How do you like the new look to my blog? Veronica spent all day working on my new theme yesterday and I am really pleased with it. There are just a few minor tweaks that need to be done, like soften the white background to more of an ivory colour and then frog ponds rock is ready to roll into the year of the tiger. Yay.
It is nearly time to send the pigs off to be killed. This is the first time that we have ever sent animals off the property to be slaughtered and I don’t really like it. So I have been procrastinating about ringing up the slaughterman and the girls just keep on growing.
We could kill the girls here but we dont have anywhere to hang them after they are done. So I have made the hard decision to have a professional slaughterman do the job. I have no idea how we are going to get them into the trailer to transport them there but The Spouse is working on a plan.
I felt a bit foolish asking the slaughterman how he would kill the girls but it was very important for me to know the details, as some people just cut the pigs throats and let them bleed out, in order to collect the blood to make black pudding. He shoots them first and then cuts their throats once they are dead, so I was very relieved. I am still a bit worried that they will be in a pen together when they are killed and I will have to ask if they can be separated. The Spouse thinks I am being silly and says the girls will become more stressed if they are separated.
Ack! It is hard being a carnivore.
Duck season has opened and I am always reminded of the scene in a Bugs Bunny cartoon where Daffy and Bugs are arguing about whether it is duck or rabbit season and Elmer just blasts Daffy anyway.
This long weekend hunters have headed off to shoot ducks and protesters have headed off to protest and disrupt the hunt. A protestor has already been injured.
Police say the rescue helicopter was called about 9:00am (AEST) to retrieve a 35-year-old woman who was part of a campaign to disrupt the hunt at Moulting Lagoon.
The woman, from Battery Point, was thought to have been bitten by a snake but it was later diagnosed as a suspected marine sting to her foot.
I find it interesting that the woman was from an inner city suburb and then I wonder what sort of shoes she was wearing. And all I can think of is ‘silly girl’ and shake my head.
The problem with these sort of emotive issues is that everyone gets all het up about eating poor cute little duckies and furry little wallabies. They ponce about the place waving placards and blowing whistles and then on the way home they go to the supermarket and buy a package of perfectly wrapped and presented pork chops, or skinless chicken breasts. They congratulate themselves on a job well done and don’t even give a thought to how the majority of our food is produced.
Where are the protestors with their placards at the top flight restaurants that serve wagyu beef. I dont see them being all disruptive in the deli section of woolworths protesting the hideous conditions pigs are kept in, to give us cheap bacon. The hypocrisy of it all does my head in.
Now to totally change the subject before I really get worked up. I used the contact form on the bloggies page and got the breakdown of the votes for the Best Australian/ New Zealand category. God had already sent me the breakdown (thanks God) but I went ahead and asked for my own anyway as I have always been a tad suspicious of direct messages from God.
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Interesting breakdown of the voting isn’t it! Hehe.
@ Veronica I have always wanted to be a bridesmaid.
If that contest had taken place here, in Chicago, I’d holler “FIXED!!” but you guys don’t do that sort of thing in your part of the world, right?
At least the duckies got to live free and wild before getting shot to hell out of the sky. That’s something.
I’ve already squeeeeed about your 2nd place but I’ll do it again ’cause I like to squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!
yay you!!!!
P.S. Love the new look!!! Say hey, who won your contest???
@Iceel the bloggies are based in America, Lou so who knows. 😉
@Kristin Yep those cute little duckies were wild and free and ultimately delicious. Or so The Spouse and Veronica tell me. I don’t particularly like wild duck, it is a touch gamey for my taste. I like goose though except I am not allowed to keep them anymore, grumble grumble grumble.
Thanks for the Squeee. Second place is pretty cool, the NDM is a great writer her blog just cracks me up.
I only had two submissions for the contest so you both won. I will announce the winners and my plans for advertising next week.
