#indigenous chicken farming

[farmerstrend]

How Poultry Farmers in Kiambu Are Boosting Productivity with Feed Production Training

Poultry farmers in Kiambu County benefit from feed production training by KOPIA, reducing costs and boosting productivity through locally produced, affordable poultry feeds. Kiambu’s poultry farmers receive vital training on feed formulation and disease management, enhancing yields and profitability amid high feed prices. KOPIA empowers poultry farmers in Kiambu with sustainable feed production…

[cruelsister-moved2]

Re: your last couple posts, soooo many people have knee-jerk negative reactions to vegans / vegetarians that are really transparently rooted in  finding them annoying rather than any actual critiques of veganism as an ethical framework. To the point where people who call themselves leftists will just start going off about how ummm factory farms are good and fine actually unprompted if they think a vegan or a vegetarian is anywhere near them, it’s so embarrassing

Sorry to randomly go off in your inbox lol, I’m just relieved it’s not only me that sees this shit 

yesss word ive complained about this exact thing before. like as a leftist you should be opposed to factory farming for sooo many reasons. and the baseless gotcha of the week that people just repeat with no interest in checking if it's true... like they are so transparently not ACTUALLY concerned about the environmental impact of quinoa or whayever....

my pet theory is it's grounded in their own guilt,because on some level they're worried they might be making the wrong choice. if I tell someone I don't eat meat and they launch into a manifesto for eating meat, I feel like they're arguing with the voice in their head, not me. and they don't like nuanced discussions about e.g factory farming or sustainability because it would make them feel guilty; they need to believe all vegans are guzzling almonds and microplastics and malnourishing their dogs so they can avoid the discomfort.

the discomfort comes from the fact that we are all forced into a system of unethical consumption, where in order to survive we're forced to subscribe to products which aren't good for other humans, animals, and the planet. rather than recognise that lots of people 1. try to mitigate this in their own ways but 2. will not be able to fully escape the issues as an individual; they fall back on no ethical consumption under capitalism & cultivate alienation from their food as a coping mechanism. I think it's really important that we face where our food comes from, even if it isn't pleasant.

like all of us eat plant products so it weird the level of cognitive dissonance required to be able to be concerned about your diet having a negative impact but only in this specific context and every other time it's like well if commercial farming of inanimate crops is bad then im sure there's absolutely no issues at all with commercial farming of livestock right!!

[samwisethewitch]

Homemaking, gardening, and self-sufficiency resources that won't radicalize you into a hate group

It seems like self-sufficiency and homemaking skills are blowing up right now. With the COVID-19 pandemic and the current economic crisis, a lot of folks, especially young people, are looking to develop skills that will help them be a little bit less dependent on our consumerist economy. And I think that's generally a good thing. I think more of us should know how to cook a meal from scratch, grow our own vegetables, and mend our own clothes. Those are good skills to have.

Unfortunately, these "self-sufficiency" skills are often used as a recruiting tactic by white supremacists, TERFs, and other hate groups. They become a way to reconnect to or relive the "good old days," a romanticized (false) past before modern society and civil rights. And for a lot of people, these skills are inseparably connected to their politics and may even be used as a tool to indoctrinate new people.

In the spirit of building safe communities, here's a complete list of the safe resources I've found for learning homemaking, gardening, and related skills. Safe for me means queer- and trans-friendly, inclusive of different races and cultures, does not contain Christian preaching, and does not contain white supremacist or TERF dog whistles.

Homemaking/Housekeeping/Caring for your home:

Making It by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen [book] (The big crunchy household DIY book; includes every level of self-sufficiency from making your own toothpaste and laundry soap to setting up raised beds to butchering a chicken. Authors are explicitly left-leaning.)

Safe and Sound: A Renter-Friendly Guide to Home Repair by Mercury Stardust [book] (A guide to simple home repair tasks, written with rentals in mind; very compassionate and accessible language.)

How To Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis [book] (The book about cleaning and housework for people who get overwhelmed by cleaning and housework, based on the premise that messiness is not a moral failing; disability and neurodivergence friendly; genuinely changed how I approach cleaning tasks.)

Gardening

Rebel Gardening by Alessandro Vitale [book] (Really great introduction to urban gardening; explicitly discusses renter-friendly garden designs in small spaces; lots of DIY solutions using recycled materials; note that the author lives in England, so check if plants are invasive in your area before putting them in the ground.)

Country/Rural Living:

Woodsqueer by Gretchen Legler [book] (Memoir of a lesbian who lives and works on a rural farm in Maine with her wife; does a good job of showing what it's like to be queer in a rural space; CW for mentions of domestic violence, infidelity/cheating, and internalized homophobia)

"Debunking the Off-Grid Fantasy" by Maggie Mae Fish [video essay] (Deconstructs the off-grid lifestyle and the myth of self-reliance)

Sewing/Mending:

Annika Victoria [YouTube channel] (No longer active, but their videos are still a great resource for anyone learning to sew; check out the beginner project playlist to start. This is where I learned a lot of what I know about sewing.)

