Our trip to Polyface Farm

Joel ringing the bell to start the “Lunatic Farmer Tour”

We took a short vacation a couple of weeks ago and were able to time it with the first Lunatic Farmer Tour of the season at Polyface Farm in Swoop Virginia. And, the tour was led by the “Lunatic Farmer” himself – Joel Salatin!

These pictures show how he raises his meat chickens, laying hens, pigs and beef cattle. Joel was open to any questions that anyone had for him and the farm is open to visitors every day except Sunday.

The day before we went to Polyface, we took a drive through the Shenandoah National Forest. At several of the scenic overlook spots we could see long buildings down in the valley. When we got down the the valley, we know what they were before we could even see them. Such a shame that the beautiful Shenandoah Valley is being ruined be large confinement chicken buildings. And that these people don’t choose to raise their animals like Joel does. There was absolutely no offensive smell on his farm – not even from the pigs! When asked what his neighbors think of the way he raises animals, Joel’s response was that they think he’s a bio-terrorist because he doesn’t use any drugs or antibiotics.

My favorite quote from the day “There’s nothing quite as useless as doing with great efficiency something that shouldn’t be done in the first place”