Meet Our Meat and Eggs

Some months ago we were discussing our little farm with some new friends.  At the time, we still had the pigs, although slaughter-time was drawing near.

Our friend (let's call her Mary) said that she could never eat one of our pigs; even though she would never see it, the thought that we had raised it and then had it killed would make it impossible for her to eat it.  She said that if we ever invite her over to dinner, please don't serve her pork.

I said okay, we would have chicken.  But when Mary found out we slaughter our meat birds ourselves, she was even more horrified.  She could never eat our chicken, either.

I said, "Well, at least our animals have a wonderful life and a very quick and easy death compared to the thousands of chickens or pigs crammed into factory farms which have horrible lives and more horrible deaths."

"Surely not the ones we buy at our local Bi-Lo?" said her husband, whom we'll call George.  "Absolutely!" I replied. "Unless you buy 'natural' or 'organic' meat from Whole Foods or Earth Fare, you can be sure that any meat you buy in any local grocery store has died a horrible death following a horrible life."

The time is drawing near when we may be hosting a meal at which George and Mary will be present.  I have agonized about what to serve.  They've refused to eat our chicken or pork.  We don't have any of our own beef yet, but would I really go to the store and buy "mistreated" beef just for them, when we have a freezer-full of our own humane, pastured meat???  Or even more ridiculously, would I go buy "mistreated" chicken or pork???

For a rare change, I was on Facebook today and saw one of their ads that pop up according to information you have told FB about yourself.  I just got a glimpse of something about Tyson mistreating pigs before it disappeared.  So I went searching on Google.  Such a modern woman!  :)

There I found a movie for which I will include a link at the bottom of this post.  I'll give you two warnings in advance:

1)  It's on a website called "ChooseVeg" whose goal is to convert you to a vegetarian.  I am not and will never be a vegetarian.  I believe ChooseVeg is throwing the baby out with the bath water.  Yes, their featured factory farms and slaughter houses treat animals in such a way that makes you glad there is a hell--and hope there's a special corner there reserved for every person who appeared in this video!  But there is no law that says animals MUST be treated that way!  In case you haven't noticed, I'm showing you a different way through these pictures.  And if you argue that everyone can't raise their own animals like us, I'll agree--and I'll also encourage you to check out the farms in my blog list.  There are many, many of them out there humanely raising natural meat, milk and eggs for conscientious consumers.

2)  The other warning is that the video is extremely graphic.  If you're like me, you'll probably be clapping your hands over your mouth, moaning and exclaiming in horror, all the while thinking longing thoughts of Hell!  But if you ever intend to eat a bite of meat (or eat an egg or drink milk) again in your life, you owe it to your self respect and to God, the Creator of all animals who made man stewards of them, to watch this video all the way through.  I really mean that!

I have made several decisions and resolutions:

I am no longer agonizing over what to feed George and Mary.  I will unapologetically serve them our chicken or our pork.  I'll warn them in advance and let them know that if that is not agreeable to them, they are welcome to bring something from home.

And then I'll encourage them to watch this video.  Ignorance may be an excuse--until someone tells you the truth.  There is no excuse for willful, blind ignorance of the truth!

I'm not buying any more meat in grocery stores unless I drive all the way to Whole Foods or Earth Fare and pay their exorbitant prices!  Those prices are worth a clear conscience.  I will picture our happy, content animals as I drive an hour there and an hour back.

I'm also going to get Herb to watch this horrible video so he will understand why Kara and I keep insisting that he buy organic milk (until we have our own).  And I'm going to do everything I can to help him get our milking parlor built!

Now watch this video!
Meet Your Meat

Good Enough to Eat (Wednesday, Sept. 1)

This is one reason I love my own eggs!  My chickens are molting now, and only Gypsy is laying, so Kara bought me some eggs.  She bought extra-large, cage-free, organic eggs.  They look good enough to eat until you get them next to mine!  Guess which is which!

Speaking of Kara and things that look good enough to eat, masque au chocolat, anyone?

Our Morning Routine

On weekend mornings when Herb is home, we have a nice little routine.  We feed the chickens and let them out of their coop, feed the cats, and then mix the other animals' food.  Then we carry it down the hill and head for the back pasture.  Brandy sees us coming and walks along with us on her side of the fence.

When we get to the back pasture, one of us puts Angel's halter on her.  She's so nice, she puts her head right into the halter!  The other one divides the food between two rubber pans.  Brandy gets one pan in her field while Angel gets led outside her field to eat.  While one of us holds Angel's lead rope, the other one dumps Sara's food in the old bathtub and bangs the can on the gate, calling "Sara!  Sara!"

Pretty soon Sara appears, either from behind the cabin or back in the trees by the pond.  She's finally figured out that her food is in the tub; this allows her to eat in peace by preventing Angel from doing the usual horse thing of "I'm sure your food is better than mine, so I'm going to run you off and eat yours!  Oops!  Now you're eating the food I WAS eating, so maybe it's better, after all.  I'm going to run you off again and go back to my old food!"

All the animals are getting their food mixed with Diatomaceous Earth now.  It's a floury-looking substance that is made of ground shells.  Its edges are microscopically tiny, but also very sharp, and while they don't hurt the insides of humans, animals or earthworms, they cut parasites up and kill them!  So it's an organic wormer that has no toxicity to the animals or land and is fairly cheap.  The only caveat is that the animals have to eat it every day.  Sara gets just enough grain to mix with her half-cup of DE.  Here, she just finished her breakfast.  What does she think of DE?

If you can see Sara's tongue slurping up every last bit, you can tell she doesn't mind DE at all!  I was delighted to finally get this picture!  Sara has such a funny, long tongue which is also as quick as lightning.  Once you see it, it's too late!  I wish you could hear her heavy breathing as she devours her breakfast, but you'd think you were getting an obscene phone call!  Take my word for it, she doesn't mind having "dirt" mixed into her food!