Make, Sew, and Mend by Bernadette Banner [book] (A very thorough written introduction to hand-sewing, written by a clothing historian; lots of fun garment history facts; explicitly inclusive of BIPOC, queer, and trans sewists.)

Sustainability/Land Stewardship

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer [book] (Most of you have probably already read this one or had it recommended to you, but it really is that good; excellent example of how traditional animist beliefs -- in this case, indigenous American beliefs -- can exist in healthy symbiosis with science; more philosophy than how-to, but a great foundational resource.)

Wild Witchcraft by Rebecca Beyer [book] (This one is for my fellow witches; one of my favorite witchcraft books, and an excellent example of a place-based practice deeply rooted in the land.)

Avoiding the "Crunchy to Alt Right Pipeline"

Note: the "crunchy to alt-right pipeline" is a term used to describe how white supremacists and other far right groups use "crunchy" spaces (i.e., spaces dedicated to farming, homemaking, alternative medicine, simple living/slow living, etc.) to recruit and indoctrinate people into their movements. Knowing how this recruitment works can help you recognize it when you do encounter it and avoid being influenced by it.

"The Crunchy-to-Alt-Right Pipeline" by Kathleen Belew [magazine article] (Good, short introduction to this issue and its history.)

Sisters in Hate by Seyward Darby (I feel like I need to give a content warning: this book contains explicit descriptions of racism, white supremacy, and Neo Nazis, and it's a very difficult read, but it really is a great, in-depth breakdown of the role women play in the alt-right; also explicitly addresses the crunchy to alt-right pipeline.)

These are just the resources I've personally found helpful, so if anyone else has any they want to add, please, please do!

[chicuahtliteotl]

Popōca adventures continue, he's now tried pecking through sheet metal and looks confused when it makes a startling noise.

They've also ignored at least two hawks flying over head

Meanwhile all the chickens are congregating on the soil.

[bumblebeeappletree]

Every once in a while I’ll see some posts about everyone should become vegan in order to help the environment. And that… sounds kinda rude. I’m sure they don’t mean to come off that way but like, humans are omnivores. Yes there are people who won’t have any animal products be it meat or otherwise either due to personal beliefs or because their body physically cannot handle it, and that’s okay! You don’t have to change your diet to include those products if you don’t want to or you physically can’t.

But there’s indigenous communities that hunt and farm animals sustainably and have been doing so for generations. And these animals are a primary source of food for them. Look to the bison of North America. The settlers nearly caused an extinction as a part of a genocide. Because once the Bison were gone it caused an even sharper decline of the indigenous population. Now thankfully Bison did not go extinct and are actively being shared with other groups across America.

Now if we look outside of indigenous communities we have people who are doing sustainable farming as well as hunting. We have hunting seasons for a reason, mostly because we killed a lot of the predators. As any hunter and they will tell you how bad the deer population can get. (Also America has this whole thing about bird feathers and bird hunting, like it was bad until they laid down some laws. People went absolutely nuts on having feathers be a part of fashion like holy cow.)

We’re slowly getting better with having gardens and vertical farms within cities, and there’s some laws on being able to have a chicken or two at your house or what-have-you in the city for some eggs. (Or maybe some quails since they’re smaller than chickens it’s something that you’d might have to check in your area.) Maybe you would be able to raise some honey bees or rent them out because each honey tastes different from different plants. But ultimately when it comes to meat or cheese? Go to your local farmers. Go to farmers markets, meet with the people there, become friends, go actively check out their farm. See how the animal lives are and if the farmer is willing, talk to them about sustainable agriculture. See what they can change if they’re willing. Support indigenous communities and buy their food and products, especially if you’re close enough that the food won’t spoil on its way to you. (Like imagine living in Texas and you want whale meat from Alaska and you buy it from an indigenous community. I would imagine that would be pretty hard to get.)

Either way everything dies in the end. Do we shame scavengers for eating corpses they found before it could rot and spread disease? Do we shame the animals that hunt other animals to survive? Yes factory farming should no longer exist. So let’s give the animals the best life we can give them. If there’s babies born that the farmer doesn’t want, give them away to someone who wants them as a pet. Or someone who wants to raise them for something else. Not everyone can raise animals for their meat. I know I can’t I would get to emotionally attached. I’d only be able to raise them for their eggs and milk.

Yeah this was pretty much thrown together, and I just wanted to say my thoughts and throw them into the void. If you have some examples of sustainable farming/agriculture, please share them because while I got some stuff I posted from YouTube, I’m still interested to see what stuff I might’ve missed!

[ghostoffuturespast]

@merge-conflict I'm more than happy to share the deal with you (and anyone else interested) about the chickens! I just can't do it in public because it's spoilers for So It Goes.

