The Rural Voice, 1999-04, Page 22painless changes. to use our buildings
differently. to :Ise the equipment
differently. Minimizing single -use
equipment like combines creates an
atmosphere of flexibility.
4. Stacking complementary
enterprises. Here is a typical
scenario: Mom and Dad are 50; son
or daughter is 20. Child wants to
farm but parents say: "The farm
won't provide two incomes." Child
goes to tov n for work. Ten years go
by. Mom and Dad are early 60s.
slow ing down and looking at
retirement. They call up child: "We'd
like you to come back to the farm."
Child responds: "Well, that's nice.
but Em 33, have two kids, nice 40IK
(pension) plan, several promotions,
paid medical and finally got my
fourth week of paid vacation this
year. Thanks, but no thanks."
Another farm goes on the auction
block.
Wemust encourage the next
generation to build a
salaried position on the
existing land, machinery and
building base in a way that
complements the entire farm, a true
symbiotic relationship. For example,
any dairy, sheep or beef cattle
operation can also support a poultry
enterprise. A crop farm can support
hogs and poultry. A truck farm can
•Support hogs and poultry. A hog and
poultry farm can support a
greenhouse or vegetable enterprise.
My point is that diversifying into
additional enterprises can allow the
next generation to "get in" without
assuming the heavy capital costs of
land, buildings and machinery. In
addition, the parents get the
advantage of youthful energy,
creativity and enthusiasm.
As an example, let me describe
what happens in one year on one of
our 20 -acre pastures. Here is the
gross income per acre:
Beef $ 300
Eggs $ 800
Broilers $ 2,500
Turkeys $ 1,500
This does not require appreciable
capital expenditure beyond the beef
cattle. It all happens on the same
acreage, just at different times of the
year. What we're talking about here
is income-producing opportunities
for additional family members as
they stack complementary enterprises
on an existing farm. An orchard can
18 THE RURAL VOICE
produce poultry and sheep under the
trees. Perhaps even egg -laying ducks
could be added. Bramble fruits can
grow under orchard trees in true
permaculture fashion.
The opportunities are limitless to
create additional income using
existing land, buildings and
equipment.
5. Aesthetics. Few things destroy
children's incentives quicker than
apologizing for ugliness and dealing
with sick plants or animals. Our
farms must be places of health and
beauty, places where our children
love to entertain friends rather than
having to apologize in
embarrassment for the pile of dead
pigs outside the concentration camp
door or the mudhole of a beef loafing
yard.
Certainly every farm will have
losses, whether to frost or sickness,
but that should be rare indeed. As a
rule, we should not be having to put
animals through stressful situations
like shots and headgates. Our models
must light up an innocent child's
Farms must be places
where children love to
entertain their friends
eyes with awe and wonder, with
pleasant sights, smells and sounds.
Even processing animals is beautiful
if the carcasses are unblemished and
portray that bloom of health.
As farmers, we must maintain the
aura of food and landscape artisans.
We are not just minions caught in the
cog of multinational machinery, but
rather landscape sculptors,
production artists. Any view Tess than
that is not noble enough to romance
the next generation into it, and
certainly not enough to inspire
toward integrity, ministry, excellence
and accountability. Staying away
from the industrial paradigm is one
of the most positive steps to keeping
our children on the farm.
6. Contented economy and function.
Peer dependency destroys farms. We
must cultivate in our children
happiness in being different. If the
neighbours all drive John Deeres and
we have a rusty Minneapolis Moline,
that's fine. Dads, let your children
take a board and pound it full of
nails. Don't complain when they
bend them over, either. How are they
going to learn to drive a straight nail
if they don't practice? "Good enough
is perfect" speaks to the functional
aspect we need to appreciate.
Dad never cared if my corners
were 85 degrees. as long as the gate
worked or the roof shed water. He
was a meticulous carpenter, and
could have built grandfather clocks.
But he didn't complain about my
crude woodworking, giving me the
freedom to go ahead and build things
even though they didn't look perfect.
What are we really after. a fence that
looks better than the neighbours' or
one that turns cows?
We need to cultivate pride in
scrounging. being able to
do more with less, being
able to build something out of
salvage lumber, or recycling
"treasures" out of the dumpster. We
rescued a whole valley full of
discarded metal nest boxes, and our
$50,000 a year egg enterprise thrives
because of it, thank you very much.
We must keep our perspectives about
what is really important. What is
really important is function, not
form. We can destroy initiative in a
minute with a critical word about
form. Let's praise instead.
Yes, we can talk about organics.
sustainability, biodynamics. saving
the earth or whatever, but it doesn't
mean anything until we create an
agricultural paradigm that romances
the next generation into farming.
Let's dream of grandkids' laughter
ornamenting our homes, fields and
farms.°
Joel Salatin, a pioneer in the
production and marketing of grass -
based livestock products, writes
about how he and his family make a
comfortable, sustainable living on
their 550 acre Virginia farm.
Salatin's book, Pastured Poultry
Profit$: Net $25,000 in 6 months on
20 acres, helped launch the current
revolution in pastured poultry
farming. He has also written Salad
Bar Beef and You Can Farm: The
Entrepreneur's Guide to Start and
Succeed in a Farming Enterprise. The
Salatins now market poultry, beef.
pork, eggs and rabbit meat direct to
more than 400 consumers. Their
operation has been featured in
National Geographic, The New
Farm, Stockman Grass Farmer and
numerous other publications.