A Throw Away Culture

While it was not really expected, a small herd of cows have come to share life on the farm in these retirement days.   The plan was for one or two so there would be one to put in the freezer.  Knowing where the beef came from seemed like a good idea back in the beginning even as it does now.  However, seeing those cows grazing in the pasture every day and knowing one will be on the table throws a kink in a throw away lifestyle.

Knowing the cow makes a difference.  The difference is not in just feeling better about the quality of the meat, but also, in the way its value is increased.   Before the cows became a part of my life, I thought very little about the leftovers being raked in the trash.  Now when a bite or two of beef is left, it seems that throwing it away shows disrespect for the creature whose life now nurtures and sustains mine.  The problem is that we live too far away from the source of our food chain.  What I have realized in these ten years on the farm is the disconnect between most of us and what is involved in getting food on our tables.

We are a throw away culture.  It has become a part of our life.  When we eat we seldom think about the life often taken to sustain our own life, the hard back breaking work of farm laborers to get our food out of the field, and the endless number of people between them and its arrival in our homes.  A throw away culture is not a grateful culture.  When God put us in the places where we are, He did not intend for us to live without a mindfulness of how our lives are interconnected with other lives.  He put us here to live so mindful of our blessings that we live with an abiding sense of gratitude for everything and everyone which gives life to us.