“Everything I want to do is illegal” says author (& farmer) Joel Salatin, who will be giving a talk called “Local Food to the Rescue” on April 24 at the Michigan Theater.

Salatin returned full-time to his family farm Polyface, Inc. in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in 1982. He is a third generation farmer, the author of nine books and has been featured in Michael Pollan’s “Omnivore’s Dilemma” as well as in the films “Food, Inc.” and “Fresh.” The Polyface, Inc. website notes that “the farm currently services more than 3,000 families, 10 retail outlets and 50 restaurants through on-farm sales and metropolitan buying clubs with salad bar beef, pastured poultry, eggmobile eggs, pigaerator pork, forage-based rabbits, pastured turkey and forestry products using relationship marketing.”

Back in 2009, I had the privilege to meet Joel Salatin in Santa Barbara at a talk he gave before leading a week-long workshop on sustainable ranching just north into Santa Barbara County. He has the type of no-nonsense, yet humorous, style of conveying his message that is only more infectious because he represents an undeniable success story of local food. At the talk in 2009, he spoke a lot about how disconnected we have become not just from how our food is produced, but also from each other, from local economies and from the land. “Local Food to the Rescue” will highlight the solutions he sees to those issues while also illuminating how local food production can reshape the food system of Washtenaw County.

“Local Food to the Rescue, a talk by Joel Salatin” will begin at 8 p.m. and is presented by the People’s Food Coop (PFC). Tickets are $15 general admission and $13 for students or PFC members and are available through ticketmaster.com or surcharge free in a limited quantity at the People’s Food Coop.