I am definetly not a vegetarian

[cass]

I think this falls under education... that or book reviews!

Just reading a book to my 4month old. It is called "discovery farm".Before I realised I was half-way through the book and had discribed every animal in the book (including humans) in terms of wether we eat them or not.

"This is a baby chicken.. when it grows up we will eat him...."

[michelle_j_r]

LOL! so, is that what the book said? Or what you were saying? I think i'd probably find another way to teach my kids about animals! Scarred for life. :)

[soulmama]

:gasp

Thanks... I'll avoid that one. :)

[cass]

lol..no the book just said "moo" and showed a picture of a cow... I added the commentary!!

[mama_bel]

I think it's fine, and honest, and true. :) I think all people should be very aware of where different foods come from and choose from there how they prefer to eat.

[Pinky]

I agree Mama_bel. My daughter knows that pork is pig and beef is cow. There was a time when we'd walk through the super market she'd tell strangers that the pork in the cellophane wrapper used to be a pig (or cow or chicken) and that now its dead so we can cook it and eat the muscles. She's over that 'phase' now.

Growing up in the north we had occasion to see the hunters bring home a caribou. It was amazing to me to watch them carve it up with a chainsaw like tool right out in the back yard. Of course on the drive home the thing was mostly frozen. And then they'd always give us some. Anything that wasn't used as a roast or a steak was sent to the butcher's to become sausages.

I think there is something honest about hunting for an animal (you know is not endangered and the hunting has been worked into the ecosystem of the herd) killing it, thanking the land and then using every part of it.

Something about people who only eat chicken breasts with no bone and no skin and don't even know where it comes from is kinda weird to me.

[Pinky]

oops computer acting up and posted the same thing twice.

also should add. I maybe could be a vegetarian if bacon was a vegetable.

[mama_bel]

Interesting about the caribou. I have been a vegetarian, even vegan, but now am a very selective omnivore. Now we are on the farm I can't really keep it a secret that the roosters will be in the pot, for example. And we can't breed animals if we never eat any of them, there's not enough land/resources for just letting them ALL live. It's not easy for me, but it's real.

[michelle_j_r]

i agree, i think, to a point... but i reckon i would first like to teach a younger toddler (thinking of Darcy's age) about the sounds animals make and which have soft fur or like to swim, or have lots of babies etc etc and leave the discussions of the uses we make of them until they are a bit older (perhaps Jordy's age).

Jordy is now happy to see grandpa shoot a rabbit and understands pest v's pet. And he knows we can eat our chickens if we wanted to... but i think Darcy is happy to booooick boick boick for a while longer. I'd like to see an appreciation for the animal itself before teaching about useful to humans or not.

[mummabare]

Well I suppose it all a matter of perspective. At home, we don't really see eating an animal in terms of how we "use" an animal. We recognize that we are taking life in order to maintain our own, I know I won't be popular for saying so, but taking of life can also be a very spiritual and humbling experience, its a reminder of how fragile our own life is, how we are connected to that which we are about to eat, and its sometimes a recognition of relationships, physical and spiritual...... I do think its ok to teach very young children where our meat comes from, how we get it, and more importantly what is our relationship that which we are about to eat.

I do think we can foster more of a connection with what sustains us by introducing concepts at a young age. Traditionally our babies would have been on our backs as we collected bardi grubs or watching and learning as we caught a goanna....or where ever your ancestors come from, they would have learnt how to kill a sheep or a pig, how to hunt a wild duck? All of these things are like a dance in life and they teach us important things about our own balance within the web of nature....it connects us to seasons, to place and to time. Even if you are vegetarian, watching and learning from traditional ways of finding food (whether it be meat or other), is an important way to learn about how we are connected to the world in which we live. Because the world is "around us" it is apart of us, and we are apart of it.

I'll shut up now I'm heading dangerously into one of my uni lectures lol.

There was a book about catching goannas I read when I was younger, I can't remember what it was called, if I find it I'll post it up.

[moo]

We eat dead animals in our family. We discuss the fact that beef comes from cows (although we eat precious little beef here for reasons I won't go into right now).

I think it's really important for EVERYONE who eats dead things to both know where it comes from, and also if you are a practising omnivore you should be prepared to hunt/raise/slaughter etc your own food and give thanks for the offering a creature has made so that we can enjoy sustenance.

For similar ethical and environmental reasons we also hold a "head to tail" mentality in our family-yep we are prepared to eat/use the lot..........just enjoyed some leftover organic oxtail and lentil stew last night, actually

[lucylu]

That is really admirable moo. I am dairy free vego, but everyone else eats meat sometimes. The kids will pick up packets of lamb in the shops and say 'Oh, poor sheepie'... I think it's good for kids to know where meat comes from and they don't need to be scarred for life by that knowledge. I reckon it probably depends on the way we explain it to them, like many things

[mummabare]

Moo we believe the same (although I still can't bring myself to do fish eyes). I feel sad that some people in perth don't even know where their water comes from. I took the boys up to mundaring weir to show them where our main water comes from...it was a real eye opener for them.

[mama_bel]

That's one I never thought about, K, ever - where our water comes from. We knows where ours comes from, but I mean others with town water... So simple, yet not...

Our water comes from a permanent, short, spring-fed creek. It starts at the top of an extinct volcano and runs into a big ol' river just past my friend's place downstream. We have two notable springs on our farm which feed the creek. So when we talk about where our water comes from, there's a lot of geology involved. ;)

When I was a kid I could not eat meat killed on the farm, just couldn't go there. I'd gag. Then again, I couldn't eat much meat at all, use to struggle and push it around my plate for ages. I've "always" known where meat comes from, and raised my own kids the same. Half eat meat, half don't, or eat only a very small amount. When they were small and I chose their food, they were vegetarian.

Moo, interesting about the "head to tail" stuff. I have a friend who believes that. She even smokes calves' testicles!? We are raising a Jersey/Wagyu bull calf right now, apparently for beef (of which half of eat once a week, max, from a nearby biodynamic farm)... I am not sure what will happen when he comes of age...

[mummabare]

So when we talk about where our water comes from, there's a lot of geology involved. ;) As there should be Bel :D

Had an interesting discussion with my brothers girlfriend who refuses to cook eggs because eggs " come from a chooks bum and are gross", and yet she will happily eat things made from eggs. Made me think of this thread lol. Of course I didn't say anything...my brother was giving me "the look"

[mama_bel]

LOL, that's funny.

And guess what? Milk comes from cows' boobies - and they're right back under the cow, and she lays in poo sometimes, or it splashes up on her, and they kinda wash it off at the dairy, and they strain the rest of the sticks and dirt and hair out of the milk before they blast and zap and heat and wreck it at the factory so people can safely drink the stuff from cows' boobies. :p Sorry, just a BLAH because of how many people think it's gross to drink milk from a house cow, as we do. ;)

[lucylu]

Oooh, a house cow! Not that we really drink milk, just love cows :)

[mama_bel]

I don't really drink milk either, I just wanted a house cow! Hubby has milk on cereal some days, and in coffee. The kids drink milk, but not tons. Milk is also good for yoghurt and cheese and cooking. And having calves is lots of fun!

Ooops, off topic. Did someone say 'cow'?! Oh yeh, me. :p