POLYFACE FARM TOUR
Swoope, Virginia, Wednesday, October 20, 2010, 1-3 PM
Here’s an opportunity to visit and tour Polyface Farm in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. Polyface Farm is the home of Joel Salatin, the inspirational grass farmer featured in the movie FRESH. This planned visit has grown out of a sustainable agriculture discussion group held for the last four weeks at United Church of Chapel Hill. The participants in our discussion group are interested in local food production and agricultural sustainability issues. Therefore, we have scheduled a tour of Polyface Farm which is open to anyone and we invite you to join us. Here are the details:
1. This trip is open to anyone. Please share this information with anyone you wish.
2. Salatins can easily receive groups of any size. There is no limit to the number of people we can take.
3. We will be given a formal two-hour tour of the most interesting features of the farm: grass-fed beef, laying hens following the cattle, pastured poultry (meat chickens and turkeys), pastured pigs, and more. The tour will be led by Matt Rales, their official farm tour guide: 1 PM to 3 PM, Wednesday, October 20. I suggest we try to get there at least an hour early (two hours would be better) so we can look around a bit before the tour. They have an open-farm policy and I can show you quite a bit of the place myself.
4. It's approximately a five-hour drive one-way from Chapel Hill. We plan to carpool.
Fees:
a. Tour fee – We will divide the flat-rate $250 tour fee among everyone who attends. The more people who go, the lower the cost per person will be. We’d love to have 25 people (or more) and get the cost down to $10 per person (or less).
b. Shared carpool expenses.
c. Lodging for any nights you choose to spend on this trip. Some people plan to drive up the day before and spend the night of October 19th. There are several moderately-priced motels ($50 to $80 per room per night) in the Staunton, VA, area near the intersection of I-81 and I-64. Share a room or not; that would be up to you. Polyface Farm is about 15 miles south of Staunton. Other folks plan to drive up and back all in the same day; they would not have any lodging costs.
d. Meals are on your own.
e. The cost of any other attraction you might visit along the way.
To sign up for the tour or to get more information please contact: Skip Polson
Email: skippolson@nc.rr.com Phone: 919-889-4404
Showing posts with label Salatin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Salatin. Show all posts
10/05/2010
7/02/2010
Big News from CFSA (Carolina Farm Stewardship Assoc.)
Local Food to the Rescue: Joel Salatin Comes to North Carolina
by Fred Broadwell
CFSA was honored to host influential farmer and activist Joel Salatin as he visited Pittsboro, NC yesterday. Joel started his day with a brief stop by the CFSA office where staff filled him in on CFSA activities. Roland McReynolds then escorted Joel to Piedmont Biofuels and CFSA member Doug Jones' Biofarm, where Joel learned about Piedmont's biodiesel production and Doug Jones' season extension and variety trials work.
At 4 PM, a group of fifty CFSA farmer members and friends gathered at Cohen Farm for a CFSA member exclusive pasture walk with Joel. Cohen Farm, owned by CFSA members Murray and Esta Cohen, is a longstanding organic farm with 40 head of beef cattle, pastured hogs, heritage chickens and organic hay production. While standing in the middle of a gorgeous pasture, Joel enthralled the crowd with his provocative discussion of farm management, using the Cohen's farm as a case study. Joel described in detail his mob grazing techniques, putting 350 beef cattle in a small area with four foot tall grasses and moving them daily, on a six month rotation. "My neighbors think I'm nuts! But it works." Joel believes that the mob grazing forces the cows back into their natural behaviors -- they eat more aggressively lest their neighbor eats a plant first. "The cows don't just eat the ice cream and ignore the spinach." To Joel's pleasure, this has been leading to better plant biodiversity in the fields.
Following the herd, he deploys two chicken tractors with 800 birds each, commenting that it takes just as much time to handle a large flock as a small one. "We need to build in efficiencies on the farm." At a minimum, he recommends one chicken per cow to complete the mob gazing system.
When asked about liming and seeding, he said that he had never sown a seed or put out lime in thirty years. He said that proper grazing and letting the grass grow tall will build soft and rich soil; management is the key problem, not the soil ph. He's not opposed to some soil amendments and does purchase greensand, but doesn't see that as the place to start. Joel talked extensively about fencing and preferred to buy or lease land with no fencing in place since so often it is in the wrong place. "No straight fences!" he extolled. "Let the fencing follow natural pathways and good access points."
