I'm still basking in the soft glow of satisfaction from
last night's program .
We had a good turnout. My wife and I brought some pasture raised turkey (several who had only had store bought affair said it was the best turkey they ever tasted) and deviled eggs made with free range eggs. Grady (the
Polyface apprentice ) brought raw milk in large glass jars and gave away dozens of eggs.
The pastor of the church we were screening it at introduced me, and I fumbled around introducing the film. The film itself was absolutely fantastic, of course, even for the third or fourth time. Then I introduced Grady.
Oh, my.
He was fantastic. To see a young farmer who raises his animals according to the precepts of this film and in the Joel Salatin manner give such an inspiring talk made the whole evening. He launched into the theory behind Salatin's operations, described how he was planning to or already was implementing them, and why. The people started in with questions and he just got better and better. I closed my eyes and it could have been Joel Salatin himself up there saying all this stuff. All Grady needs to do is get that homogonized, industrialized, anti-commercialized, unpasteurized and whateverelse-ized cadence that Joel has and you couldn't tell the difference.
Then the preacher dismissed everyone with words about where to find local, sustainably grown food in addition to Grady's farm. Everyone milled around in the foyer, eating food that was grown locally in a manner advocated by the film (much of it my own), with networks being forged that could soon turn into even more successful ventures.
Grady gave me directions and an open invitation to pick his brain I mean visit his farm any time I want. I made new friends. People commented on the wonderful film and the food and the program afterward.
Lastly, if there is anything more satisfying than eating your own food raised and processed on your own farm with your own time and effort, it is watching other people eat that food.
We are going to do it again, and soon.