It's never been a priority for me; in fact you could call me a vegetarian for most of my life, and it is still my preferred way to eat. But my outlook on meat has definitely changed.
I committed to eating as a vegetarian in college as a way to make a conscious choice about how I eat and what I eat. When I had that epiphany in Freshman Bio about the food chain, energy, and resources I just simply could not go on eating at the top of the food "pile". I didn't feel any more entitled to greater than "my share" of the Earth's energy than the next person.
But this year we raised Tamworth pigs. Pasture raised, and nut-mast and fruit finished. (With a bit of commercial grain to cover us). And suddenly it was my energy raising them, my efforts to provide drops and nuts, those were leftovers from my organic garden. I was hauling water, and moving fences and chasing them when they got out. And for the first time, I wasn't looking at meat that had been raised in a commercial operation with petro-fuel feed that my consumerist American culture had thrust upon me - I was raising quality, heritage-breed stock that had been a key part of my whole cycle of living, growing, working and family.
So, I now eat pork. My pork. Our pork. (And, it's not half bad!) I'll still take chickpeas over ham anyday...but it's growing on me...
This summer we are going to try meat chickens. Stay tuned...
She is crafty beyond my abilities - she made the t-shirt (can't wait to wear it to the Farmer's Market) and the bags and the horse...it was all really neat. The book is one of her favorites - I have never read it, so I am waiting for the first rainy day to curl up with a cup of tea and off we go...(Anyone else read it?)
