I find that knowing the farmer but not the actual food is just the right amount of distance for me -- we get most of our meat from our CSA farm these days, and I definitely get kinda twitchy when the sausages don't come from a local humane named source. On the other hand, it's not like I have a longstanding relationship with Wilbur.

I hope you'll be able to return to it soonish, dcp. My cfi showed me what a stall feels like in the 172s. It wasn't nearly as scary as I'd expected. (Probably scarier when you're not at 3500 feet with plenty of recovery room.)

I don't think I've known the name of any creature I've eaten. I knew a turkey that belonged to a friend's parents who was named and eventually eaten. Sadly, I didn't get to share in that meal. The turkey tried to jump me and I was not fond of him.

Working on the hard part: [link] [link]

Yeah, I've never known an animal I've eaten...

I did just eat a bunch of veg for dinner: corn and tomato salad with feta, and roasted beets. Nom. And made gazpacho, which I don't think is quite right, but I can fix it after it chills and comes together. I feel like all I think about is my CSA anymore.

I feel like all I think about is my CSA anymore.

Heh, I know how this goes! I kinda miss it.

It's a lot of pressure! Especially for a single person. I feel like eating meat is a waste, because that's a meal portion that could be vegetables!

I listen to a great rural podcast called The Wiggly Wigglers Podcast. [link] The husband runs a mixed farm: various seed crops and beef cattle to be sold for fattening. They decided to raise their own heritage breed pork for the first time a couple years ago. They really struggled with the naming thing. While his cattle have names, they're herd names like Penguin Quarter and Surrey Snowball II (and even more bizarre and abstract), the farmer in general was not in favor of naming animals intended for meat. He doesn't have to worry about that as much with his own cattle because he sells those to other farmers to fatten for market. I think the eventually decided not to name the porkers. And they've raised a couple heritage pigs for their own use every year since.

I have to say, I have really loved hearing about everyone's CSA hauls. It is so interesting to me, and I'm so pleased to see local agriculture supported.

I know- every year when the CSA ends, I have this sense of relief... but I just don't eat vegetables like that during the rest of the year. If I don't have that pressure, I barely cook vegetables.

I'm glad I did it, but am not sure I'd do it again. We'll see what the rest of the season brings....

And exactly what Nora said -- it's really good for me, but kind of hard. Although I'm doing a good job of filling up the freezer for winter.