Big Meetin'

This little piggy went to meeting.

Do you know what a revival is?  Though the practice is not as common as it used to be, lots of churches around here schedule revivals in the spring and the fall.  The idea is that the people of God need extended times of worship and fellowship to revive them spiritually.  Some of the old people call the revivals "Big Meetin.'"

Well, we at Greene Family Farm have been to Big Meetin.'  On Saturday 9 July 2011, we went to the Polyface Farms Field Day in Swoope, Virginia.  It was a reviving experience for us.  The story of Polyface and the Salatin family is too long to tell here, and it's better to read and watch from the Polyface website, Joel Salatin's books and articles, and the videos available on YouTube (there are lots of them).  Two of the best introductions to Joel Salatin and Polyface are Food, Inc. and The Omnivore's Dilemma.  There is, however, nothing like being there and seeing it for yourself.  We were uplifted, encouraged, challenged, amused, and well-fed.

Polyface is beautiful, productive, and profitable.  Many farms these days smell bad, sound bad, look bad, and the food from them tastes bad.  For many farms these days, it's tough to know if they produce more produce or more pollution.  Most farms these days are profitable, but the profits belong to the banks, the oil companies, and the processors and packagers.  Polyface is beautiful, and it's beautiful because of the way that the Salatins have cared for it and improved it over the decades.  Polyface is productive, and it's a model of sustainable and environmentally friendly agriculture.  Polyface is profitable, and the profits belong to the Salatins and the people who work with them.

The Master

We saw what American agriculture could and should be.  There were about 1,793 other people there who were almost as excited as we were.  We came home rejuvenated and are gearing up for the fall season.  We have new chicks in the brooder with another batch coming in August.  We have lettuce and greens seeds ready to plant (Sherri is so eager to plant that I may have to lock the seeds away until it's time).  The herb bed and the produce patch are freshly mulched.  I'll be mixing a new batch of Complete Organic Fertilizer this weekend.  We are glad to be producing food that is real and good.