Amazing day at Polyface

  Most people look at me like a mental patient when I start talking about food. They look at me like I have 3 heads when I talk about antibiotics and resistance being built up due to the meat we eat. I get even stranger looks when I tell them I haven't bought any beef or eggs, very little pork and even less chicken at the grocery store in years. I am pretty sure I lose them completely with CAFO and GMO.
Today, was different. Today, under a perfect sky, I sat on one of three hay wagons fully loaded with people who were like me! Consumers, farmers, wanna be farmers and backyard growers. Old, young, hipster, suburbanite, soccer mom, hillbilly. Just my wagon neighbors were from as far away as NY and Iowa. No one looked confused by talk of sustainability, land stewardship, free range, pastured, grass fed. We all shared a common thread. Wanting better from our food and better for our planet. I felt right at home among over 100 strangers.

I had some time to continue reading Joel Salatin's newest book on the drive there. It was so surreal to pull in the driveway to Polyface and be in the midst of it. To see the things first hand that I had read about and seen on countless documentaries and interviews. It kind of felt like to going to visit a long lost friend.

Daniel, Joel's son, led our tour. The passion for what they do there is so evident in everyone we met. Hubs said when we were leaving, "They seemed so genuinely happy to be there" and I think they really are. Why wouldn't they be? The grass is even greener on their side of the fence. Literally.

This side of the fence is Polyface, the other is the neighbor. See the grass is greener!

The pigs look like pigs. They look happy and dirty, like pigs. I was overwhelmed with how "right" it all seemed. I suddenly realized what Joel means by the chickeness of the chickens. You really can't help but smile surrounded by it all. Happy animals behaving as nature intended them.

Have you ever seen a happier pig?!

I knew what to expect, I had seen most of it on my television, but there was something so special about standing among so many like minded people seeing and smelling and touching it all. It is so clear that they love what they do, they love the land they tend and love the animals that sustain them.
The simple beauty of it all will stay with me for a very long time.

We couldn't leave empty handed. Check back tomorrow to learn more about the amazing rabbit we had for dinner.