Wow. We are a society so out of touch with our food, and in such a few short years....Bet all our moms and dads ate fresh foods, grew gardens, or at least were aware that carrots are roots and eggs come from chicken's butts! And were ok with that!
I recently read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. It was quite good. As a result, I ordered cheesemaking supplies, and then could not find raw milk in my area, so am going to breed my two pet goats....eek. I will have about five months to get ready for that, thank goodness!
My chicken passion sprang from reading Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, recommended by a naturopathic doctor, in my quest to resolve some health issues. Resolved, mostly. But my kitchen, yard, garden, coop, and cooking skills have put me in a lonely category. I am thinking of starting a thread on NT cooking....
It is important that we expose people in our sphere of influence to as much as we can about chickens and eggs, at least. This is the only way that cruelty in the industry will ever be addressed, if more people object, and purchase cruelty-free eggs from a neighbor, or raise their own.
On a humerous note: Years ago, we shared a two-family home with another couple, she from Texas and he from an island from the South Seas. He did not own shoes until he moved to the US at age nine, and as a boy he and his friends would play in the jungle all day and swim in the ocean. When they got hungry, they would get a bat or two, and kill and cook them over a little fire they made.
Fast forward twenty years, and we planted our first vegetable garden together. One day, he saw a bird fly over and poop on the beans. He was so horrified, he then wanted to erect a tarp over the garden to keep it clean! Bats, I whispered to his wife....bats!