You know what the best kind of organic certification would be? Make an unannounced visit to a farm and take a good long look at the farmer’s bookshelf. Because what you’re feeding your emotions and thoughts is what this is really all about. The way I produce a chicken is an extension of my worldview. You can learn more about that by seeing what’s sitting on my bookshelf than having me fill out a whole bunch of forms.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes that the values and beliefs of a person shape their practices more than formal certifications.
Joel Salatin highlights the importance of understanding the underlying beliefs and philosophies that drive a farmer's practices. He suggests that the true essence of organic farming goes beyond certifications and regulatory forms; it's rooted in the farmer's worldview, which can be discerned by examining their bookshelf. This perspective emphasizes the connection between knowledge, personal values, and the methods employed in food production.
In practice
This quote could be shared at a sustainable farming conference to provoke thought on the deeper values of agriculture.
This magical, marvelous food on our plate, this sustenance we absorb, has a story to tell. It has a journey. It leaves a footprint. It leaves a legacy. To eat with reckless abandon, without conscience, without knowledge; folks, this ain't normal.
Too often, parents whose children express an interest in farming squelch it because they envision dirt, dust, poverty, and hermit living. But great stories come out of great farming.
Amazingly, we’ve become a culture that considers Twinkies, Cocoa Puffs, and Mountain Dew safe, but raw milk and compost-grown tomatoes unsafe.
Despite all the hype about local or green food, the single biggest impediment to wider adoption is not research, programs, organizations, or networking. It is the demonizing and criminalizing of virtually all indigenous and heritage-based food practices.
Don't you find it odd that people will put more work into choosing their mechanic or house contractor than they will into choosing the person who grows their food?
They take the circuits out of people’s brains that make it possible for them to think for themselves. Their world is like the one that George Orwell depicted in his novel. I’m sure you realize that there are plenty of people who are looking for exactly that kind of brain death. It makes life a lot easier. You don’t have to think about difficult things, just shut up and do what your superiors tell you to do.
He was constantly reminded of how startlingly different a place the world was when viewed from a point only three feet to the left.
The world of crime is a last refuge of the authentic, uncorrupted, spontaneous event.
It costs God nothing, so far as we know, to create nice things: but to convert rebellious wills cost Him crucifixion.
The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border?
And the men who loan money to governments, so called, for the purpose of enabling the latter to rob, enslave, and murder their people, are among the greatest villains that the world has ever seen. And they as much deserve to be hunted and killed (if they cannot otherwise be got rid of) as any slave traders, robbers, or pirates that ever lived.
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