So if anyone really wants to know, private message me or jump ahead and read Ch. 33

Long story short though, I'm obsessed with the chicken van and as someone who's job is nature, I'm fascinated with natural resources and what that looks like in a dystopian hellscape. It's interesting to me to think about lol 🌿

brGAWK brk brk brk brGAWK 🐔

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

I can die happy now. Old Man River, Grandpa V, and The Girls™️ (chickens)!!!

Thank you so much for indulging me, rat! It means a lot. This is such a wonderful treat and I did not think it was actually possible until I saw the chicken props but dreams do come true!

P.S. LMAO the chicken on River's head 🐔 PERCHED! (All these women running his life lol)

[nothorses]

sorry but that post you reblogged about "anti egg vegans" being stupid because chickens don't care i feel like is missing the point of most people being vegan due to animal explotation within mass factory farming and not like having some chickens in the backyard or a small farm. the critique is the comodification of animal products to the point of animals not being treated like living beings but as products and so often being put in terrible living conditions because of that. i think whether most vegans see it as capitalism being the real probelm or not the critique should be aimed toward capitalism as a whole, rather than individual people participating in it.

I absolutely agree with critiques of industrial farming, and I believe a lot of folks do feel that way! And I think it's just as silly to pretend that everybody understands the nuance there. I'd say most of the vegans I have encountered are not specifically against industrial agriculture, and are just as vegan when encountering animal products that have been sustainably produced/harvested/whatever as they are with every other animal product. I have had conversations with people who are against honey because it Exploits The Bees, but are perfectly happy to use agave syrup as a replacement regardless of the abundant human rights issues that impact immigrants and people of color in other parts of the world in particular.

I think there are perfectly respectable reasons and ways to be vegan, and it's shitty to assume that any individual person has the Wrong Reasons or a shitty way of going about it based entirely on the fact that they are vegan. I also think it's just as ignorant to pretend that the people who are in it for entirely the wrong reasons don't exist, or even that they aren't, like, fairly common.

I live in an area where it's the norm to ensure all food provided is vegan-friendly unless you know for a fact that it doesn't need to be. I promise you there is absolutely a culture of veganism because it looks or feels good, particularly among white people, and the reason I am frustrated about things like ignorance of the impact of industrial agriculture on human people, and the obsession with "vegan leather" without any mind paid to the environmental impact it has, and the ignorance of our profit history toward indigenous relationships with animal products, is because I constantly meet people who believe those things & it is, y'know. frustrating.

[littleguypumpkinsheep]

Hello, Welcome. Sit Back For A While.

My name is Pumpkin Sheep, (you can call me Sheep/Shepard) or Connor. He/Him It/Its. Either is fine, variety is preferred. I yap a lot and that’ll be tagged with either “sheep says” or “connor speaks”. Local indigenous cowboy. Ask box is there for you to talk about whatever you’d like with me. I’ll listen always.

🐑

I’m an artist and a writer. AO3 is: HeavyMetalMasacre. I’ve drawn for: TF2, Deltarune, Madness Combat, IHNMAIMS, and for my own original story QueerFolk. You can find my work through the tag “my art”.

🐑

No DNI. Just if you’re religious I don’t want to hear it and might block you if you talk about it often. Don’t be stupid here. You will not be forgiven.

🐑

Don’t come into my asks or replies with bigoted shit nonsense. I won’t give you a respectful answer if you can’t respect me. I don’t give bigots the time of day and the same goes to general rudeness. You’d better cowboy up or I’ll make you sit there and bleed.

🐑

Sticker sheet and frequently used tags below:

🐑

Sheep says- my yapping.

Keystone- posts that represent me.

My art- my art.

My poultry- photos of my chickens and ducks.

My beasts- photos of my dogs.

My farm- all the weird animals I like to collect on here.

Save- things I want to save.

Fave- my favorite things.

Inspo- inspiration for my art.

Ask- asks.

Zipfile- Risqué posts and discussions.

Want- Things I want to own.

Queerfolk - Tag for my original characters and story.

My cowboy- Arthur Morgan.

My son- Micah Bell.

[itwasthisorthemilitary]

February 25, 2024

Ahh Sunday. I spent the morning trying to find anything I could possibly do to avoid another impromptu church service. This morning my mom finally let me do the dishes so I've made progress on that front! After breakfast Xavier told me to change my shoes and grab some water because we were going on a walk (3+ hour hike) but I didn't ask any questions and followed him to Lower Los Mortales. He brought Audrey, Ahmet, Caitlin, to an area I hadn't been too yet with incredible views. We passed a chicken farm, a bunch of creepy looking worker ants that I really didn't like, amazing plants that people pay good money for in the US, and most importantly a new swimming spot. We ended our hike at this guy's house who lives insanely far from town and we sat on his porch for like 40 minutes learning simple phrases in the indigenous language Ngäbe. This guy was so cool and he speaks Spanish, Ngäbe, English, and French. Xavier is one of my favorite adults in this community because he takes any opportunity he can to further the understanding of the volunteers and teach us new things. All the praise to him for being so patient. As we walked down the mountain/hill I was just so satisfied, I got a solid workout in, worked my brain a bunch, and was with some of my favorite people.

