As a small girl in my suburban neighborhood, dealing with death was something unusual. So when my pet fish died, tears were shed and a solemn, toilet-side funeral was held, complete with speeches!
Any time I found a dead baby bird in the spring, my long-suffering father would kindly wrap it in tissues and bury it beneath the tree of my choosing. In my young understanding, death was something scary, sad, rare and something I would do my best to avoid with any of my few pets.
当我在城市里继续长大成人,我不能说我的观点真的改变了。我看到我的朋友们在他们的猫过敏和狗的糖尿病上投资了数百美元,尽可能长时间地阻止这些与他们共享家园的可爱动物的死亡。2022欧洲杯葡萄牙vs德国
https://www.instagram.com/p/BaYrV-SlSRU/?tagged=diabeticcat
Then I became a homesteader. My husband and I share a goal of self-sufficiency on our land, and part of that is bringing lots of animals into our daily life, far more than the singular cat or three goldfish I had been accustomed to. Ducks, chickens, goats and rabbits joyfully became part of our daily routine.
Yet suddenly, I found myself faced with a strange frequency of death that I’d never encountered before. My pet-based upbringing had not prepared me for this.
尽管面对我所照顾的一些生物的死亡,我很伤心,但我开始相信,这比我想象的要正常得多。以下是我到目前为止所学到的——也许它可以帮助像我这样的新自耕农,因为他们学会了一种新的生活方式。
Death Is Inevitable – How’s That For A Lighthearted Start?
When I began homesteading, I had no prior experience. So, despite all my book-learning, I really didn’t know what to look for when we got our first animals – we just knew that they would teach us a lot along the way. I actually apologized to our first chickens when we brought them home, knowing that they would have to deal with my ineptitude!
As a result, those first learning pullets gave us quite the education. They came loaded with parasites (as we found later!), and so we earned our stripes learning how to treat and care for their mites, lice and worms. Even despite our best efforts, we watched as our Barred Rock grew weaker and weaker.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZex0l7BWiK/?tagged=sickchicken
她在用滴管给她喂了一夜之后去世了,我们看着彼此,感觉就像穿过了一道门。我们的第一例动物死亡但肯定不是最后一例这是我们无法避免的事情——但它与失去宠物的感觉非常不同。虽然我们很难过,但我们也意识到这就是与牲畜一起生活的方式。假装我们从不遭受损失是愚蠢的!
We’ve since lost a rabbit to a fierce Ozark heat wave and several chicks to a greedy raccoon. With every death, we’ve learned how to better care for our animals, and have also come to terms with the fact that this may happen every season.
老年、捕食、疾病和无法控制的天气将是我们不断面临的挑战,有时会取得胜利,有时会造成伤亡。这和新鲜的鸡蛋、美丽的日出和清晨的杂务一样,都是家庭生活的一部分。
Death Is Necessary
我永远不会忘记我听过的一个故事,关于一对和我很像的新手自耕农。当他们把一大群雏鸟养到成年时,他们发现他们的直行鸟类至少有一半是公鸡。他们和这些可爱的、毛茸茸的小婴儿建立了感情,他们无法忍受屠杀任何一个婴儿的想法,决定让所有的鸟在一起,和谐地生活,不管它们是什么性别。
https://www.instagram.com/p/BaAvQNJF3yl/?tagged=roosterflock
As nice as that sounded, the reality was that as the roosters reached maturity, their natural bellicose tendencies emerged. The couple found themselves with endless cockfights and wound up with mangled and blinded birds.
Almost all of the roosters had to be put down in the end. A much more difficult yet more responsible way of dealing with such a high rooster population would have been to cull some for the freezer before the problems began.
When it comes to livestock, however, culling is not a bad word! As many experienced breeders may tell you, irresponsible management of animal reproduction has often resulted in poor, sickly animals. Throughout the ages, wise farmers, homesteaders and shepherds have always controlled the breeding of their animals.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BawCsjCBHWs/?tagged=chickens
The strongest, healthiest and most beautiful were allowed to create offspring, improving their herds. As a result, many animals with poor conformation end up on the dinner table.
This is no waste, however! I take it as a comfort that every animal on our homestead has a purpose – as breeding stock, land-improvement, fertilizer or a delicious roast! And let’s face it, regardless of how they end up, animals raised on a responsible homestead are sure to have a better, healthier life than those raised in huge industrial meat farms.
Death Isn’t Always Bad
When we first brought two dozen chicks and ducklings home from our local feed store, all I really saw at the time was the fuzzy cuteness, the bitty hopping steps and sweet visions of egg and meat sustainability in our future.
At the time, I didn’t realize that there could be bad batches of hatchery eggs that just don’t develop well, or that sometimes the adorable little duck was actually the runt of the litter who would never flourish.
Even though I was sad and frustrated to watch some of them quickly die, I now realize that I’m glad that those weak chicks were removed from our flocks. I would have never wanted that runty, seizure-prone duck to breed and pass those traits along if she had even been able to make it to adulthood in the first place!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYGtRoNHhQz/?tagged=chickenflock
当我与我们地区更多的农民和自耕农交谈时,我意识到即使是由自己的母亲自然饲养的动物有时也会面临这一现实。2022欧洲杯葡萄牙vs德国例如,如果一只珍珠鸡意识到她的一窝小鸡生病了,她有时会完全抛弃它们。
As cruel as it sounds, she somehow knows that it would be a waste of her time and energy to try to rear weak chicks and that she’s better off starting over.
I’m trying to learn the same lesson, when appropriate. My suburban heart wants to rescue and save every animal that we acquire, but the growing homesteader-sense in my mind knows we have limited resources and a desire for self-sustainability. It is in the best interest of all involved that we are as healthy, capable and functional as possible! As a result, the often natural death of young animals is a hard pill to swallow – but that doesn’t make it bad.
When discussing our new-found life with many of our family and friends back in the city, sharing the deaths we have encountered is a rare topic. Most folks who don’t deal with livestock are uncomfortable discussing animal death – it’s as unfamiliar to them as it was for me when I was a suburban kid myself! The romantic elements of homesteading are a much more palatable topic.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BMTiVtEhvf8/?taken-by=poultrytales
I think it is precisely this inclination, however, that is mentally harmful to those trying to return to a simpler way of life. The shock of that first animal death really threw me for a loop. As over-dramatic as it sounds, I felt like a bumbling failure, even though it was inevitable and potentially beneficial in the long run!
It’s All A Learning Process
I am now starting to understand that in handling life and encouraging its creation for the benefit of my family, I also have to accept death as a natural part of the process. It can be hard to face, but it’s good to face, and we come out stronger, tougher and a little wiser in the end.
If you are in the same boat, you may actually find yourself likewise thankful that your children can grow up seeing animals humanely butchered for the table, culled out of incurable sickness or just naturally passing.
与其像我小时候那样让他们尽可能地避免死亡,我相信这会让他们对世界有更现实的看法,以及对他们周围生命的美丽力量和潜在脆弱的健康尊重。
Perhaps it will even teach them how to value their own gift of life in a way that no book or TV show could teach them.
So take this to heart, newbie homesteader, novice chicken-keeper and fledgling goat-herder! In whatever form it takes, dealing with death on the homestead can be tough. But if you are able to learn and grow from the experience, using the end of one animal to make life even better for those that remain, then no death need be seen as a pure tragedy or failure.
Leave a Reply