Now that we have a farm we raise livestock that we can eat. We raise poultry and our neighbors raise, pigs, goats and cows. Our poultry provides eggs and meat when needed. Poultry is traded for other goods when needed. I do not name my poultry as they will end up on the dinner table at some point. I care for them, feed them, mend their wounds, but do not become attached. Just like I care for my cabbage and tomatoes. No one cares nor gets upset when I eat a cabbage I raise, but if I eat my livestock I get the bleeding hearts.
This is so pointless. No one cries over supermarket beef, pig or chicken, but if you raise it yourself, "Oh.. how could you!" I hear this a lot from non farmers. This attitude is what is wrong with our way of life these days. Our ancestors ate and lived with the animals they raised . Modern man eats the animals some factory raises. This removes us from what we eat. I raise very happy healthy animals and not drugged up factory animals. And when it is their time, yes I am sad. But I am happy I raised animals that can feed me without all the extra stuff factory farms use.
And I get to live with an animal from birth to death, a gift non farmers never experience. I get to see how the animals grows and lives its life on my farm. I respect the animals and its welfare in my hands. And when the end comes for it, I say a prayer of thanksgiving and rejoice in the gift of its tasty life.
mmm ... bacon
mmmm cabbage.
Soup stock, so tasty.
Who raises pigs?
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