The desire to grow my own food, to get my hands dirty, to have ownership in what I eat has been foremost in my mind as of late – the desire to get primal, back to the land, away from the structured chaos that is modern day society. I’m sick of the concrete, the walls, the stale air and not seeing the sun.
Traversing the Vacaville Foothills
There are beautiful foothills on either side of the freeway here. This time of year they’re lush and green. I have this overwhelming desire to just get out of my car and walk in whatever direction calls to me. To walk and walk for days, gathering from the land what I need to survive, baking in the sunshine, stalking my prey, cooking over an open fire. Nothing would make me happier than to strap the kids on my back and never look back. Sometimes my husband is featured in this daydream, other times (like when he doesn’t take out the trash before going away on business) I’m on my own, Xena-style. No matter what, the sun is always shining and I’ve got my Vibrams on.
In the back of my mind I know that I’ll come upon another vestige of civilization over the next hill but it’s nice to have a dream.
Do I want to give up my iPod, my laptop, running water, modern medicine and sofas? No, not really. Primal man had it effing tough. But I do think it’s time that I at least start taking responsibility for what I eat. I can no longer in good conscience eat everything that is put in front of me without first learning where it came from, how it was raised and what impact that will have on my body.
These wild turkeys wandered into my backyard one day.
And that is why I will be raising some turkeys this spring with a friend. The ultimate in organic, free-range meat. They’ll be ready for Thanksgiving and I plan to slaughter them myself. I’ve ordered a ¼ cow from a local grass-fed beef company (and a new chest freezer from Sears) and am planning to order wild boar from a local farm when it’s all grown up. Isn’t that a novel idea? Waiting for our food to be ready before we can eat it?
‘Is it more expensive than the shit at FoodForLe$$?’ you ask. Yes, it is. It should be. I think having such cheap food is a big part of the problem in this country. What kind of quality do we expect out of a 99 cent hamburger? I mean, seriously. So, how much of an investment is this? Well, I’m paying $6 a pound for beef tenderloin, filet and all the steak I can eat for a year. Not too bad, really. And delivered to my door, individually wrapped and already frozen.
I’m going to a composting class in April and I’ll be growing some of my own fruits and vegetables too. I’ve vowed not to buy ANY tomatoes this year, except for the ones I can grow by myself. I’m not getting all eco-terrorist on you, so don’t worry, I won’t be recycling my own waste anytime soon. I just think we did something wrong when we let big industries decide what we eat, how we eat and to a certain extent, when we eat. Fourth meal, anyone?
I have been composting for years and every year we grow a wonderful garden. I often catch the boys sitting by the pea and bean plants just snacking away. They also pick the carrots right out of the dirt rinse them off with the hose and feast. It’s great and delicious! I love your blogs Tara!
Heh, not me. I grew up with a moderately large garden my folks forced me to tend. I still hate gardening (I’m 58 years old). As long as I believe a food is organic, give me a well-stocked grocery store.
Loved this post! Just found your blog from PaleoBloggers.
We raise our own chickens, 5 of them. Not for the meat but for the eggs.
I’ve also just ordered some grassfed beef and bison. Now I just need a bigger freezer!!
I am seriously digging your blog. I know exactly how you feel. People today complicate their lives way more then they should and it is a detriment to not only their physical being but also their emotional health.
I wrote a post about buying half a cow if you would like to read it. It includes pics of it getting slaughtered which I went to view because I wanted to “meet my meat” before consuming it.
Have you ever eaten wild boar? My husband killed one a few years ago and the taste was not for me. I won’t say what the taste was like so as not to cloud your view of it.
Thank you so much!! I tried to find your post about the cow, could you send me a link to it? I had wild boar once years ago, way before I went Paleo or even organic. I remember liking it, but it did taste “wild.” Gamey. I’m not sure how I would feel about it now. I’m not sure I want to view the slaughter. I’m going to be slaughtering my turkeys once they’re ready, but that seems somehow different than a cow. What was it like to see? Did it change anything? I don’t know if I’d be able to eat it after…
Here is my link to buying the half of a cow. I created a category for it to make it easier to find.
I was suprised to find that watching it being slaughtered did not turn my stomach. I had been flirting with the idea of becoming a veggie because alot of my cooking is vegetarian as it is. You’ll read my reaction in this post….
http://littlefrugalista.wordpress.com/category/buying-our-half-of-a-cow/
To us the wild boar tasted like wet dog. I tried cooking it all sorts of ways and even soaking it in various things but the taste just prevailed. My husband told me as he field slaughtered it that was the way it smelled as well.
I have heard the trick to getting rid of the gamey taste is to make sure to rinse it until the water runs clear because the blood is what holds the taste. Didn’t work for us though.
I would love to hear of your turkeys and the way you prepare and cook them, as well as slaughter them because there is a huge wild turkey population around my parents house and my husband wants to hunt them. My hunting rule is that he can’t kill it unless I am able to prepare it to eat. I see no reason in killing something when it can not be consumed. I will also add that any time we kill a creature to consume we always say a prayer of thanksgiving for that animal’s life to God because it is through that animals being that we are able to sustain our own bodies and our bodies functions.
I have been searching around here (very small town USA) to find locally raised chickens for sale but haven’t had any luck. Though recently I did find out a local market sells eggs from chickens raised by a Menonite family without antibiotics,hormones etc…
I think the prayer of thanksgiving is really beautiful, and I totally agree with your outlook on hunting. Nothing pisses me off more than sport hunting where the animal is killed for no purpose other than fun.
Apparently, wild turkeys are really stringy and gamey. But I’ve never had one personally. Let me know if you do it! I just had 3 wild turkeys touch down in my backyard a few weeks ago!
Think I’ll pass on the wild boar. I couldn’t imagine having a whole freezer full of expensive wet dog meat…gross.