I'm Blogging Again or alternate title " You Cant Handle the Truth!

I love that scene in A Few Good Men when Jack Nicholson tells Tom Cruise that he "CAN"T HANDLE THE TRUTH". That is so very true about so many subjects. We were having lunch after Church today with our friends and were asked what we were going to name our new calf. Our friend stopped there and said, " Oh yall are gonna eat it aren't you? I couldn't eat anything that I took care of and fed." Well yes we are gonna eat it, two years from now. But that little calf that I have named "Shadow" is gonna have an awesome two years before that happens. 

Shadow enjoying some fresh Mama's Milk.

Most people buy their meat from a chain grocery store and therefore are disconnected from the truth about where their meat comes from. It's sitting there in the counter all neatly wrapped and there is no evidence that it was once a living breathing animal. If that is you that's how you live, that's OK with me, but the hard truth that people really don't want to hear is you are supporting factory farming and that package of burger you're buying didn't come from any one cow, it came from the scraps of many cows. Those cows were not treated very well. There is antibiotics in your meat. Those cows had to have loads of antibiotics so they wouldn't die of disease in the conditions they are raised. Those cows never walk leisurely across a green pasture stopping to munch on some grass as they head down to the pond to get a drink. They stand in manure 24/7 with no shade and are fed grain by a conveyor or truck. I could go on and on about feedlot beef but I'll save that for another time.

Typical Feedlot operation. 

Let's get back to Shadow and his life, Shadow will outlive your beef by almost a year. During that time, he will run, play, and watch butterflies land on wild flowers. He'll enjoy many trips to the pond for a cool drink and he'll wade around in there every now and then eating lily pads. He'll always have access to shade and  he'll spend a lot of time laying in the shade of Hickory trees just like he is doing right this very minute as I watch him through my window.  He'll be with other cattle, but he'll never be crowded. He'll be rotated weekly through a series of pastures to make sure he has fresh healthy grass to eat at all times. He'll never eat corn, and he'll never be implanted with growth hormones. He'll never be injected with antibiotics. He'll be happy and healthy. As a cow's life goes, he's gonna have it pretty good. Don't think that we are terrible people because we eat our own beef. The truth is, We're much kinder than the millions of people that get they're beef from the store. 

I'm gonna be bloggin about raising your own food and buying locally raised food. I'll be reviewing some equipment, and telling you about things we do as we raise our own food. There will be some cool photography and some cell phone pics. I think I'm pretty funny so I'll be cracking some jokes. Check out my blog often. I am gonna make a real effort to post at least a couple of times a week.