Folks, This Ain't Normal

A Farmer's Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World

By: Joel Salatin

Narrated by: Joel Salatin

Length: 15 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

From farmer Joel Salatin's point of view, life in the 21st century just ain't normal. Here, he discusses how far removed we are from the simple, sustainable joy that comes from living close to the land and the people we love. Salatin has many thoughts on what normal is and shares practical and philosophical ideas for changing our lives in small ways that have big impacts.

>Salatin, hailed by the New York Times as "Virginia's most multifaceted agrarian since Thomas Jefferson [and] the high priest of the pasture", and profiled in the Academy Award-nominated documentary Food, Inc. and the best-selling book The Omnivore's Dilemma, understands what food should be: wholesome, seasonal, raised naturally, procured locally, prepared lovingly, and eaten with a profound reverence for the circle of life.

And his message doesn't stop there. From child-rearing to creating quality family time, to respecting the environment, Salatin writes with a wicked sense of humor and true storyteller's knack for the revealing anecdote.

Salatin's crucial message and distinctive voice - practical, provocative, scientific, and down-home philosophical in equal measure - makes Folks, This Ain't Normal a must-listen book.

©2011 Joel Salatin (P)2011 Hachette

A Rare Piece of Wisdom

If you could sum up Folks, This Ain't Normal in three words, what would they be?

This great piece of everyday wisdom needs more than three words. because it's the kind that manages to escape many people because they are so dazzled by our push button society, basic common sense gets tossed in favor of modernization. Yet, scholars and think tanks are repeatedly admitting that we lost something in the last century and all anyone has to do is scream out "_______ rights" or "innovation" and the waters are muddied and minds clouded over with a lemming-like attitude. We lost our basic wisdom of living. We have become an ant hill society. We chose to abandon contentment for instant gratification, and replaced "love thy neighbor" with "dog eat dog" and "keeping up with the Jonses". You know what we really lost? The American dream. Joel Santalin, among a few others, has managed to find it.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

Joel's main focus of this book was to sound an alarm. We are so busy being busy, we don't give ourselves enough time to really look at what is happening to our food. We told DC to solve our food shortages, cost, and freshness issues for us through the FDA and ended up with a Frankenstein industry called factory food. Then we allowed our Congress to pass laws allowing chemical labs to patent and own the exclusive rights to any genetically altered seeds they produced. We didn't even bother to ask the question collectively yet, "should we even be making genetically altered seeds and trying to manipulate the gene pool for food animals?" "How will these new foods affect our bodies?" "How will they affect the soil?" Then our government created a monster called Monsanto. This company regularly breaks antitrust laws and sues it's neighbors into bankruptcy all in the name of protecting its own products. Then it tries to fix the market in order to make sure that only Monsanto's seeds are used. It does this with corn, soy, canola, and more crops. The seeds don't even qualify for organic due to the variant of round up that is engineered into the seeds.

Which character – as performed by Joel Salatin – was your favorite?

Joel narrated his own book and did a good job. He is a personable speaker.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me pay attention. I've already heard about Monsanto, it's engineered crops, factory farms and terrorist tactics with the other farmers. As people we need to remember that whoever controls the food supply controls the world. Even bankers gotta eat. Our government is quite capable of giving carte blanche to a company like Monsanto and ignoring everyone else while said company gains control of all the viable farmland in all the countries and then controlling the food supply. There is no good way to moderate the food supply equitably through one entity. Countless personal human rights will end if the US migrates to a corporate controlled society. The more independent farmers we have (let's take it to all industries) the more independent business people American supports, the healthier the country and economy.

Any additional comments?

We are natural creatures living on a fluid and organic planet. If we will let go of the idea of dominion and embrace stewardship, we can do a better job of listening to God and loving our neighbors. Our current romance with technology has us in the precarious position of becoming mechanically maintained, faded copies of who we should be.

