shipping team. For books, we will our best to package them to fit Media Mail requirements. Insurance will be added to the shipping costs. Winning bidder is responsible for all fees.

For planning, note that the pick up days are Friday, March 28, 2014 and Saturday, March 29, 2014 in Sebastopol, California. All information and details about pick up times and location will be given in the auction closing email.

SunRidge School is not responsible for items lost or damaged during shipping and/or mailing.

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