I have always been fascinated by water in the garden. And butterflies, bees and birds, not to mention toads, frogs, snakes and our collection of little garden inhabitants share my fascination. 
Water adds a reflective shimmer to the ruffled, vibrant, undulating collection of colours and textures in the flower garden.
My little bowls and plates add a moment of peace to a busy scene. The straight man to the funny man. 
Little pools of life. 
Some of the bowls and buckets are deep, some are shallow plates and platters. Sugar bowls and cups in the trees. Every day when I water the pots and plants, I refill these little oasis with fresh water. 
Now I know that every image so far is lovely and calm and beautiful but I had to show you this.. 
Everyone loves water! Yesterday was a hot day and the pigs have lost their swimming pool privileges because they were using the paddling pool as a toilet. The smell was horrific, not to mention the stink on the pigs who were wading in it. So no more pool. They have two outside pens that are open to them all day, one is always in the shade, that will have to suffice. And I hose them down a couple of times a day as I top up the water in the barrels.
Good morning. Yesterday was a beautiful hot sunny day.
Now I need to say something Important. Something that I have been avoiding writing about. Something that I hope will not scare you all away.
I was speaking to a young man a few days ago and he said What do you raise the sheep for? Well, I said gently, all the ewes I will breed from and the wethers (castrated rams) will end up in the freezer. I have a few little families that I feed. He looked at me askance. How can you do that? He said. Do you eat meat? I asked him. He said, Hell yes. Well, I said You do realise that meat comes from an animal that used to be alive. Oh, I guess, he said. But I try not to think about it.
Well…. I searched for the right words because this is an important discussion.
Well, I do think about it. I said. And it is hard but good in a way. I think it is honest and right to know where your meat comes from. Wouldn’t it be better if the meat you are eating has had a good life. Where he has been respected. Just because I am raising an animal for the table, does not mean that he cannot have a good life. To degrade a beast by raising him in a feed lot or crammed with others into the dark corner of a barn with harshness and cruelty, then transforming him into little cellophane wrapped sanitised packages in a supermarket, should not make it any easier to have steak on the table. We need to remember, and be thankful.
My animals roam the fields, they chase each other through the barn. They play, and eat and drink freshly grown food and lie in the shade of a tree in the afternoon. They have a good life. In the end I take them to a small abbatoir, run by compassionate professional men who take the animals to the next step swiftly without stress. There are no mean men with tractors shoving them to the next stage or days of waiting in a pen listening or any of that. It is all done as it should be. Quietly, immediately and with respect.
I told this young man that it is good to think about that. It is good to know. It is hard but honest.
I do not name the animals that are destined for the families tables. So if one of my animals has a name then you know that he or she has reached character status and you can emotionally invest in the animal. But this is a small self sufficient farm, run sustainably, gently and carefully. The farm must feed the farm and the families. My reason for the Kitchens Garden Farm is to grow food in a good honest old fashioned hands-on way.
My young friend understood my little lecture I think. And maybe next time he has his favourite lamb dish he will remember and be grateful to the animal that feeds him.
Is this too hard? I don’t mean to scare you away. I just want to be transparent and honest.
All animals deserve respect. And this is why I have water everywhere. All my animals have fresh clean drinking water all the time. Even the snakes and the field mice can have a lick of clean water as they sneak past. Or skunks or pheasants. Or squirrels, gophers or badgers. Cats and dogs. Chickens and Cows. Maybe even deer and coyotes drink from the barrels down the back, who knows. All we can do is our best to look after the animals who share our life.
Good morning. Time for me to start the day! It will be another lovely day on the farmy. I hope you all have a good day.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
74 responses to “Water in the garden and an important discussion.”
I don’t eat sheep, they don’t eat me. This is as close to environmental symbiosis I can come, living in my little condominium as I do. However, I think it’s important for people to make rational choices about their food. Until the day science discovers how to breed animal flesh from stem cells, without the cumbersome burden of the animal, we need to all understand that being part of our food supply doesn’t need to define their existence. They are animals, and while alive, deserve the right to live.
Always excellent to hear your thoughts Bill! I agree that people need to make informed choices. c
I wish more animals were raised and slaughtered in the manner you use. Just because an animal is destined for the dinner plate doesn’t mean it can’t live a happy healthy life on the way. I try to buy our meat from ranchers who have their cattle out roaming pasture and are humanely butchered. Kudos to you. I knew there was a reason I like you!
Morning Annette and well said. Those ranchers will also appreciate your custom. So they can continue doing it the right way.. They need support from people like you.. c
I have only been following a short time though enjoy your writing. This story did bring to memory a similar experience when my sister-in-law’s boyfriend discovered that dinner was a calf we had played with just a few weeks prior.
I would add to the comments that many people today don’t take time to think. We seem to choose to be entertained. Food, animals and the cycle of life are not discussed in terms of reality. It is usually a fantasy of indulgence, comfort or humor.
All life is connected, regardless of belief, in the life to death process. A process which our affluence has removed from our hands which were once food processors and preparers of our departed. Science has enabled us to assume much knowledge, yet incomplete and sterile, of the line between life and death.
I am grateful for a belief system which provides for gratitude to a Benefactor for sustenance, life and death. I thank you for your sharing with this young person and with us.
