Salatin-Best PEP TALK all year!

[Guest guest]

Thanks to all the Trad Foodies who showed up to see Salatin today! It was

great to see you all1 I don't need to tell you what a great show it was too! Big

thanks to Traci from BIRCHWOOD CAFE! She helped promote all this and provided

food for the event! Whatever you do, go there to help Traci make it! I get lost

everytime I go there by car (it's easier to find via the bike path!) but it's in

the 3300 block of 25th Street. Weird route to get there but worth it.

WORDS OF WISDOM BY JOEL SALATIN- A few tidbits from my notes. Being there was

far, far better than these crumbs, but this is a start.....

1) " Virtually everything I do has a sacred dimension "

2) The two Main Gripes about our kind of food are PRICE and TIME. I can't afford

it and I don't have time to cook.

3) Here's why TRADITIONAL FOOD seems more expensive:

a. It's actually BETTER, more nutrient dense, higher brix, better flavor,

less toxic, more humane, more sustainable, and many more factors

b. Economy of scale. It's hard to do all this on a small scale and

everything costs more for a small farmer

c. People need to by Unprocessed Foods! You can buy 10# of potatoes for

what one bag of chips cost! Processed food is what's really expensive.

d. We need to change spending habits. People have plenty of money for cable

TV, movies, Starbucks but won't spend for good food.

e. Government subsidies! We subsidize high fructose corn syrup!

3) " I don't have time to cook.... " Who hasn't heard that? People have hours

to spend on TV, movies and a dozen other time-wasters but won't cook. It's not a

vaild reason

4) " Americans know more about celebrities in People magazine than they know

about their food! " We build a house out of materials that we have no idea

where it comes from. We don't know where our clothing comes from. We eat food

that comes from where we don't know. We get electricity from someplace unknown.

We get water from someplace unknown. Our sewer goes somewhere where we don't

know. Our waste goes somewhere unknown to us. It's pretty crazy!

5) America has 2x as many people in prison as we have farmers.

6) If you have been told you have " High " cholesterol, eat 6 pastured organic

eggs a day and watch your total cholesterol drop!

7) Argentinians eat 160# of beef per person per year. Twice that of the US. Yet

they have 1/2 the colon cancer and heart disease that we have.

8) Ontario did a study that showed over 20 years their food costs went from 19%

to 9% of total income. During that period, medical costs increased from 9% to

19% . Hummmm....

9) 40% of the food produced here is never eaten. It goes into the waste stream.

10) There are 35 million acres of lawn in America! 10% of all ag products are

used on golf courses! We have plenty of unused land. We have plenty of good land

that is available to feed the world. Never let anyone tell you that organic,

sustainable farming can't feed the world. It can.

Anyway, I hope you were there, and if you weren't, I hope you will continue to

support good food every day. Eating is a political act. Get your garden going!

Eat the right foods that you know to be good. Teach your children to cook. Find

your kitchen! Tell others!

Will Winter