When I first got my chickens, and later my milking goats, I realized just HOW MUCH our society is disconnected with their food...
Yet even with only chickens, I failed to TRULY understand the balance between myself and my food. It wasn't until I was milking my goat, and caring for her that I really understood and began to cherish this relationship I have with my food now. Being in charge of my herd and it's well being creates a give and take that I had never experienced.
With my latest kidding, I have been in charge of helping my herd queen, once the low man on the totem pole, solidify her place in my herd. When I got her, my goat dealer sold her to me in milk, because I was new, and Ginger was a gentle, easy milker with good sized teats. She was unassuming, and never at the top of the herd where she was. When I brought her home, I had a larger goat that kept her in her place. Until the day I brought home my second NDG doeling, and my larger goat bullied it. Ginger stood up to the larger goat, and protected the new doeling as if she were her own. Once we removed the larger goat from our herd, Ginger became the leader. I cherished the relationship I had with her... earning her trust, providing her with quality food that in turn, provided my family with milk. Then there was the time spent with her... the time she was on the stanchion was like meditation for me... to be trusted in such a way that I was allowed to harvest something that provided my family with food. Having harvested it myself, I also noticed I enjoyed and cherished the food I ate more....
Now Ginger has kidded with doelings, and so I will be able to keep her girls in my herd. I'm amazed at how loving and caring she is toward them, but I also feel a new bond with her that I would not have if I had not been there to assist her in kidding. She allows much more contact from me than she has in the past, and because her doelings will be staying with her here in my herd, I know that her place as herd queen is even further cemented.
Sorry for the rambling... but I figured if anyone "got" what I was trying to say, it would be you guys. :) I'm really excited to have this new appreciation for how entangled my life is with my food. It's something I wish more people had the chance to feel.
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Patty, yes it is very fulfilling. I will be milking the girls in the open air barn at either dawn or dusk, looking out at our serene pond listening to a whipporwhill. Even with ornery Penny who does NOT care to be a milk goat, thank you very much, it is serene.
I am a self admitted tree hugging fruitcake hippie but imagine the energy associated with factor farmed food, the pain and anguish, and then we put that in ourselves, too.
My children have less free time than most I guess, because there is a lot of work. But hey, they don't text, they watch a reasonable amount of TV, and they aren't in any sort of trouble.
Whenever I feel like it's too much or too emotionally tolling (selling our first kids was tough, carrying off a screaming baby while mom is at the gate screaming for the baby), I think about the alternative. That screaming baby is doing fine now, on 8 acres with a nice family, momma Penny got over it, and I just can't keep them all, there isn't room. sometimes I have to watch animal rights videos on Youtube to remind myself why there is really nothing inhumane going on here at Blue Star Farm. The worst thing that happens here is miss Penny (who did NOT want to be a home milker, thank you very much!!) has to subject her poor self to free choice organic grain on the milk stand twice a day and a pair of hobbles so my milk bowl doesn't go flying every ten seconds.
Oh, I LOVE this thread! :) I needed to read this today, because you know, sometimes this way of life can seem like way too much work. I get tired, and sometimes it's hard to face the day. But something always happens to remind me that this lifestyle choice is worth the time and effort. Like this thread. Julianna, you are so right. "Cheap" food of any kind is an insult. All that we and our animals go through to produce this wonderful food is precious. It is emptying and filling at the same time - which is weird, but true. Taking care of animals and gardens gives something important back to us long before we eat the food! :)
I know this is an old thread but I just saw it and really wanted to comment. I totally identify with getting more connected to the food. We started our little endeavor partly because I'm horrified by factory farm treatment of animals and partly because I think a lot of the food that is being mass marketed right now is very unhealthy or downright poisonous.
Another epiphany that I had when I started raising our chickens & goats was the "Cost" of food. And I don't really mean money. Although the idea of "cheap" meat/eggs/milk is an insult. There is nothing cheap about life.
But also, watching these pregnant does waddle around, scream in labor and go trhough everything they go through to make this milk, it's a big deal. It isn't just some beverage that appears in a bottle at the grocery store, someone carried a baby, delivered the baby, and then puts their life energy into making that milk.
I'm glad my human children know what a real chicken looks like, what it needs to survive and be happy, and the same with the goats. I hope they leave the house knowing that no life is cheap/expendable. I hope they know that there is no type of animal, breed of animal, or use for an animal that makes it alright to treat that animal with zero dignity or respect (like how pet dogs have a standard of living vs. a factory farmed meat pig with is the same emotional/mental capacity of a dog)
Same with people. I hope they know that no "type" of person is less deserving off a quality life.
Glenna, feel free to share what I've written!! It's nice knowing you guys understand what I'm saying. :)
Deb, I have often wondered about industrial food myself. One of my favorite sheep people in my area once said in a video on her farm "Eating meat shouldn't be easy" meaning it should cause us all to pause.
That is very well said, Rachel. Once we have been close to these animals, it is a forever feeling, understanding the connection and all it gives to us. My bet goes to that everyone here understands. I would love to post your thoughts on my facebook page - some of my friends are questioning my sanity.<g>
Even though I am barely milking, I want *more* goats, which is not possible in town. Because I want milk goats, I will be faced annually with giving up some of my precious goat friends to keep within the limits of three. At some point, since my lot is a larger lot, after I am much better set up with realistic usable space, I might petition to the City for permission to keep as many as five. After all, with these little girls, five would still be close to the 300 lb. limit of three under 100 lbs.<g> By then, it will be more common knowledge there are goats in town and more supporters - but everything takes time, it is less than two years they have even been allowed. My awareness of what I am doing may affect the future of goats on city lots here is very high so I am being more cautious - it is really, really great that my girls are quiet and not noisy nellies. I want many more families to be able to enjoy their own little sweeties as well as have their own milk in their backyard. Hens and honey bees are really gaining ground this past three or four years! And goats can play. :-)
Oh, I LOVE this, and I totally GET it! I love my goats so much, and you really do get a special bond with milkers. I seriously, seriously need to cut back because my baby is transferring to University Of Illinois, and I don't want to be milking 18 goats by myself come fall. I've spent the last day and a half trying to figure out who to sell, and it is torture!
It blows me away that people can eat factory farm meat and ask me how we can eat animals we raise. But it's because they are so disconnected from the source of their food. Either they don't know how the animals are raised or they don't care, which I really don't understand.
I completely understand. I think my plans to learn to make cheese etc. are making me feel more that way. I felt that way about the garden harvest last year also. Even though we both grew up that way, my hubby never planted one for us until last year and he got a wild hair. It was also the first time I ever ate fried green tomatoes. They are awesome. I even totally get what you are saying about Ginger. I feel that way about Marley and I am so happy for everyone, especially Marley that she has a doeling that will stay here with her. I found her alone as a stray and now she will not only not be alone but will have her daughter at her side. I have so much to thank Marley for since she rekindled our interest in goats. We would have non of them and non of the dreams we now work toward every day if it were not for Marley entering our lives. Thanks be to God for our Marley, her kids, and our dreams.