All Flesh Is Grass: The Pleasures and Promises of Pasture Farming PDF
Preview All Flesh Is Grass: The Pleasures and Promises of Pasture Farming
00FM_i-xiv 7/1/04 2:13 PM Page i All Flesh Is Grass 00FM_i-xiv 7/1/04 2:13 PM Page ii 00FM_i-xiv 7/1/04 2:13 PM Page iii All Flesh Is Grass The Pleasures and Promises of Pasture Farming GENE LOGSDON SWALLOW PRESS / OHIO UNIVERSITY PRESS ATHENS 00FM_i-xiv 7/1/04 2:13 PM Page iv Swallow Press / Ohio University Press,Athens,Ohio www.ohio.edu/oupress © by Gene Logsdon Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved Swallow Press / Ohio University Press books are printed on acid-free paper ƒ™ Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Logsdon,Gene. All flesh is grass :the pleasures and promises of pasture farming / Gene Logsdon. p.cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN ---(cloth :alk.paper) — ISBN ---(pbk.:alk. paper) . Pastures.. Forage plants.. Grazing. I.Title. SB.L .'—dc 00FM_i-xiv 7/1/04 2:13 PM Page v To Richard Gilbert 00FM_i-xiv 7/1/04 2:13 PM Page vi 00FM_i-xiv 7/1/04 2:13 PM Page vii Contents Preface ix Giving Thanks xi Acknowledgments xiii 1. Pasture Farming,the Newest and Oldest Agriculture 2. How I Came to Pasture Farming 3. Some Commercial Grass Farms 4. A Pasture Garden 5. Good Fences Still Make Good Neighbors 6. Water in Every Paddock 7. Pasturing Horses, Mules, and Donkeys 8. Sheep on Pasture 9. Milk and Beef from Pasture Cows 10. The Rising Farm Interest in Goats 11. Root, Hog, or Die 12. Chickens, Ducks, Geese, and Turkeys Love to Graze 13. Bluegrass, Ryegrass, and White Clover 14. Alfalfa, Red Clover, and Ladino Clover 15. Legumes of Regional Importance 16. Other Noteworthy Pasture Grasses 00FM_i-xiv 7/1/04 2:13 PM Page viii 17. Grains for Grazing 18. Other Plants with Pasture Potential 19. Weeds—the Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful 20. Making Hay and Silage 21. Trees in the Pasture 22. A Walk on the Wild Side Annotated Bibliography Index VIII CONTENTS 00FM_i-xiv 7/1/04 2:13 PM Page ix Preface To try in one book to appeal to the commercial farmer,the home food producer,and all consumers who seriously care about their food is not easy.But food production is in such a crucial state of bewilderment and ambiguity that I willingly take the risk involved. Commercial grain and livestock farmers languish in self doubt and discouragement be- cause they must depend on government subsidies to make a decent profit. And the more they are driven by economics to seek profita- bility in quantity production, the louder the outcry from consumers worried about food quality. Harmful microorganisms like salmonella and listeria in conventionally produced animal foods have become se- rious,even deadly,dangers.Though highly exaggerated,the threatof mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) is scaring con- sumers away from conventional sources of beef. Grass farming,or what I call pasture farming—what this book is about—is a solution to the dilemma.Unfortunately,most commercial farmers are as yet unable or unwilling to take the financial risk re- quired to switch from factory farming to pastoral farming and not enough consumers realize what all is at stake. But a tide of informa- tion about this new kind of farming and the quality food it produces is rising. This book adds to it. There is a compelling reason behind my writing. We live now in times as precarious as human history has ever recorded,at least men- tally,which is the worst kind of precariousness.Beset by violence,eco- nomic instability, and ecological deterioration over which we seem to have no control, we feel helpless. The human race has become afraid of itself.In this quandary,people are trying to take their lives back into their own hands. Instead of mutely bowing before the mass psychol- ogy of violence and fear that infects society,individuals are taking steps to at least secure their homes—their food supply,their fuel supply,and their shelter. They are establishing homeland security not as political farce but in the vital,original meaning of the term.Most of them are 00FM_i-xiv 7/1/04 2:13 PM Page x moving out of cities, which seem more vulnerable than the country- side,but quite a few are also making their stand right within the urban world. It is for all these people, whatever their occupations, that I write this book. In doing so,I must caution the reader not to expect much agree- ment among pasture farmers over the finer points of what they are doing. Their science is only in the developmental stage. And their art, like all art, is individual and particular. No artist worthy of the name ever completely agrees with anyone. X PREFACE
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