Homesteading Water: Part 1 — Confessions of a Steward Guest Post, September 5, 2023 Share this:By Joel Salatin, Plain Values Water is the prerequisite to life. Some living things don’t need sunlight, some don’t even need soil, but all living things need water. Certainly, when we think about water, the first source that comes to mind is rain. But rain is not consistent, and most… Continue Reading
Homesteading Small Efficiency — Confessions of a Steward Guest Post, August 15, 2023August 15, 2023 Share this:By Joel Salatin, Plain Values For decades, I’ve been direct marketing our farm’s production directly to retail customers as a direct-marketed, branded product. That means our farm embraces the role of middle-man and we have a logo. We practice craft rather than commodity. The Harvard Business Review analyzed the difference… Continue Reading
Homesteading Moving Animals Around Pt. 2 — Confessions of a Steward Guest Post, July 31, 2023 Share this:By Joel Salatin, Plain Values Last month I laid the foundation for the patterns and whys of animal movement. Failure to systematically and routinely move domestic livestock is perhaps the single biggest failure in animal agriculture. But how? Fortunately, we have infrastructure today that makes learning ancient herding techniques unnecessary…. Continue Reading
Homemaking Start-Up Farm — Confessions of a Steward Guest Post, July 27, 2023 Share this:By Joel Salatin, Plain Values The single biggest cost—and hurdle—in starting a farm of any size is the land cost. Our own nation has gone from free land to extremely expensive land. Old farmers today who acquired their land in the 1960s often have a hard time appreciating the land… Continue Reading
Christian Living Animals Move — Confessions of a Steward Guest Post, June 6, 2023 Share this:by Joel Salatin, Plain Values In animal husbandry and livestock production, probably the most common violation of God’s design is failure to mimic animal movement. Whether it’s a horse paddock, dog run, or a 1,000 cow herd, keeping animals requires intentional and managed movement. Studying God’s design in nature reveals… Continue Reading
Homesteading Confessions of a Steward — Carbon Development on the Farm Guest Post, May 3, 2023May 3, 2023 Share this:by Joel Salatin, Plain Values Last month I introduced the concept of the carbon economy for soil fertility and the numerous ways God designed soil fertility and development to run on sunbeams converted to biomass. From bison on the prairie to wildebeests on the Serengeti, perennial prairie polycultures pruned by… Continue Reading
Homesteading Confessions of a Steward — Carbon Economy Guest Post, April 4, 2023April 4, 2023 Share this:By Joel Salatin, Plain Values Five hundred years ago, North America produced more food than it does today. That should stir your imagination and make your heart race. Decades ago, as I was studying controlled livestock grazing, I was amazed that production per acre in wild systems exceeded production in… Continue Reading
Parallel Economy Confessions of a Steward Guest Post, February 27, 2023February 27, 2023 Share this:The Creator’s Pattern By Joel Salatin, Plain Values In 1961 as our family looked out over this newly-acquired farm property with its rocks, gullies, and weeds, we needed a roadmap to healing. In our imagination, we could see fertile fields, filled-in gullies, and soil-covered rocks, but how to get there… Continue Reading