tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295872509186128724.post7377227340237259894..comments2024-02-16T21:42:15.875+11:00Comments on pearl & elspeth: On being a butcher... anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08250724567675219592noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295872509186128724.post-72923722527492651672014-01-12T08:32:29.768+11:002014-01-12T08:32:29.768+11:00Thanks for taking the time to comment Sarah. We...Thanks for taking the time to comment Sarah. We're sorry that you were led to believe our blog is only about building. We do have many many posts about building with strawbale, though this is not the only thing we write about. We have tags (at the right of the page) to help our readers find the posts they find most interesting.<br />With regards to your comments regarding our food choices, I'd love to know how you as a vegetarian or vegan (I assume) ensure that no creatures are harmed by the modes of production you obtain your food from, or for that matter the sources from which you obtain other things in your life - building materials for the houses you design, oil for plastic for the computer you use, petrol for your car. <br /><br />After many years as vegetarians and vegans, we came to the decision that our taking responsibility for our own meat consumption in an environmentally and ethically sound manner far outweighed many of the potential issues of eating a healthy, vegetarian diet in Australia. Amongst other issues, we were aware of the incredibly detrimental impact of deforestation and habitat loss due to cash cropping, pesticide use, GM crops (especially with regard to soy products) etc, not to mention the issues of transportation of these food stuffs. Based on many years of reading and learning about these issues we made the decision that taking responsibility for our own food production - meat and otherwise - was the most ethical choice we could make, in that we are able to know with much more certainty the number of creatures (animal and vegetable) who are harmed by, and the environmental impacts of the food we eat. We also know that no animals and/or habitats were harmed in the transportation of our food. <br /><br />Unfortunately, being a human in our part of the world, in our culture, is intrinsically linked to killing. Whether it be on a small scale - animals being 'incidentally' harmed by habitat loss, mining, and for that matter the farming practices that produce the strawbales we used to build our house - or more 'direct' - animals being killed, like our sheep, for human consumption. For us, the decision to keep things closer to home means that we inadvertently offend people like you.<br />Thanks again for taking the time to engage with our blog. We do enjoy active engagement on these kinds of issues. Please feel free to have a look at the tags at the right to avoid future disappointment. We hope you find our posts about strawbale building to be informative and interesting.anniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08250724567675219592noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295872509186128724.post-66645442997371404412014-01-01T09:54:36.489+11:002014-01-01T09:54:36.489+11:00Saw a link to your blog from elsewhere and was hop...Saw a link to your blog from elsewhere and was hoping to see talk of building houses as promised, instead saw this post. Certainly, obtaining your meat in such a direct manner perhaps has value over the disconnect most people enjoy buying from a shop, but the callousness and disregard for a beautiful sentient being with a life of his/her own that he/she was enjoying astounds me. And your children are 'excited' about meat and therefore killing!? Animals are not ours.Sarah Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13151170452508343965noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295872509186128724.post-10476277953216971872013-12-30T21:08:44.227+11:002013-12-30T21:08:44.227+11:00Hi Jo, thanks for taking the time to comment. What...Hi Jo, thanks for taking the time to comment. What a great little community you've got going there. How very excellent. I hope the killing, processing, cooking and eating all goes well... Best of luckGenevievehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11985268626481495154noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295872509186128724.post-47511086113809177152013-11-26T12:45:19.670+11:002013-11-26T12:45:19.670+11:00You're right to rave about your kids (not that...You're right to rave about your kids (not that it was a rave, really), they are very special and they're enjoying an incredible upbringing. We are working up the guts to dispense with our non-laying backyard chooks and I am really looking forward to the experience - our elderly european neighbour is going to show us how to kill, dress and then cook them. A little bit of community loving in deepest, darkest suburbia!Jo (down to earth mother)http://downtoearthmother.comnoreply@blogger.com