the farm of many faces

If you have read the Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, then you have heard of Joel Salatin and Polyface Farm in western Virgina.  On Thursday, February 19th, Stanford's Ethics and the Environment Series hosted Mr. Salatin to speak about organic farming, local eating, and raising animals sustainably.  As he puts it, animals on his farm have a great life and one bad day. 

Joel Salatin is a self described "Christian liberatian environmentalist capitalist lunatic." He was very much a storyteller, and reminded me of what a traveling preacher must be like.  His stories had an arc to them, which made them easy to follow and interesting.  I thought he was a very engaging speaker and had lots of interesting, outside-the-box farming and ranching methods.   Someone at the event took notes if you are interested. One interesting fact that I picked up was that in the next 15 years, 50% of American farmland will change hands.