From the Polyface Farm Website -
In 1961, William and Lucille Salatin moved their young family to Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, purchasing the most worn-out, eroded, abused farm in the area near Staunton. Using nature as a pattern, they and their children began the healing and innovation that now supports three generations.
Disregarding conventional wisdom, the Salatins planted trees, built huge compost piles, dug ponds, moved cows daily with portable electric fencing, and invented portable sheltering systems to produce all their animals on perennial prairie polycultures.
Today the farm arguably represents America’s premier non-industrial food production oasis. Believing that the Creator’s design is still the best pattern for the biological world, the Salatin family invites like-minded folks to join in the farm’s mission: to develop emotionally, economically, environmentally enhancing agricultural enterprises and facilitate their duplication throughout the world.
TRANSPARENCY
Anyone is welcome to visit the farm anytime. No trade secrets, no locked doors, every corner is camera-accessible.
GRASS-BASED
Pastured livestock and poultry, moved frequently to new “salad bars,” offer landscape healing and nutritional superiority.
INDIVIDUALITY
Plants and animals should be provided a habitat that allows them to express their physiological distinctiveness. Respecting and honoring the pigness of the pig is a foundation for societal health.
COMMUNITY
We believe in integrity food. We should all seek food closer to home, in our food-shed, our own bio-region. This means enjoying seasonality and reacquainting ourselves with our home kitchens.
NATURE’S TEMPLATE
Mimicking natural patterns on a commercial domestic scale insures moral and ethical boundaries to human cleverness. Cows are herbivores, not omnivores; that is why we’ve never fed them dead cows like the United States Department of Agriculture encouraged (the alleged cause of mad cows).
EDUCATION - Polyface Intensive Discovery Seminars
If you ever wanted in immerse for two days behind the curtain at Polyface Farms, here is your chance! This is a hands on, in-the-field learning experience in which the how-to is smothered in southern hospitality. The Salatin family crams all material possible into two days of fantastic food (6 meals), sweet fellowship and intensive information. It is a comprehensive look at multi-generational multi-species direct market grass farm and business.
Polyface Farm Camp! Igniting Wonder and Curiosity
Join us for an unforgettable week full of exploring, learning, and creating. Through hands-on learning, your child will have fun and build confidence. They will connect with nature while building friendships and learning to care for the earth and animals around them.
Farm Tour Policy
Polyface is a working farm that receives no taxpayer money via government grants or subsidies. We stay in business by using our time productively doing important daily tasks. As much as we would love to spend time with everyone who comes by, we simply can’t. We have literally hundreds of visitors a week. Here is our farm tour and visit policy:
SELF-GUIDED TOUR
We have an open door policy. Anyone may come anytime Monday through Saturday to see anything anywhere. Please respect the privacy of our homes. We have a completely transparent farm operation and truly welcome the integrity that this openness engenders. If you do this on a Monday – Saturday (we are closed Sundays) and want to also purchase products, please check our store hours.
GRASS STAINS TOURS
Polyface offers two-hour private walking tours of the farm. We welcome anyone interested in learning more about Polyface, including individuals, families, school groups (elementary through post-graduate), homeschool groups, church groups, girl/boy scouts, corporate groups, senior groups, etc. Although the farm is most active in the spring, summer and fall, we will happily schedule a tour any time of year.
LUNATIC TOURS
Offered monthly, these genuine hay wagon tours, led by either Joel or Daniel, are limited to the first 100 people to reserve spots. Nominal fee for adults, free for children 12 and younger (children must be accompanied by an adult). For both young and old this meandering driving tour stops at all the different pastured animals, where the Polyface lunatic farmers sound forth on everything from earthworms to earth muffins. More fun than a theme park roller coaster ride, this tour has something for everyone, from farmers to corporate executives. Even McDonald’s junkies are welcome. You’ll never be the same. The diverse people who attend these is profound, and generates unexpected conversations. Epiphanies are normal.