Yesterday was a great day! I got to meet up with my best friend from highschool and her husband. Actually her husband and I planned a surprise lunch for her, she had no clue! So we all got done eating and decided to go to Tractor Supply that was close so I could pick up the meat chickens, for our farm. This is our first year raising and butchering our own chickens so we are excited about this experience.
So we get to the store and looked around. I looked at all the cute chicks (and yes thoughts of sneaking some other chickens and a few of the ducklings there, did pop in my head. But then Tom popped in my head and those thoughts went away haha). So I asked the Saleman if he could give me 13 of the Cornish rock chicks. He boxed them up and took me to the register, and told me to have a nice day. I thank him and told him to have a nice day as well. So while waiting in line there was a lady in front of me. My friends and I were looking at the different magaizines while we waited for my turn.
The lady in front looked over and said oh what kind did you get. I said, " oh the meat chickens". she stared at me with a confused look. She said what do you do with those? I said, " you butcher them." Once again gave me a confused look. Then her look turned to disgust. I could tell she was not happy so I went on looking at other things while she finished checking out. I could hear her under her breathe saying, " that is just cruel!", " If you have to do those kinds of things it is time to find a job". Yes I kept my composer( let me tell you I wanted to tell her a lot), because I really felt what good would it do? The mind set that woman had I really didn't feel if I said anything it would have made her change her mind. So the lady left with her bags and still mumbling things under her breathe and the last thing she said I didn't hear.
The cashier looked at me in disbelief that the lady had said all those things. She couldn't understand why the lady was that rude either. She said," where does she think her chicken from the store comes from?", Apparently the last thing she said to the cashier was, she wasn't going to shop their anymore because they sell baby chicks ( like meat ones) and that is just horrible.
I guess the reaction of the lady today made me really think, about wow am I really a cruel person for doing this? Am I a horrible person for wanting to raise our own food?
The answer is "NO!". We are a family that enjoys the farm life and likes to know what our animals eat, do , etc. We are thankful and we are sure to thank God for them . Are we weird to do this, to grow our own food, to raise our own meats? Well depends on who you are? haha Personally I don't think we are, we are just wanting to go back to the days when this was normal. Everyone would have chickens in their backyard, families would have their own gardens and survive on that till the next summer harvest. Back when making your own laundry soap, seasonings, hanging laundry, and not using electronics that often was normal. That is the life we thrive for and we hope that someday, even if we have one person start planting a tomato plant, green beans or lettuce in their backyard. Or someone who gets the passion to try canning or freezing their own garden veggies. Or even to go and support a local farmer who grows and sells their vegetables, eggs or meats. Every little bit counts, then I can have a 100 of those ladies talk about me that way.
So for now we will enjoy the cute little fluff balls that have taken residence in our home, until it gets warm enough for them to go out in the chicken tractor and then in April we will pray and thank the Lord for letting us raise these chickens and for the blessing they will be to us and others
Just another day on the homestead......
~ Katie
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