THANK YOU for the absolute transparency and reality of slaughter. at farm school the only thing i could not face was killing and processing chickens. my entire class,no problem. i watched my grandfather do it without any drama on his part then i sat that evening avoiding the flesh on the table. i’ve been in sicily where goats and boar stripped of their skin hung like dresses outside the butchers shop. i applauded the shopkeepers for the confrontation. it is The Truth of Life this relationship but everywhere we turn we are greeted with cartoon talking images of the animals we eat live with and all the other not so good things we do. so. yeah. i love your writing for reasons i can never express. i read everything because i know or at least have a glimpse at the rest of your life and feel the depth and hard work of your existence.
I raised rabbits when I lived in Vermont. I did it to face killing: the emotions, the mechanics, the ins and outs of freezer camp. Now I kill birds and animals in the wilds. I do all my own processing. And I consume far less meat than I once did because of have come to understand, I think, interdependence and reciprocity. And with a few exceptions, if I eat meat, I killed it, dressed it, processed it and cooked it.
It's the week before Christmas in Romania, as it is elsewhere in the world, but here, one can hear a pig squealing in the distance most mornings just before the sun rises, except for Sundays. The Christmas pig will inevitably end up on every table in the village, and in every stomach too, because most people are raising a few pigs just for that. It's more than just something to eat, it's tradition. And traditions die hard in a place that only saw the first tractor after the revolution in 1989. All butcherings are done at home, families coming together to help out with the mass of meat and bone. Gifts are offered to neighbors, to the cats and the dogs. And after some days of fasting, the kindly-raised meat fills the body and soul with energy for the new year. A farm without animals really isn't a farm at all.
This is a very well known tradition from my childhood in Norway in the 1960’s as well. I partley grew up at my grandparents little farm. They always had 2 pig’s in a little shelter. I helped grandmother feeding them and they got slaughtered a bit before Christmas. I think end October/ Mid November. When I got older I was out watching and helped grandmother and a few others sort out the different part of the pig meat. And Christmas was always a lovley pork steak. The meat lasted long through spring/ summer season. It never scared me, it was all natural.
A moving and beautiful read. On our little property, we currently have bees for honey, chickens and ducks for eggs, geese for protection (and bigger eggs), and are in our first year with sheep. I had visions of raising these only for periodic milk, but the reality of mammals is - there can't be milk without offspring, and you can't let your flock grow boundlessly. We currently have four pregnant ewes and eventually, next summer, we're going to have to decide what to do with the lambs - keep, slaughter, sell. I was a vegan for many years, but these days we do eat meat and it only seems right that we be willing and able to do the necessary work ourselves. My husband has already said no to keeping pigs, whatever their farm utility and charisma - he likes bacon and suspects that our first pig would result in his last BLT.
Well, congratulations on your bountiful farm! Keep up the good work, I really respect homesteaders (independent of the fact that I am one, though we don't have animals yet.) We did have chickens a few years ago, but the moment for procuring domestic beasts hasn't arrived yet.
Well written. Consent is something I’ve not really thought about. We kill our own animals for meat. We keep others for eggs and milk. Animals are far more intelligent than we’ve ever thought and I think that’s why things like consent get put into the mix of confusing emotions around this practice. I do tell myself that if we as humans no longer ate meat (which is an impossible idea) then those animals would cease to exist as we would no longer need them (also an impossible idea being able to remove every domestic animal). This is also the reason that we have no right to treat animals the way that intensive agriculture does! Anyway, I agree with your sentiments and you wrote it better than I could.
Thank you for writing this, it says what I have felt for many many years more eloquently than I could. We do kill some of our creatures, poultry, the rest (sheep and pigs)we take to a small respectful slaughterhouse, due to meat regulations here in the UK. It is vital we understand that taking life to eat is a sacred act and never to be approached lightly even if humour is present.
I also extend this respect to the plants we kill and eat as I believe they are beings and worthy of proper regard.
It’s good to see the thoughtfulness and care which you bring to your work. It makes sense that killing animals shouldn’t be something we do lightly or casually, and I really like the idea of the animal products as by-products of the living animals helping strengthen our environments.
