The Front Porch Swing

[Beekissed]

Yep...I've never seen a man in my family kill a chicken...that's woman's work.

LJ, the way you describe your grandmother is exactly the kind of women I've been raised by and who I've become. There is never a day that killing an animal won't affect me...it always has and always will and I guess that's because I'm a woman, with all that being a woman entails...we are the softer side of this world.

But...there's feeling bad about it... and then there's carrying that baggage with you all your days, refusing to set it down. I think that divides the masses...those who see the dirty job, know it's going to really bite to have to do it, and then they push up their sleeves and get it done. Once the blood is washed away and food is in the jar or freezer, then the job ends. They put that heartache to rest.

The other side of the masses are those who carry that job around the rest of their lives, dreading it each time it comes around again because it has been such a weight on their hearts since the last time. Wisdom would tell one to put that job down after it's done but there seems to be a disconnect somewhere....maybe folks feel like they are more compassionate if they carry that heartache all the time? Maybe feeling the hurt of it assuages their guilt over the necessity of killing? Or maybe we've gotten so far away from killing our own food as being a necessity that they feel guilty because it's really no longer necessary? One can just go to the store and buy the meat and most folks have the money to do that now, so it kind of takes away the necessity and the survival mode that gets most poor folk through the killing.

I think that's the dividing line, most likely. Folks who depend on the meat...and I mean really depend on it...have learned to that it's necessary to put that guilt down if they want to enjoy the taste of their food. So generations of that kind of thinking has trained us to not carry that load. I think that's been to our advantage. It's not that we don't hurt when we kill, it's that we refuse to hurt every day over one day's job. One day of misery is enough.

 

[LindaB220]

Just to help: my girl

So pretty.

 

[Beekissed]

Just to help: my girl

LOVE this pic! Beautiful! Both of them......

 

[Triple Willow]

Yep...I've never seen a man in my family kill a chicken...that's woman's work.     LJ, the way you describe your grandmother is exactly the kind of women I've been raised by and who I've become.  There is never a day that killing an animal won't affect me...it always has and always will and I guess that's because I'm a woman, with all that being a woman entails...we are the softer side of this world. 

But...there's feeling bad about it... and then there's carrying that baggage with you all your days, refusing to set it down.  I think that divides the masses...those who see the dirty job, know it's going to really bite to have to do it, and then they push up their sleeves and get it done.  Once the blood is washed away and food is in the jar or freezer, then the job ends.   They put that heartache to rest. 

The other side of the masses are those who carry that job around the rest of their lives, dreading it each time it comes around again because it has been such a weight on their hearts since the last time.  Wisdom would tell one to put that job down after it's done but there seems to be a disconnect somewhere....maybe folks feel like they are more compassionate if they carry that heartache all the time?  Maybe feeling the hurt of it assuages their guilt over the necessity of killing?  Or maybe we've gotten so far away from killing our own food as being a necessity that they feel guilty because it's really no longer necessary?  One can just go to the store and buy the meat and most folks have the money to do that now, so it kind of takes away the necessity and the survival mode that gets most poor folk through the killing.

I think that's the dividing line, most likely.  Folks who depend on the meat...and I mean really depend on it...have learned to that it's necessary to put that guilt down if they want to enjoy the taste of their food.  So generations of that kind of thinking has trained us to not carry that load.   I think that's been to our advantage.  It's not that we don't hurt when we kill, it's that we refuse to hurt every day over one day's job.  One day of misery is enough. 

Very well said.

 

[heartsizedfarm]

I'm a couple minutes from bed and not at my best therefore, but I like that: "It's not that we don't hurt when we kill, it's that we refuse to hurt over one days job."

And I'm just gonna throw out another thing before bed, because I can deal with any fall out in the morning, but aren't we in the same pain zone with our boys?

We're expected to fill the table with food, sometimes our favourite critters, ( a 19th century diary of a woman in Ontario she said "we had to kill the last hen tonight, winter being so harsh, but, I confess, I will miss her company.")

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
You know I really am not a farmer or home steader... I like my critters and dont mind feeding one that will never go into the freezer. But I was raised by a dad who live on his dads farm sharecropping. I too am stoic over the whole life and death process. If i loose a cherished pet I mourn the loss of companionship.. but I dont wring my hands and grieve outwardly. Thats just me. And I know I could raise poultry for meat and do the whole thing of processing. I just havent done it yet.

I had a roommate once (never will do that again) who was a handwringer... Gawd she was alot of work to be friends with. I had made the assumption that because she rode a Mule and had been around horses as long as I had that we were on the same Values page.

She thought I was cruel when the kittens got underfoot I would step on a toe or scoop them out of the way with my foot. What she didnt realize was I was teaching them to stay out of the way when I was in the kitchen. Better getting scooted un comfortably a few feet than me actually stepping on or falling on them. I never stepped hard I just held thier foot long enough for them to struggle to get away.