The volunteers have been tasked with starting a community garden so the first task is germinating the seeds. We've distributed all of them and today the kids helped me start planting my cucumber seeds in an empty egg carton. Most volunteers have been asking their parents for help/suggestions for starting this garden but I find that the kids are just as knowledgeable and more eager to help. When we started looking for dirt to use for the seedlings, we initial found a very red clay-like dirt and the kids told me it was no good for seeds and we needed to find "Tierra negro" (black earth). Otherwise I studied some Spanish with some friends today, read my book and overall am having a very nice Sunday.

[frogblast-the-ventcore]

Starfield Thoughts on Pets (and Missed Potential)

A friend of mine and I were talking about Starfield, and some of the story/design choices they made. She mentioned one that really struck her as odd:

"A thing that Major Sanon says the first time you meet her, when you talk about why the terrormorph is concerning, is that humanity has brought across the stars a lot of animals, like pests, pets, livestock, etc, intentionally and unintentionally, but terrormorphs remain a mystery.

"But somehow we didn't bring our Earth animals?

"We're sending settlers to lonely farms on distant armpits of worlds where a latrine is a luxury, but nobody thinks they'll need horses, chickens, cows, etc.?"

"Like, even the pets aside, think of the livestock ideas. A well maintained large chicken coop could provide fresh eggs for a whole community, same with dairy cows. And they clearly have cloning and highly advanced gene tech in this universe, so its not even about bringing millions of cows with them.

"If anything, in the "we have Firefly at home" parts of the franchise, you'd be seeing people basically ranching like if it were 1890s Kansas, with horses and animal labor to make up where they can't bring machines.

"I do strongly feel so hard it's a missed opportunity to do a whole "we wrecked alien world ecosystems with Earth animals and bugs that lack natural predators."

"In a world with breathable atmosphere but no predators, a couple rogue mice could easily destroy the entire ecosystem by eating all the indigenous fruit. A world dominated by tiny animals would be wrecked by a feral cat colony that reproduces unchecked.

"And you could have enviromentalist movements about preserving the alien worlds as they are, conflicting with the economics and emotions of wanting to keep our pets, and wanting to keep eating beef, etc.

"And it's pretty obvious Bethesda thought about the idea from the concept art, but it ended up on the cutting room floor."

The above art is from the official art book, and depicts a clearly cut-content "Pure Planet Initiative", suggesting Bethesda was at least considering these sorts of plotlines.

Here we see what may be an early concept Sam Coe and Cora Coe, on what is likely the Eye, with an actual cat.

So they've clearly thought about all of this.

As to how they might bring this plotline/Earth animals in general back into the game?

Literally just a data core with the genetic information of all the main Earth animals/plants. Space Noah's Ark meets Space Svalbard Seed Vault. That's all they'd need to bring Earth animal life to the rest of the Settled Systems with the exodus from Earth.

I'd buy that DLC in a heartbeat.

[swashbucklery]

Hi! What was the podcast on fabric sustainability that you've been listening to? Thanks!

OKAY it's called Weaving Voices, it's a 10-episode fixed run podcast series and 1000% worth listening to.

I will say, I went in expecting - like I listen to a lot of textile podcasts, ok, and there's often a formula of like. Soft-spoken (white) female host, guest is soft-spoken (white) female speaking gently about how she has disengaged personally from society/destructive textile systems and now owns four chickens and designs knitting patterns or weaves little jackets for rescue donkeys or whatever. (Which: I have criticisms of because they're lovely and soft to listen to but create the veneer and feeling of like. I can opt out and personally be sustainable even if the planet is burning, and while that feels very nice to listen to, your small scale chicken farm will do nothing without you engaging with the rest of society and advocating for changes that will prevent the planet from burning.)

(Which: I would encourage you to consider reading Homeward Bound by Emily Matchar, which touches on the concept of the homesteading movement as creating the illusion of being able to opt out from society and is an interesting critical lens.)

BUT ANYWAY the first episode of Weaving Voices is actually not about fiber at all, it's an interview with a guy talking about how we have to dismantle modern economics or society will crumble, so you have to kind of know that going in.

