WARNING: graphic animal pictures below
I don’t talk about it much on here but we are meat eaters. We mostly always have been (I was a vegetarian when the Mister and I met). But as we strive for self-sufficiency one of the important things is where does our food come from? Is it better to go to the grocery store or the butcher and be removed from the gathering process? Is it better to purchase our meat from a farmer down the road who knows that animal. Who has touched that animal from beginning to end? Or raise our own? Slaughter our own? What about the wild animals? Isn’t that the best situation? They are truly free range. No human has ever touched that animal. We take its life, grateful for the opportunity it has provided us.
My ultimate goal would be to provide all we need without ever going to the grocery store. Between what we can raise and harvest from our land (or the land where we are living) and buying from reputable companies in bulk or shopping at the local farm market/farm stand, shouldn’t I be able to provide the majority of what we need without spending a bunch of money on things that aren’t produced in my local community, or at least within a certain mile radius?
If I’m going to start preaching about self-sufficiency I better be able to walk that walk. And if we’re reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle it’s really time to get serious about things! If I can’t find NY State grown and/or made then I’ll expand to organic, non-gmo items. It will take some time, some trial and error, but as I stated above I am re-motivated now. I don’t take any of this lightly. It’s important and has been for a long time but I got lazy. I got busy. I got tired. But after my experience this past weekend with the deer (more on that below), I am even more grateful for the lessons it taught me.
Let’s look at that in more detail. First, we have a garden. I can supply everything we need in said garden, from fresh produce year round by planting seasonally, to preserving what we can’t eat during that season, to selling, giving away, or bartering with what is leftover. I can grow and dry beans for soups, stews, extra protein. I can grow, use, freeze, dry all the herbs I could possibly ever want, with the exception of a few. Those that I can’t grow, that might not grow well in my area, I can purchase in bulk and store in the pantry. I can find good sources online or at the local Mennonite store. They won’t be local but they also won’t be purchased at big box stores or the grocery store either.
What about things like flour and sugar for baking, cooking? There are reputable companies out there that you can buy from in bulk from. The local Mennonite store sells things in bulk, including 25-50 pound sacks of both flour and sugar. It’s mostly big name companies-Domino sugar, King Arthur Flour. I can look around on the internets and find other companies that do the same. I can even look around and see if I can find NY State grown and processed flour. What about replacing sugar with maple syrup? We have a lot of maple trees on the property. It’s a lot of work but I could tap more trees and process more sap into syrup and then start experimenting with using maple syrup in my recipes. Why not? Another sap bucket or three won’t hurt. I already tap 6 trees. What’s another 3? It all processes down the same at the same time. I just have to be more organized about it. The Mister is building me an outdoor, wood-fired boiler in the spring.
I can purchase 5 gallon food grade plastic pails to store the flour in. I could also mill my own flour. I could grow my own, but I’m not going to. At least not in the foreseeable future. But I can buy a grain mill and purchase whole grains and mill my own. I have a grain mill attachment on my Amazon Wish List with just that goal in mind. But for now, let’s stick with purchasing in bulk. And I will. I’ve been re-motivated to do this. I’ll explain why in a few. But let’s keep following this train of thought for a moment.
What else is there? Dairy products. I have a local farm that is certified to sell raw milk. That’s the milk I’ve been using, almost exclusively, for a year now. I started a milk delivery in the early months of this year. You order on Sunday and they deliver to the local library on Wednesday. It works really well except those times I use my milk up between deliveries. Then I purchase organic milk at the grocery store. Not as good as the local raw milk, but it works in a pinch. One goal is to get better at knowing how much I need in between ordering so I don’t have to spend extra money on milk. But what about the rest? They can’t sell cream. But there is another local dairy that I can purchase pasteurized dairy products from. I need to make a point to do that. I can make my own butter from there. Or maybe they sell butter? I need to investigate.
I can make my own cheese from the raw milk. I haven’t, but it’s on my list. I will move it to the top of the list. I have a small dorm room size fridge that I turned into a cheese cave years ago. I still have everything to do that. So I’ll set that back up and start making some easy cheeses. Buttermilk, ricotta, mozzarella, sour cream, cream cheese. None of these need a cheese fridge. The local raw dairy also sells goats milk. I can purchase from them and make my own goat cheese. Again, it doesn’t need to age. Then we can expand into cheeses that need to age. I’ll need to find a place where I can age the cheese, but that shouldn’t be too hard.