As a result my cats were respectful of my space when working in the kitchen. I also taught my cats to skitter off the counters when I hollered Ahh. Eventually they became well behaved citizens. She just saw my inhumane cruelty.

And Esspliaining stuff to her didnt work. She would try to walk through the kitchen and they would be underfoot immediately. "Now get out of the way sweetie... " she would say... Then she figured they wanted food because certainly I wasnt feeding them enough. So she would break out a can of cat food for them. Then she would have All five of them underfoot. Then it became three cans of cat food.... just to get to the bathroom.

For what its worth when she moved in she had five cats with her... a couple of them were Old timers. 20 and 22 years of age. I had a momma cat I rescued and when her kitties were old enough EVERYONE got their trip to the doc. (My endeaver to have cats is a book in of itself...

)

But she was the "cat expert". Her cats had never set foot on dirt. she told me that when I offered to build her a Cattery. Nice big aviary so they could go out side and lay in the sun or chase bugs or chitter at birds. I even put a screen door on her room so she could keep her cats in and still have the advantage of the AC. She didnt want her cats mixed with my cats because hers were vaccinated and mine werent. Pulease.

I gave in. Let her take over when I moved out to work. She lived in my house longer than I did. And when she finally moved out she used my house as her own personal storage locker. Took me two years to finally get her motivated enough to get her crap out of my house. In the process she stabbed me in the back so profoundly I wont talk about it.

I usually have good people radar... I wanted her to live there because she had really good stories about her life with mules. She had some great qualities with an odd mix of personality. I should have kept her arms length instead of trying to rescue her out of a bad living situation.

deb

 

[Triple Willow]

@Deb... some can be rescued and some just need to be put down. hahahaha That's bad! hehe I know what you mean. Some would have me locked up for the training methods I have used on my critters.

 

[perchie.girl]

@Deb... some can be rescued and some just need to be put down. hahahaha That's bad! hehe I know what you mean. Some would have me locked up for the training methods I have used on my critters.

She tried. Still heart sick over it all. That one person using hearsay could cause so much trouble.

I am OK with being "P"issed off... I get over it.... I am OK with being scared.... I get over it.... But "P"ISS ME OFF AND SCARE ME too. Forgiveness ends there.

She lived in my home and I only required her to pay her utilities and Keep Trash service active. for Five years... I could have rented that place for close to a thousand a month. She had been living on a goat farm in a fifth wheel behind a workshop. Now I know why they asked her to leave.

deb

 

[jmoeller]

Very interesting conversation.
I have been a country girl all my life. Tagged along hunting, and trapping, scraped the hides for selling. Cut up and processed beef, chicken, venison, coon, pheasant, rabbit, turkey, fish and probably more that I'm not remembering right now. For some reason I just can't be the one to actually do the killing. I don't know why, maybe because I never had to. I don't dwell on it, it is what it is. As my boys were growing up I made it very clear if you shot something you ate it and they did. Let me tell you their isn't enough meat on a squirrel to feed a mouse, but they still ate it. I suppose if I had to kill an animal myself I would. I'm just that kind of person. If it needs doing you just do it.

I had a friend who was a lot like the room mate Deb described. Her animals were pampered way more than my kids ever where. She came along with me to my sisters dairy farm once. She started acting like she knew everything about cows, and lectured my sister on how awful it was to take the calves away from their mothers. I pointed out to her that she loves beef, and milk, and cheese, and ice cream. She said yes I know but I just feel so sick to my stomach when I see how these cows are treated. Trust me my sister and her family go with out things to make sure the cows are well cared for, after all the cows make the money.

People have gotten so separated from their food. I actually am happy to see people try to get back to farming. It gives me hope for the future that more and more people are trying to be self sufficient. If they want to learn and are truly curious that's great. If they are self righteous and think they are more intelligent than a "dumb farmer" because they saw some dumb documentary on TV, well then I don't have time for ya.

 

[perchie.girl]

Yep...I've never seen a man in my family kill a chicken...that's woman's work.

LJ, the way you describe your grandmother is exactly the kind of women I've been raised by and who I've become. There is never a day that killing an animal won't affect me...it always has and always will and I guess that's because I'm a woman, with all that being a woman entails...we are the softer side of this world.

Dad could do the deed. I won a rooster at a raffle when I was about thirteen. Little SOB was always getting out of the yard wed have to chase him down. I made dad late for work trapping him, It was his last time.

Without anger then next day he wrung its neck plucked it gutted it and handed it over to mom. You should have seen the look on Moms face. I think she made chicken and dumplings out of it. Surprisingly as a kid I was ok with it all.

deb