Dear Mother: April/May 2007
(Page 2 of 9)
April/May 2007, Issue 221
Letters from our readers
I’ve done everything Bryan Welch has done as a stockfarmer, and maybe more. I’ve helped goats and cows deliver breech kids and stuck calves.
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I’ve raised baby chicks to eating size, watched them scratch and peck on their last morning, and after lunch chopped their heads off. I’ve fed weanling pigs, cute and cuddly as puppies, on Jersey milk until they were parted out as hundreds of pounds of sausage and roasts. I’ve separated ewes from their ram lambs, and watched while the man from the slaughterhouse shot the rams between the eyes. I’ve also sat right down in the spring-thawing barnyard, with chores gone begging, just to watch the chickens play tag and the baby goats run. I’ve inhaled my Jersey’s sweet breath as I pulled at her udder, taking what I needed and leaving the rest for her calf. I’ve seen the seasons come and go, marking them by the rain gauge, the snowpack, and the births and deaths of my animals.
All of this is to say — I believe I’ve passed the test. I’ve given my animals all they needed to live natural, dignified and comfortable, even pampered, lives. Until their lives were ended, usually at my behest and often by my hand.
But all that was before, and this is after. Seven years ago, my husband (a life-long hunter) and I became vegetarians. We are no longer part of a meat-centered culture. Our mealtimes blossom with delicious tastes and exotic spices of other cultures and worlds. We eat grandly and inexpensively.
We believe vegetarianism is a rational choice and, like so much else in our lives, a matter of ethics. Choosing not to eat factory farmed meat is a start, but to our way of thinking, going the final step is nirvana. We have never once regretted making this decision.
We’re not seeking perfection — we recognize conflicts and contradictions in our lives. And, we know that animals by the billions will be killed every day all over the planet for food, fur and sport. But not because of us. It’s a perfectly natural way to live, and we often wonder why it took us so long.
SUSAN COCKRELL
Eureka Springs, Arkansas
Visit our Eating Wisely Web page to tell us about what you eat (and what you don’t eat), and why. — Mother
Know What You Eat
My husband and I read Mother Earth News from cover to cover. Thank you so much for publishing “Why Grow Your Own Food?” (February/March 2007). What Harvey Ussery says in his article is so true, and so sad at the same time. Since 2000, I have eaten 90 percent organic, and I grow my own vegetables in the summer and feel safe and energized by it. But everybody should be inspired by the article. Like Harvey, I want to know what I’m putting in my mouth. Don’t you?
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