Polyface Summer Events

written by

Joel Salatin

posted on

May 5, 2026

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While this blog post goes to Polyface Patrons, curated and credentialed by clean food purchases; the farm also offers a platform for info-tainment gatherings throughout the summer. That season is upon us, and I'd like to share with you briefly the options this year. It's a fantastic line-up of education-dense opportunities for you to connect deeper and understand more fully the whys and wherefores of health in all its dimensions.

  1. Learn to Homestead in a Weekend, May 22-23, hosted by Homesteaders of America. This is a dynamic, child-friendly time to get practical self-reliant living advice.*Update*  *SOLD OUT*

2. New Biology Experience with Tom Cowan, June 4-6. Co-founder of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Cowan and cohorts are extreme mavericks in the medical field; Cowan voluntarily gave up his MD license in order to speak uncensored.

3. Two Days of Truth June 12-13 with Dr. Sina McCullough, Dr. Eric Berg, Jeffrey Smith, and others. These are world-renowned speakers and experts on alternative, health, Genetically Modified Organisms, and much more. Unforgettable.

4. Rogue Food Conference, Aug. 14-15, with Dr. Eric Berg, Indiana Delegate Hunter Smith (former Indianapolis Colts superbowl team member) and others digging into the slogan "Circumvention, not Compliance." It's like reliving the Declaration of Independence for two days, all centered around food freedom. Nothing like it in the U.S.

`5. Launching Farmers, Aug. 21-22, hosted by The Stockman Grass Farmer, the world's premier pasture-based livestock publication. Featuring 8 young farmers who came from "I was 20 years old, no land, no money, and am now fulltime farming at 40 without government grants," this is probably the most profound agriculture gathering in the nation.

6. Brownstone Summit, Aug. 28-29, hosted by the Brownstone Institute and its indomitable founder Jeffrey Tucker, perhaps the most articulate proponent of small government and authentic market economics. The interview-speaker format is unique and incredibly entertaining.

7. Chelsea Green Publishing, Author Weekend. Sept. 25-26, hosted by Chelsea Green Publishing, perhaps the longest-reigning environmental and culturally-alternative book publisher in the world. You can meet your favorite authors and hobnob with the intelligentsia of positive cultural change. If you have a love for the written word and challenging conventional thinking, this is a must-come.

You can see more about these by going to our events page at ww.polyfacefarms.com/partner-events. Oh, Polyface does the food for all these events and that is worth coming for by itself. I hope something here floats your boat and you'll pick at least one event to bask in a Polyface experience this season. With May here and thinking about your summer activities, one of these (or two, ha!) will make this season one of your most rewarding. We look forward to seeing you.

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More from the blog

Homemade Pizza!

Have you ever had a gourmet sourdough pizza crust with pastured pork sausage as a topping? To be honest, my days are too full at this particular season of my life to bake all of the sourdough goods.  When I step into my kitchen at the end of the day to an accumulation of coffee cups, cutting boards, plates, and silverware waiting for me in the sink and across the counters, making dough from scratch -- in time for dinner -- and also cleaning the kitchen is not always a possibility. The days have thier limits. However I do LOVE the taste of a sourdough pizza crust. And knowing that my family is eating clean, whole, foods -- and fermented grains. The pre-made Sourdough Pizza Dough from Season's Yield (our neighbor's bakery) checks all those boxes. The convenience AND the flavor is unbeatable.  I pull it out of the freezer and set it on the counter around midday. By supper time, it has risen, and it is ready for a splash of pizza sauce, a handful of toppings, and a quick 20 minutes in the oven. And Presto!  While the topping varieties are endless, my family's favorite is a crumbled Hot Italian Sausage and Pineapple. The spicy meat and sweet tangy pineapple is a flavorful paring we can't get enough of.  I think I may have raved about the Hot Italian Sausage elsewhere on this blog, but it is my personal favorite of all of the Polyface sausages. It's so intensely flavorful and spicy. I eat it plain as sausage patties (amazing with grits!), in quiches, on pizza, with scrambled eggs, over noodles with a white sauce, and the list goes on. If you haven't tried it yet, you should add a pack to your next order! But enough about sausage for now. Let's get back to the pizza. Here's my family's favorite: Hot Italian Sausage - 1lb BulkGrated Mozzarella15oz Tomato Sauce1 Pineapple, cut into chunks (you'll have leftovers!)Dried BasilDried OreganoSalt4 Pizza Doughs (one package) Brown sausage over medium heat. Mix dried basil, oregano, and salt -- to taste -- into tomato sauce. Stretch and work dough out into pizza crusts (this video from Season's Yeild is a great how-to resource!).  Spread a thin layer of the tomato sauce on each crust. Sprinkle with mozzarella. Sprinkle with sausage crumbles and pineapple.  Bake on a cookie sheet, dusted with cornmeal. We like ours at 420 degrees for 18-20 minutes.  Absolutely delicious consumed hot, while the cheese is still melty and soft.  Pro Tip:  Top this sourdough crust lightly. It rises best if you don't smother it, as I did in the above photos. ☺️ Before the autumn frost crept through the garden in the dark of night and finished off the tomatoes and basil; our other favorite pizza flavor was thinly sliced tomatoes and fresh chopped basil leaves scattered loosely over mozzarella. Crushed red pepper flakes added a nice finishing touch. There are as many opinions on how to dress a pizza as there are folks. So, take your own family's favorite topping ingredients, and enjoy the convenience of a nutritious prepared sourdough crust.  The last of the garden's frost-bitten bell peppers. And there you have it!  On those hectic weekday nights when things have piled up on my counters, it bakes just long enough for me to get my kitchen cleaned up while it's in the oven. A real win-win situation.  Bon appétit!