We live in a world where every choice is fraught. How do we make conscientious decisions when what we buy, what clothing we wear, how we make a living for ourselves and families, what we put in our mouths, how many children we have, none of these choices have clearcut answers. Understandably, under these conditions, we (myself included) often close our eyes to the harm that our own choices inevitably cause. It’s often the only way to avoid complete paralysis. Just take our industrialized food system as an example: we can choose among corporate, conventional, omnivorous, vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, organic, pastured, beyond organic, and on and on. But make no mistake, none of these choices is pure. Besides the tremendous harm done by the corporate owned factory farming and food processing system to our psyches, is the vast destruction of formerly intact diverse eco-systems, along with the chemical, plastic and fossil fuel sourced pollution used to grow, process, store, transport and distribute food across the planet. Those who benefit from this system prefer that we don’t think about and cannot even see these negative impacts, and that we believe that we are separate from the natural world and its welfare.
Over time I have come to believe that at a very local scale we can work together to repair the separation mindset that disconnects us from a true understanding of where our food comes from. Our indigenous ancestors regarded all living and non-living beings as their relatives, and they honored the animals that they killed with prayer and the respect of using all parts of the animal for good purposes. Theirs was a nuanced view of the cycle of life informed by their connection with the animals with which they shared a home. Returning to a culture of connection will allow us to recreate the conditions for the flourishing of life in our neighborhoods, our bioregion, and beyond. By getting to know and support local farmers, we can help them grow food in a way that regenerates the soil, cleans the water and reestablishes diverse plant and animal populations.
The other day we received a letter from a group of people who adamantly oppose meat eating. They have decided to target the workshop where we will teach folks how to slaughter and butcher locally raised animals that they have purchased for their own families’ consumption. Rather than ignore the inevitable suffering that is part of the cycle of life, these people, bravely as it turns out, want to witness and take on some of the responsibility for that process themselves. I honor them for doing that. When animal welfare advocates direct their feelings of guilt and frustration (that we share) over our f-d up food system toward us, they are doing the work of the factory farming industry which is happy to block efforts to create alternatives to the current industrialized food system.
People ask us, why are they focusing on a 6-acre permaculture farm for their protest action? No doubt, one reason is that we are an easy target. We openly acknowledge (partly by using the word slaughter rather than a euphemism like processing) that animals die when we choose to eat meat. I think a deeper reason is that we provide and educate conscientious folks about a diet that can include meat and that allows us to withdraw our support of the industrialized factory farming system while increasing our own resiliency, regenerating the land, and supporting our neighbors and the local food economy.
Kelly’s Working Well Farm and Imitating Eden are part of a movement creating a regenerative network across our bioregion, the Great Lake Erie Southern Shore (aka GLESS). We seek to connect and uplift those doing regenerative work across our bioregion and to create a culture of connection to the land and each other, in short, a bioregional identity. There are no simple answers, but as we try to work together to rebuild connection and community we invite folks of all persuasions, regardless of their dietary choices (!) to join us. Together we can make a difference!
Thank you Kelly for this thoughtful post.