Customer Reviews

Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer, The

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'll get the negatives out of the way up front. First, this is basically a re-write of earlier works. The same themes, the same stories, the same references, appear over and over again in Salatin's work. He's sort of like your crazy uncle who tells the same stories every Christmas. If you have read You Can Farm or Everything I Want to Do is Illegal, you will be able to complete his thoughts without reading to the end of the paragraph. Second, he needs a decent proofreader. There are an annoying number of typos of the sort that spell check doesn't catch. Third, he ends every chapter with the same sentence... a silly and irritating device. Finally, there's a ton of white space, blank pages between chapters, etc. Delete those pages and all of the stories we've heard in other books and this would be a 50-page pamphlet.

Should you read this? Despite the complaints, my answer is yes. It's the kind of message that you can't hear too often. Salatin gets under your skin. You really feel like his crusade should be your crusade. You start thinking of things that you can do to defeat Monsanto, CAFOs, industrial corn, and the rest. Your list of acceptable restaurants dwindles. Your shopping habits change dramatically. You see the countryside with new eyes when you go on car trips. You sneer (moderately) when you see a weedy field with a few cows and no electric fencing. You get hungry.

Buy the book, read it, and then pass it on to a friend. You'll be glad you did.

I am a library patron. But I bought this book because I couldn't stand the thought of the 1 - 2 year wait until it would likely be available. And, I'm glad I did. I notice another reviewer had some of the same critiques I did, startling number of typos (startling in that Mr. Salatin rightly promotes professionalism and attention to detail) and repetition from earlier works. None-the-less, I delighted in all of it. I think it would be an excellent work to recommend to those you'd like to expose to this way of life and think you've likely only got one shot to make a case. But to that end, I wish this work, like his others, had the suggested reading section at the end. Such a list was, after all, how I found Joel Salatin in the first place.

Will you like this book? If you're of the Gene Logsdon, Wendell Berry, Eliot Coleman persuasion - or want to be - then you'll love it and should go ahead and get it.

So first off, I like Joel Salitin and what he does. this book however seems to be more about proving to all his neighbors that he and his dad were right all along to not be using chemical inputs and bad grazing management practices. they were right of course, but I know that already. Joel is very knowledgeable about a lot of farming and ecological matters and his skill at matching his farm practices to the cycles of nature is truly great. however, the narrative is smug and self serving with a terminal dose of "i told you so". Happy as I am that the world has come to regard Joels farming practices as sensible, a book describing them in detail with reference to why they work better than traditional methods would have been a much better read. rather than being informed about how Joel farms, the reader is informed on how right Joel is...

I would recommend reading Michael Pollan for the Polyface Farms story. he's a much better writer and there's really not that much more info in this book, unless you are really interested in how right Joel Salitin is and how often he proves it to his neighbors and the government.

Joel Salatin never fails to make me think deeply about the status quo. Polyface Farms books are always incredible, but in this one Salatin presents an intelligent and spiritual commentary on his life's work. Lunatic Farmer is an easy read, packed full of amazing bits of agricultural teachings and personal wisdom. His ideas about stewardship are sensible and inspiring. Each chapter contains detailed information about Polyface practices, yet the writing is clear and entertaining. Although the theme is profound, you'll be laughing every few pages for sure. If everyone who considers themselves an animal rights advocate (or environmentalist) reads this book, there just might be an agricultural revolution! At the very least, we could experience a much needed awakening about what's really happening to our landscape and our society.

"You can tell the greatness of a nation by the way it treats its animals" M. Ghandi

The Accidental Farmers

Joel's earlier works, particularly You Can Farm, were helpful to many. But as others said, this book rehashes messages heard many times before. Not that there's anything wrong with the message, just nothing new to contemplate.

I'm a huge fan of Joel Salatin and Polyface farms and was really excited to read this book after learning about him in Michael Pollan's book. However, this book is really poorly written and tough to read; his 'personality' and tone infects his writing, to the point where I finally just gave up halfway through. He could really benefit from an editor or better yet a ghost writer; this feels like he just sat down and hammered out whatever internal dialogue popped into his head. I really support what they do and I really wish I could get a good book about it. Shame.

This book was a great read. If you are interested in the difference between farming that heal the land, and farming that destroys it, this book will open your eyes. But the focus is still on the positive, not the negative. Another great book from Joel Salatin. Read them all!

I gave up reading this book halfway in. I will tell you all why in a moment, but first must tell you a few things to put my review in clear perspective:

I consider myself environmentally conscious; I buy organic/local/free range/pastured food. I have a small backyard chicken flock. I'm not a farmer as we don't have enough land to do so currently but hope to move to a house with acreage; I picked this book up from the library as part of my research. I'm also a fairly sarcastic person who enjoys dry humor and satire immensely.

That being said, I found this book to be so weighed down with sarcasm and bitterness that it was almost impossible to glean the author's practical advice from all the crap. It's obvious that he has strong opinions, many of which I share, but I think the way he chooses to express himself and communicate those ideas distracts from the real message. (It may even alienate the people who, like me, share his opinion and want to learn from him and his experience.)

I got a couple of ideas from reading the half of the book I was able to get through, namely the use of portable electric fencing within a farm's borders as opposed to permanent fencing. I also learned a few more facts about atrocities committed by industrial food corporations. But I got little else, not, I suspect, because sound advise wasn't given, but because it was so mired in sarcasm that it became completely unnoticable.

This is the first of the author's books I've ever read, so I have to wonder if this is his normal writing style. If it is, I think that's a real shame; what is his editor doing?? I guess I'll borrow another book of his from the library and see. I certainly won't buy anything by him and I won't recommend them to any of my friends.

This is the most enlightening and sensible book I have ever read on this topic! Mr. Salatin gives factual and reasoned and and real-life information based on his experience as a farmer as to why factory farming of animals or plants is unhealthy for the planet, for consumers, for producers, and of course, for the plant or animal being produced en masse. It makes total sense from the environmental, medical, scientific, and humane perspectives. I only wish everyone would read it and demand a return to this type of farming and raising of the food that we eat, because we could heal the planet doing it his way.

Besides running a working farm that is improving the lives of his livestock and his land, Mr. Salatin is knowledgeable and not afraid to share that knowledge. For those who are interested in biodiversity in agriculture, who wonder what agribusiness is doing that doesn't have much to do with agriculture, who wonder if our nation's food needs can be met with sustainable biodiverse farming, this is excellent. It is in no way dry or boring although it is loaded with facts. I found myself picking it up every chance I had and talking about it to family, friends and co-workers. Do read it, please. And no! I'm not related to the author.