Saving the landscape, rebuilding entrepreneurial rural families, and protecting nutritious food are the themes of this timeless treatise-hence the word "testament." Delving into the soul of the Salatin family's nationally acclaimed Polyface Farm, author Joel Salatin offers Family Friendly Farming as the key to dealing with resource issues, food policy, and social fabric.
With humor and personal stories, he opens his family and farm convictions for all to see, share, and enjoy. Written from his unabashed "Christian libertarian environmentalist capitalist" perspective, his ideas are guaranteed to encourage and challenge virtually every "ism" in the culture. It will captivate anyone passionate about healing the land, healing families, and healing the food supply.
For several decades young people have been leaving the family farm. The ones left behind are now responsible for society's greatest resources: clean land and clean food. Anyone dedicated to preserving these resources will find in these pages a nongovernmental, self-empowerment approach to environmentalism and food safety.
The heart of this book is aimed toward parents tired of their Dilbert cubicle at the end of the expressway who want to reconnect with their children through a pastoral lifestyle. It's written for anyone who yearns to grow old working with and being adored by value-sharing grandchildren and honored by passionate, productive adult children. Family Friendly Farming can make any family business more viable and any family more functional.
The ten-chapter section on how to get the kids to love the farm is an invaluable addition to any collection of child-rearing manuals. Salatin moves from the family team-building section into a practical discussion on how to increase income per acre and create new, white-collar salaries without buying more land, equipment, or buildings. He deals with the unique and thorny issues surrounding any family business by using his own multi-generational family farm experience as his base for insight and wisdom.

Average Customer Review: ( 14 customer reviews )
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For the Wendell Berry devotees, this is a practical way to live the agrarian life.

It is well written, only occasionally preachy, and well worth the money. This is not a "how to" book. Try his books "Salad Bar Beef", "Pastured Poultry Profits" and "You Can Farm" for the nuts and bolts of what he has accomplished. The guy is exceptional.

25 of 25 found the following review helpful:

This is what I think farming should be.Apr 15, 2003
By Dallas Koenig
This is the first book which I received from a group of my fellow employees when they found out I was venturing into buying a farm that my family and I could run. What an Eye opener!! I could hardly put the book down-- and my wife also flew through it. The downside of the book is it's visual stimulation, the busy rhetoric that Joel sometimes uses and the lack of details that are offered for construction methods,( how to get started from scratch etc.. But , don't let these small points dissuade you from ordering this book... it's wonderful, imaginative and very "catchy"... I look forward to more reading and following through on the ideas presented by Joel and his wonderful sounding family.

28 of 29 found the following review helpful:

Inspired my family to change and follow our dreamsOct 29, 2003
By J. Goodhue "Bookworm"
Family Friendly Farming is about the recentering of your family on the important parts like your children. Every agrarian should read this book, kids or no kids. Do you want your hard work today to be carried on , or subdivided into housing?
This book was inspiring to my husband and I. After reading Pastured Poultry, we purchased all of them, as well as other small farm books and have completely changed our lives. We moved to a state with less restricitve, and more farmer friendly laws, and are working towards getting a small farm for ourselves and our kids. Joel offers alternatives to passing on the farm in Trusts, etc. Let yourself be inspired to dream!

22 of 23 found the following review helpful:

A Life Changing Book!Sep 30, 2004
By Nicole Pope "kanpope"
After reading this book, we have definitively decided to move so that we can begin hobby farming with the goal of creating a life sustaining farm! Joel Salatin's philosophies (from this book, You Can Farm, Pastured Poultry Profits, and Salad Bar Beef) will be the foundation in which we build our family friendly farm. A must read if you are a parent (on the farm or not!), you are thinking about farming, dream of farming, or are already on the farm and want to make your lifestyle more family friendly. Thanks Joel!

21 of 23 found the following review helpful:

A must have.Sep 02, 2005
By S. Willis
I have read all but one of Joel Salatins books and every page is like feasting on chocolate. I have not been able to put them down. His wonderful books underline what is so important to me and they easily explain how to make family friendly farming work for you. No bells, no whistles, just pure simple advice.

His Faith in God shows in all his words, as well as his love for his family and his lifesyle.

We have been trying to find a way out of this rat race that we find ourselves in and want to give our children and ourselves a way to enjoy the land and Gods simple pleasures.

Our dreams have changed, and we are going to do everything we can to make that dream happen for us and our children.

We homeschool already and are ready to take that next step.

Joel Salatins books are the best investment we have ever made in our lives to date.

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