Why we shouldn't hide how our chicken is processed.

Dec 18, 2021

The government came to our door today. They said that we needed to stop processing chickens in view of the road.

People had been calling and complaining, twice, that they didn’t want to see chickens being processed.

Clarification 1- we do it about 300’ from the road. In our pasture because we want the nutrients back in the soil.

Clarification 2- it’s not a show. It’s a sacred act and it’s done with the most respect possible.

I’ve been pondering this all day and it’s come down to a few things I wanted to share with you.

Community and community. Gone are the days when we know our neighbors. We know our closest neighbors and would literally help them any way they need help.

Hopefully, they know that.

But I confess, the neighbors down the road I don’t know. Why? I think ultimately i’m busy and they are busy and generally, we have our own networks. It’s time to slow down and know the neighbors on my road.

Second thought. Where our food comes from is important. Asking people to hide it is cowardly and has resulted in what we see in the world today.

A disassociation from life and death. A fear and lack of respect for both.

In our county, this official from the state told me that on an agriculture property the front half is considered residential and the back part agricultural. Meaning the farming needs to be done out of sight of the public.

Shove farming away from consumers. Away from sight. But please keep us fed.

To that I am outraged! The entire world keeps on living at its basic level from agriculture and yet we want to hide it!?

It should be out front and houses in the back.

We should not hide slaughtering of animals because it makes people uncomfortable. It’s where our food comes from and farmers take on that responsibility.

Once again. We need to descale the food system. You should be part of your foods life cycle.

We need to descale our community. We should know our neighbors and our neighbors should know us. If someone has a complaint they should feel comfortable coming to us and asking for a resolution.

We need to descale government. We should not have officials showing up at our property telling us to stop farming in sight of the road or face a fine.

I dream of a community that nourishes each other.

Let’s all demand more and do more to make it happen.

If we don’t I’m afraid we’ll soon be hiding the sacred art of growing food in fear of being fined by an overreaching government because our neighbors don’t want to see the truth of where their food comes from.

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