Okay, let's face it, this question comes up A LOT when talking to farmers.
How can we kill and then eat something that we've raised/poured our love into?
and it's a tricky one.
If I were to say that it was easy or that it didn't affect us, I would be lying. The conversations we've been having in our house lately with our 4 year old, who's just starting to understand what it means to farm animals and eat meat, have been interesting and thought provoking.
I once had someone ask me how it feels in my body to pour so much love into our animals for them to be killed and eaten at the end of the day.
I hadn't ever been asked that question in that way before.
While we've really recently been practicing what the different emotions feel like in our body, it struck me that even though there's sadness when our animals become meat, I don't hold that sadness in my body at all.
We're fully at peace with this decision.
We don't typically name our livestock, allowing us to be as attached as we want to be or don't want to be.
Sometimes they end up picking their own names, like this summer we had a runt (he was about half the size of the others when born) who we honestly could have kept as a pet, he wanted pets and belly rubs and all the attention at every check.
Obviously, he was a source of great joy for us and we referred to him lovingly as the runt and he will most likely be one of those animals we won't truly forget about.
We pour so much love into our animals for the sole reason that we want them to know how grateful we are for them, their life and what they do for our farm. Sometimes they take to it really well, like the runt, sometimes they could care less about us or even run the other way, which is okay. They always have the option of being loved by us if they choose so.
It's always sad to see them go, and I don't want that to change.
If we became accustomed to it, where it didn't even offer a blip in our day, then we've become too used to it. There is sadness on these days and so much gratitude, I don't think we could have one without the other.
Raising animals for slaughter isn't easy but in our mind it is better then the alternative.
I know where and how these animals were raised. I'd much rather eat pork that was raised with so much love then one from the grocery store whose life was looked at like a number.
I'll take seeing and being a part of the life and death over not knowing and not caring about the meat I bought at the grocery store every time.
It's uncomfortable but it's SO important for us.
Very honestly, it comes down to the fact that it doesn't matter what's on your plate (vegetable, meat, fruit etc.) an animal has died for you to eat and I'd much rather have control and be a part of that death then ignore it and pretend like it didn't happen or worse, like it doesn't matter.
For humans to be able to eat, something has to die (read why here) and it doesn't make us bad or wrong, it makes us human and that is okay.