However. It is a very, very good podcast, and rather than just focusing on tackling the problems with our current fast fashion model it really digs into solutions, which is refreshing. The other thing I love is that it talks about system-wide solutions and reform, rather than "here's a pair of pants you, the listener, can buy to personally solve textile sustainability." It treats the responsibility for this as collective which I don't often see, and examines in more detail things like:

the politics of the current 'fabric sustainability' grading system and why they're inexplicably biased towards plastic fibers

rebutting some of the anti-sustainability arguments against genuinely sustainable textiles like silk and alpaca

examining the fallacy of "donating clothes" in a fast-fashion world where so many of the RTW garments are meant to be disposable, and speaks to people working in textile markets in Ghana where bales of waste clothing from the western world are shipped, for some reason

and then quite relatedly a really good examination of how the three R's are reduce/reuse/recycle but we've focused so hard on recycling that we've forgotten the other two, and why that's uhh not ideal

microplastics!! in everything!! and there's a super cool interview with a scientist tracking how microplastics move into soil and water systems as a consequence of laundering plastic clothes

also there are some profoundly moving episodes speaking to indigenous textile producers that are examining, effectively, what pre-industrial textile systems looked like as both a lens to consider the impact of colonization on these systems and also how different current textile production and consumption has become.

a really moving episode on the garment worker labour movement in LA and how they're advocating for national legislation after being successful on a state scale (!!!)

It's really special and cool, and what I find is that like. The episodes themselves were interesting, but what I'm really loving is that the more I let the series marinate, the more thoughts I have and the more I realize I've learned. It educates in an indirect way but did a really good job.

[legend-collection]

Saci

Saci is a character in Brazilian folklore. He is a one-legged black man, who smokes a pipe and wears a magical red cap that enables him to disappear and reappear wherever he wishes (usually in the middle of a Dirt devil). Considered an annoying prankster in most parts of Brazil, and a potentially dangerous and malicious creature in others, he nevertheless grants wishes to anyone who manages to trap him or steal his magic cap. However, his cap is often depicted as having a bad smell. Most people who claimed to have stolen this cap say they can never wash the smell away.

Pic by Juliane Prenhacca Juneru

The legend says that a person can trap a Saci inside a bottle when he is in the form of a dust devil.

There are several variants of the myth, including: Saci-pererê, black as coal; Saci-trique, bi-racial and more benign; Saci-saçurá, with red eyes.

An incorrigible prankster, the Saci causes no major harm, but there is no little harm that he won't do. He hides children's toys, sets farm animals loose, teases dogs—and curses chicken eggs, preventing them from hatching. In the kitchen, the Saci spills salt, sours the milk, burns the bean stew, and drops flies into the soup.

If a popcorn kernel fails to pop, it is because the Saci cursed it. Given half a chance, he dulls the seamstress's needles, hides her thimbles, and tangles her sewing threads. If he sees a nail lying on the ground, he turns the point up. In short, people blame anything that goes wrong—in or outside the house—on the Saci.

Besides disappearing or becoming invisible (often with only his red cap and the red glow of his pipe still showing), the Saci can transform himself into a Matitaperê or Matita Pereira, an elusive bird whose melancholic song seems to come from nowhere. One can escape a pursuing Saci by crossing a water stream. The Saci dares not cross, for then he loses all his powers. Another way is to drop ropes full of knots. The Saci is compelled to stop and undo the knots. One can also try to appease him by leaving behind some cachaça, or some tobacco for his pipe.

He is fond of juggling embers or other small objects and letting them fall through the holes on his palms. An exceedingly nimble fellow, the lack of his right leg does not prevent him from bareback-riding a horse, and sitting cross-legged while puffing on his pipe (a feat comparable to the Headless Mule's gushing fire from the nostrils).

Every dust devil, says the legend, is caused by the spin-dance of an invisible Saci. One can capture him by throwing into the dust devil a rosary made of separately blessed prayer beads, or by pouncing on it with a sieve. With care, the captured Saci can be coaxed to enter a dark glass bottle, where he can be imprisoned by a cork with a cross marked on it. He can also be enslaved by stealing his cap, which is the source of his power. However, depending on the treatment he gets from his master, an enslaved Saci who regains his freedom may become either a trustworthy guardian and friend, or a devious and terrible enemy.

While some claim that the Saci myth originated in Europe in the 13th century such as the monopod, it probably derives from the Ŷaci-ŷaterê of Tupi-Guarani mythology, a magic one-legged child with bright red hair who would spell-bind people and break the forest's silence with his loud shouts and whistles. He was originally a creature of the night, and indeed the ŷaci (jaˈsi) means "Moon" in Old Tupi.

This indigenous character was appropriated and transformed in the 18th century by the African slaves who had been brought in large numbers to Brazil. Farm slaves would tell Saci stories to amuse and frighten the children. In this process the creature became black, his red hair metamorphosed into a red cap, and, as the African elders who usually told the tales, he came to be always smoking his clay-and-reed pipe. His name mutated into various forms, such as Saci Taperê and Sá Pereira (a common Portuguese name), and eventually Saci Pererê.

His red cap may have been inspired on the Trasgo, a mythical Portuguese creature with the exact same powers as the Saci. The Saci-Pererê concept shows some syncretism with Christian elements: he bolts away when faced with crosses, leaving behind a sulphurous smell – classical attributes of the devil in Christian folklore.

