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 Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal. 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, Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal 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.
Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal: War Stories From the Local Food Front by Joel Salatin
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