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OT: Meat From Local Small Farms And From The Wild

Over the past few years I have expanded my diet to include fresh meat in the form of freshly slaughtered animals from local small farms and freshly killed wild game.  I've also taken up fishing again and I've been eating freshly caught fish.  I've had goats and chickens slaughtered and butchered for me.  I've also slaughtered and butchered a pig and a lamb with the help of an experienced friend.  I've killed and butchered wild rabbits and wild quail.  I've caught and eaten catfish and bass.

There's just no comparing the meat quality of a freshly slaughtered animal from a local small farm to the quality of meat sold in stores.  Its night and day.  The same with wild fish.  Fresh local meat has so much more flavor.  Wild game has a totally different taste and is very lean.  You can taste in the meat what the animal has been feeding on.  In both cases the quality of the meat is so high compared to store bought meat.  Its the same with fish.

Likewise, us gardeners know that fruit and vegetables grown at home are superior to what is sold in stores.  This seems to be especially true with figs.  Just Google "fresh figs" and search the images that come up.  A handful out of 100 are images of figs that are actually ripe.

Nothing beats the small farm, the garden, and the wild.  It takes more work, but why settle for less?

Sounds wonderful.

Agreed.

Absolutely!

Figs right of the tree dead ripe Yummy !
Wild hunted birds such as Pheasants and Quail are fabulous along with fresh caught fish compared to farm 
raised fish !

i don't hunt. but i do have few friends that like to hunt.. a lot. occasionally i got invite to try venison, bear, birds, tree rats, rabbits and so on. they are ok. they are fresh. but little gamey, and tough. i'm sure it has more to do with their cooking skills then the source of the protein. once when i was young, i was up in the mountain with few ex-green berets. had a nice plate of rats. that was interesting. 

My father has friends that will give him venison (deer meat) during hunting season.  He bakes it with potatoes, wine, spices, etc and it tastes like a gourmet dish.  Very tender and delicious.  He does the same with lamb.

Hey Joe lets start a Commune, I'll bring fig tree and tomato seeds, plus lots of fishing gear.. I also have a nice collection of power tools....

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  • FMD

Joe, it makes me happy that you are getting your meat from places other than the large coorporate farms like Tyson. Aside from providing poor quality meats pumped full of hormones, antibiotics and other chemicals, these companies have absolutely no regard for their animals. The abuse and torture of these creatures has been documented ad nauseum. I am not a PETA member but seeing what actually happens on these megafarms will turn your stomach and make anyone an activist.
My family stopped eating meat completely about a year ago. We haven't missed it and we are healthier for it.

We have a small farm, and I couldn't agree more. Every year, there is less and less food that we buy from the store. We raise heritage hogs on pasture, dairy goats, and all types of poultry. I bet some people wouldn't even recognize the meat from our heritage hogs as pork. It looks more like beef. Pork is NOT the other white meat.

We're slowly building up the fruits and nuts etc. that we grow. That's how I found figs. I'm dabbling in permaculuture. We're starting beekeeping this year. It's wonderful to know that if it all hits the fan, we wouldn't starve.

FMD AMEN to that!  Factory farming is allowed to conduct the most unbelievable acts of cruelty and abuse of antibiotics, hormones and disrespect for the withdrawal times for these drugs. They are fighting to keep it behind locked doors.  I havnt eaten meat for 30+ yrs and after a few years meatless, I noticed I could smell chemicals and feces in cooked meat. UGH!  You cant 100% trust homegrown either if its from strangers.  I personally caught 4-H kids at the Pamona Fair injecting

penicillin into a couple of steers that were tagged for a butcher pick up after the auction.  No disclosure there.  Some adult had supplied the kids with the injectables, what a terrible example was set for the kids.

I was shocked how good and clean my homegrown fish taste.  They're consistently better than wild caught, and vastly better than the nasty stuff you get at most restaurants and grocery stores, most likely due to mine being reared in a cleaner environment and having a better diet.

Regarding their environment, my fish live in naturalistic, fully functioning ecosystems as opposed to warehouse factory tanks.  They get to frolic, play, explore, enjoy the sunshine, grow up, and mate.  Some get to grow old.  They lead good lives and seem happy.

Regarding their diet, I grow tilapia that prefer to be primarily vegetarian the older they get, and I cater to their preferences.  Fish accumulate good Omega 3 fatty acids by eating plants or eating other fish that eat plants, so my fish get a diet of something like 70% plants/algae, 10% worms, and 20% commercial feed.  That way the bulk of their nutrition comes from where it should, but they still get the benefit of having a well-balanced feed as a nutritional supplement.  My fish are in my garden, so I'm constantly throwing lettuce/spinach/etc into the water for them to eat, sometimes even treating them with big stuff like pumpkins.  Factory farms that raise their fish entirely on commercial feed create fish that are somewhat unhealthy to consume, since instead of piling up good Omega 3 fatty acids, they accumulate high levels of bad Omega 6 fatty acids.  The ratio of bad versus good fatty acids in factory farmed tilapia can be comparable to that of bacon, but fish raised on a more natural diet don't have that problem, so it's important to be aware of where particular fish were farmed and what they were fed in order to have a good sense of how healthy they are to eat (and how tasty they'll probably be).

Maybe I could acquire a taste for blueberry stuffed squirrel...
Rafed, you with me? Fig stuffed squirrel?

I love this topic.  I miss my chickens and garden.  This weekend I am looking at a 10 plus acre farm maybe to purchase.  Hate living in a development. Have gained at least 10 lb from sitting around.  So unbelievable boring to watch people walk around or run around the same circle everyday.  I also hate paying good money for things I keep growing almost year round like my herbs, veggies ect.  I also miss having my own greenhouse.  

Hi joe, when you get a chance let me know where to get some of that local stuff. Sounds great. I won't be slaughtering anything myself but if someone else does it, sounds good. I've bought fresh eggs from local people raising in their yards and they are much better than in stores.

I'm with ya FMD! I made the same choice. Couldn't feel better!

Figfinatic,

I sent you a PM.

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