I make soap and purchase my supplies from reputable internet sources-Brambleberry, Mountain Rose Herbs, Glory Bee. I’ve learned a lot about different sources over the years and have, or will, eliminate non-sustainable sources, such as palm oil, once I run out of that ingredient. I don’t make my own: dish soap, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant (although Bekah has a recipe that I want to try as soon as I’m low on my current Tom’s of Maine supply), toothpaste, household cleaner (I will research this and try homemade recipes as soon as I’m running low on my current ‘environmentally friendly’ cleaner). I can purchase a lot of these things that are environmentally friendly. And I use Amazon Prime. It’s my compromise. I don’t shop at Walmart or any other big box stores unless I have to (what makes it a ‘have-to’ situation? A shopping list that includes multiple items when I’m in an area without good options. This happens. The closest big town to me in PA doesn’t have a lot of good options, especially for a grocery store. I try to avoid going to that town because of the shopping situation but do find myself there about once per month. Now, could I look for other small business options? Of course! But I don’t. I do like shopping at Aldi’s. It fits my budget. They’re getting more and more organic items in. It’s still a grocery store. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to cut out the grocery store completely, but would it be fun to try? What if in 2020 I set out to be as self-sufficient with as much of this as possible?
Other thoughts about self-sufficiency before we tackle the hard discussion. I’ve wanted to replace paper towels with cloth napkins for a long time. We’re on that journey now. I bought some napkins at a thrift store and will continue to do so until I have enough to change out with the seasons and decorations. I also bought some from Amazon (an 18 pack for $18.99. Red and white gingham that goes with everything!). Now, during the fishing season the paper towels will totally come back out because I’m not using my good cloth napkins for wiping up gross stuff. And that will happen. Trust me. I do try to buy recycled paper towels or more environmentally friendly ones, but that’s not always the case depending on where I’m buying them from. Recycling is a little harder here. The closest place to drop off is about 15 minutes away, once per week for 3 hours. You either make the time or it piles up. I did convince the Mister to check prices with our garbage pick up company. During the season we get a lot of packages so to be able to recycle all that cardboard, plus all the other recyclables would be huge. We also discussed ways of making the fishing lodge more environmentally friendly. Reusable coffee cups, environmentally friendly disposable silverware. We’ll start tackling that once the current supply is used up. You already know I’ve found a good source of honey and beeswax until I can get my own bees.
Let’s tackle the hard discussion now, and the main reason for this post-meat. I know most people who read my blog are meat eaters, but are you hunters? I wasn’t until recently. I’ve only been out hunting birds one time so I wouldn’t consider myself a hunter. But as you all might know, we started sourcing our meat locally this year. We split a whole pig and an order of ground beef with some friends. I haven’t found a good source of locally raised chicken yet, and I wasn’t prepared to raise my own. Until now. I have a couple of ideas in mind for chicken so I’ll have to report back on that. But red meat and pork. I’ll continue to use my local source for pork. And for the ground beef. I like their product. I know they raise their animals in the best way possible. But I have to pay for it. Wild game I don’t. And I’m not prepared at the moment to raise my own meat animals. I never thought I would be able to take an animals life. I honestly was to the point that if I can’t do it then I really have no need to eat meat. I mean, if I want to do this whole self-sufficiency lifestyle then I need to be able to raise a meat animal and do the deed. Will I be able to take a pig’s life? I’m not sure, but at the very least I should be able to raise chickens and do the deed when the time comes. I haven’t been able to, so what made me think I would be able to take a wild animal’s life? I didn’t know. But I did it. I harvested my first deer. Now, before everyone gets all up in arms about this, let’s talk about it. A deer is wild. It hasn’t been touched by human hands. ever. It’s completely free range. They’re overpopulated so good conservation management means that you harvest X amount of does and X amount of bucks each year to keep the population in check. Now, will nature take its course? Of course. When we were in the tree stand this past weekend, we saw a lone doe. That’s unusual. Deer are definitely herd animals. My guide explained a few things to me. I literally know nothing about wild game, hunting, etc. So he was telling me that a lone doe could mean a couple of things. First, it could mean that she aborted a pregnancy and was coming back into heat. Or she didn’t get pregnant to begin with and was coming back into heat. So she is on her own looking for a little loving so she can reproduce. He also explained to me that a doe with a buck offspring will kick him out of the herd so there’s no competition between bucks when it comes time to reproduce. It’s all very interesting to me. Something I wasn’t inclined to learn until I was actually sitting in that tree stand. You see, I didn’t even think I could climb the tree stand, let alone pick up a gun, sight in the deer, and then pull the trigger. But I did. It was a clean shot (thank God) and the deer went down almost immediately. No suffering. I was shaking. I couldn’t believe it. And then we went to retrieve the deer and I cried. I cried tears of thankfulness. I cried because I took an animals life. But I also thanked that deer for providing me with food. Food that I know is good. It’s local. It’s free range. It hasn’t ever been touched by humans. It’s lived a good life.
