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Host: Our next speaker[br]will be Joel Salatin

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who is a farmer, lecturer, and author,

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whose books include[br]"You Can Farm", and "Salad Bar Beef".

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Salatin raises livestock using [br]holistic methods of animal husbandry,

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free of potentially harmful chemicals,[br]on his farm in Virginia.

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His farm is featured in the book[br]"The Omnivore's Dilemma"

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and the documentary film "Food, Inc."

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Please welcome Joel Salatin.

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(Cheers) (Applause)

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Joel Saltin: Thank you.

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A lot of people wonder,[br]"How did you get to where you are?"

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And so as I've thought [br]about this presentation,

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I've decided to just give a story[br]of exactly how we got to where we are.

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It doesn't start[br]at the beginning necessarily,

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but it does start with the need[br]of people fleeing their Dilbert cubicles

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being a cog in the wheel[br]of a corporate, global elitist,

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wanting to have [br]a pleasant life in the country

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and asking us to grow[br]ready-to-lay pullets for them.

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Now a pullet, for you uninitiated,[br]a pullet is a non-laying, female chicken.

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OK, like a virgin, or a heifer,[br]or something like that, OK.

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So we started raising these pullets

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for people who wanted them[br]in their backyard

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for their McMansion farmettes[br]out in the countryside.

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(Laughter)

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So we raised these 100 [br]for this lady that called and said,

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"We want 100 pullets."

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We raised it for five months

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- they don't start laying[br]till five months -

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they've got to go through puberty[br]and all that sort of thing.

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So they started laying,[br]and I called the lady, and I said,

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"OK, your pullets have begun laying,[br]now you want to come and pick them up?"

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She said, "Oh, my plans have changed,[br]I'm not going to pick them up."

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Well, we had 100 pullets.

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You know, you don't tell these ladies[br]to just stop laying eggs.

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You don't say, "Put a cork in it!"

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I mean, they just start laying eggs.

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There's nothing to do except collect eggs.

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We had a customer at the time[br]that was a Washington lobbyist, actually,

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and he came down,[br]and we were doing all this ...

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"Buy ten dozen, get one free"[br]promotional things.

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Now, you've got to understand,[br]when we raise chickens,

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we provide a habitat

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that allows the chicken[br]to fully express its chickenness.

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(Laughter)

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The number one question is[br]what is the essence of chicken?

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Because it is in answering that question,[br]the chickenness of the chicken,

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that you actually get the best egg.

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Just like you get the best bacon[br]from the essence of pig.

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You get your best T-bone,

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you get your best tomato[br]from the essence of tomato.

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See, we live in a culture today

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that doesn't ask

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about the essence of pig;

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they simply ask how can we grow it[br]fatter, faster, bigger, cheaper.

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That's all the matters:[br]faster, fatter, bigger, cheaper.

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And so we have this very mechanistic,

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in our Greco-Roman, Western,[br]reductionist, linear, fragmented,

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compartmentalized, disconnected,[br]democratized, individualized,

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parts-oriented thought process,[br]we never think about the whole!

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(Cheers) (Applause)

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And so what happens is, as a culture,

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we basically view that pig or that chicken

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as just an inanimate pile of[br]protoplasmic structure to be manipulated

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however cleverly hubris[br]can imagine to manipulate it.

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And I would suggest that a culture[br]that views its animals and plants

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from that type of manipulative,[br]arrogant, disrespectful attitude,

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will also soon view [br]its citizens the same way,

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and other cultures the same way.

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(Applause)

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So it is asking the chicken,

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"How can we fully allow you[br]to express your chickenness?"

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that gives us not only[br]the essence of chicken

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but therefore, the essence of eggs.

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So we had these eggs,[br]and this customer comes down, and he says,

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"It's immoral for you

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to be doing sale-priced stuff[br]to get rid of these eggs."

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He says, "I'll take a case."

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Now this was a truly entrepreneurial guy,[br]you know, grandpa;

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he and his wife live down[br]in Gainesville, near DC.

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And the next week, [br]he calls and says, "I want two cases."

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Now, a case is 30 dozen.

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The next week, he calls and says,[br]"I want three cases."

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Now I knew that he and his wife[br]were not eating 90 dozen eggs a week.

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(Laughter)

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So I said, "Alright, time to fess up.[br]What are you doing with these eggs?"

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He says, "Well, I'm taking them[br]into these chefs in DC,

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and they've never seen an egg like this,[br]and they're just going euphoric,

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and they want more eggs."

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So he said, "I've got[br]a business proposition."

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He says, "How soon can you get me

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500 dozen a week?"

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I said, "Well, I've got to buy the chicks,[br]I've got to raise them up,

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five, six months,[br]we can probably do that."

