If you have to buy your meat at the store....

I recently found the show Mountain Men on tv. I think it is on the History Channel or maybe Nat Geo. Anyways, one of the men said something that has had me thinking. He said ( and don't quote me) but something to the effect of " When you have to start buying your meat from the store, it's the beginning of the end"..... WOW.

This particular episode had the man above that lives in Alaska and he was taking his wife and young daughter on a caribou hunt. They needed meat. Their freezer needed meat to sustain them for the winter. So they hunt. Such a simple complex, yet it seems to be so foreign to so many people now a days.

If you follow my blog you know that our family only eats deer meat and fish that we catch.(We enjoy a wild turkey, pheasant, ducks, geese, rabbit and squirrel also, but those are special treats).   Also on rare occasions we eat seafood when we are fortunate enough to get some fresh from the coast. That was the case this week. We had the great opportunity to share the wonderful experience of oyster tonging, crabbing and some sea fishing with our daughters. They are used to fishing in lakes, but they have never harvested oysters or crabs fresh from the gulf.

Here is a picture of my oldest daughter pulling in a crab trap. You pull it in with a big hook.

Then you empty your yummy crabs from the trap, re bait and throw it back in. You can't see the crabs too well from this picture, but between about 6 traps we had an abundance of crabs for dinner.

Next were the oysters. If you have never seen anyone tong for oysters before it is pretty great. They use what look like post hole diggers with rakes on the end, and basically scoop them up.

You just dump them out and then go through them and kind of cull them. You don't want all the extra materials, only the good oysters .

The shells of the oysters can be sharp so it's important to wear gloves. You can sea the girls helping here which is kind of adorable in my opinion.

Next was fishing. Basically the same as fresh water fishing, just different types of fish. This was a kind of saltwater catfish we caught. We got 6 of these puppies on the day we were out.

We had a feast of crab, oysters and fried catfish for dinner and had plenty to share with our family.

I really want to encourage everyone to think of ways to harvest some of their own meat sources.

Of course not everyone can have herds of cattle, nor does everyone want that. I can't tell you the last time we had beef and we are okay. Not everyone can raise chickens to eat, and again even though we have chickens we don't eat them. But hunting and fishing is something that most can do. America has an abundance of these harvestables and to our family it is a real blessing. Hunting and fishing done humanly, respectfully and lawfully is one of the greatest lessons in sustainability we can leave our children .

What all do you hunt for your family??

Linked up to Monday Homestead Barn Hop. The Morris Tribe The Funny Farm TALU Adorned From Above

Know Your Food!!

I took this picture last summer in San Francisco when I was doing a farm tour of that area. There is some awesome stuff happening in California involving the local food movement. Today I just wanted to get you all thinking about what you can do to support local farmers and increase your nutrition and health by eating foods where you know the origination.

I live in the South and the majority of the crops around here are 1) soybeans, 2) cotton or 4 ) corn. The corn for the most part is that for livestock, but there are several corn fields around here that still grow the delicious sweet corn that most of us are used to.

There is also a growing movement of small farmers around my area. I stay out of the grocery store as much as possible and would love to rely even less on imported food, even if it is imported from across the country. There is something very patriotic and revitalizing for me to buy local, delicious products from someone just down the road from me. I love knowing the farmer, knowing their family, knowing their practices etc.
The first step to eating locally, at least for me and my family is to grow all that I can myself. We grow  large varieties of vegetables, have fruit trees, pecan trees, fruit bushes, herbs and have chickens for our eggs. I try to can, preserve, freeze, or dry any excess for the winter. The second thing I like to do is to buy from local farmers. There is a lovely family about 25 miles from my home  that provides delicious cheese, yogurt, and milk. And honestly, their prices are very comprable to the organic gallon jugs of milk at the grocery store. The cheese is outstanding and they offer several different flavors.
There are some things that we have not  mastered yet as a family such as asparagus, but their is a grower in the county next to us that has wonderful asparagus when they are in season- so we get it from him. There are other things too that we typically get from local farmers throughout the year. Last year we didn't have near enough blueberries so I bought several more gallons from a local grower. There is an older lady I know that has amazing wild blackberries which she offers for us to pick for free ( and of course I always pick plenty for her which she appreciates).
There is a grain mill about 40 minutes from out home which we buy local flour and other grains from. I'm really striving to buy as much locally as possible and eventually would love to buy EVERYTHING we eat from a local supplier.
There are things that although not necessities that I still buy from a local grocer such as almonds, coconut, sugar, baking powder, salt, cocoa, etc.

I guess the point of my rambling is that you CAN buy a lot more locally than you think. I obviously don't know where everyone lives, but I'm certain that with a little bit of trying that there are ways to really support your local farmers. A few posts ago I talked about ways you can find out what is offered in your area. Check out the post here.

How are you all supporting your local farmer?