Thank you for this cathartic read. I so appreciate your honesty and openness on the topic of slaughter and processing. I learned to kill and process meat rabbits a few years ago, and while I was able to perform all necessary steps as cleanly and humanely as possible, I have since then struggled with the ‘consent’ issue. The “What right did I have to do that?” issue. Though I was raised in family of butchers (dad, granddad, uncles) and saw plenty of animals being slaughtered and processed, I did not end up with the level of apparent detachment with which they approached their work. I’m glad of that. I’m glad I feel the gravity that comes with taking a life. I’m glad that I do not find it easy or enjoyable. I hope, in the future, I can come to be more gentle with my own soul through the process. Your own story has certainly helped me in that regard. Thank you again. ☺️
I listen to substacks when I can, and this one was poetic. The imagery is intense, very suitable to the topic. The dilemma of being a human(e) meat-eater is not, and should not be, easily resolved.
Thank you so much for this post, Benjamin! It was truly an honor to get a behind the scenes of the emotional roller coaster farmers go through when slaughtering animals. I too, firmly believe that if you can't kill yourself, or watch an animal being killed, you shouldn't eat it. We haven't had the chance in my older years to have animals, except a few chickens - they were very hard to kill, one of them still kicked in the stove on the pot, though we cut all the right arteries, she was just really feisty!
However I am excited for having animals in the future, whom I befriend, and in due course, learn to slaughter. I love meat, and as you said, you can't have SLAUGHTER without LAUGHTER, and I really believe this. Slaughtering our food is simply a necessary part of our lives as humans.
My Grandpa has been a vegetarian all my life, for at least 20 years, and he doesn't drink milk on its own, because it's "for the calf!" but he'll gladly take it in his coffee. The logic of vegetarians and vegans is often hard to follow, though I do understand the sentiment of not wanting to hurt anything.
However, as you mentioned, a veganic universal diet would do as much (or likely more) harm to the Earth as a meat-included diet, so I won't stop eating it anytime soon.
By the way, RIP Smiley, your service is much appreciated!
Beautiful important and so well articulated post. Thank you very much for this and your stewardship and compassion for the animals, earth and us fellow humans.
THANK YOU for the absolute transparency and reality of slaughter. at farm school the only thing i could not face was killing and processing chickens. my entire class,no problem. i watched my grandfather do it without any drama on his part then i sat that evening avoiding the flesh on the table. i’ve been in sicily where goats and boar stripped of their skin hung like dresses outside the butchers shop. i applauded the shopkeepers for the confrontation. it is The Truth of Life this relationship but everywhere we turn we are greeted with cartoon talking images of the animals we eat live with and all the other not so good things we do. so. yeah. i love your writing for reasons i can never express. i read everything because i know or at least have a glimpse at the rest of your life and feel the depth and hard work of your existence.
appreciating you from a food desert.
Thank you, Benjamin. Sincerely, thank you.
I raised rabbits when I lived in Vermont. I did it to face killing: the emotions, the mechanics, the ins and outs of freezer camp. Now I kill birds and animals in the wilds. I do all my own processing. And I consume far less meat than I once did because of have come to understand, I think, interdependence and reciprocity. And with a few exceptions, if I eat meat, I killed it, dressed it, processed it and cooked it.
Beautifully written. You do this with reverence and respect and that’s how it should be. Thank You.
It's the week before Christmas in Romania, as it is elsewhere in the world, but here, one can hear a pig squealing in the distance most mornings just before the sun rises, except for Sundays. The Christmas pig will inevitably end up on every table in the village, and in every stomach too, because most people are raising a few pigs just for that. It's more than just something to eat, it's tradition. And traditions die hard in a place that only saw the first tractor after the revolution in 1989. All butcherings are done at home, families coming together to help out with the mass of meat and bone. Gifts are offered to neighbors, to the cats and the dogs. And after some days of fasting, the kindly-raised meat fills the body and soul with energy for the new year. A farm without animals really isn't a farm at all.
This is a very well known tradition from my childhood in Norway in the 1960’s as well. I partley grew up at my grandparents little farm. They always had 2 pig’s in a little shelter. I helped grandmother feeding them and they got slaughtered a bit before Christmas. I think end October/ Mid November. When I got older I was out watching and helped grandmother and a few others sort out the different part of the pig meat. And Christmas was always a lovley pork steak. The meat lasted long through spring/ summer season. It never scared me, it was all natural.