The concepts of imprisoning a supernatural being in a bottle by a magically marked cork, and of forcing him to grant wishes in return of his liberty, have obvious parallels in the story of Aladdin from the Arabian Nights. This may be more than just a coincidence, since some slaves were Muslims and thus presumably familiar with the Arabian tales. Moreover, the occupation of parts of the Portuguese territory (namely in the south) by the Muslim Moors, between the years 711 and 1249, provides another possible path for Arabian influence on the Saci legend.

[samwisethewitch]

How I Get the Most Out of Meat When Cooking

As someone who 1.) was 100% vegetarian for ethical/religious reasons until very recently, and 2.) recently had to reintroduce meat for vitamin deficiency reasons, limiting waste as much as possible when I cook with meat is really important to me. For one thing, I feel like I owe it to the animal that died to get as much use as possible out of its body as a way of honoring its death. For another, meat is expensive (ethically raised meat even more so) and I want to get my money's worth.

I recently bought a bunch of lamb for my family's holiday dinner, so I wanted to share my attempt to practice the Honorable Harvest in my meat consumption. This is new to me, but I wanted to document the attempt because it's been a fun learning process for me! If you want to actually learn about honorable consumption I encourage you to read the works of Robin Wall Kimmerer and other indigenous ecologists, since the Honorable Harvest is based on indigenous North American practices. (Though there are other cultural practices all over the world.)

Step One: Sourcing the Meat

I am very fortunate to have enough disposable income to buy ethically raised meat, which tends to be more expensive. This is a privilege. Other people are not able to spend this extra money on their meat, and that doesn't make me better than them. Feeding yourself is morally neutral, and a tight budget is not a moral failing. Most meat alternative products (Beyond Beef, Impossible, etc.) are also pretty expensive. If the factory-farmed meat at the supermarket is the only thing in your budget, use that.

If you DO have some extra funds, local farms are a great place to source meat. The reason we had lamb for the holidays is because a local farm recently culled their herd and had lamb on sale. In the past we've gotten beef from a relative who raises cattle. I encourage you to learn about farms in your area and what they have to offer. CSAs and farmers' markets are great places to start. You can also ask around at local restaurants about where they source their ingredients.

When I say "ethically raised meat," what I'm really talking about is pasture-raised animals. Cage-free animals may not live in cages, but they can still be kept in cramped, dirty, inhumane conditions and be sold as "cage free." Pasture-raised animals are able to graze and forage and generally wander around within a paddock. For some animals like chickens you can also look for "free range," which means the animals are unfenced and are able to wander freely. Since I don't cook meat often, I try to get free range or pasture-raised meat when I do buy it.

In some areas, you may also be able to find certified ethically slaughtered meat, which means the slaughtering process has been designed to cause as little suffering to the animal as possible. That kind of certification isn't really available where I live, but it might be for you!

And of course, hunting or fishing yourself is also an option. If you kill the animal yourself, you know exactly how it died and can take steps to limit suffering as much as possible. Hunting isn't a skillset I have, but if you do more power to you!

Step Two: Cooking the Meat

This is the easy part. Depending on the cut of meat you got and the dish you are cooking, you may need to remove bones or trim fat, but aside from that it's just following a recipe.

For our holiday lamb stew, I used this recipe. I have Celiac disease, so I subbed gluten-free flour and replaced the beer with red wine. I also added rosemary and garlic for a more Mediterranean flavor to compliment the wine.

Step Three: Organs and Bones

This is where the breakdown is for a lot of Americans. We don't cook with bones or organs very often, and we tend to throw away whatever parts of the animal we don't want. That is not honorable consumption. Part of the Honorable Harvest is using every part of the being that died to feed you.

Most organs make great stew meat. My favorite Nicaraguan beef stew is made with tongue, and my indigenous Hawaiian relatives make stew with pig feet. And while I don't like them, lots of my Southern family members love chitlins (pickled pig intestines). Lots of cultures eat organs, and you'll find plenty of delicious recipes if you look!

Bones are typically used to make stock, which can be used as a base for future soups and stews. There are lots of recipes for DIY stocks and broths, but I usually fry some onions and/or garlic, deglaze with wine, and then add the meat/bones and the water, plus salt, pepper, and herbs for flavor. Most animal bones can produce two batches of stock before they lose flavor. (For really flavorful stock, leave some meat on the bones.)

Once the stock is done, you'll still have bones to deal with. Contrary to popular belief, cooked bones are not safe for dogs to chew on. (But raw bones usually are!) Instead, I strip any remaining meat and gristle from the stock bones, give those scraps to my pups as a treat, and then use the stripped bones for something else. With a little extra processing, the bones can be used as a fertilizer in a garden, a calcium supplement for chickens, or a safe treat for dogs and/or cats.

