| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| letpeoplewonder |
Posted - Jun 13 2011 : 08:12:59 AM
farmgirls, i need advice. this is my first year as a wanna-be homesteader. i have a small chicken coop and an equally small garden, but i have some seriously adventurous plans for the future. both my husband and i agree that commercially raised meat does not satisfy our conscience and turns our stomachs. we make sure to buy local meat that have humane living conditions...we're going on 2 years. now, i want to raise our own poultry and continue to eat fish, but give up the rest. i really feel that i need to fully understand the full karmic price to everything i eat...to grasp and appreciate the delicate nature of what truly happens before i eat. does that make sense? my husband's reaction to all this homesteading experimentation is to become a vegetarian. there is nothing wrong with that. he's been a vegetarian on and off all his life, but i've tried before and don't care to try again. its just that my need to see the whole picture is incidentally forcing him to look closer to something he can't handle. i feel awful because its something i feel compelled to follow through...but how would you handle this situation? we've had serious conversations every night this week, no arguments, but i really don't know what can be done to resolve our differences. he said that if i killed or let someone else kill our chickens, he would never look at me the same...like it would change what kind of person i was if i was capable of killing and eating something. it turns out that a lot of people around me feel the same way, but are only now voicing their opinion. i never realized that i would get so many different reactions to this new stage in my life...some people want to close their eyes, cover their ears, and scream "i can't hear you!" when faced with the reality of what they eat. i don't know if my view comes from having a native Filipino as a mother or a texan farmgirl as a grandmother, but i want my son to appreciate and understand the natural world instead of ignoring it. *Sigh* i have a heavy heart, my friends. anyone else have similar experiences? thanks!
-leslie
why can't i be more conventional? people talk, people stare, so i try. but that can't be, because i can't see, my strange little world just go passing me by...so let people wonder... |
| 8 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| alterationsbyemily |
Posted - Jun 18 2011 : 6:11:41 PM
Corrine, that trade off idea is great! I would get attached to a cow or something, but trading with a friend, such an awesome idea.
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Farmgirl #2951
Currently renting-farmgirl wannabe |
| walkinwalkoutcattle |
Posted - Jun 17 2011 : 04:25:49 AM
Corrine, that's a good idea. I've been battling a decision to slaughter a steer for awhile now. He's been a pet for the last few years. He comes when you call him, he loves to be petted on, and he's just a doll.
But he's a 1,500 lb years worth of beef. Or probably $2,000. At least.
I told the husband he could take him to the butcher, or sell him to someone we know, who will treat him right before slaughter. I'd rather not see him go to the processors. I think that the "Trade-off" idea is a great one.
Farmgirl #2879 :)
Starbucks and sushi to green fried tomatoes and corn pudding-I wouldn't change it for the world.
www.cattleandcupcakes.blogspot.com
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| BarefootGoatGirl |
Posted - Jun 13 2011 : 9:46:59 PM
my stepmom wont kill an animal that she has raised, so every fall she does a swap with one of the neighbors. they trade animal for animal and then take it home and butcher. they still know where the meat is coming from, how it was raised, and that it was humainly killed.
www.barefootfashion.wordpress.com
http://www.corrinemackrell.carbonmade.com |
| FarmDream |
Posted - Jun 13 2011 : 9:25:29 PM
I've heard Omnivore's Dilemna is a good book. The author still eats meat. And the Facebook guy Zuckerberg has started eating only meat he kills. I think the agree to disagree solution is good. If you choose to become vegetarian again it should be when you choose. Otherwise you'll be sneaking down to the local KFC and eating a whole bucket of chicken. 
~FarmDream is Farmgirl Sister #3069
Live Today, Cherish Yesterday, Dream Tomorrow
http://naturaljulie.etsy.com
http://julie-rants.blogspot.com |
| Dusky Beauty |
Posted - Jun 13 2011 : 12:41:29 PM
The simplest solution is to barter out what you produce for meat someone else raised humanely. Produce, wheat, handicrafts, tools etc.
My DH and kiddos say they wont have a problem with eating animals we raised, but I've seen craigslist adds from people trying to trade the beef steer they raised for a different steer to send to slaughter more than once, so it must be a common problem.
"After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt so good he started roaring. He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot him. The moral: When you're full of bull, keep your mouth shut.” ~Will Rogers |
| CMac |
Posted - Jun 13 2011 : 09:19:32 AM
We went through a similar process with our first set of chickens! My sweetie was not as adamant but would casually mention options to butchering for the chickens that had stopped laying. Such as, give them away as pets, letting someone else take them and butcher them, and building a chicken old age coop. Much like yours huh? LOL He would never admit he was more attached to those chickens than I was and I was pretty attached! We finally did butcher and he did eat them, but I could see relief on his face when I said we had eaten the last one.
When we get chickens after moving back to the farm ( Total rebuild of farm house almost complete) I plan to get a larger number of birds and hopefully it will be harder to be attached to each chicken. I'll also stop calling them "the girls" and call them chickens! Also, no naming the chickens!
The first time is always the hardest. I've not heard anything out of my sweetie about keeping all the chickens forever this go round. He is even open to raising some meat chickens.
Give him some time, maybe even share some of the posts or blogs of folks that raise their own meat with him. Sound like he needs to make the shift from attachment to providing food. Just think of all those 4-H kids raising animals they know will be slaughtered. Most of them have grown up with this reality and have less of a problem with it than most of us.
Do some research on the most humane killing methods and decide what is best for your family. You may choose to do it his way this time and perhaps the next set won't be as big a deal since they are not the first chickens he has known.
Heck, I got a little creeped out when the first eggs arrived if I thought about it too much! We are so used to every thing being so sanitized and removed from our awareness. Sigh
Connie
Connie
"I have three chairs in my house: one for solitude, two for friendship, three for company."
Author: Henry David Thoreau |
| letpeoplewonder |
Posted - Jun 13 2011 : 08:54:29 AM
thanks connie! i'm so glad someone else understands! the problem is the killing of our own livestock for food. he's fine with continuing to buy meat from our usual sources as my son and i will continue to eat meat. he's even fine with selling our chickens to someone who will eat them...which i think is wasteful and hypocritical. we will always have laying hens, maybe an occasional rooster. when i explained that besides raising meat birds, i wasn't going to have a laying chicken retirement home, that we needed a practical solution to deal with chickens who don't lay, he said that we could get a huge coop so we can keep all of our chickens if we can't find a nice farmer out in the country who keeps retired chickens. i think that this is a ridiculous solution for a fairly simple problem. i am more than willing to take the chickens somewhere to be processed and return home with something similar to what we get from our sources, but he'll be upset/disappointed because "he'll know." i have to just laugh at this because it is sort of unbelievable to me that someone would bend over backwards to keep our chickens alive while i continue to bring home chicken that was killed elsewhere.
why can't i be more conventional? people talk, people stare, so i try. but that can't be, because i can't see, my strange little world just go passing me by...so let people wonder... |
| CMac |
Posted - Jun 13 2011 : 08:26:05 AM
I hear you Leslie. I had a family member say "How can you eat a chicken you know?" I responded " How can you eat one you don't know?" We just have to agree to disagree. I won't make her eat my chickens and she doesn't make me eat her store bought ones.
It seems to me the problem is more than killing your own livestock for food. Does he object to you buying chicken at eating it at home?
Connie
"I have three chairs in my house: one for solitude, two for friendship, three for company."
Author: Henry David Thoreau |
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