Joel Salatin

I do not feel I am one to have many personal heroes, but after watching Food, Inc., and reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, Joel Salatin fast became a true hero of mine (and of Jarrett's). Mr. Salatin is a farmer at Polyface Farms, and he and his family have taken farming to a whole new level. Forget organic -- they truly farm the way God intended His land to be farmed. On their Web site, they state that they are in the "redemption business: healing the land, healing the food, healing the economy, and healing the culture." You can read all about their production system here. It is amazing. And it is good.

And not only is Joel a farmer, but he is extremely bright, and very passionate about what he does. Listen to him speak just once, and you will quickly toss away any dumb, dirt-kicking, tobacco-chewing, farmer stereotypes you hold onto.

Because Jarrett and I are such fans of Joel, it seemed fitting that when Elsa received a LEGO Duplo farm for her birthday, we named one of the farmers "Joel Salatin." I think it really only took one day of us calling this little man by name for Elsa to catch on and start calling him "Joel Salatin" herself. And she knows exactly which LEGO man is Joel -- the one with the red hat and overalls. All other LEGO people are simply, "man," "woman," or "little man."

Here is some footage of Elsa playing with "Joel Salatin." We are so tempted to send this to Joel himself.