It was our intent to raise our own Thanksgiving dinner this year, but as we close in closer to the date, the reality of slaughtering our own gobblers is keeping us up at night. We agreed that it was essential to confront where our food comes from if we were ever going to be truly serious about living even a tiny bit more sustainable. The truth is more than 95% of our food still comes from the store, the factory farm, the local market. I find it funny that a co-worker commented that it was disgusting that we were killing our own turkeys ( as he chowed down ironically on his 6″ roast turkey sandwich from Subway).
The deed will happen this Saturday, rain or shine. I will spare you all the gore but I will cover it on this blog somehow, so, just preparing you all. Our heirloon, free range turkeys will provide a dinner for our closest family and friends. Living and growing in Massachusetts, makes this all very close to home – 30 miles from where the first Thanksgiving took place, our heritage breed turkeys, which are half wild turkey, will meet a fate not unlike their ancestors, on a cold, November day as the wild cranberries ripen in the marsh out back.
Thanks for sharing this conundrum. Everybody's so gung-ho about living sustainably, but I have to wonder how many turkeys, chickens, etc. are just dying of old age instead of contributing to the table. If you can't bring yourself to do the deed, what's the point?
Yep. I don't know where people think their food comes from. It is the way that animals are killed in some instances that I have a problem with. For instance veal, which is far too young to meet a cruel and untimely death; is not something I ever eat. But animals are slaughtered for us to eat and if they have had a good life and meet their end quickly and humanely, I can deal with it. Those are some lovely birds. I am sure you will do the best you can to kill them quickly and without undue duress and pain.
Dark but honest. It's strange how foreign we've become to where our food comes from. I like your train of thought, thanks for sharing.
I suspect that it would be very confronting for me to do what you have done (although I confess I love my Turkey dearly)…you never cease to amaze me, Matt: one never knows what to expect when clicking on "Growing with Plants": Have a great Thanksgiving, friend!