I woke up today at 745, and wasn't sure what time the chicken slaughtering was beginning. I thought that it might be starting early, so in somewhat of a rush I got downstairs to eat breakfast. I did the classic toast with jelly, because for some reason I am intimidated to make eggs. Just as I got downstairs Ross said happy birthday mom! and she said thanks sweetie, and then I thought it would be polite if I said Oh, happy birthday! To which she responded "haha". What the hell? Who says that to a happy birthday. Anyways, at breakfast I learned that the slaughtering wouldn't commence until 830, so I had plenty of time. I washed up, and did the chicken chores first. Now though, there were only two coops to go to. In the second coop, a bird was sitting in the corner, normally where eI find a random egg or two, so I didn't think much of it. However, the bird didn't move, the whole time I was there, so I decided to pick it up. The bird was just about dead, almost paralyzed. I laid it back down, and put the eggs back in the house, and came back to find it completely dead. I carried it out of its pasteur and as I was walking with the dead bird in my hand, the birds that normally surrounded me, gave me a clear path like the red sea. I went and buried the bird, and said what Zoelli would say. I then went and washed the eggs, and while I was watching I had this terribly anxious feeling. I know it had something to do with the slaughtering. I was worried that it would be a big deal, and it would change me. I decided I just had to go and get it done with. I put on a shirt I didn't mind getting bloody and walked toward the barn. As I got closer and closer I could hear the shrill cries of the chickens as Troy was placing the birds in each metal cone, heads down. That was the procedure. Troy would put each chicken in head down, slit their throat, wait until all the blood dripped out, and then washed the bird. Ross was waiting for the washed bird and would throw the chicken into a cotton candy looking like machine that would strip the chicken bare of its feathers, and would toss the chicken around and around. Ross would then hand the birds to Harold and Zoelli who were cutting the legs, and heads off the chickens ( and then throwing them from the top floor of the barn to the bottom through a small crack in the ground ), and placing the body in a bucket with cold water. Then Josh would take the bodies out of the cold water and eviscerate them. So I stood around and watched for about 5 minutes, until I decided that I wanted to at least try my hand at the assembly line. So I was given a pair of gloves and a knife and I was shown what do: cut right in the chickens knee cap, and then wrestle the legs off. Then cut the trachea, and reach behind the skull with a firm grip and crack! Then toss the remains to the bottom floor to compost. The first cut through the trachea, hit me hard. I felt like i was cutting my own trachea. It was a terrible feeling, and I was only dealing with a dead bird...Troy on the other hand was almost having fun killing these birds. He would say shut up birds you're gonna die in a minute anyways. And Ross was adding to the inhumanity that was going on. With the environment, and the feeling of the skull on my finger, and then swiftly cracking it back; it was all too much. I told them that was enough for me and I went to chop wood. I didn't really care if they thought I was a wuss, or anything because personally I was not ok with the way they handled the slaughtering. At least at Whitmore they stunned the animals before they killed them. Here they were almost patronizing the animals. So I cut wood to clear my mind, and get one hell of a workout. Cutting wood is a hard job, but I enjoy it. I measure the right amount of feet and mark it then saw it off and move it to its respective place in a pile. I did this until lunch, and then came in and had some time to spare before the meal. We had pesto pasta, and shrimp for lunch, and then for Laura's birthday we had homemade angel cake with homemade ice cream. I still don't quite understand why we had the cake at lunch instead of after dinner, but I guess its just another thing on the list to add to their eating idiosyncrasies. After lunch, I hung out in my room until it was time to go down, but Zoelli was taking some extra time, and it wasn't until Lauara actually came up the stairs to tell us that we need to start working. Nice Laura. So Zoelli and I went back out to put some compost over the soil in one of the greenhouses, and we only got halfway done when Harold came out, and told me he would help me cut wood. There was a wave of wood that need to be rolled down, and I wanted some help. So we rolled down about 6 or 7 logs to the ground, and I went on a cutting spree. I cut for about 45 minutes, and then moved all the tree parts and made some new piles. This took me awhile, and gave me quite the workout. At around 4 I decided I had been cutting for long enough, and hung up my chainsaw. I then did the afternoon chicken chores, and collected very few eggs, and fed the chickens and turkeys, and by that time it was 445. Zoelli and I called it a day, and I went upstairs to write yesterdays blog, and then Harold needed help moving things. The cow they brought to the butcher a week ago, had come back in small white packages, of 7 large boxes. I helped move the boxes from the car to the refrigerators. After moving all of the boxes I called the ol rents, and worked on some blog and SAT stuff and now I am here. A pretty strange day. I wanted to have a new crazy experience and I got one. My rationale was that I eat meat on the regular and I have never seen an animal get killed firsthand, let alone kill one myself. So I thought it would be a grand idea to step in those shoes. Now, having witnessed and basically ripped off the skulls of the chickens, I can say that I do care about how animals are killed. I think from this day forward it should matter to me what kind of meat I am eating, and how the animal was raised. It just is terrible how good McDonalds tastes though...classic. But in reality, its hard to say that I would go vegetarian. I like meat, and I think it is a necessity to eat, because of how the food chain works, primarily, but I can't stand to kill an animal myself? I don't really get that. I mean I basically did today, but its kind of a puzzle. What I have concluded, is what I said before. I think that killing an animal humanely is major kudos points. I would like to say that is how i will live my lifestyle forever, but I know thats not true, because things are always changing. I will say though, that this experience has had an impact on me for sure. So I uploaded pictures there are some on the right hand side of the page and on this post. I tried to capture the chards awesome color, but failed. #iphone3GS. I also took a picture of ice that froze in a water container for the turkeys that I took out one morning. With that I am out. Nighty.
No comments:
Post a Comment