In the living room lit only by the blue glow of a blank television screen my husband and I sat wide-eyed and disgusted by what we had just seen.
"Gross."
"So gross!"
"I don't think I'm ever going to eat again."
"Me either."
"Or, maybe we could become vegetarians?"
"That's ridiculous."
"You're right. Let's never eat again."
We had just finished watching Food, Inc., a documentary on the industrialization of the food market, particularly the meat market. If you haven't seen it yet all I will say is before you watch it make sure you have something to eat that was either grown by yourself or someone you know that will sustain you over the following 48 hours. I have no idea what we ate for the first 48 hours after that initial viewing, but it probably wasn't much.
After we got our bearings about us we came up with what we thought was the most reasonable solution: buy our own cow. No, not to start homesteading - we lived on .20 acres of riverbank, so clearly homesteading would be ridiculous. Our plan was to buy a cow and butcher it with the help of some friends. See? We're reasonable people.
I will spare you the details, but one very long weekend and a lot of work later, three families walked away with a ton of experience and much less meat than you'd ever imagine coming from a 1,000 lb animal (which we found on Craigslist, of course).
Maybe you're wondering how in the world butchering our own cow is less disgusting or disturbing than whatever we saw on Food, Inc.? Here's the answer: if there was one thing we learned from watching the documentary and the Craigslist cow experience it is that being "too" intimately acquainted with your food source is much less disturbing than being too far removed from it.
"Gross."
"So gross!"
"I don't think I'm ever going to eat again."
"Me either."
"Or, maybe we could become vegetarians?"
"That's ridiculous."
"You're right. Let's never eat again."
We had just finished watching Food, Inc., a documentary on the industrialization of the food market, particularly the meat market. If you haven't seen it yet all I will say is before you watch it make sure you have something to eat that was either grown by yourself or someone you know that will sustain you over the following 48 hours. I have no idea what we ate for the first 48 hours after that initial viewing, but it probably wasn't much.
After we got our bearings about us we came up with what we thought was the most reasonable solution: buy our own cow. No, not to start homesteading - we lived on .20 acres of riverbank, so clearly homesteading would be ridiculous. Our plan was to buy a cow and butcher it with the help of some friends. See? We're reasonable people.
I will spare you the details, but one very long weekend and a lot of work later, three families walked away with a ton of experience and much less meat than you'd ever imagine coming from a 1,000 lb animal (which we found on Craigslist, of course).
Maybe you're wondering how in the world butchering our own cow is less disgusting or disturbing than whatever we saw on Food, Inc.? Here's the answer: if there was one thing we learned from watching the documentary and the Craigslist cow experience it is that being "too" intimately acquainted with your food source is much less disturbing than being too far removed from it.
So we continue to get closer to our food sources, slowly making more mindful choices of what we consume. The results have been...delicious! I'll share some with you in part two.
But for now, here's 23 seconds of summer to make you smile (that's my boy!):
But for now, here's 23 seconds of summer to make you smile (that's my boy!):