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He said, "OK, well,"

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- this is the greatest lie[br]ever invented by man -

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"you raise them, and I'll sell them."

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That's why farmers go out of business,[br]believing things like that.

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But, before you're old and wise,[br]you have to be young and foolish.

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So, we were younger and foolish.

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And we said, "OK, we'll do it."

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So we bought 1,000 little[br]chick pullets, raised them up,

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they began to lay, right when he got [br]very busy with lobby efforts.

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You know, fluoridation[br]of city water systems,

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and vitamins, trying to make[br]them into prescription drugs,

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and all this stuff.

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And he just got too busy to market them.

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Well now, instead of 100 pullets,[br]I had 1,000 pullets.

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(Laughter)

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Big problem!

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So I realized, you know what?

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If it's going to happen,[br]it's going to be me.

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If it's going to be, it's up to me.

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So, I had a retired chef friend,[br]who was cheffing in Charlottsville, VA.

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So I called him up, I said,[br]"Hans, I'm in a problem here.

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I need a hit list.

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I need a hit list of restaurants

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that are interested[br]in the essence of egg."

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(Laughter)

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And he said, "Oh, no problem."

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This was in the days before computers.

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So he got on his typewriter,

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he typed me out [br]about 12 restaurants in the area,

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and mailed them to me,[br]so I just started down the list.

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I said, "Hello, I'm Joel Salatin.

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I've got the world's best egg.[br]I'd like to show it to you."

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I've never had a chef turn me down.

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Because chefs are very artistic,

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you don't see salt shakers[br]in a white tablecloth restaurant,

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they've got bowls[br]so they can feel it and pinch it.

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They don't have little Tupperware[br]white and yolk separators,

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they crack the egg in their hands

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and let the white dribble[br]down through their fingers.

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They get into it; they're sculptors[br]and so they love a new medium.

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And so my son and I[br]- he was a little chumper -

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didn't have a business card[br]at the time, you know,

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so we put some eggs in the car,[br]I called these six, and I said,

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"I've got the world's best egg.[br]I'd like to make an appointment with you."

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So we made six appointments in the day.

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That was what we could compress[br]between morning chores and evening chores.

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Got in the car, put [br]a couple of cases of eggs in there,

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and some sample dozen,

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and drove off to the first appointment.

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We made them one hour apart for six hours.

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And the first place [br]we went to, we went in

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- this was a small, 50-seat,[br]white tablecloth, nicely appointed,

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chef-owner-operated restaurant.

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He was busy, he had burns[br]all up and down his arms.

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You can tell when a chef is a chef;[br]their body's full of burns.

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(Laughter)

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So, he's there; he's got a stove there,[br]and he's a man of a few words.

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I walked in and introduced myself.

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And he said, "OK,"[br]and I opened up a sample dozen.

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He took an egg out, and he had[br]a little, six-inch saucepan there,

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about half-full of water,[br]sitting on the stove,

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not boiling but almost.

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And he cracked the egg into it,[br]dropped in it,

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and it floated.

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And he began studying the essence of egg.

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(Laughter)

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And it captured his attention.

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And waited a few seconds,[br]30 seconds or so,

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then he takes a slotted spoon,[br]a white saucer,

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and he gingerly pulled it out.

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By this time it was clear[br]that he was having an epiphany.

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(Laughter)

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He pulled it out;[br]he dropped it on the saucer.

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And then he put the spoon down,[br]and he began to stroke it.

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(Laughter)

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Like you'd pet a kitten.

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(Laughter)

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Daniel and I are standing there,[br]my son, he's about six years old,

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we're looking at each other,[br]'Whoa, what have we gotten into here?'

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(Laughter)

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And so, of course, I couldn't stand it,[br]I asked the chef, I said,

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"So, what are we doing here?[br]What's the deal?"

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And again, a man of a few words,[br]he says, "I'll show you."

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Of course, they all have[br]some exotic accent

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because they've all been trained[br]in Europe, and Switzerland, and all this.

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So he has a stack of flatted, regular,[br]fecal, confinement factory, salmonella,

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E. coli eggs there standing.

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(Laughter)

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So he takes one of those out,[br]and he drops it in the same pan.

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When the egg hits the water, it explodes.

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The yolk separates from the white.

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The white turns into what look like [br]little (sound effect) packing peanuts

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little nurlies.

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He points at it, and he says,[br]"I can't serve that."

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He said, "I'll buy 30 dozen on the spot."

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I just happened to have a case with me,[br]you know, just in case ...

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in case we struck it rich.

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So, ran out to the car, got one.