I also want to address what we’re doing with that deer. I plan on using everything from the deer. I’ll turn the legs into something decorative–either a gun holder a coat rack. Something just so it doesn’t go to waste. I’ll use the tallow in soap making. I want to experiment with it so I’ll know if it’s usable in a way I need it to be. I’ll tan the hide and make a blanket. We’ll use the offal to feed the animals. Not much will go to waste here. It never will. I will continue to use as much of any animal that I kill. I even order everything that I can when I order a whole pig-offal, fat, bones.
And that brought me to this post. What is self-sufficiency? I guess we all have different versions of what it is to us and our lives. Mine has always been to get away from the grocery store as much as possible (I mean, if I make chicken piccata, I need capers. And lemons. I can’t provide those). But in my mind I’ve wanted to be able to provide as much as I can for the homestead. But didn’t know if I could. Now I know I can, and I will. I will treat this taking of life as it should be treated-with respect and appreciation. Every time I eat meat I will know where it comes from. I will continue to seek out sources from reputable companies.
I’ve been scared to try some things in the past. I have homemade lard sitting in the fridge. I should use it in my pie crusts rather than butter. I have the lard. I rendered it myself from the pig we bought this past spring. I bought the butter at a grocery store. Which is better? The lard from the pig I bought this year? Or the butter mass produced from the grocery? I’m not scared to try it anymore. Now I’m finally grasping where my food comes from. I know that may sound silly or confusing or you might just not understand it. I mean, a self-sufficient wannabe afraid to try something. I didn’t grow up like that. My Dad did. But I didn’t. I grew up in the ‘processed food and chemicals are good for you’ early days (the ’80s, hello!!). So to switch that mindset, really switch it, has been slow going. I overthink it too much. Will it hurt me? Did I process it correctly? Is it gross? But I know my level of abilities and I know my astute attention to details so I shouldn’t be afraid. And now I won’t be.
Daenel T.
This is interesting and, honestly, I salute you. I admire people who can survive/thrive on their own. A lot has been lost to modernization and convenience. I think that’s one of the reasons I like working at the tech school – we’re teaching our students valuable trades that require working with their hands. Hope that makes sense.
chickenlibrarian
Yeah..it’s funny because I don’t feel like I talk about the self-sufficiency part here very much. I mean, I guess you could figure it out from what I write about but I don’t ever put ‘I’m trying to be as self-sufficient as possible’ into words.
And yes, to the tech school. I get it. These are kids who want to work with their hands and that’s their talent. I can’t change a tire or look under a hood to figure out what’s going on. Goodness knows I can’t do hair or make-up. And fixing a computer? Forget it. But these kids are talented. They can do it. And that’s definitely a form of self-sufficiency isn’t it?
Tracy
Oh, Kristin – so much good stuff in here! “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” is definitely a timely choice, isn’t it? Mr. Gordon and I have went back and forth on how seriously we “source” our food. Years ago when we lived in our city home, it was absolutely necessary to source our beef, pork (and bacon), and chicken from a regional farmer we knew. We had visited their farm, walked through their barns (coops), learned about the feed, learned about the whys of their processes, etc. Happy cows, calm cows. I even helped out behind their market counter for one winter. Fast forward: we moved out of the city and ended up barely six miles from our favorite farmer. Then, for some reason, we just started buying our beef, chicken, and pork – all organic – from the grocery store. I’m not sure why we took that direction, but Mr. Gordon and I have talked about returning to purchasing from our favorite farmer. Actually, my father gave us so much venison last year, we didn’t really buy any beef from the store.
