Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal: War Stories From the Local Food Front

There are some critical reviews that can't get past the ranting and the strong opinions of the author. Salatin definitely gets off topic in areas, but he has a plan and he never fails to demonstrate the idiocy of the government regulations and bureaucrats that run rough shod over the farmer. He covers raw milk, the dairy, butchering, processing meat, salmonella, organic certification, government grants, restaurants, predators and endangered species, local regulations, zoning, labor, housing, insurance, taxes, bird flu, bioterrorism, NAIS, mad cow, and more.

This is a great resource not only for those that want to become farmers, but for those who want to support local food systems as buyers. Salatin is definitely opinionated, but he knows the problems that farmer's like him face, and that it is the government that is the problem. If you aren't ready to deal with reality, you probably won't get much out of the book. But if you're open to new ideas you'll find this worth reading.

Down is up, east is west, and everything that is right seems to be wrong these days. What in the world is going on when the government becomes so entangled with the food supply that they end up paying industrialized farms not to grow certain crops while honest and hard-working local farmers like Joel Salatin are left playing the bureaucratic games thrown at them left and right? That's exactly what you get to read all about in this book.

As the owner of the large non-industrialized Polyface family farm in Virginia, Salatin knows a thing or two about working within the bounds of the law to help his local customers get the delicious and nutritious food they deserve to eat. It doesn't come without a hefty price at times, though, as farmers like him are forced to play this ceremonial song and dance with special interest groups who are all but uninterested in the work his farm is doing. But these farmers do it willingly because they realize the future of the food supply depends on local farms succeeding.

Polyface received national attention a few years back when it was featured in science journalist Michael Pollan's sensational The Omnivore's Dilemma book and immediately became the poster child for the local food movement. They actually were chosen to be included and featured in his book because Pollan attempted to order some T-bone steaks to have shipped to him in New York. Salatin refused and Pollan became intrigued. It was at that point that the heart of the mission to keep local food local was too serious to jeopardize.

You'll quickly realize when you start reading this book that Salatin is unafraid of sharing his distinctively Christian libertarian viewpoints on a variety of issues related to his farming practices. With a smile on his face and a laugh in his heart, this brave rebel has been threatened to the point of shutting his operations down by inspectors and regulators alike, but these strong arm scare tactics have not worked. Again, the heartbeat of what farmers like Salatin do is grounded in the principled passion that food should be made available to consumers on a local level free from unnecessary government regulations.

Regardless of where you stand on food sustainability and the local movement that is alive and well in America today, this is a book well worth reading. It will give you an insider's look at what it takes to put quality food on your dinner table that will keep your family nourished for many more years to come.

This book is definitely not for everyone. But, if you are outraged by our food system and the taxes you pay to agribiz for their crappy "food" that's killing us by slow degrees, and also enjoy a good rant by someone who knows whereof he speaks, you'll love it.

For the record, I have been vegetarian for two decades, and that in no way diminishes my respect for Salatin or this book. Must we agree with everyone on everything in order to recognize truth when we see it? I stopped eating meat in 1989 when I learned about our factory farming system and didn't want to be part of it...but I have no problem whatsoever with folks who raise their own animals with love and respect and then eat them, or sell them to local friends. Seems natural enough to me, even if it's not my choice.

But not to the government, and that's the point of this book. Its many examples of constant gov't intrusion into every part of the food chain lay clear who runs what and why we're in the sad shape we're in, ecologically and nutritionally.

It all rings true, whether I agree with each of Salatin's political views or not. The pettiness of some of the reviews here on Am only shows why those trying to fight the moronic system aren't winning: they're too busy fighting each other! Divide and conquer? Why bother? Let us beat each other down! It's working, apparently.

Put it this way: if every adult in America read this book and knew about how our food (specifically meat) system is run, there'd be overnight change. Must we agree with all of Salatin's views on everything to give him due credit for fighting his version of the good fight?

We will all never agree on everything, nor need we. But we do need to wake up and start helping out our brothers and sisters in logic and reason, not only by buying their food but by helping them spread their version of the truth.

Especially if, as here, that truth is backed up by real world experience, written of with passion and humor. That's good enough for me.

This goes on my shelf next to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, John Robbins' Diet For A New America, and a bunch of other disturbing but necessary books on where our food really comes from.

Joel Salatin is, if nothing else, passionate and it rings through on every page of this book. If you are picking this up, it is probably because you have heard of Salatin through Slow Food or the Omnivores Dilemma, and Salatin is absolutely the pioneer of sustainable farming that you have heard he is, which is what makes this book so disappointing. This book is 25% discussion about farming and the challenges that the government bogs the small farmer down with and 75% libertarian ranting.

Regardless of whether or not you agree with Salatins opinion on abortion, vegetarianism, public land or God, if you came here looking for a book that will share the story of the struggling small time farmer, you came to the wrong book.

Don't get me wrong, there are stories in here about the absurd regulations that the government imposes, and you will definitely want to see the small farmer freed from the regulations that the big guys are held to, but you will also spend a great deal of time reading what basically boils down to the libertarian party philosophy. Salatin not only wants the government out of small farming, but all business. He wants the government out of public land, protecting species, education, and he wants the government in to enforcing the Ten Commandments as law. For me, it was incredibly distracting and completely irrelevant. I want to learn about War Stories From the Local Food Front.

I don't feel that this book delivered on that promise nearly as well as it could have. An author is able to write about whatever it is they desire, but one would hope that they would focus on the topic of their book. Salatin does not. For some people, no big deal. For me, I ended up putting the book away after having read 2/3rds of it because I simply couldn't take any more ranting.

If you want to learn about sustainable farming, pick up Salatin's "You Can Farm." I would not recommend this one to the average reader unless they are prepared for what lies ahead - a lot of rant and a little information.

I recently saw Joel Salatin speak on campus never having heard of him before. He so inspiried me I purchased this book that night. He signed it for me! :) It has been an incredible eye opener into US food politics. I encourage everyone to read this book.