Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal: War Stories from the Local Food Front

I loved this book from the first page and still love it as I continue to read it now. ( not finished yet, but I only started it this afternoon) I am so moved by it that it made me curious to see what the other readers think and how they have reviewed the book. Once I started reading reviews I simply had to add my own thoughts.The man is brave. He is honest. He is passionate about the things he believes. So sad that people who are afraid to know (or show) such passion have given it a few poor reviews. Whether you agree with every word or not makes no difference. The main premise of the book is that there seems to be a law against almost everything natural, these days. Most of these things were just normal a century ago. It would have been inconceivable to people to imagine that one could not slaughter an animal on one's own land. The regulations about dwellings and construction are silly in the context of the writer's way of life and his personal wishes.We put up with these things and just keep going, but we are wrong to do so. The TSA is a travesty. The FDA is totally corrupt. But only a few people speak up. Why is this? Are they afraid? Are they asleep? Are they stupid? Or are they just sheep?I hear all the time "The Government should do something " about this or that. NO! We should do something about it. NOT the government. When did we become such wimps? We have been brainwashed into believing we cannot change things. But we can. And we must. Joel is taking a lot of flack, but he is essentially correct.We need an organization such as the NRA to protect the right of farmers to grow what they like. It will also protect our right to eat and drink as we please. It is hard for me to believe that (lethal) MacDonalds is legal, but (healthy) raw milk is not.Women go to the hospital to have babies because they believe they will be safe there, when in fact they would be safer at home amoung their own germs, their own things, surrounded by people who actually care for them. Birth is natural and not a medical event at all. However we have become programmed to believe we need professional medical help. Rediculous! The AMA did a great job with propaganda when it comes to birth.The same is true of food. I once read a funny story, but a true one about an outraged 'anti hunting' person who ranted that hunters were barbaric. He said people should go to the supermarket to buy their food because that was the civilized way to get meat. I guess he never read about how commercial beef is raised and finally slaughtered. ( I would rather eat a wild animal that had a fighting chance to get away or get shot). The sad, pathetic, unhealthy animals that make up our commercial meat supply is frightening.Please read this book. It will open your eyes. And please don't think he is exaggerating the stupidity of regulations and of the government inspectors who enforce them. He is not. Yes, some of his passions seem to be a "rant" and that is OK, too. Why should he tamp down his emotions just to please the sleeping public? I wish he would shout them from the roof tops. Even the things I disagree with are simply his beliefs. We are all entitled to our own beliefs. No one has the right to criticize us for voicing them.I bought a couple of extra copies of this book and plan to send it to some people who may be able to help.

I was recommended this book by our babysitter. It was rather interesting to be turned on to something that speaks to exactly what I do and how I'd like to do it by someone completely outside of our way of life. I have a small farm and I'm a second generation farmer. I have a day job as well but certainly don't mind it as it's only 8 minutes from home and it lets me do more than live the lifestyle proffered in this book.There are some reviews here that say this book is just one big rant by Joel Salatin. Um, yeah, I think that's the point. Over a lifetime Mr. Salatin has been exposed to, waded through and fought tooth and nail against bureaucracy, ignorance, stupidity, and the general loss of individual liberty that continues to invade our culture on our government. "If it will save just one life, it's worth it." is the justification I've heard for many laws that our founding fathers would take arms against. 99% of it goes on without the general public even knowing. I've seen laws being made. Generally the single most clueless person involved is the one who has the vote. As it's been well said and is said again in this book, sausage and laws are two things you don't want to see made. So politically, economically, and morally I agree with Mr. Salatin. His rants are based on dealing with the inequities in the system as it stands today and are good reading for anyone who goes to the polls to vote our leaders into office.However, the problem with being an expert on some areas is you tend to think you may be an expert in other areas. While I agree with Mr. Salatin that his rants are justified, the solutions that he espouses can be a bit simplistic. I'm a libertarian and frankly some of the views are simplistic. Drug problem? Legalize drugs. Can't feed yourself? Church and charity. The reality is that some problems are more complex, or even if the solution is that simple, getting from where we are today to the simple solution is exceedingly complex. Just saying milk is perfectly safe because we drank it for thousands of years isn't going to be good enough in today's environment. Should it be illegal to buy raw milk? Absolutely not. Should we just let it onto the open market, on the shelf beside what has become "normal" milk like Joel would seem to favor? No. It probably needs a label that is a skull and crossbone and you have to sign a waiver. I don't think Joel spent a lot of time on trying to show the efficacy of his solutions, just that there were better solutions out there. I'm sure he could expand on his ideas but one negative to the book in my opinion was that some of his solutions seemed to be just a bit out there and not really practical.For people who believe in individual liberty, his book will read well. For those who can't imagine the government not regulating safety so we are all protected, it will read like a horror story. As for his rants, I run a farm and run a fairly large business, I can tell you that he is spot on concerning the basis for his rants and unless you step out of the consumer role and into a producer role, you never really see it.If you plan on voting in the next election, this should be required reading.

Written in 2007? This book could have been written last week, in times like these, it’s actually encouraging to know there were those who saw the writing on the walls decades ago.

I realize this book is older and relevant. But it is so negative, i can only take a few chapters at a time. It makes me want to move to another country, honestly. I know life is not as bad as joel makes it out to be. Sure everything is illegal. Thats the point. Every industry is illegal. Everybody doing anything of value breaks the laws. Following the law breaks the law because they all contradict each other. So lawyer up. Proceed until you run into a problem and then do lobby, sue, petition until the roadblocks are knocked down.

The book is a very interesting view into the challenges of producing food in a natural way. Its very well written and its one of the few books i have breezed through in a couple of days since it draws you in.