The old ways were good ways.. so simple isn’t it, like you i do not begrudge science its pursuits but i do wonder whether they ARE advancements.. saying thank you for our dinner is such a simple thing.. growing our food gently and carefully is a wonderful thing c
Good lecture Cecelia! We’ve had the very same dicussion with some of our guests AND my dad who would rather buy cheap, intensively reared chicken from the supermarket than eat one of ours, which has been free to range the surrounding fields for six months. All because he’s too sentimental about killing birds which he’s seen around the place!
Christine
Your Dad. What is he like!.. Ah well. are you warming up? i hope you are warming up over there, i don’t like to think of you still being cold.. c
Lovely, lovely post, C! bravo, well said. it does bother me that our food is so sanitised, and the lives the creatures have lived is reflected in the quality of the meat sold. My family will personally not touch any fast foods, esp the ‘mac’, and I make a point of buying only free range wherever possible. My father and mother always butchered their own meat on the farm in Zimbabwe where I grew up, and I know first hand from seeing my father shoot the animal to seeing it skinned and then spending a day cutting, packing, mincing and making boerewors with the meat, where our meat comes from. Yes, those creatures that give their lives for us to eat deserve to being treated well. God gave man permission to eat the other creatures, but he also commanded that they be well cared for every step of the way. The Old Testament is full of those commands. Thank you for sharing that conversation of yours.
That must have been an incredible experience processing a whole cow as a family. We did sheep, but nothing like what you described. Did you know that in the US, MacDonalds is the single biggest purchaser of beef. Basically they determine the market! scary.. c
Well said, Celi. I grew up knowing where our meat came from and often helped in its dressing. Still, I remain a bit uncomfortable when it comes to slaughtering the animals. When I’ve a large Thanksgiving dinner, I buy my turkey at a nearby poultry shop where you pick your bird and they insist you watch as it’s weighed and slaughtered. Depending upon your beliefs, they will say a prayer of thanks over the animal before it is killed. Although I don’t particularly relish the experience, it’s the only place I buy my turkey simply because I feel I should never forget what happens before meat appears wrapped in cellophane at the grocery.
Enjoy your Sunday, Celi!
One day this winter, (in the months that i am not milking) i am going to come up to chicago and you can take me shopping or give me a list. Some of the places you go sound fascinating! C
Great! We’ll hit the markets and I’ll take you to lunch about a half-mile from here, in “Little India”, so you can get a proper curry. 🙂
i don’t know how i ended up here as it is my first visit…but this post set me on fire! i immediately feel connected to people who understand, innately, that we are but a specie on a planet of many! water is the essence of life…and anyone who knows this, and then provides it for all of life – instantly has my attention! there is nothing that i respect more than a person who raises their own meat in a loving and wonderful way – i call those people “proper stewards” of the land…for they appear to cherish their “dominion”.
needless to say – i leave bowls and cups and buckets of water all over our little homestead. you never know who will stop in and need a drink! if this post is indicative of your normal posts, i am going to thoroughly enjoy reading all of the previous posts. thank you for such a thoughtfull and well-thought out answer to a young’un.
you can find me at framboisemanor.blogspot.com
I shall drop over and meet you at your place straight away.. and thank you so much for this comment.. there are many readers and bloggers who visit here who feel as we do.. wonderful to meet you and welcome! c
ceciliag – i have signed up as a follower and have also listed you in our blogroll after reading through a bunch of your previous posts…you are seriously good people…i really like that!
and you are so right – there are so many of us out there who feel the same way…it is sooo wonderful to be able to meet up!
your friend,
kymber
No, not scared at all. If anything, I’m touched by your thoughtfulness for all the animals, leaving them a cool drink here and there. People here tend not to think much about respecting the animals that feed us, and the way they were transported could bring a tear to any eye. Fortunately, the government came out and did something about that, laying down regulations. It wasn’t much, but it’s a start.
I hope it works, some people work very hard for their dinner but still it is important to say a thank you and be gentle.. c
keep talking, keep writing Celi. I remember a conversation years ago with a colleague who was sending his kids back to Nigeria becasue he wanted them to understand where food and water came from. We have a disconnect with food, something I’ve meant to write about myself, but somehow get caught up with other stuff.
I am coming over to your site right now Claire, you promised us a tour of the allotment! I hope it worked out and is not raining or something.. c
oops – still sorting out the photos, I managed to take the wrong lens and then it started to rain ….. life and the best laid plans……. but I do have a post about the most fantastic curry that is ready to go.
It is so good for our kids to know the stories behind their food – I’m so glad we live in a rural setting. I’m not sure I’d do well raising animals to eat. I just get too emotionally involved. We were amazed how hard it was to give away the two kittens a couple weeks ago – we were so attached to them already.
You are right my friend – although the Animals are bred for this purpose, you cannot treat as if it doesn’t matter 😦
Who could? Actually I don’t want to know!
On a better note though your water reflection of your garden is beautiful 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
I think most people hope that their food is treated as properly and kindly as you treat your animals that are marked for later consumption. That’s why a lot of people buy organic and cruelty-free.
Well Written!
Very well written post, Celi. Lovely photos of the poppies. What is the tree or bush with the red blossoms above them?
I love that shot too, that is a maple with new growth.. pretty.. c
Reblogged this on now & gwen and commented:
I’ve been following this blog, The Kitchens Garden, for a while now, and Cecelia is such a wonderful writer.
I wanted to share this post with you, as her thoughts on raising animals for food really hits home for me. I would rather the animals I eat have a wonderful life where they can be happy, and killed quickly, than a horrible existence of being force fed, crammed into small cages, and terrorized before they die.
What are your thoughts on eating meat?