We call it a project because there are lots of things going on here. We are a family of four living semi-rurally in our owner-built off-grid straw bale home, attachment parenting, homeschooling, farming and homesteading with two other family members on 10 acres. Our goals are self-sufficiency and sustainability as we prepare for the future while living joyfully in the present.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
A dream come true
When I was in college I became a vegetarian. It was because of ethical reasons--I liked meat but I didn't want to support an industry that treated animals so horribly and contributed to terrible environmental insults. At first it was hard but soon I became very used to my vegetarian diet. I told myself at that time (almost 20 years ago) that if I was ever able to raise my own meat humanely and sustainably I would eat meat again. But not eating meat for so many years caused me to develop a strong aversion to it. It wasn't until I was pregnant and nursing at the same time a good 14 years later that I started to crave meat again. And what great timing it was--when Eliza was born we were building our sustainable home on the farm. Now I do eat meat again and we have the incredibly good fortune of being able to raise most of it here. The other day I looked out the window and saw the very image that I had dreamed of all those years ago: Free range animals enjoying green grass and fresh air. I still can't believe it!
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2 comments:
i'm very late commenting on this entry, but i wanted to say that i'm going through something similar. i'm vegan (very, very non-militant about it!) and have told myself that i would eat animal and animal products that i raised myself.
i recently had a conversation with a friend who for a variety of reasons cannot be vegetarian, but is quite interested in sustainable and humanely raised meat.
it could well be that her insisting on consuming only sustainable and local animal products could do more to change the face of factory farming than my abstinence from the industry.
given that people will continue to consume animal products, the choice between humane meat and factory meat is a much easier choice than having to do without. she has an opportunity to make a larger impact through that.
echoing your sentiments here, though i consider my veganism a journey, not a destination; there is still part of me that is a bit unsettled when i think about myself eating meat.
Something I've noticed about the different blogs I read is that many of them were vegetarian/vegan, and then got pregnant and started eating meat again. All of them prefer to raise their own meat so as to make sure the animals are given the best possible life.
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