A moving and beautiful read. On our little property, we currently have bees for honey, chickens and ducks for eggs, geese for protection (and bigger eggs), and are in our first year with sheep. I had visions of raising these only for periodic milk, but the reality of mammals is - there can't be milk without offspring, and you can't let your flock grow boundlessly. We currently have four pregnant ewes and eventually, next summer, we're going to have to decide what to do with the lambs - keep, slaughter, sell. I was a vegan for many years, but these days we do eat meat and it only seems right that we be willing and able to do the necessary work ourselves. My husband has already said no to keeping pigs, whatever their farm utility and charisma - he likes bacon and suspects that our first pig would result in his last BLT.
Well, congratulations on your bountiful farm! Keep up the good work, I really respect homesteaders (independent of the fact that I am one, though we don't have animals yet.) We did have chickens a few years ago, but the moment for procuring domestic beasts hasn't arrived yet.
Well written. Consent is something I’ve not really thought about. We kill our own animals for meat. We keep others for eggs and milk. Animals are far more intelligent than we’ve ever thought and I think that’s why things like consent get put into the mix of confusing emotions around this practice. I do tell myself that if we as humans no longer ate meat (which is an impossible idea) then those animals would cease to exist as we would no longer need them (also an impossible idea being able to remove every domestic animal). This is also the reason that we have no right to treat animals the way that intensive agriculture does! Anyway, I agree with your sentiments and you wrote it better than I could.
I didn’t want to read this but I did. Everyone should. This is how it should be.
Thank you for writing this, it says what I have felt for many many years more eloquently than I could. We do kill some of our creatures, poultry, the rest (sheep and pigs)we take to a small respectful slaughterhouse, due to meat regulations here in the UK. It is vital we understand that taking life to eat is a sacred act and never to be approached lightly even if humour is present.
I also extend this respect to the plants we kill and eat as I believe they are beings and worthy of proper regard.
It’s good to see the thoughtfulness and care which you bring to your work. It makes sense that killing animals shouldn’t be something we do lightly or casually, and I really like the idea of the animal products as by-products of the living animals helping strengthen our environments.
Well said. Thank you for sharing
Thank you for this cathartic read. I so appreciate your honesty and openness on the topic of slaughter and processing. I learned to kill and process meat rabbits a few years ago, and while I was able to perform all necessary steps as cleanly and humanely as possible, I have since then struggled with the ‘consent’ issue. The “What right did I have to do that?” issue. Though I was raised in family of butchers (dad, granddad, uncles) and saw plenty of animals being slaughtered and processed, I did not end up with the level of apparent detachment with which they approached their work. I’m glad of that. I’m glad I feel the gravity that comes with taking a life. I’m glad that I do not find it easy or enjoyable. I hope, in the future, I can come to be more gentle with my own soul through the process. Your own story has certainly helped me in that regard. Thank you again. ☺️
Brutal and good read.
I listen to substacks when I can, and this one was poetic. The imagery is intense, very suitable to the topic. The dilemma of being a human(e) meat-eater is not, and should not be, easily resolved.
Thank you so much for this post, Benjamin! It was truly an honor to get a behind the scenes of the emotional roller coaster farmers go through when slaughtering animals. I too, firmly believe that if you can't kill yourself, or watch an animal being killed, you shouldn't eat it. We haven't had the chance in my older years to have animals, except a few chickens - they were very hard to kill, one of them still kicked in the stove on the pot, though we cut all the right arteries, she was just really feisty!
However I am excited for having animals in the future, whom I befriend, and in due course, learn to slaughter. I love meat, and as you said, you can't have SLAUGHTER without LAUGHTER, and I really believe this. Slaughtering our food is simply a necessary part of our lives as humans.
My Grandpa has been a vegetarian all my life, for at least 20 years, and he doesn't drink milk on its own, because it's "for the calf!" but he'll gladly take it in his coffee. The logic of vegetarians and vegans is often hard to follow, though I do understand the sentiment of not wanting to hurt anything.
However, as you mentioned, a veganic universal diet would do as much (or likely more) harm to the Earth as a meat-included diet, so I won't stop eating it anytime soon.
By the way, RIP Smiley, your service is much appreciated!
Beautiful important and so well articulated post. Thank you very much for this and your stewardship and compassion for the animals, earth and us fellow humans.
:)
Thank you. Wishing you all the best Ben.