Very patriarchal, but still a lot of great points

Some of the author's "old fashioned" thinking was patriarchal and sexist, even though he said it was not. It was. However, he makes A LOT of valid points about our food industry and what we have come to view as a "normal" today. Just because you can't do everything to solve society's problems in a day, doesn't mean you are powerless. Do something. plant a tomato in a pot, set up a worm composter, do something before it is too late.

Wonderful!

Next you should watch Food Inc. or Polyface farms documentaries, and listen/read wonderful pigness of pigs!

Witty, real, informative and down-to-earth

This is a must read for anyone who cares anything about the quality of the food you eat or the freedom to choose the food you eat.

There is an abundance of information in this book that covers so many facets of our food in general and the industrial food system versus heritage and traditional food systems. You might even say it's an over abundance. Read or listen several times over. It's worth every minute many times over!

Each re-read will give you another "ah ha!" that you didn't catch the first time around.

Read this book and share it with as many others as possible.

Great book, with very sensible solutions!

Joel Salatin hits the mark, hard. If they would only listen, we would all win.

This Country needs a country wisdom museum

If you could sum up Folks, This Ain't Normal in three words, what would they be?

Joel Salatin touches on a wide range of farm and country living subjects that nearly all of America would have known as self-evident truths just few generations ago. The total isolation that today's children and adults have from where their food comes from and how it is raised is, or should be, alarming. Our government in full partnership with the giant agricultural factory farms are working to shut local farmers out of the marketplace and regulate private small holdings farmers out of existence.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

The most compelling part of Joel's narrative is how he touched upon my own personal experiences. I grew up spending summers visiting family in and around the Smokey and Appalachian Mountains. My favorite thing was to get the old timers talking about how things where, then go out and either slip back in the room quietly or go sit outside the window where I could hear. It is a terrible shame that we're loosing the history of how to tend the land and work in concert with nature to the benifit the farmers and their families, the communities they support, and the land itself.

What does Joel Salatin bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The first thing a farmer should grow is a funny-bone. A good-natured sense of humor and the ability to laugh is a must in any walk of life, but I'd imagine it's more necessary in a life that brushes up against federal, state, local government, and vegan animal rights nut-jobs on such a regular basis.

Joel's wit and humor just shine throughout the book. I oftentimes find myself laughing out-loud as he tells some of the stories that come along with having an open-gates policy where even the radical animal rights people are welcome.

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

I already had some exposure to Joel Salatin from coming across videos of his polyface farm while I was researching to find the right chicken coop for my backyard.... incidentally, chicken ordinances concerning backyard chickens are almost universally written to disadvantage the working poor who cannot afford huge manicured lawns or farmland. In my area for example you may have 5 chickens and it goes farther to include that 1 of the five be a rooster. A rooster is totally unnecessary to the production of eggs, but as soon as he crows and the neighbors call, you are charged with creating a public nuisance, fined, and made to surrender all of your birds.... you might even make the evening news because when they show up it's in police vehicles with the lights on and more often than not weapons are drawn... think TV movie style drug-raid... except with chickens.

Any additional comments?

The book might educate you a bit or not, but it will surely entertain the socks off you.

Great Audiobook

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Definitely.

Any additional comments?

I liked that this audiobook was narrated by Joel Salatin. He personalized it in a way that only an author could. This book is eye-opening for people who don't know what a mess that well-intentioned government officials have created. But it also gives practical suggestions that anyone can do to make a change.

We've Been Brainwashed

Few books are truly life shaking. This is one of those books. Joel Salatin, with his down to earth gravelly voice and demeanor, shares information and experiences that will change the way you view your food, your farmer, your government, and your life. His narration is easy to listen to from start to finish. You will need to listen to this book more than once to absorb so much information. Five stars!

Eye-opening food for thought

Excellent resource. His tips at the end of each chapter give hope and leave you feeling empowered.

Best book I've ever read.

This book is inspiring, informative, and so well-done that I can count it among my top 3 most worthwhile reads ever.