Happy Critters Farm comes to the library

Earth Day is April 22, and at the Cloquet Public Library we will be featuring a whole month of events about the environment, food, and sustainability.

Below is an interview with Joe Lambert of Happy Critters Farm. He will be speaking at the library at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 3.

Cloquet Public Library: When did you decide to become a farmer?

Joe Lambert: Both of us (Joe and Amanda) were born into farm families. I wanted to farm from the first time I showed interest in just about anything. I cashed my first paycheck from farm work when I was seven, and bought my first milk cow when I was 12. It was about six years ago that I became obsessed with soil health and biological farming in general.

Library: What is your favorite farm animal?

Lambert: I grew up with cattle and to this day they are my favorite. Both of us have sort of fallen in love with the pigs; they are just so playful and sociable with us.

Library: What makes your farm different?

Lambert: This could be a very long and complicated answer, but I will sum it up with a few of the big philosophical differences.

•We believe animals should move, both for them and for the health of the environment.

•We make every decision based on soil and animal health. If an animal gets sick, we do not believe it was "pharmaceutically disadvantaged." Instead, we assume it is our management of the animal. This requires us to make changes to our farm, not to the drugs we are giving your food.

•We do not think animals should be treated like thoughtless, emotionless, inanimate objects that can be produced in a factory which must keep production cookie cutter uniform for best efficiency. We encourage our critters to be different and fully express their physiological independence. We believe that a society that treats its food without respect will eventually treat its people without respect.

•We do not believe that farmers should be told they have to get bigger so they can feed the world; we believe the world should feed the world by having small farms all across the globe. We believe any country is only free if they have food independence.

•We are working with nature, not waging war on her. Chemical companies love to run ads that depict their product as the best defense against Mother Nature taking over your field. We are quite sure our land was and is Mother Nature's land and that she will always win in a war, so we do our best to listen to what she says the soil needs and offer to help nature with its requests.

•We believe all farms should be open to visitors. Most of our food is off limits to the public while it's alive. This blows our minds. Why would anyone want to eat something that they can't visit before it is processed? What is the industry hiding?

Library: How did you learn of these innovative farming techniques?

Lambert: I first heard of this type of farming from a magazine called the Stockman Grass Farmer. From there I read tons of articles, research papers, books, and watched some videos. I have also attended workshops and conferences.

Library: How do you balance having a young family, a full-time job, and the farm?

Lambert: This question hits at the heart of our biggest dilemma on the farm. We quite frankly do not have this figured out. For the most part, we try to put family first, but sometimes the farm has to come first. For me, farming is my hobby and passion, so working on the farm with the kiddos after coming home from my day job is no big deal. The problem comes when we want to do something else but the farm will not let us. At this point, the farm is no longer a hobby and it becomes a job. Our goal is to have the farm be my full-time career, but for now there is just not enough profit to pay me a wage and continue to operate. Until food quality becomes a priority in our country, I think many, many farm families will continue to grapple with this problem. Food production is our passion and financial security is our priority.

Library: What keeps you going when you have a setback or are running low on energy?

Lambert: Burnout is a major problem in the small sustainable-farm movement, and I went through it last year. The only things that kept me from selling the farm and giving up was our awesome and appreciative customers and our oldest son's love for the farm. My stubbornness kept me going until last year. At that point, I can definitively say that without the kids and customers I would have given up. There is a saying about "blood, sweat and tears," and I literally put all three of those into the soil of our farm every year; this can be hard and stressful work. Just saying "thank you" to a farmer means more to them than you can ever know.

Library: What is your favorite season?

Lambert: We love change, that is why we live in Minnesota. Around the time we get tired of the current weather the season changes, and we get a new sense of adventure.

UPCOMING LIBRARY EVENTS

Other April events at the Library about the environment include:

•Crayon Initiative: Bring in unused or broken crayons by April 22. The crayons will be recycled and turned into new crayons for children in hospitals.

•Climate Change: University of Minnesota Forestry Center researchers Sara Kelso and Hannah Friesen will discuss how climate change is impacting jack pine seedlings and bogs; 1-2 p.m. Saturday, April 13.

•Food Sovereignty Efforts at Fond du Lac: Jessica Murray, AmeriCorps VISTA Fellow at Fond du Lac, will speak about what food sovereignty is, current projects at Fond du Lac, and how these efforts can be supported; 6 p.m. Thursday, April 25.