Not For Vegetarians...

One of the most difficult thing to know as a meat eater is all that meat had a face once upon a time.  As a farmer who lives off what we raise and what we can harvest in the wild we can't think of that. A chicken is merely dressing or dumplings or fried pieces. Calves are hamburger meat, roasts, steaks and innards. We save the parts: liver, tongue, mountain oysters and heart.  Same with deer.  Waste not want not.  But it's okay if you thank their spirit for feeding you or so I've been taught.

Today we said goodbye to Sir Loin.  He will feed us well as we have fed him.  It is the way.  We thank him.

Sir Loin's live weight was 1010 pounds.  

I had guessed around nine hundred.  

I hand fed him clover for the last time.

It's never easy.

He will return in sacks of wrapped servings

and we will forget he had a face.

We must.

The Back Forty and Weekly News...

Marcy and I ate out on doctor day.

Our nephew, Toni, met us at the doctor's office.

Stormi, Toni's daughter joined Aunt Marcy (cancer free), Toni and me for lunch.

Zander, my youngest grandson, graduated Kindergarten the 22nd. He's headed to Big School for Big Kids.

Hubby found me an amazing rock and delivered it to my water/rock garden.  That guy knows the way to my heart!

Bonnie, the pit bull and Sir Loin, the meat giver, have become fast friends.  They are now exchanging licks! They say never name an animal you are going to eat but, alas, we did.  Marcy carries him fresh clover and we all pet this bull calf.  I will remember to thank Sir Loin for his gift to us when I bite into that first meat.

My other sister, Beverly, and I keep on working every day at the shop. The farm keeps us busy, too.   I wondered what happened to retirement??