uppityperson Donating Member (1000+ posts) Sat Jun-14-08 11:51 PM
Original message
I thinned our chicken flock today.
2 roosters found new homes this week and I now have 6 bags of chicken to go into the freezer. It was tough. Even though I bought 6 cornish to butcher, and didn't name them, and hardened myself to not grow attached, and even though they had a good life socializing with the other chickens, running around outside eating bugs and getting wet and dirty, still I am now off meat for the next couple weeks at least until I grow detached enough to partake of what I raised, killed, cleaned, froze.
Long time back I raised rabbits for food until 1 day I couldn't kill any more bunnies, and stopped. Chickens aren't as bad, but back to vegetarian food for a bit for me. I do think that anyone who eats meat should, at some point, do this. Gives you a lot more respect for your food and the whole process.
RIP my fine feathered friends. Thank you for living with me and giving me your lives.
uppityperson Donating Member (1000+ posts) Sun Jun-15-08 12:00 AM
Response to Reply #2
4. I don't like the screams of carrots as I rip them from mother earth
Because I am an omnivore and being so take responsibility for being omnivore. I don't like pretending meat is plastic wrapped food, but would rather know my food, and have my meat have had a good life, good food, all that, rather than being locked up in cages eating chemical crap. It seems much more respectful, being involved, being able to bless them rather than have them run through machinery.
Simple answer, because I am an omnivore, responsible for my food choices.
Warpy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Sun Jun-15-08 12:43 AM
Response to Original message
10. Thank you for owning it.
I remember watching my sweet granny wringing a chicken's neck on Saturday morning, chopping its head off when it quit flopping, and hanging the body on the clothesline to drain into her vegetable garden. I never saw her clean or pluck them, guess I was off playing with neighbor kids. Since I was a little kid, I barely connected the dead bird with the wonderful chicken dinner the next day.
My next door neighbor lets her laying hens die of old age, usually inedible by the time she finds them.
Somehow, I think a quick death is preferable to growing old and infirm and dying alone in the yard.
However, eating meat should involve owning where it comes from. You can honor the chickens by cooking them well and by using their bones and skin for soup, making sure nothing goes to waste.
It's all part of the circle of life.
I once took a can of Spam with me for a week in the Bahamas.
The long walks on a moonlit beach. Tasting he nightlife of Nassau. Sometimes just comfortable silences on the veranda of our villa. We made a connection far beyond just our chance meeting in a grocery store aisle.
When we got home and it felt me pop the little metal key off its bottom, it knew it was all over. But I like to think in that moment we shared something real, and not just a distaste for prepared yellow mustard. Something much more visceral. Something you can feel, way down in the pit of your stomach.
I, too, have known and respected food.