Vegetarian Turned Butcher!

Vegetarian Turned Butcher!

Life’s journey is filled with crazy ups and downs and many many twists and turns.  When my darling husband and I were first married, I was a newly proclaimed vegetarian.  (This decision was made due to first-hand involvement with the USDA.)  I quickly altered my menus to include tofu, tempeh, a variety of beans, and TVP, among other vegetarian staples.  I spent the next few years avoiding meat like the plague…and probably drove my husband and friends nuts in the process.  The woodsy guy was an avid hunter and I even refused to cook any venison for him (sorry honey!!)

A few years into my vegetarianism, I learned from a Slovak relative that my family in Slovakia made their living as BUTCHERS.  What?!  That’s right…butchers.  I had managed to do a complete turnaround and was very far away from my family and “food” roots.  I labored over how I could ever visit these relatives and eschew their meat products.

While it was still at least a year after that news—I finally started to dabble in the world of meats again…partially fueled by my pregnancies and my body begging me for meat again! I remember my first taste of “post-vegetarian” turkey  (some friends had roasted a free-range bird for Thanksgiving).  I think I could have devoured the entire bird!  I also started to learn more about sourcing foods from local farms who didn’t follow the normal methods of raising animals in confinement.  Here are two local farms that we like to source our animals from:

• Forks Farm
• Owens Farm

I have also managed to completely embrace my husband’s hunting and pray that we get enough deer to fill our freezer and our bellies for the year.  The past few years have sparked me to become more involved in the butchering process.  Yes…my roots…BUTCHERING!

I can now single-handedly skin and butcher a deer from start to finish!  And….I enjoy it!

I am glad to have rediscovered my roots.  I am not sorry for my long journey needed to get to this point though!  …may we all keep searching and growing and finding ourselves…even if it is as a butcher.

And, I did forget to mention that the woodsy guy purchased me my very own meat saw for Christmas.  Isn’t that the truest of love??

Smiles….