It's Not the Cow, but the HOW!!
Perhaps the most controversial aspect of our work is working with death
(death and transformation)
Our work of taking dead animals and teaching people how to connect with the life of the animal - give thanks for natures beautiful creation, and transform the body into food, and other useful products such as tools, leather, cordage, drum skins…
Some people strongly disagree with what we do, others are intrigued, some are disgusted when they come face to face with the gorey reality of this work - but overall around 99% of the people who come to talk to us go away understanding the logic behind this.
The truth is that the most passionate people on the subject of saving the planet see that this is exactly what we are doing. It does make sense
- so here is our logic, let us know your thoughts at the end…
1. Using waste i.e roadkill / food systems waste is FAR more ethical than creating more plastic!
Imagine walking or driving past a dead deer, recently hit by a car. This deer has lived a good happy life of freedom in the forest - eating it’s natural foods and living it’s best life until the moment it was hit, and boom - a relatively quick death. If you’re not sure whether this is a quick way to die check out nature is metal below, for the way many animals are predated on in nature…
Many people have commented that it is disgusting / gross to eat something that has died like this…
And I understand that gut reaction
but for anyone who cares anything about the planet I have one question for you:
Will you put YOUR FEELING OF DISGUST ABOVE THE HEALTH AND FUTURE OF THE PLANET?
The body of that dead deer right there is a few weeks worth of food,
with highly nutritious
organs,
fats
and amazing venison back strap / tender loin,
leg meat,
and neck….
the skin can become leather
or fur,
the skulls are often used as art pieces,
the sinew could become cordage
and bones could become useful tools.
We could work out the monetary cost of that -
or the carbon footprint of what it would be to feed yourself another way
buy those tool from the shops,
How much money or carbon buy in the meat / vegetables or legumes that you will eat instead for the next few weeks.
Just think of all the death and destruction cause by YOUR DIET
How many of you are totally free from fossils fuels in all of your lifestyle and food choices?
Do you shop in a supermarket or an alternative health food shop?
No matter….
- how many lorries did it take to get your food there
- how much packaging?
Are you starting to catch my drift now?
Don’t have the skills to KNOW if it is safe or not…
come to a workshop, or get in touch with us
- it doesn’t take long to start getting a feel for it
- start by taking an interest, taking some pictures & sharing on our group.
Even if you don’t want to pick it up, maybe someone else will.
2. Hunting & Extinct Predators
Ok so whilst many people will eat roadkill and support our use of roadkill only, and maybe on reading the last point you’re starting to come around on this
- but hunting brings images of fox hunts and other such horrible practices which we absolutely condemn.
These are cruel pleasure blood lust sport hunting - and this should not be reduced to a game at the expense of life, we have utmost respect for all of life and nature.
Having said that: Deer, Boar, and Gray squirrel populations are destructive and out of control - because our ancestors hunted predators to extinction (yes we would love to bring the predators back! Bring back wolves, and bears - it would do us all good to have a bit of respect for nature, instead of it being a giant dog park!)
But in the meantime WE are the apex predator - we should be interacting with our environment in the most direct way possible for our nourishment.
Deer Stalkers
This kind of hunting is regulated with the Deer Stalking qualifications 1 & 2. The hunters we use are acutely aware of the implications of taking a deer, they know how to identify 5 species of deer, what times of year they are likely to be breeding and which members of the herd, if there is a herd it is useful for the overall health of the population and landscape to take.
There is a deep respect of the ecosystem and a connection which happens between hunter and hunted.
A connection which sadly very few people are able to experience between their own lives and their own food webs.
Overpopulated
There is a lot of information out there about the effects of deer, squirrels and boar on woodlands and forests….
yes it is natural when numbers are kept naturally low by predators
- but there are none apart from us…
When we engage in our natural way of interacting with the forest, such as coppicing:
an ancient tradition of felling native broadleafs to stimulate further growth…
the further growth is thwarted by vast numbers of these animals!
Not only that - when their food sources dwindle, because they have eaten everything,
they will then begin to starve,
or venture out further into towns,
causing nuisance,
but ultimately they starve to death.
Not a nice way to go!
4. What is the most compassionate lifestyle?
We just really can’t mention the M word (meat) without the V word (veganism)
I guess what grates for myself, as an ethical omnivore - is this idea that eating meat, or flesh, however you want to term it, is somehow not ethical, not compassionate and that people who DO eat / consume animal products are LESS compassionate as they don’t have anything to do with death… that their diet is responsible for far less, if not zero deaths!!
A combine harvester leaves a trail of destruction,
from small mammals, insects, habitat, nests,
loss of hedgerows as the fields get bigger and bigger,
more and more mono-crops.
It is truly horrendous.
Not to mention polytunnel growing above the ground -
closing off more habitat,
and killing of slugs and other pests in vegetable growing!!