When the discussion moved to water, Joel suggested investing money in ponds and building them deeper and bigger to make a farm more drought tolerant. "We are stewards of the land and it is our duty to honor the land by making it resilient. Water is critical."
When asked about shade, Joel extolled the virtues of portable shade devices and described his equipment, joyrigged from old wagon chassis, piping and shade cloth. His equipment is made to withstand strong winds, which is important. One of his devices, he said, can provide shade for up to 100 head of cattle.
What about predators getting his chickens? For flock protection from ground predators, Joel strongly suggested well-trained guard dogs, whether exotic breeds or mutts. "Start them young." For aerial predators, he likes having a goose -- just one goose per flock has worked for him.
After the pasture walk on Wednesday evening, Joel spoke about food issues to an overflow crowd of 300 at Central Carolina Community College. He complimented the college on its sustainable farming program and new Natural Chef program (cosponsors of his visit.) Joel then gave an engaging hour-long talk on the perils of our industrial food system and how it is affecting our health, our communities and our rural landscape. When asked whether sustainable farming could feed the world, he brought up the events of the 1940s. Just when composting and a profound biological view of farming was emerging, World War II hit with its massive investment in bomb-making. Chemical fertilizers, cousins of bomb-making materials, received a massive subsidy from the government. It is just now that biological farming is finally catching up!
CFSA thanks Joel for visiting the Carolinas and appreciates the support of the NC Tobacco Trust Fund Commission, CCCC and an anonymous donor for making his visit possible. We also want to thank the Cohens for opening up their farm and Angelina's Kitchen for refreshments.
by Fred Broadwell
CFSA was honored to host influential farmer and activist Joel Salatin as he visited Pittsboro, NC yesterday. Joel started his day with a brief stop by the CFSA office where staff filled him in on CFSA activities. Roland McReynolds then escorted Joel to Piedmont Biofuels and CFSA member Doug Jones' Biofarm, where Joel learned about Piedmont's biodiesel production and Doug Jones' season extension and variety trials work.
At 4 PM, a group of fifty CFSA farmer members and friends gathered at Cohen Farm for a CFSA member exclusive pasture walk with Joel. Cohen Farm, owned by CFSA members Murray and Esta Cohen, is a longstanding organic farm with 40 head of beef cattle, pastured hogs, heritage chickens and organic hay production. While standing in the middle of a gorgeous pasture, Joel enthralled the crowd with his provocative discussion of farm management, using the Cohen's farm as a case study. Joel described in detail his mob grazing techniques, putting 350 beef cattle in a small area with four foot tall grasses and moving them daily, on a six month rotation. "My neighbors think I'm nuts! But it works." Joel believes that the mob grazing forces the cows back into their natural behaviors -- they eat more aggressively lest their neighbor eats a plant first. "The cows don't just eat the ice cream and ignore the spinach." To Joel's pleasure, this has been leading to better plant biodiversity in the fields.
Following the herd, he deploys two chicken tractors with 800 birds each, commenting that it takes just as much time to handle a large flock as a small one. "We need to build in efficiencies on the farm." At a minimum, he recommends one chicken per cow to complete the mob gazing system.
When asked about liming and seeding, he said that he had never sown a seed or put out lime in thirty years. He said that proper grazing and letting the grass grow tall will build soft and rich soil; management is the key problem, not the soil ph. He's not opposed to some soil amendments and does purchase greensand, but doesn't see that as the place to start. Joel talked extensively about fencing and preferred to buy or lease land with no fencing in place since so often it is in the wrong place. "No straight fences!" he extolled. "Let the fencing follow natural pathways and good access points."
When the discussion moved to water, Joel suggested investing money in ponds and building them deeper and bigger to make a farm more drought tolerant. "We are stewards of the land and it is our duty to honor the land by making it resilient. Water is critical."
When asked about shade, Joel extolled the virtues of portable shade devices and described his equipment, joyrigged from old wagon chassis, piping and shade cloth. His equipment is made to withstand strong winds, which is important. One of his devices, he said, can provide shade for up to 100 head of cattle.
What about predators getting his chickens? For flock protection from ground predators, Joel strongly suggested well-trained guard dogs, whether exotic breeds or mutts. "Start them young." For aerial predators, he likes having a goose -- just one goose per flock has worked for him.
