Farms and vegetarians don't mix.

We had about 50 pounds of beef left after the wedding, and we've been slowly pulling it out of the freezer and using it in meals ever since. Today I noticed we were running low. Gasp! How will I get the protein needed for this physical farmwork? I asked Steve and Deb...

Deer meat of course! And where will we get this deer meat? We'll either shoot them as they're munching on our tomato plants, or get this... roadkill! I know eating roadkill is one big joke to you city folk, but I understand it now. Here's this big meaty animal who's just been killed, lying on the side of the road. Do you just let sit there and rot, or do you make it useful? Not only does it provide meat, but just about every part of it's body can be used for something. Debbie talks about how she uses the sinew as thread - it's especially good to use with leather products, like moccasins. And you think eating roadkill is hardcore? Once, Deb slit the throat of a deer who had injured itself on a fence. 

It may sound as if, here on the farm, we're nonchalant about killing. Not at all. Whenever an animal is killed, it is done with great care and respect. In the city, often times we don't even consider where our meat is coming from, much less how the animals were treated. So in a way, city folk are more nonchalant about killing. And which is more distasteful? Eating the meat of a healthy, wild deer who's been hit by a car, or eating the meat of a cow who been pumped full of hormones and antibiotics, doesn't have enough room to turn around, and may have never even seen the light of day?

Living on a farm is changing my perspective of the world.