This is the first book of Joel Salatin's that I've read, but it certainly won't be the last. If you care at all about the food you eat, and about the food that will be available for your children/grandchildren to eat, you must read this. It's based on the situation in the USA, which is dire, but it applies equally to the UK, since there are many equivalent situations, challenges and crazy regulations which are already in place here, and the vice-like grip of the lobbyists on our politicians is tightening.Joel's book is a highly entertaining, but frightening expose, which reveals time and again the madness that 'food safety' policy creates more risks than it prevents. At times he'll make you laugh, at times you will find your jaw on the floor at the - perhaps unintended, perhaps not - consequences of the latest regulatory directive.The word "sustainable" has been hijacked by the agrichemical and industrial seed businesses. At every turn we're told that the planet is going to be over-run by billions of extra humans, who will starve unless we have mega-farms, massive industrial units with thousands of short-lived over-bred drugged animals, fed on GM-crops to provide 'cheap' food. If that were the case, why is it that our politicians happily re-zone good agricultural land each year to be built over? What will we do once Monsanto and Syngenta own every plot of land in the world, and have a complete monopoly on the seeds and chemicals that their tenant farmers will be forced to grow? Where lies choice and freedom in that megafarm nightmare? Britain's green and pleasant land will indeed be a thing of the past, and you won't see any animals roaming the fields of grains grown to produce cheap meat and milk.In some things, we do have a choice - at the moment - but that choice is vanishing as the industrial agricultural juggernaut gains momentum. As a recent convert from 20 years of vegetarianism to meat-eater, I made the decision that the only meat I will eat is that which is ethically reared, organic/biodynamic (whether certified or not), and free-range. I am shocked to find how difficult it is to find such meat, which means that it's a very rare item on my dinner plate!In other cases, choice has been wiped out already. Here in Scotland, it is illegal for a farmer to sell raw milk to the consenting adults who wish to buy it. In England and Wales, it's still possible, if enormous hoops are jumped through, and I envy you that choice. I can choose to smoke, drink, and junk-food myself to death, but not drink fresh raw unpasteurised milk from cows still raised on organic pastures in a relatively unpolluted country. Where's the sense? I understand the risks. I'm prepared to pay a hefty price to the farmer for that unprocessed, zero food-miles milk, which will help him/her to stay in business and is the epitomy of sustainability. That law was designed to remove power and control from the farmer, and hand it to the processors and retailers, which is why dairy farmers are going out of business every week - it is not about food safety, on which almost every mis-directed policy is blamed. Don't be fooled!It's time to give control back to the small family farmer, give choice back to consenting adults, and preserve the landscape and traditional farming skills to ensure a steady supply of ethical, top quality food to local people - the only way to preserve food sovereignty in the global industrial economy. And by the way, I studied agriculture, carried out plant science research for 12 years - including GM techniques - and now have a small 'beyond organic' farm, and will never knowingly consume GM foods or the animals which have been fed on them.An excellent book! Don't hesitate!

I gave this book to my daughter for Christmas as she is very interested in all aspects of food politics. As a student though she has a massive reading list to get through so she didn't actually get round to reading it until March. That was when she discovered that in chapters 11, 12 and 13 every second set of pages were completely blank. We contacted Amazon and they have agreed to replace the book. She is particularly gutted as the book itself is fascinating and she was hoping to be able to refer to it in some work she is doing on ethical farming. If you buy this book check it carefully as soon as you receive it as there has obviously been a batch of faulty printing. Well done to Amazon for replacing the book even though it was after the 30 days refund period.

Although this book is based on Joel Salatin's experiences of being a small farmer in the U.S most of it is equally relevant to farming to produce real food in the EU. For anyone who is interested in eating food that's fresh, has taste and texture and wonders why this food is not available in supermarkets this book explains very well the reasons why, 'The Food Police'. The Food Police are the inspectors that enforce the laws made by people (FSA) who represent big food corporations. These people seem to have no understanding that farming should be a soil based occupation, or that food produced by farming should be healthy. The food that most people buy has travelled hundreds if not thousand of miles, has changed hands many times leaving it wide open for contamination of various types before reaching the supermarket shelves. This type of food is deemed safe, yet the local farmer who sells to local people is deemed a criminal who's sole intention in life is to poison his customers.The sad fact is that most meat whether it's produced in the US or the EU is fed an entirely un-natural diet, produced by animals who seldom if ever see the light of day and are kept in entirely unnatural and cramped conditions. Poultry and pigs are omnivores, which means like humans they are designed to eat meat as well as vegetation, however the powers that control food production have decreed that these animals can be fed no meat products. Bovines are ruminants, they eat grass yet they are fed grains, mainly maize and are fed silage ( fermented grass) this is not a normal diet, for bovines. For animals who are kept and fed in this way there is good reason to have FSA regulations, after all they are being massed produced in what is essentially a factory. However to inflict the same 'one size fits all' regulations on the farmer who rears his animals in a natural way, has them slaughtered in a local abattoir and deny him access to the local markets is absurd.Highly process fast food is deemed safe, yet most people know it's bad for them, factory made cakes and bread which contain so many additives many of which the average consumer cant even pronounce let alone know what they are deemed safe, however the neighbour who makes excellent bread, cakes, jams or pickles with just a few basic ingredients is not allowed to sell these products unless they have jumped through every hoop the Food Police can dream up .If you choose to smoke or drink to excess that is your choice even though you know it is bad for you, all responsibility for acquiring real food should be your choice yet is largely outlawed by the Food Authorities.This book gives the real reasons why such bodies such as the FSA and the USDA exist, and it has nothing to do with making sure, you, the consumer is kept from harm.

Interesting. A book to be read if you want to steel freedom and to use your wrigth to eat what you want.