I’d like to purchase a beef and pork package (little pricey for our budget right now, but it’s on the table for discussion). Last year we DID purchase a beef package from Mr. Gordon’s niece and her husband. They just moved to a farm – again, maybe six miles from here – and it was their first or second year of selling beef packages. We bought one to support them. I do want to support the local farmers as much as possible.
As you know from our posts over at Garden, Cook, Eat, Repeat, we try to grow as much of our own produce as possible. We’ve had our big garden(s) for two summers now. We pulled over 400 pounds of produce last year. We ate, we put up, we stored. It’s awesome in the middle of December to go into the basement for potatoes. It’s awesome to use our frozen celery leaves and carrots in soup stock. It’s awesome to have pasta with our own canned tomato sauce. I could go on and on.
Some of the stuff I’m willing to let go. For example, beans. Your land and soil is a precious resource. Do you now how much of that resource needs to be dedicated to growing a meaningful amount of beans? Is it a good use of the resource? Or does it make more sense to buy the inexpensive canned beans from the grocery store in bulk and use the land/soil resource to grow something that better maximizes that soil’s worth? (I loved growing kidney and black beans last year, but although each plant survived the dang deer and provided their promised yield, they took up a LOT of space.)
Hunting. I am for the responsible, respectful management of deer through hunting. I also love venison. I grew up where deer season was as big of a deal as Christmas. My father is an exceptional hunter. It’s probably what he is best at. My brothers hunted to various degrees, and every year the hunters gathered at our house for Sunday dinners, Thanksgiving feasts, and storytelling. My husband and his brother hunt – although available land to hunt here is so limited for the average person who does not own a lot of land. A couple of seasons ago my husband counted hearing 200+ gunshots in the morning on the first day of hunting on the state land where he and his brother goes. THAT terrified me. Growing up my father and the other hunters heard “a few shots” when they were out.
Thank you for sharing your story about killing your first deer. Do you think you will continue to hunt, i.e., do you plan on this yearly? I love the fact that you processed your own deer, too. That’s actually not something my family did growing up. (Very small town, the grocery store butcher was also a deer processor out of his home.) I know you probably don’t want to go into too much detail on the processing on your blog post, but it seems like such a big job. Mr. Gordon never processed one, but he’d like to. I just keep thinking: where? But I digress.
I chose not to become a hunter even though as mentioned about, responsible, respectful hunting is not an issue to me. I am a meat eater. I will eat meat I did not kill. I am comfortable with that decision. Everything we eat must die: plants included. We (as a curious “food culture”) are learning more about the cost to the environment of some non-meat food stuffs offered as an alternative to meat. Some are shockingly expensive to the planet. (Some not, of course.) We continue to seek to understand where our food comes from and HOW it gets from land/water to the table. We continue to learn about the real cost of food.
For anyone wanting to make a positive impact while making a couple of relatively easy changes (because I think most people feel overwhelmed about making food changes), start with this simple plan: eat locally grown / raised food as much as possible and eat what is in season.
That alone can have a sizable impact. Consider how different that would be if everyone did just that. Everyone.
There are definitely things I am not willing to give up (French wines, coffee, some cheeses from Europe), but even the small changes add up. Consider the cumulative result of the little things: less waste with your cloth napkins. (Good on you! And oh boy, our paper towel use is shameful. Ugh.)
I am DEFINITELY interested in your result of using animal lard in your pie crusts. I truly know nothing about that and how it will affect taste – especially in sweet pies vs. savory. My mother grew up on a farm in rural PA and they had pigs. I know my grandmother cooked with lard.
I’ll end this comment here, but since you have raised chickens in the past, were they also meat birds, or only layers? When you get your next flock, are you planning on meat birds, too? We are still on the fence about chickens – even layers. We definitely wanted chickens, but ever time we hear another horror story from Mr. Gordon’s son on something that happened to his flock, we go back to saying: not this year! 😉
Thanks again for sharing your experience!
chickenlibrarian
Let’s see if I can tackle this succinctly as possible. I think, once again, you’ve provided some really good research and information in your comment. Especially about the beans. I don’t think beans are something that I would actually grow…at least not all the beans we use throughout the year. We use a LOT of canned (organic) beans. But I could grow some. It’s kind of like the grains. I could grow it but I don’t think I will. But seeking out sources of locally grown and processed beans, grains, etc. could be a starting point. And then expand from there. I’ll be interested in doing more research as we dive into Animal, Vegetable, Mirable. Plus, let’s face it, NY State has an abundance of homegrown items. I was researching flour and found several sources, some of which is sold close to me.
