Joel Salatin, Renowned VA Farmer and Author,
to Speak on Value of Local Food

Joel Salatin, one of America's most dynamic and innovative organic farmers, will discuss the future of food and farming at 6 pm, Wednesday, September 4, in Loudoun County, VA at the Lovettsville Game Club (Rt. 287, just before the Lovettsville town line).

The program is presented by the Mid-Atlantic Biodynamic Food and Farming Conference Committee and Gardening for the Future.

Salatin will provide hearty, meal-sized samples of his pastured pork sausage and will work with local Loudoun County farmer, Robert Farr (The Chile Man), to offer huevos rancheros with his free-range eggs. Farr will also offer additional product samples.

Please RSVP to be assured of receiving your share! Contact Maura Balliett at (540) 668-6165 or email igg@igg.com.

Anyone who appreciates fresh, healthful, locally grown food - or who is interested in producing it for local markets - should attend.

Promoting food production that is environmentally sound and economically viable for both producer and consumer, Salatin is a third-generation authentic food farmer. His presentations about the family's 550-acre Virginia farm have received standing ovations nationwide.

Salatin has authored four books on the food production system:

• Pastured Poultry Profits: Net $25,000 in 6 Months on 20 Acres
• Salad Bar Beef
• You Can Farm: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Start and Succeed in a Farming Enterprise
• Family Friendly Farming: A Multi-Generational Home-Based Business Testament

Salatin's columns regularly appear in ACRES USA and Stockman Grass Farmer magazines.

A natural wordsmith, Salatin describes his diverse farm enterprises with ear-catching phrases like salad bar beef, pastured poultry, pigerator pork, lamborgini lambs, feathernet eggs, and more. What he calls "relationship marketing" to product "evangelists" gives him full retail dollar for everything the farm produces.

Salatin's message is a decidedly positive one, and draws clear distinctions between food produced in inhumane, factory farms and food produced in pasture-based, animal-friendly farms.

His presentations carry several themes, including:

• Adding value through marketing
• Diversity and multiple-use
• Recycling organic matter
• Full utilization of on-farm resources (before purchasing anything not created on the farm)

Salatin weaves a strong consumer message throughout all his talks. "If you want an agriculture," he notes, "that does not pump animals full of drugs and hormones, pollute the water, erode the soil, and stink up the air, vote with your pocketbook - and stop patronizing the conventional food industry!" Salatin's recurring theme are this: seek out and support your local alternative farmer, improve your health, and trod lightly on the land - for all our sakes.

Recently, Salatin testified before Congress about the failings of the conventional food system and the place of the alternative farmer. Salatin and his farm have been featured in National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, and have appeared on NBC. He has also received numerous conservation awards.

Salatin, his wife, Teresa, his two children (Daniel, 20 and Rachel, 15) and his mother, Lucille, work full-time on the family farm in Swope, VA.

For additional information, visit www.gardeningforthefuture.com.