All Flesh is Grass — 2004

The Pleasures and Promises of Pasture Farming

“In an era of growing concerns about our food, Gene Logsdon offers a practical way to steer American agriculture in a direction that ensures a livelihood for family farmers, takes care of the land, and provides fresh, healthy food for all. All Flesh Is Grass is a how-to manifesto for family farmers and food activists alike committed to taking back control of our food and farms.”

Willie Nelson — president and founder, Farm Aid

“All Flesh Is Grass explains the immense benefits of taking our livestock out of the feedlots and raising them in a natural setting on their native diets. It's all there: the history, the politics, the practices, and the passion.”

Jo Robinson — creator of eatwild.com and author of Pasture Perfect: The Far-Reaching Benefits of Choosing Meat, Eggs, and Dairy Products from Grass-Fed Animals

Amidst Mad Cow scares and consumer concerns about how farm animals are bred, fed, and raised, many farmers and homesteaders are rediscovering the traditional practice of pastoral farming. Grasses, clovers, and forbs are the natural diet of cattle, horses, and sheep, and are vital supplements for hogs, chickens, and turkeys. Consumers increasingly seek the health benefits of meat from animals raised in green paddocks instead of in muddy feedlots.

In All Flesh Is Grass: The Pleasures and Promises of Pasture Farming, Gene Logsdon explains that well-managed pastures are nutritious and palatable—virtual salads for livestock. Leafy pastures also hold the soil, foster biodiversity, and create lovely landscapes. Grass farming might be the solution for a stressed agricultural system based on an industrial model and propped up by federal subsidies.

In his clear and conversational style, Logsdon explains historically effective practices and new techniques. His warm, informative profiles of successful grass farmers offer inspiration and ideas. His narrative is enriched by his own experience as a “contrary farmer” on his artisan-scale farm near Upper Sandusky, Ohio.

All Flesh Is Grass will have broad appeal to the sustainable commercial farmer, the home-food producer, and all consumers who care about their food.

Gene Logsdon lives and raises sheep in north-central Ohio with his wife, Carol. He has written twenty-five books, most recently a novel, The Lords of Folly; a cultural study, The Mother of All Art: Agrarianism and the Artistic Impulse; three memoirs: You Can Go Home Again, The Contrary Farmer, and The Pond Lover; and a book on experimental ideas in farming, All Flesh Is Grass.

Gene blogs at OrganicToBe.org.