As for hunting, I do think I’ll continue to hunt. We’ll hunt birds. We live very near some state game lands. They raise and release pheasants there every year. Two years ago a flock (are they called flocks? probably not) of pheasants moved onto the property where we live. We wanted to hunt them but we didn’t. Guess what? They didn’t survive. We can only assume a hawk got them because that was the beginning of the end of our flock of chickens that were taken out by a hawk. So I’d rather get the pheasants for our table rather than have them all go to the birds of prey. As for butchering, all the deer that are taken off the property have been butchered on site. I’ve witnessed it before but never been a part of the actual process. My guide did the initial butchering and I helped. The Mister and I will finish the process today and get everything into the freezer.
And I’m like you…there are some things that I won’t give up. But I’ll source them from a more reputable grocery store rather than continuing to overpay for things at the grocery store in town. I hate that grocery store. It’s like a F- store if we were to grade grocery stores (which I think is actually a thing). I would rather drive 20 minutes to a better grocery store that continue to give money to a store with half-rotted produce or get frustrated because they don’t have what I’m looking for (did I ever tell you about the great caper caper of 2019?).
As for chickens, I’ll have another flock of egg layers. I love chickens. They’re super easy to deal with. They give you breakfast and baking supplies. And they help me to relax by just sitting with them and watching them. They’re so funny! As for meat birds, I’m not sure that’s in the cards right now. I did contact a friend of mine about potentially having a co-op situation where a bunch of us go in together and purchase the birds, pay for feed and upkeep, and then all help with butchering. She said they were already going to do meat birds next year! So we’ll discuss the possibilities of bartering/trading/lower cost if I help out. I did raise meat birds one year. They are so gross and so different from egg layers! But if I know how to butcher them I think I could do it again. I wasn’t really sure if I could kill and then butcher them but after the deer I feel more confident that I can become self-sufficient in that way.
And like you I just want to continue to learn and to grow–both personally in my knowledge and also literally grow things. I think the most important step right now is to stop relying on big box stores and start sourcing closer to home. For example, the kitchen doesn’t have a backsplash so we looked at Lowe’s. We bought a sample backsplash, brought it home, held it up on the wall and loved it. Then remembered we have stuff in storage that would totally work! That’s my kind of self sufficiency.
Okay. Enough. I could go on and on about this all day. I don’t think I’ve even touched the tip so-to-speak. Thank you for stopping by with your very thoughtful, informative comments!
xoxo
-k
Leigh
Kristin, what an excellent post. It’s been awhile since I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, but I should again because it’s so motivating.
We are on the same journey as you, so I can so relate. Except we don’t have a good local bulk store, nor a good bulk buying club. I’ve got my store-bought grocery budget down pretty good, but I could still do better. Thanks for the inspiration!
chickenlibrarian
Thank you Leigh! Yes, I agree Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is so very motivating! And the timing of reading it for the book discussion couldn’t be better or more appropriate. We’re still working on getting our store bought grocery budget down. I think I get lazy and complacent but then I am reminded of this journey we’re on and then buckle down. I think the blog post was more to remind me of that, more than anything! And you are always an inspiration to me! You are definitely walking the walk, so-to-speak. Thanks for stopping by!
Shugunna Alexander
Really informative post Kristin, I believe this was relayed before about me being from the south and everything you’d mentioned above was so vital for our little community. There was no wasteful food, everything was used or if we couldn’t use it, it was given to neighbors whom could use it. I am a meat eater and no I don’t believe I could do the deed YET I’ve seen my great grandfather and others hunting and just perceived it as them providing for our family.
chickenlibrarian
Hunting certainly isn’t for everyone! Nor I guess it should be. But if I’m going to ‘talk the talk’ I should be able to ‘walk the walk’. And I didn’t think I could until now. Growing up in the south you definitely see these kinds of things…self-sufficiency and neighborly-ness is a big part of that experience. I think it’s harder now days to be as neighborly but I think we can do any small part to make that a priority. I enjoyed getting to know some of our neighbors these past few weeks and then being able to drop off some small gift made me feel lighter. Happier. Thanks Shugunna!
xoxo
-k