Perspective | Chickens in the Road

Nov
21

First window installed!

Yesterday (long story) I ended up riding around in a pickup truck with a dead deer in the back. (No, I didn’t shoot it!!! The only way I shoot deer is with my camera. It’s deer season here. Everyone has a dead deer in the back of their trucks…) Later, I was having this perfectly ordinary conversation with a 78-year-old woman when she told me how she’d just beaten a possum to death with a pitchfork. Sometimes, life in the country is strange….to me. But not to people who grew up in the country. Their perspective is totally different from mine. They are in closer touch with the natural world and, in their view, the hierarchy within it, which includes priorities–frugal living off the land, whether it be the chickens and cows they raise or the deer in the woods, and protection of that frugal living from wild animals.

And as my suburban spirit is sometimes aghast, I wonder…. Have I not just bought a farm? Am I not planning to acquire chickens and cows? Will I have one pretty brown pet cow named Cappuccino Cupcake….and another one named Dinner? Do I not have a hankering to raise a heritage breed of turkey, such as Bourbon Reds? And am I not planning to consume some turkey tomorrow? (As is most of the United States.) I buy nicely wrapped beef and chicken at the store on a regular basis. For every package of meat I buy, there is a farmer somewhere shielding me from the reality of how it got into my skillet. But I did not buy 40 acres to open a farm animal shelter. I bought 40 acres to engage in frugal living off the land.

Looking back in that pickup yesterday at hooves against the glass, my naive suburban perspective on poetic rural life took a hit.

Not everything about living in the country is pretty.

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11 Responses
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11-21
10:26
am

Most of us in urban areas are very sheltered from the realities of life. It’s easy to pick up our pre-packaged meat without thinking of *how* the animals are raised and slaughtered and of the men and women who work in slaughterhouses. That’s definitely NOT pretty.

Now, if I had 40 acres I *would* have an animal shelter. :smile: I wouldn’t want to kill my own animals, hypocrite that I am. But I’d buy organic, free-range from my neighbours.

BTW, congratulations on the first window. The house is progressing nicely!

Have a wonder-full day, everyone.

-Kim

Kim A.

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11-21
10:35
am

Kim, that’s what I want to do, organic free-range.

Unfortunately, I can’t afford to run a shelter operation as farm animal feed and housing aren’t free.

With eleven cats and four dogs, I’m already running a dog/cat shelter, LOL.

Suzanne

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11-21
11:52
am

When I was growing up, we grew or raised most of our food. We did so out of neccessity. Not to sound cliche but times were hard back in the 50′s. I am grateful to be able to go to the market and buy what I want without guilt. BTW, what’s the story behind the deer in the back of the truck? ??: I am glad the house is coming along as fast as it is. Won’t be long before you will be telling us about the adventures of moving. I hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving, eats a lot of turkey and fixings. Take care and God Bless.

Fannie M Wiggins

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11-21
1:18
pm

As I’ve said before I have lived in a rural area all my life, so reading your post made me laugh. We have fresh turkey, meaning not store bought, every year. A dead deer in the back of a truck or hood of a car is the norm here, but deer season doesn’t start until Monday here.

Wishing you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Susan

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11-21
1:23
pm

Fannie, I was along for the ride…. :eek:

Susan, everybody laughs at me around here so I’m used to it, LOL.

Suzanne

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11-21
3:22
pm

Wonderful picture. As for Farm life, it’s not an easy life, even this suburban woman knows that. But, I do wish you the best of luck.

Brandy

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11-21
3:37
pm

I grew up on a farm, so raising our own meat comes naturally to me. Just don’t get attached to the animal.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Estella

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11-21
5:40
pm

Tis a big dilemma! I’m afraid I’d be a vegetarian if I had to actually do any killing. On the other hand you do what you have to do and I guess you can get used to almost anything if you see it enough. I remember when my kids were small feeding the chipmonks but now I also see my ferals/strays eat them and I know it’s just the way it is. (although I’m still feeding the raccoons and possums and the occasional skunk which would really give a hoot to your country friends lol).

catslady

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11-26
5:39
pm

Seems to me there’s a kind of basic harshness to country life. At least, it is out here in the west. You can’t get too worked up about a few scrapes and bruises when the nearest doctor is twenty miles of dirt road away and sometimes the kindest thing to do for an animal really is to shoot it. It tends to make one less sympathetic.

Alice Audrey

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2-23
10:27
am

Well, maybe it isn’t all pretty, but it’s the only way to go. There’s something comforting about knowing who you’re having for dinner. Presently “V-man” and “Heifer” are in our freezer.

Remudamom

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3-22
10:23
pm

I sit on the porch looking over the land
And think of Gods’ plan, this beauty grand.
We would work the fields, have sweat on our brow.
Learn to grow things, learn how to plow.

So when I sit at my table, family so near.
I’m glad for this farm and those I hold dear.
I’m proud of the produce, the meats and the game.
Like the ancestors before me, we do things the same.

Barbara Howard

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