The content you’re looking for is no longer here. We’re finally beginning to shut this blog down, to remove old content.
We’ve chosen to start with essays that are available elsewhere. Specifically, this article has been edited into our book, Sacred Coffee: A “Homesteader’s” Paradigm. The book is available in print, as an audiobook, and in several eBook formats. It contains edited, improved, and expanded versions of essays that used to be available for free on this blog, and new material as well. You can learn more about it, and order it here in your preferred format.
No scoffing! Great essay – living in an area where they let school out for the first day of deer season they’er pretty safe when they get on my 40 – guns I got but I am not too sympathetic to the semi-automatic boys – my gun of choice is a vintage full stock curly maple flintlock – have a great day
Nature should be thanked for the bounty it provides, not disrespected. I always picture the lady from the old 70’s Chiffon commercials when she stands up and says, “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature!!” I substitute ‘fool’ for disrespect. 🙂
I used to gloat and take lots of pictures of things I harvested – I now view that as disrespectful. I like to give thanks and ask for forgiveness. My hope is that more people will follow this example. Thanks Mark…
Wow, Roy, I’m not sure I could do that–I will take photos of animals I’ve bagged (for example, see all the fish photos sprinkled around this blog). I don’t see any problem with taking pride in a harvest, as long as there’s no gloating going on. I guess if done with the proper spirit, it’d be another way of honoring the animal. My hat’s off to you!
Great image! Thank you!
Really, Linn? Don’t tease me now . . . that would be a treasure!
Before we started homesteading and just purchased our meat from the grocery store I really never thought about each life that was taken. Once we brought chickens and goats to our little farm and saw the life and breath leave their little bodies as they were harvested it effected me tremendously. We too thank our livestock for their sacrifice.
No Mark, the treasure was a powder horn I sold 2 years ago. I had carried it around from place to place since the 60’s. It mainly had lived in my sock and underwear drawer. One day I saw one engraved like it in a book – got to checking and found out it was about 200 years old and had been made by a famous family of horn makers – ended up selling it to a collector for around 5 thousand – I was told it was worth more but he had the 5 grand and I did not find the more – was not real interested in selling it but got to figuring the kids will start selling my toys in a garage sale before I am cold in the grave and if they got 20 bucks for it from one of the locals they would have thought they had hung the moon – now that was a treasure – the moral of that story is to check your drawers from time to time because you never know what you will find – have a good day
Thought you might appreciate this – comes from my Ontario Metis cousins
The time will soon be here when my grandchild will long for the cry of a loon,the flash of a salmon,the whisper of spruce needles,or the screech of an eagle. But he will not make friends with any of these creatures and when his heart aches with longing he will curse me.
Have I done all to keep the air fresh? Have I cared enough about the water? Have I left the eagle to soar in freedom? Have I done everything I could to earn my grandchildren fondness?
~ Chief Dan George
No scoffing here. I really enjoyed this post.
And the choir says, “Amen!”
Thought a lot about my post about gloating, I hope you did not think I meant you were gloating. To each his own. My wife and are moving to Funter bay AK. soon to care take a cabin for two years. Hope to start a blog to keep track of our daily life. I will give you the link to keep in touch…..
Roy, first of all, I appreciate learning that I’m not the only one who thinks about what’s been said here, and that you share my concern about how statements might be taken. But, no, I didn’t feel you meant that I was gloating. Thanks for clarifying the point, though.
I have fond memories of Funter Bay! Maybe some day I’ll tell my childhood story from there. It was one of those tiny, insignificant moments that have grown to become a disputed point of family folklore. Funter’s heartbreakingly beautiful, like much of Southeast–I envy you. I look forward to reading your blog!
As a Christian I have always been thankful to both God and the animal or plant that gave its life to provide sustenance for me and my family. I believe that all life is to be respected and to be treated as ‘humanely’ as possible. In Genesis Ch 1 where it talks about giving Adam ‘dominion’ over all these animals, fish, plants etc I think He meant to properly care for and manage them. In my situation I raise only a small amount of our veggies and the only meat I kill is fish (I buy everything else) and I try to kill them as quickly as possible and much like you I tell the fish thank you for providing a delicious meal. 🙂 We try our best to buy all the meat we buy from places where they were raised and slaughtered as ‘humanely’ as possible. So I find what you do the absolute correct thing and appreciate it greatly!