After Absence, New Things To Discuss

It has been months since I have posted.  So.

I just asked Google a question I thought so bizarre, I didn't think I would have an answer.

I started typing," Will a buzzard eat..." I got that far and the multiple choices appeared. First was what I thought was my bizarre question: Will buzzards eat dead skunks? Yes, with enthusiasm.

I'm glad, because these ugly birds help keep the environment cleaner and smelling better for those who don't like the lingering smell.

That the question arises readily tells me a lot of people don't live in cities yet. That it is the first option offered tells me more. While skunks can adapt to cities, only more rural areas have the tragedy of a skunk crossing the road just when your car comes by and kills it. With any warning at all, said varmint sprays. The smell hovers for days, getting into the air systems of cars who pass by. It lingers. The tragedy goes both ways. We get a lingering smell. The skunk, of course, is dead.

Even skunks themselves don't like the smell. Dogs don't, and considering what dogs will roll in and live in, skunk spray may be the only smell a dog doesn't like. But apparently, buzzards do. THAT is a very good thing.

I still live where land, and farmers, and families with home vegetable gardens, abound. Each year, more and more of us are going organic in our vegetables and in our protein. I know neighbors who  sell eggs from time to time, but I buy from the store when the hens aren't laying. I always buy cage free, and if I can afford it, organic. Those are eggs as close commercially as I can get to what my neighbors produce with their hens.

Many of you, who buy store-bought eggs, however, have never eaten eggs from Easter Eggar hens. They are my favorite, not even counting their green or blue color. The yolk is bigger, and the cholesterol is lower. Ehh! If they were the worst, I would prefer them. for the taste. You really can, if you have the chance, tell a difference in eggs from various breeds of hens. Grocery eggs are five to six weeks old, and tasty and usable. The fresh, for me and thousands, hopefully millions more, is better.  

With the enthusiastic expansion of home-egg manufacturing, the breeds of chickens range from chickens with hairless necks to chickens--Silkies--with feathers on their legs.

That leads to another question about protein. How is your meat raised? What is in it?
The animals are raised within Dept. of Ag standards. And if you have never lived on a farm or even seen animals or birds you, yourself, kill, prepare, and eat, the question may be spurious.
But I did. And the way I saw them raised and the way they are raised to feed millions of us, is so different.

To feed all of us, they must be caged with no room to move. Because they are so closely packed, they must be given antibiotics to stay healthy. You are eating this every day if you eat fowl, or pork. I don't THINK beef, but I haven't checked yet.

So I don't eat pork anymore, unless it is organic. That is because I started with pork. I eat organic pork because it not only has none of the additives I don't want, which is worth proselytizing about. I want meat from animals who have been able to walk, turn around, and maybe express happiness besides eating a continuous trough of  (nutritious feed you don't want to know contents of, although it is nutritious, safe, and they eat it.)

Organic bacon is smoked, not cured. I call it "steak bacon" because it's so meaty and smoked and delicious. I am researching now for farms with organic meats locally and have found some.

Yes, eating organic plants can be important. Eating organic meats may be even more important, not only for health but for sheer enjoyment. I'll post more when I know more.

Meanwhile, hamburger pizza with mushrooms and onions is tasty. So are all-beef hot dogs.

I don't do rallies about this, or campaigns, or whatever I could do. I am writing a blog about what I am doing. Someone I told, who lives in another city, says she has gone meat organic and has found local meats not so costly. She is surprised that it keeps longer and remains delicious.

The rest of you know what you are doing. You are intelligent, and have your budgets, and I won't write about this as a cause. It is important to me. I am telling you about it. What I write next probably won't be about this.  Hope you think about it, a little.