After the pasture walk on Wednesday evening, Joel spoke about food issues to an overflow crowd of 300 at Central Carolina Community College. He complimented the college on its sustainable farming program and new Natural Chef program (cosponsors of his visit.) Joel then gave an engaging hour-long talk on the perils of our industrial food system and how it is affecting our health, our communities and our rural landscape. When asked whether sustainable farming could feed the world, he brought up the events of the 1940s. Just when composting and a profound biological view of farming was emerging, World War II hit with its massive investment in bomb-making. Chemical fertilizers, cousins of bomb-making materials, received a massive subsidy from the government. It is just now that biological farming is finally catching up!
CFSA thanks Joel for visiting the Carolinas and appreciates the support of the NC Tobacco Trust Fund Commission, CCCC and an anonymous donor for making his visit possible. We also want to thank the Cohens for opening up their farm and Angelina's Kitchen for refreshments.
6/29/2010
Joel Salatin Tonite, Jun 30, CCCC
Joel Salatin: "Local Food to the Rescue"
Free public lecture Wed. June 30th, 7 PM
Central Carolina Community College, Building 2
764 West Street, Pittsboro
Before the lecture, tour the CCCC Student Farm with Joel -- 5:30 - 6:30
Refreshments -- 6:30 - 7:00
Sponsored by CCCC Sustainable Ag program, CCCC Natural Chef program, Carolina Farm Stewardship Assoc. and the NC Tobacco Trust Fund Commission.
Info at www.cccc.edu and www.polyfacefarms.com
Free public lecture Wed. June 30th, 7 PM
Central Carolina Community College, Building 2
764 West Street, Pittsboro
Before the lecture, tour the CCCC Student Farm with Joel -- 5:30 - 6:30
Refreshments -- 6:30 - 7:00
Sponsored by CCCC Sustainable Ag program, CCCC Natural Chef program, Carolina Farm Stewardship Assoc. and the NC Tobacco Trust Fund Commission.
Info at www.cccc.edu and www.polyfacefarms.com
11/27/2009
10/17/2009
6/18/2008
23rd Annual Sustainable Ag. Conference, Oct/Nov
The 23rd Annual Sustainable Agriculture Conference is just around the corner!
You won’t want to miss this year’s conference: Keynote speakers include sustainable ag legends Wes Jackson and Joel Salatin, and we’ll be debuting extended, hands-on workshop formats.
And of course we’ll have the staples that have made the conference such an important part of the Carolinas’ ag community for so long: great teachers, great food and great people—you!
What: Carolina Farm Stewardship Sustainable Agriculture Conference
When: Oct.31 – Nov. 2
Where: Anderson County Civic Center, Anderson, SC
Look for more information coming soon on our website, www.carolinafarmstewards.org, and in the mail. Please forward this announcement to anyone you know—friends, colleagues, customers—who is interested in food and farming systems that are good for farmers, good for consumers and good for the land.
Thanks
Roland McReynolds, Esq.
CFSA Executive Director
PO Box 448
Pittsboro, NC 27312
Ph: 919-542-2402
Fax: 919-542-7401
www.carolinafarmstewards.org
You won’t want to miss this year’s conference: Keynote speakers include sustainable ag legends Wes Jackson and Joel Salatin, and we’ll be debuting extended, hands-on workshop formats.
And of course we’ll have the staples that have made the conference such an important part of the Carolinas’ ag community for so long: great teachers, great food and great people—you!
What: Carolina Farm Stewardship Sustainable Agriculture Conference
When: Oct.31 – Nov. 2
Where: Anderson County Civic Center, Anderson, SC
Look for more information coming soon on our website, www.carolinafarmstewards.org, and in the mail. Please forward this announcement to anyone you know—friends, colleagues, customers—who is interested in food and farming systems that are good for farmers, good for consumers and good for the land.
Thanks
Roland McReynolds, Esq.
CFSA Executive Director
PO Box 448
Pittsboro, NC 27312
Ph: 919-542-2402
Fax: 919-542-7401
www.carolinafarmstewards.org
3/30/2008
Chipotle Heads to the Farm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/25/AR2008032500813.html?nav=hcmodule
[for more info, google Joel Salatin in Virginia, a hero of sustainability]
[for more info, google Joel Salatin in Virginia, a hero of sustainability]
2/29/2008
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