can i have a vote

[AccidentalFarm]

Saltiena- I'm just curious- how old are you now? I went through about a year or so as a teenager where I didn't eat meat, but I can't imagine going longer than that.

 

[nmantime]

I am not a vegan or veggi. I love my meat... and yes I do eat birds i raise but only meat birds I bought for that purpose, no names and they do not become pets. My egglayers are spoiled rotten pets. I mean spoiled sometime i wonder how they did it to me. I have one girl Cleo who lays only every 4 days and she acts like she owns me. Pecks me when i don't get her her greens and fruit. And help me if i let someone else get some scratch before her... Anyway both of the kids went through the veggi thing, Son it lasted 6 months (summer party testing out my new SS grill and new barrel smoker destroyed him he told me) Daughter was good for a year and announced at dinner one day that it was over and she wanted a piece of pork chop.... me i've never tried but I love my veggie's though, just hard to have a meal of veggies only...

Norm in N.CA

 

[AccidentalFarm]

Quote:
It was the bacon that did me in

My 9 year old daughter is going through the veg phase right now. I don't mind either way- but I do see her looking longingly at the steaks and bacon...
One good thing about it is that she is oh-so-concerned about getting enough protien and being healthy that she reads food labels, takes her vitamins, and is generally broadening her knowledge on the whole health issue.

 

[Sherry]

I like my vegetables as a side dish. I raise my own beef, will probably eat my chickens at some point. I also hunt to put meat on my table and give me and my dogs a very natural and nutritious diet.
No hormone raised meat for me and my family.

 

[bantymum]

Im happily Vegetarian and I have been for 20 years.
It started when after smoking herbs with some friends(i did it once or twice but not now!) we bought a fried chook to share, they lay in on a plate with legs in the air on its back.
I watched them rip into it like crows etc that did it for me. I never ate meat again.
I live with my partner of 17 years who is definately a meat eater (Austrian/Czech descent) and I cook my son meat as he is 8. He will make up his own mind when he is older.
When I go mushrooming in a paddock and the cows run away I yell at them "its Ok, I wont eat you"
I am very healthy though i have MS but im not getting any worse!!
Id never butcher my chooks for meat though I should for my son's sake as I know it would be organic, food for thought.

 

[equine chick]

Vegetarian, never. I love meat, especially beef. I came from a family of cattle farmers in texas so no I could never be a vegetarian. I plan to use my chicks for eggs, but thinking of next year of getting some broilers and raising them for meat. I do love my veggies though and i eat pleanty of them too, we have a huge garden every year that i freeze and can everything we grow.

 

[chickenfeathers]

Not & no (

).

 

[samara]

accidental farm wrote

Well, I do grow a lot of vegetables and can or freeze much of it which, lasts pretty much right up until the next years harvest. Our meat consists primarily of hunting/fishing catch's: venison, dove, quail, fresh and saltwater fish, and hog. When saltwater fishing, we often trade shrimpers for some of the shrimp they've just caught. I didn't really intend to, but I believe home-grown chicken will be added to the list. We package and freeze excess meat and fish. As I mentioned before, by next year we will have many, many types of producing fruit trees and vines-we currently only have peach, fig, wild mustang grapes, melons and strawberries. I've also started an asparagus garden that should be producing next year. My grocery costs consist mainly of soaps & shampoo, personal items, food staples, pet food and dairy items. I still spend more than I'd like at the grocery store, but that is due mainly to my poor time management. big_smile For the food items, though, yes- our grocery bill is so very much lower than it was before we gardened and had the freezer space for extra meat and veggies (and before I learned to can food).

I think that is very cool, how much land do you have? I was reading about this family in California that raises 3 tons of food on their 1/5 acre lot!!! I am just really into self sufficiency right now. I haven't been enjoying going to the grocery store lately, so farming is sounding more and more appealing. Now just to work on the green thumb! I successfully raised flowers and a healthy tomato plant (which started producing just about first frost) last year and have been working on the property to get it (and me) ready for more gardening next year!

Keep up the good work, I love the idea of ripe fruits and veggies, that's when they have all of the living micronutrients, just before falling off the vine.

Samara​

 

[AccidentalFarm]

We've got 16 acres right now, but I've got my eye on another 30 acres that borders mine.

 

[chickbea]

I became a veg in November of 1985. Initially it was just to eliminate the consumption of factory farmed animals, and I did eat meat a couple of times in the following year that was grown locally, and I had some wild venison. Soon, however, it became easy to just pass it by altogether. I do eat eggs from my own girls, however, and local milk. I eat some fish, but have had to forgo some of my favorites (swordfish

) due to overfishing concerns.
I still get weak when I smell ham or bacon, as these were particular favorites. However, I have known many wonderful and personable pigs in my life, and all I have to do is think of eating one of them and my craving is gone!
It's been 22 years now, and I'm as healthy as ever. I don't worry if I'm getting enough of this or that; I just try to eat as well as I can and I strive to get off of my patoot regularly! The biggest concern is that if you are a total vegan (no dairy), you need to supplement one of the B vitamins. I think it is B 12, but I don't quite remember...