We're vegan, but we do visit the community farm

-
It's a regular discussion point amongst vegan parents: should we support local community farms? Knowing that the animals we're looking at will be slaughtered and sold as sausages at the farm shop... and yet, yes I take my children there. I want them to meet the animals, appreciate their lives and what they're like - smell them, touch them, interact with these living beings.

Because they are not abstract. They are not concepts. They are alive, breathing, sentient, and I want my childen to experience them alive: and not as packs of meat in the supermarket that we just happen not to pick up at our weekly shop.

My kids haven't asked yet about where meat comes from. But when they're ready to ask, they'll be ready to learn.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Into a new world: allotmenteering

-
Image
I am not, and never have been, a gardener. There's some real trauma in my teens, when after moving from my parents' apartment where I grew up and into my aunt's house which had a garden, I found myself having to weed and cut grass for the first time - and I hated it! I never tried again. The garden of our house (as well as the houseplants!) have been firmly Mr's responsibility. On a whim, years ago, I put our name on the waiting list for the allotments near our house. I knew the wait was long, and to be honest I forgot about it, until a few weeks ago an email came in saying there was now a plot and would I like to come view it. I thought, well, viewing it won't do any harm... and the timing was impeccable, because only a few weeks prior to this email, Mr and I finally settled in our hearts and minds that we would not be moving house (which had been vaguely on the cards for years, culminating in almost buying a house in 2022, which fell through). We are in Bristol, a...
Read more

Easter 2025

-
Image
It's been two busy, amazing, wonderful weeks. First, Spring Harvest; which led straight into Holy Week. A huge contrast as we went from the loud concert atmosphere with strobe lights at Spring Harvest to the silence, reverence, bells and smells of the Cathedral... here are some photos. Holy Week kicks off with the Chrism Mass on Wednesday. This is where the oils for the coming year for use within the entire Diocese are consecrated - oils for healing / anointing the sick and for anointing at Confirmation. Every priest, deacon, and seminarian of the entire Diocese is there too to officially renew their vows, and it had such an impact on me seeing these men, who have given up so much and are literally living their lives in sacrifice and service... true, everyday heroes. D(8) got to serve too, he was in charge of the Bishop's Mitre. D(8) passing the Mitre to a Deacon *All* the priests On Thursday, D served at the altar again and Mr. got his feet washed by the Bishop at the Maundy T...
Read more

A colourful tapestry of jobs

-
Image
I had this idea last night - in the early hours, after Cody the dog got me out of bed to let him out for a wee - and it seemed like a good thing to do at the time. Keeping in mind that this blog is, first and foremost, for my children to read when they are grown so they can get to know me better, I thought they would enjoy reading about my professional failures and successes... where I've been, where I got to, and why. So it's mostly for them, but if you're interested enough, grab a cuppa! Summer Jobs The summer after my mother died, I didn't work even though I legally could have - I was about to turn 16, but life was stressful and I was recovering not only from my mother's death but also from a gallstone operation. The summer after that, there was a very short lived stint at Toys-R-Us . Two days, I think - maybe it was just one day, a morning and an afternoon. This job taught me that it's the lowest jobs that are often the hardest, both physically and in terms ...
Read more