Joel Salatin is Coming to Vermont!

A rare focus on small farms, across the political aisle.

Joel Salatin is speaking here in Vermont!

For those of you unfamiliar with “lunatic farmer” Joel Salatin, he has been an important voice for regenerative agriculture for decades. Joel has written numerous books about local, regenerative agriculture and food rights, and hosts important summits at his family’s Polyface Farm in Swoope, Virginia to educate people about food systems, food tyranny, and policies that are effective to improve soil, animal, and human health.

Joel on his Virginia farm, in his trademark hat, in 2021. (Photo by John Klar.)

The “Liberty Food Fest” at the Bellows Falls Opera House will be hosted for two info-packed days, December 15th and 16th. There is a terrific line-up of speakers for both days. (Disclosure: I will be speaking on December 15 at 11:00. I mis=stated the date in my previous substack newsletter). I am excited about this event not only because the esteemed Joel Salatin will be speaking, but because the organizers are deliberately uniting Vermonters from across the political spectrum to join in shared concern over farming and food. This is absolutely essential for Americans to overcome the environmentally destructive, profit-driven corporate domination of our food production, processing, and distribution. We do not have the luxury of social divisions when profiteers seek to enslave and control us all. This event unites people positively in shared awareness of the centrality of fresh, local food for community and human health.

The official Liberty Food Fest invitation to this event is more sanguine than my call to arms here, and offers other good reasons to attend. From the event website:

Are you ready to make the next growing season the best it can be? 

Looking for camaraderie, as the nights get longer, and the winds blow colder?

The local food movement is about bringing people together, expressing gratitude for each other, and getting stronger as a region. 

Join us December 15th and 16th for the Liberty Food Fest in Bellows Falls, VT. 

This celebration of the local food system is going to lift your spirits. 

We’ve got locally-sourced food from the Hungry Diner, and Jamaican Jewelz, as well as live local music. 

We’ve also got some of the top agricultural minds in America:

John Klar is a seventh generation Vermonter who raises grass-fed lamb and beef.  He’s a strong conservative voice for a new solutions-focused vision supporting regional agriculture as outlined in his book- Small Farm Republic.

Joel Salatin is one of the most uplifting, motivational farmers out there, full of new ideas. You’ll leave his talk with an extra pep in your step as you plan out your next growing season. 

Dan Kittredge is one of the foremost minds in the world on our soil, and how we can grow truly healthy plants that will resist disease and outcompete weeds!

Join us for ridiculously-good local food, scintillating discussion with top farmers and cold weather camaraderie!

With Joel at Polyface Farm this summer. (Photo by Jackie Klar.)

I realize many of you are far away, but for those in Vermont or nearby, this is a rare opportunity to hear and meet one of the most genuine and earnest food rights voices in the world today. Joel is highly informed and experienced, amusing, and passionately devoted to the cause of local food security.

Joel speaking at Polyface Farm. Next week he speaks in Vermont!! (Photo by John Klar.)

Supporting these vitally essential ideas about how to improve our soils, food quality, and security, and rebuild our farming culture is perhaps the top issue confronting Americans today. The longer we delay reversing decades of industrial takeover of food production, the harder it will be to reclaim the land, soils, and knowledge that are so rapidly disappearing. Attending this event adds your voice to those of the many fantastic speakers in attendance. It also increases the reach of these important voices, in a rare nonpartisan forum.

Please consider attending this exceptional, terrific event on one or both days. There is also a special dinner gathering on Thursday, December 14. Please share details with others who might take interest. The speakers line-up and schedule demonstrate how much devotion and hard work have been put into making this historic farming celebration happen.

Visiting with Joel in Virginia in February 2023. (Photo by Emily Klar.)

Don’t miss this event! Our food future is crucial for our state and children! This is a precious opportunity to meet the self-styled “Christian libertarian environmentalist capitalist lunatic farmer.”

I will have signed copies of my book Small Farm Republic available on Saturday. I expect Joel, who graciously wrote the foreword to Small Farm Republic, will also sign a few copies for attendees. Let’s show Joel Salatin a warm Vermont winter welcome! If you cannot attend, please consider supporting the organizers with a donation, so that Vermont will host more of these informative, hopeful gatherings in the future.

More information here.

Here is a video of Joel speaking.