Thursday, October 9, 2008

Circling the Wagons

Every day the news seems to bring more depressing news about the economy. One of the main reasons we decided to try out this farming experiment was to learn to be more self-sufficient. The prophet and apostles are always counseling church members to build up a year's supply of food, stay out of debt, and follow the word of wisdom.

In our continuing effort to live off the land, the Mastracola's have decided to try their hand at raising some meat chickens. We ordered 25 meat chickens from McMurray Hatchery that should arrive the week of October 20. We have cleaned up the coop and readied the back room for the new chicks. We had a family meeting and it was decided that we cannot name these chicks or play with them too much, as it was so easy to become attached to the flock we have producing our eggs today.

It will be an interesting task when the time comes for the chicks to make it to our freezer. No one here at the house is quite ready to be the executioner. I have repeatedly told the kids that there will come a time that they will be grateful for having learned these skills. We will all take part in the process.

I really feel that if people had to raise their own food, and slaughter it in order to get it on their table, I believe there would be a different respect towards what, and how much, we consume. I wonder how many people actually stop to think about the factory process of growing and processing meat? It has been something that has been on my mind lately. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

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