HOMESTEAD HAPPENINGS
Every time I send an animal to the butcher it reminds me of a little comical story. About four or five years ago Marla was down at the barn with our little neighbor boy. He was curious about the different animals that were in the barn so she was showing him around. After taking it all in for awhile he turned to Marla, looked up at her, scrunched up his little freckled nose and said, "how come you guys kill everything"? Our little neighbor boy was just stating what our pet-crazed culture believes - that humans are here to meet the needs of animals not the other way around.
Even though butchering day can be a little sad there is a quote from Wendell Berry that helps me put things in perspective. "To live, we must daily break the body and shed the blood of Creation. When we do this knowingly, lovingly, skillfully, reverently, it is a sacrament. When we do it ignorantly, greedily, clumsily, destructively, it is a desecration. In such desecration we condemn ourselves to spiritual and moral loneliness, and others to want." Here at Lil Bitty Farm we strive for the former. We recognize God as the creator of all these critters so we do our best to ensure their health and safety while they are with us. But we also realize He has given them to us so that we may live and flourish on this earth.
Todd