Some gals like pretty clothes and painted nails...I like clean food and farming.

It’s September already and it seems like Summer just got started. The garden is at it’s peak and the canning cupboard and freezer are filling up. The Spring kids are teenagers and the does are drying up and soon it will be time to breed for another season. And, as the Summer comes to a close, the June chicks, once cute and fluffy, are ready to go off to freezer camp. They are a labor of love and one of the tasks on the farm that I have the hardest time reconciling in myself.

Day old chicks arriving on the farm via USPS

I consider myself a “careful consumer”, one who supports my local farmers, who chooses humanely raised animals for food and one who cares for my planet’s health because I know it impacts my own. It would be easier for sure to just let someone else raise my birds but, I’m picky and want a bird who has consumed organic feed, not just non-gmo , who’s full of green grass, ate a bug or two and picked a fight to defend his girl. I want a bird who has enjoyed sunbathing and knows he is loved while he is here.

The caveat is that I’m invested, not only in time and resources but with my heart. My birds are loved and we have a relationship that makes putting them in the truck and driving to the processing plant bittersweet. I eat differently because of this. My food is not anonymous; it has a face, a heartbeat, a life and I want it to be dispatched and consumed consciously with care and dignity.

This same philosophy applies to the vegetables I grow and the milk and eggs my animals produce. Everything is valuable and life giving from the life that gave it. And, I hope that by being a conscious consumer, I am contributing to the greater good for our planet.