Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Gobble, gobble.

A few weeks ago I drove up to Kimber’s Farm Fresh Eggs in San Marcos to put down a deposit on my Thanksgiving Turkey. I’d been toying with the idea of buying a fresh local bird this year, and upon conferring with my mother (she usually supplies the butterball, but I convinced her to go halvsies on this one instead) I decided to go for it. I wanted local, fresh, range-fed, the whole shebang, and I wanted to see for myself where it came from. Of course that put a kink in things, as many people suggested Costco for a fresh organic free-range bird. That would have been easier (I suppose- but then again I’m sure I enjoyed the drive to San Marcos and spending the day with my dad, who wanted to tag along, more than I would have the parking lot at Costco) but I wanted to be as local as possible.

Anyway, I cruised up there with my dad one Friday afternoon. Nice drive, nice place, nice folks. The operation is not a big one, a ranch-style house with big pens on either side and pastureland out back (and a couple of adorable basset hounds in the front yard!). They sell eggs (obviously), chickens, and a variety of organic produce as well. I dropped off my check and told them what type of bird and what size I needed, peeked around a bit, and was on my way. Now, nothing to do but wait…

I wasn’t sure when the bird would be ready, so I called them this week. They told me they’re processing them on Saturday, and I can come get him on Sunday. Yay! When I asked if the bird would keep OK all week, I learned that ‘resting’ time for poultry between slaughter and table is ideally 5-7 days, so there won’t be any need to freeze it between Sunday and the big feast. I’m going to have to take it over to my folk’s house for safekeeping, though, as our fridge won’t accommodate a bird that big.

A couple of my friends/people I yak with on the interwebs have expressed some doubts as to whether they’d be comfortable eating a real, live bird (okay, you know what I mean). The idea of eating an animal which I *may* have already looked in the eye (I didn’t get to identify my individual bird when I was up there, but I did eyeball a couple of the toms through the fence) apparently makes some people uncomfortable. Some of these folks are vegetarians (go figure) but not all of ‘em. As one person put it (albeit more harshly than most of my friends :p) “I can't decide what's more fucked up - someone who picks up a nicely packaged product at the grocery, allowing them to remain mostly oblivious to the craptacular living conditions and untimely death of the animal they are eating, or someone who takes a visit to a farm, looks the animal in the face, and then says "I want to kill that one"

My reply: (paraphrased and much expanded for purposes of needless verbosity)

At least I know this animal is living in healthy conditions, isn’t stuffed full of corn and antibiotics, and will be killed humanely. If you're gonna look at it from a moral standpoint, I think this wins out over factory-farmed meat. Plus, cutting out many, many middlemen and hundreds of miles (if not thousands) between that bird walking around (or not, depending on how it's farmed) and being on my plate seems like a good way to do it. Not to mention that it's healthier for me, without the aforementioned drugs and such cruising around in its bloodstream and tissue.

It's better for the environment, too, both because it's not a part of the big corn machine, and because there are minimal if any fuel/transportation costs involved (I gotta drive to pick it up, but the feed that they get is locally produced). Take my gas used to drive to SM for the bird (~28 miles each way) and subtract it from the fossil fuels and other petroleum-based goodness involved in growing (fertilizing) corn feed, it, transporting it to a feedlot, then transporting the poor creatures from possibly hundreds of miles away to the local grocery-selling place… That’s something I can feel good about, as well.

I would actually like to be more involved in the process, if possible, but none of the local poultry farms are allowing tours just now because of ‘biosecurity’ reasons.. So for those of you who have asked (some snidely, some not) whether I’m actually going to kill the bird with my own two hands, the answer is no. If I had my druthers I would at least be able to observe the process, if not participate. And yeah, I will kill something I’m going to eat if given the opportunity. Because I do firmly believe this: If you can't stomach the fact that the meat you're eating actually came from an ANIMAL, and that there are certain messy realities that exist between it gobbling about happily in the pasture, and the white meat with gravy and mashed potatoes on your plate, maybe you should think twice about eating it.

I'm not trying to justify anything, just sorta laying out my reasons for going this route this year rather than letting my mom buy a frozen butterball at the store. I did actually think about it a bit, especially because it's quite a bit more expensive this way. Now for the big question… I wonder how it’s gonna taste?

3 comments:

spoff said...

I demand photos of this succulent beast, pre- and post-grilling!

Jen said...

Oh, yes. Will do!

Gabriella said...

Amen!!