Yes, animal rights is emotive. It’s not just the meat, but all the other products that people neglect to consider. Leather is a perfect example. I wonder how many of the vegetarians in the world wear leather, belts or shoes.
I wonder how many of those protesters eat duck at christmas?
Or pate?
LOVE the new look!
I didn’t know you could do that. Wish I had found out last years ones.
Wait. Maybe not. Don’t think my ego could handle it.
I don’t want to be there when you send the girls off to being slaugtered. At least the slaughterman is not going to slit their throaths like I used to see when I was a kid.
I love the new look! It’s great!!
I can understand why the how of the slaughtering is so important to you. I don’t think it’s going to much matter in the end if they are separated or not as long as it’s quick.
And well done on the bloggies!!
Somehow we need to get food on the table…
And its not pretty all the times……
@Kelley Thanks Von spent ages doing it, I owe her big time.I received a message from God first then I emailed them myself. I wouldn’t even have thought about it if God hadn’t sent me the results.
@ Jientje, I was very worried about that, as having your throat cut would be a horrible way to die. And black pudding is horrible. *shudder*
@Bettina, I think you are right. But I will worry and fret over how they are killed until I get tham back as choppies and roasts.
@Sirkka. it is never pretty, Killing an animal for food isn’t a nice job. And I worry about it. But the desire to eat meat is stronger than the abhorrence of killing animals to eat. As long as to the best of my ability I can ensure that the death is quick, efficient and humane, then I will continue to raise my own animals for slaughter.
We will celebrate the girls life everytime we eat them.
All I can say is when are you cooking me roast pork?? 🙂
Re the duck hunting, I have no problem with hunting for the pot but hunting as a ‘sport’ is wrong.
I’m sure the girls will taste great but understand your worries over the kill method.
Congrats to you on your new status as bridesmaid and to Vonnie for the lovely new look to the frogpond 😉
Love the new look and ack to Meegan and her roast pork comment – don’t tell me you are going to cook them little porky darlings….it would break my heart!
I love the new look, but I think I’ve already told you that.
It does seem to me that the more someone protests, the more they are reflex acting and not actually thinking through the thing they’re protesting about, or their own lifestyle choices in conjunction with the protest – does that make any sense?
I bet your piggies are lovely and tasty. Do the slaughterhouse butcher the pigs too or do you get to do that yourself?
My father was a butcher’s apprentice in his youth. He never trained to become a butcher but I remember him buying half a sheep on a regular basis and butchering it at home. It was fascinating to watch.
@ Mrs Oh,Oooops sorry I am. That is the whole reason I got them in the first place.I have been putting it off though. They were ready for the pot a couple of weeks ago.
@Barbara, Thankyou I really like it as well.
As for the protesters, It is a hard one. I can understand why they protest as there are some cowboys out there who just blast away and are crappy shots and wound the ducks. That element of duck hunting is cruel.
Then there are the other hunters who are actively involved in the wetland conservation and protection, who go out in all weather counting ducks and monitoring the species. These people are also passionate about duck conservation they just like to eat them as well.
The girls are going to be delicious. He will cut them up into roasts and choppies for us, whatever we want. mmmmm. Veronica is going to try her hand at making us some bacon and ham as well.
I wandered over here from Veronica’s. It’s just lovely here.
On the girls – I actually had to give up bacon, ham and all pork because I just have grown too fond of pigs on a conceptual level. Seriously, it’s pathetic.
I blame all the pigs in literature. If fish start to get literary agents, I’m doomed.
well done on 2nd !
Oh I ‘d struggle with same issues on them being killed as humanely as possible.
I agree they probably are not strict vegans or even somewhat vegetarians at all.
I love the new look and awesome header bar.
How good to have time to look in again. Looks great. A fantastic and well deserved bloggies result – bask in it! I stopped eating red meat and poultry for 7 years. Still fretted about inhumane slaughter methods but my conscience was a bit lighter. No longer. You, however, can feel much more at ease than the majority. But it’s always sad, of course.