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Now, we were asking him[br]to pay three times the price,

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and cut a separate check.

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If you've been in restaurant marketing,[br]you know that's suicide.

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Fortunately, we were too dumb[br]to know it was suicide.

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So we went where angels fear to tread.

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And we went in there with this,[br]and he bought them on the spot,

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became a very loyal customer.

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Several weeks later, we found out[br]the second part of the story,

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and that was that the very next morning,

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the very next morning,[br]he was having a meeting

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of all of his staff to get together[br]because, it turns out,

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unknown to us,[br]that for this little restaurant,

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the only one of 50[br]in the Charlottsville area,

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the only one that had this[br]as their centerpiece menu item

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- all restaurants evolve around[br]a kind of a centerpiece menu item,

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their forte, alright? -

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well this one, their signature menu item,

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was Sunday brunch, water-poached egg[br]in hollandaise sauce.

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And the following morning[br]after we showed up,

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he had called together his whole staff[br]to look at all their options,

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and their gifts, and talents,[br]and resources, client base, and all that,

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and decide what's the substitute[br]for their signature menu item

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because they could not get enough eggs[br]to hold together to make it work.

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And I'd always enjoy - and I always get[br]chill bumps every time I tell that story,

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and I've told it a million times -

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but the point of the story is

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that if we devote ourselves

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to sacredness in our vocations,

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the world will rise to meet us.

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And I think too often in our culture,[br]we don't have sacredness,

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we don't have honor, we don't have[br]nobility of personal ministry.

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That story illustrates the essence of egg,

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and the essence of chicken.

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And that is why they eat bugs,[br]and grubs, and run on green grass;

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and that's why we move them[br]to a fresh salad bar every day.

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And that's why we practice[br]nature's template and biomimicry,

0:12:31.334,0:12:33.641
and move the Eggmobiles behind the cows,

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so the chickens can mimic the birds[br]that follow the wildebeests

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on the Serengeti,[br]but do this in Swoope, Virginia,

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and scrapes through the cow paddies,[br]sanitize the paddock

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so we don't have to shoot[br]the cows up with Ivomec

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and things that make them eat so bad,[br]it kills all the bugs.

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That's all illustrative[br]of why we do what we do.

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And so, in essence, all of us, every day,

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we are writing a story and a legacy[br]that will be told about us.

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And wouldn't it cheapen our lives

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if we're just doing the expedient thing?

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Just putting in my time; doing my job.

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I'm so tired of hearing people[br]that dismiss mediocrity,

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and dismiss even dishonorable deeds,[br]with, "I'm just doing my job."

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What, did you check your mind at the door?

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Did you check your conscience at the door?

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And so, on our farm, we have been deeply[br]and greatly blessed over these years

0:13:39.494,0:13:43.822
to serve 50 restaurants,[br]and 2,500 families,

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and to be able to see[br]the growth of the operation,

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but you know what?

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We still don't and never have had[br]a sales plan or a marketing target.

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We've never had a benchmark[br]that we're hitting.

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In fact, we've now made[br]ten value statements

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that are anti-Wall Street to keep us true

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to a value of faithfulness.

0:14:08.263,0:14:11.394
Because what I've found[br]is that serendipitously,

0:14:11.395,0:14:16.861
my success is tied[br]to the cumulative effect

0:14:16.862,0:14:23.826
of everyday stories and faithfulness[br]to injecting sacredness and nobility

0:14:23.827,0:14:27.811
into every little action of my day.

0:14:27.812,0:14:33.564
And when we put that kind of ministry

0:14:33.565,0:14:37.015
- ours is a ministry of healing the land -

0:14:38.385,0:14:43.965
and when we allow that kind of sacredness[br]and that kind of nobility

0:14:43.966,0:14:47.263
to permeate every one of our actions,

0:14:48.424,0:14:53.843
the world will be ennobled,

0:14:53.844,0:14:56.750
the world will indeed rise up to meet us

0:14:56.751,0:15:00.585
as we leave our legacies and our stamp,

0:15:00.609,0:15:03.762
of our life, our life's story,

0:15:03.763,0:15:07.712
as it becomes our stories for our children[br]and their grandchildren,

0:15:07.713,0:15:10.131
what will they tell about us?

0:15:10.132,0:15:12.301
And if they will tell about us,

0:15:12.302,0:15:17.614
"He or she was a person[br]of nobility and sacredness

0:15:17.615,0:15:20.265
in every aspect of their life,"

0:15:21.035,0:15:25.730
we will have raised a great legacy

0:15:26.611,0:15:29.201
for our families and our heritage.

0:15:29.781,0:15:31.220
Thank you very much.

0:15:31.220,0:15:32.781
(Applause)