However take a cow - just 1 cow…
it will feed a person for at least 6 months to a year I am told
- that is 1 single life,
no loss of habitat,
in fact the ‘herbal lays’ (biodiverse mix of grasses and herbs)
grown in a 100% pasture fed / ‘pasture for life’ situation
is a massive massive benefit to biodiversity.
Once again we are not comparing VEGANISM to a STANDARD omnivore diet which ALL the vegan stats seem to reference.
I’m comparing it to a LOCALISED ETHICALLY and health minded carnivore / omivore diet.
Check out these cows below, they are being
MOB GRAZED i.e. GRASS FED
A technique which mimics natural herd behaviour, builds soil and biodiversity. It is one of the many regenerative agriculture techniques being employed by a growing number of farmers.
They LOVE their animals, and are true stewards of our planet, and future.
Compared to ‘standard’ farming, whether farmers have been pressured to feed soy to their animals, making them sicker, less happy, less healthy, less nutritious, and raping the planet in the process…
5.Our Relationship to Death.
Following on from my previous point….
When death is brushed under the carpet and we pretend we are separate from the natural cycles of life and death,
we push it into the shadows and the potential for real darkness arises.
Are we trying to hide from the fact that death is something that happens to ALL of us, something we have in common, that ties us to this earthly existence!! But with the vast majority of people willing to stop living because they were scared of dying, this shows a very real fear of death rife in our culture.
We want to turn our backs on death and pretend we can lead a life free from death of any kind!
Newsflash… everything that lives WILL DIE
But what happens when WE die?
Our families bodies are taken away,
hidden in the morgue and ‘dealt with’ by strangers -
all of our natural and normal ways of grieving and connecting to this process are gone.
Death has been banished, and must exist only in the shadows, the fringes…
Except those who are choosing to reclaim death rituals…
Abattoirs
what horrible places -
bad for everyone involved from the animals,
to the humans doing this grotesque work.
Should we push this work out to low paid, unskilled workers?
Because we can’t face the reality of our own food choices?
This is the result - a symptom of the DISCONNECTION,
rather that being able to go out onto common land,
with the knowledge and skill that comes with knowing your own ecosystem intimately and what animal it is viable to take -
a deer, a boar, a rabbit, a squirrel….
Killing
Taking a life to nourish your own and your family
is what we have been doing since the dawn of time -
its NOT something we can evolve out of.. ascend from!!
NOT in this climate anyway, where we cannot grow enough veg/pulses to sustain us properly all year round.
We still birth our babies, in blood and mucus, we still die and take our last breath, we still love, and hurt and shit and pee…
We have earthly bodies that are part of the rhythms of nature.
We take from the earth and we must give back.
That is what we came to this planet FOR - to be part of these cycles and rhythms….
Except people have forgotten what it is like to live in harmony with the earth, to collect water and food, and return what is left
- be it peels or bones..
Vast majority of vegan diets, if not ALL of them..
rely on food shipped around the world -
WE at The Rewild Project feel strongly
that eating what is close by and in balance
is a better way.
Yes it is debatable - we love to debate!!
but it is a completely valid ethical choice.
Relying on 3rd world superfarms is not ethical, deforestation for avocado / soya etc needs to be stopped I'm sure we all agree on that.
This isn’t about comparing a ‘average diet’ to a ‘vegan diet’ but how we ALL move to a better - less destructive diet.
We need new language once again to create connection to the cycles of life and death, and to our food sources for ALL.
7. It's not the cow, but the how.
There is so much vegan JUNK food on the market now,
its not healthy OR ethical...
Meat and dairy is the same,
small scale farming is GOOD for the land and KIND to animals
(that I know can be a whole can of worms for some vegans too, but bear with…)
Look at the website below sites that are promoting these atrocities - veg news / live kindly, allplants….
SERIOUSLY???
Live kindly by buying a SUBWAY??
- something has gone terribly wrong here!!
What started out as a movement away from factory farming,
and to be more compassionate is now SUPPORTING the devil himself!!
What a crazy crazy world we live in!!
6. Our relationship to the universe…
OK I have been told that vegans get REALLY sick of hearing this one,
but for me it is a strong belief, that only gets stringer as I age and get more spiritual!
The whole universe is sentient, from rocks, to the earth, mycelium...
we know that plants and trees do feel pain and talk to each other.
When we talk about compassionate living
- we need to take into account a wider context of:
WHERE are food is coming from
HOW it is being grown / produced...
WHO is serving us in this important work of food production....
Life is not black & white - neither is our diets.
Lets stop pretending the answers are simple…
Let us know your thoughts
what do YOU eat? Vegan / Meat - Supermarket / Healthfood / Local Farmers Market?
Have you eaten a vegan Subway or McDonalds? How did it make you feel?
Have you eaten roadkill? How did that make you feel?
Did you get triggered by this article?
Do you try to be compassionate in all that you do? Do you try to avoid death at all costs?
What does this bring up for you?