This was my first time processing bones, but after boiling them for, like, 12 hours in water with salt and vinegar, they were soft enough to break apart with my hands. I'm going to grind them to make bone meal.

[chicuahtliteotl]

Another one of our chickens has taken to roosting in the middle of the shed walkway.

[female-malice]

A goat named Cedar was slaughtered by Shasta County fair officials over the objections of her nine-year-old owner, according to reporting from Sam Stanton published last week in the Sacramento Bee. 

The parents of the girl had initially purchased the Boer goat for their daughter to raise and enter into a livestock auction held for 4-H and other youth farm groups at the Shasta District Fair in Northern California last June. But the girl became attached to the goat, sobbing and pleading with her parents to save Cedar from slaughter. Eventually they relented and tried to back out of the deal, even hiding the goat at a rural farm. But by that point, it was too late. 

Though the parents offered to pay the goat’s price, and the buyer even agreed, fair officials wouldn’t back down. Within weeks, local law enforcement used aerial photography and search warrants to track down Cedar, who is now presumed slaughtered, possibly eaten at a community barbecue.

The story quickly went viral, sparking outrage on behalf of the girl and her goat. But what happened in Shasta County is far from an aberration. The purpose of 4-H — one of several national training programs for young future farmers — is not just to sell livestock but to indoctrinate young people into a food system centered around raising animals for meat. 

Teaching Children Agriculture Industry Values

Livestock auctions like the one at the Shasta District Fair are a part of a long history of agricultural programming led by groups like 4-H. 

For well over a century, the non-profit youth development organization that stands for Head, Heart, Hands and Health has sponsored local livestock fairs for young participants. Born out of afterschool clubs and local community events, 4-H is a national organization that aims to train and teach responsibility to students interested in the business of farming. 

In 1939, the organization was subsumed under the USDA — even assisting in the rollout of agricultural subsidies. By the late twentieth century, the program began shipping its pro-agribusiness values overseas, especially to Latin America and Africa.

Since its founding, 4-H’s purpose has always been much more than practical — instilling a very particular set of cultural values on everything from race relations to gender roles. Early on, 4-H primarily recruited white members, taught young girls household chores instead of other skills and engaged in culturally insensitive depictions of Indigenous Americans. 

Nowadays, it boasts over six million members, partnerships with schools and universities and a handful of national conferences. These youth programs include hands-on experience with rearing cows, record-keeping and courses on agricultural systems. And, of course, fairs.

Livestock fairs are integral to the success of the 4-H program — the Shasta District Fair calls its junior livestock auction the “backbone” of the festival. Within the livestock program, children and teenagers are responsible for every aspect of rearing an animal. The youngsters spend months or even years with their farmed animals – which can be rabbits, pigs, cows, chickens and more – cleaning, feeding and even exercising together. Eventually, the other shoe drops, and the animals — now called “products” — are auctioned off to buyers in the community.

The overarching goal of the livestock fair is not to sell animals, but to enroll the next generation of farmers into the value systems of 4-H and, more broadly, animal agriculture. Fair websites frequently tout the skills and values instilled into young farmers, who, by the end of the experience, will have learned the ins and outs of animal husbandry and walk away more self-sufficient and industrious.

At least, that’s the plan. But Shasta District Fair learned the hard way what happens when a child bonds with their living product. According to the livestock auction rules, exhibitors are forbidden to take back the animals. The sale is “terminal” — even if the buyer and seller change their minds, there is no backing out. No exceptions.

Training Children To See Farm Animals as Livestock

The rules must be resolute for a reason — the 4-H livestock programs are an example of “dominionism”, a doctrine that originates from Christian texts to imbue humans with power and responsibility over animals. This ideology is essential to the existence of animal agriculture. 

Children, however, start out seeing animals in a very different way — the relationship is more like a best friend or family member. The evidence for this is everywhere — the prevalence of stuffed animals as gifts, the line-up of most Disney movies or the glee of a kindergartener when first encountering their class hamster. Researcher Gene Myers argues that children connect to animals as part of their moral and social development — tending to see all animals — even farm animals — as individuals.

The 4-H programs are designed to reshape this relationship. According to a 2010 research paper on 4-H youth livestock programs, many 4-H’ers regard farmed animals as friends — recounting conversations, memories and affection for the creatures in their care. 

Yet, a majority of the youngsters don’t feel sad when the animals are eventually trucked away for slaughter. The longer a person has been in the 4-H program, the more likely they are to actively avoid attachment to the animal, making the auction less emotional. 

The programs even teach emotional avoidance skills to the children — avoiding names for the animals so they think of them purely as commodities and potential profit. According to the authors’ research, the children learn to re-categorize their empathy by dissociating the individual animal with its eventual function —  “‘market animals’ destined for slaughter.”

