Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Wind...

We HAD at least 5 inches of snow. The wind kicked up last night and it's all gone. The area where our trees are and the open space where I want to plant grass? It is brown, bare and plain ol' dirt. No snow. No moisture.

There are drifts tho'. The neighbor across the road was high centered in his driveway - Furry Husband went to help and as fast as they could dig the snow out, the drift returned. We had a big drift on either side of our gate to go out to our cars. Furry Husband dug it out and by the time I ate my toast for breakfast, it was back.

I HATE THE WIND!

Also... today is the day.

Furry Husband is taking our 8 mos old Alpine wether to the guy that will butcher him. Gulp. I asked him last night - "You aren't nervous about taking him?" He's not. He asked me, "Are you?" YES! I know it's o.k. to do and I am a meat eater and I will always be a meat eater... I don't judge anyone that raises livestock for their dinner plate or who hunts.... I KNOW where my steaks and roasts and chicken dinners come from and still it is really hard to know the animal I will eat!

A lady I work with grew up on a ranch and I told her we were going through with it because I know she can understand it. Another woman heard me, her eyes widened in complete horror. She had to leave the area because it disturbed her so much and yet she wears leather shoes, eats meat....

She said completely AGHAST, "Can't you give him to CSU?!?!" I could. And what do you think CSU is going to do with him? The same exact thing. Only then we lose money cuz we've been feeding this goat for close to a year and our freezer would remain empty.

It's been 6 yrs leading up to this day. 6 years I've been thinking about it and mulling it over... it's not something that is easy for me at all. I'm also a little proud that I've reached this point. My thinking has shifted and I can see the resourcefulness and responsibility associated with it. I am grateful to our goats for providing so much to us.



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shanster,

I feel for you! I had the same talk with an employee at my office about the chickens he is raising. He hopes once the time is up for the chickens his kids will understand it.

Jim & Nancy

Shanster said...

I hope so too. Think it's important to know where our food comes from vs. getting the neatly wrapped packages of meat from the store. Such a basic fact of life...

Funny how the more technology we have, the more sterile things can become in particular areas!