Seeing farm animals as commodities is an important yet conflicting cultural bedrock of animal agriculture. According to sociological research by Rhoda Wilkie, farmers young and experienced alike express contradictory attitudes towards their animals — simultaneous empathy for their well-being and a desire to sell them for slaughter. Returning again and again to the idea of animals as ‘livestock’ is one way to reconcile these paradoxes. 

The 4-H program helps to instill this way of thinking. As part of the 4-H education, kids and teenagers involved in animal projects must learn to treat animals according to their category — either a ‘food’ or ‘companion’ animal. 

To livestock fair officials, Cedar’s recapture and slaughter was part of this essential lesson. The buyer and the parents both wanted to rescind the transaction but as one official put it —  the fair is set up for “future generations of ranchers and farmers to learn the process and effort it takes to raise quality meat.” 

It’s Not About the Money

This isn’t the first time the meat industry has gone to extreme lengths to thwart farm animal rescue efforts. 

Last year, two high-profile lawsuits were filed against animal rights activists who “stole” injured animals from factory farms. In the first, two underweight piglets named Lily and Lizzie were rescued from Smithfield Foods and in the latest, animal activists rescued two disfigured chickens named Ethan and Jax from Foster Farms. 

In both cases, all four animals were unhealthy and worth very little to the agricultural companies — just 16 and 24 dollars each, per chicken and pig respectively. All defendants faced jail time for their alleged crimes, and all defendants were eventually acquitted. 

Just as with Cedar the goat, the meat industry went to great lengths to recoup the animals, involving local police and, in the case of Smithfield, the FBI.

Here too, neither lawsuit was ever about the money. Why would a multi-billion dollar company need to spend months of litigation and work with the police to recoup less than a hundred dollars? 

The meat companies — like the local agricultural fair — are invested in something far bigger — maintaining animals’ status as commodities. As journalist Marina Bolotnikova writes, the open rescue tactic is “intentionally provoking conflict with a legal system that treats living beings on farms as though they were inanimate property rather than sentient individuals.” 

Taking a farm animal out of the system calls into question the meat industry’s implicit assertion that all farmed animals exist as commodities instead of creatures, as livestock instead of lives. Rescuing an animal from slaughter — either by picking her up from a truck or trying to renege on the terms of a livestock auction — threatens the place meat holds in our food system.

In order for animal farming to exist, farmers must be taught over and over to reframe their perceptions of animals as commodities instead of creatures. The 4-H program is a crucial part of that effort, starting with children at a very young age to raise the next generation of farmers. 

Sadly for Cedar, there cannot be any exceptions.

[emilyrosesims]

Okay, Immediate thoughts on the Horse Ranch Expansion Pack

I’m pulling my information from the video above, the leaked pics and info here, and the blog post here.

First of all, i have to get this out of the way: I wish it was called Sims 4 Horsin' Around. Missed opportunity.

I won't lie: I wasn't one of the people clamoring for horses, either in Cats and Dogs or Cottage Living. But I'm still excited to have them join the game. And as I've before, splitting them off into the own packs can be a bit annoying, but it does allow the team to go deeper with them. Hopefully that's actually the case.

Speaking of which. Treating horses like cats and dogs was the right choice. I'm glad they're part of the family, unlike cows, llamas, and chickens. I'm glad they have the same customization options as dogs and cats. Although that does just highlight the need or a human CAS color wheel.

The world looks really nice. I'm glad to know it's 3 neighborhoods, but I am really curious about the amount of lots and their sizes. One of the neighborhoods is a national park. I'm hoping it's more like the Henford-on-Bagley wood area (where there are remote lots) rather then the national park from Granite Falls. And I do want a nice variety of lot sizes, especially the bigger ones for full ranches and farms.

The small goats and sheep are cute. Since you can actually sheer and milk them, I'm curious how they interact with other packs (Can we use sheep's wool for knitting?)

WE HAVE CEILING PAINT COMING HELL YES YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW LONG I'VE WAITED FOR THIS!!!

The Build and Buy look good. Fine. I've been iching for more (south)western decorations. I'm so glad we have a full kitchen set. I'm personally not the biggest fan of cow print everything but that's okay. I'm mostly excited for those barn doors and windows. Can't wait to make a Johanna Gaines/Fixer Upper TM inspired house.

Kinda the same opinion on the human CAS. Nothing really stood out as amazing but so far nothing horrendous. A lot of it really isn't my personal style, but that's okay. I think it fits the theme.

I'm SO relieved the team hired an Indigenous sensitivity reader, added specific Native American items to the pack, and are donating to the Sacred Healing Circle. That's really important, and I'm glad they took that step. I hope they continue to have these types of collaborations and input.

So we’re still doing the pre-order bonus content I see. Can they please stop that? I'm begging now.

Overall I'm glad we have this coming. It's surprisingly soon after Growing Together - I figured we wouldn't get anything until the fall/holidays. I'm hoping this ends up being worth $40.