Meat the Homestead

Food abounds in every corner of our landscape. Walnut trees that count their years in centuries furnish our larder with many thousands of nuts. Fruit trees planted by my own hands have begun bestowing our diet with copious amounts of peaches, pawpaws, pears, apples, persimmons, plums and more. Bushes and brambles nearly bend to the ground with their bounty of berries and hazelnuts. Our vegetable gardens are a veritable source of wealth on their own merit, providing hundreds of pounds of potatoes, tomatoes, squash, and everything else we can grow in our region. Seeds and grain even play an important role in the form of amaranth and sunflower seeds. None, however, can match the nutritional wallop of high quality animal protein.

Meat, milk and eggs have formed the basis of the human diet since time immemorial. To be sure, it has always been supplemented with wild fruits, nuts, grain and vegetables. However, none of those would sustain a human, let alone a large healthy population, for any great length of time without the addition of meat. At the end of the day, protein is king. No food group provides the complete protein found in animal products. The Native Americans and American Mountain Men are considered the most robust examples of the human form that America has witnessed, and both groups would reliably ride out severe Rocky Mountain winters on nothing more than dried jerky and fresh meat from bison, deer and elk when available. The Mongols thrived on the harsh Eurasian Steppe off of sheep, goats and horses. Roman legions fed entire armies with boar, deer and preserved meat like bacon and sausage. Africa is famous for it’s vast herds of large ungulates. In short, every culture in history has relied on meat to do the heavy lifting in it’s diet. Whether you raise it yourself or attract wild game to your land to harvest sustainably, muscle growth and maintenance relies first and foremost on complete protein.

There are myriad ways to remove yourself from depending on supermarket meat, which truth be told is far inferior to what you can harvest yourself. Industrial meat lacks the same nutritional punch, oftentimes being pumped full of antibiotics because the animals are raised in squalor. Much of it can be raised even in a small suburban yard. Chickens, perhaps the most versatile homestead animal, can be moved around a small yard to eat grasses, weeds, kitchen scraps and bugs, which cuts down on the amount of purchased feed they eat. In addition to the eggs and meat they provide, they are compost makers extraordinaire! The fertility for our vegetable gardens comes primarily from the scratching the chickens do in leaf piles and grass clippings. Similar virtues can be attributed to pigs with their rooting abilities and varied diet. They can prepare whole garden areas by rooting the weeds and providing fertilizing manure to boot! Goats are also known for eating just about anything, and their milk is considered easier to digest than cows milk. Sheep provide the meat and milk with the additional harvest of wool, if such a thing is desired on your homestead. With enough quality pasture, cows will keep you stocked with beef all year.

The great thing is that all of these animals can also be an asset in the orchard. Any fruit that doesn’t get harvested by us gets gleaned by the hungry animals. They also keep the area mowed and fertilized. Chickens can be a true star in pest control. Many pest life cycles depend on a larval incubation period in the ground. A hungry chicken scratching through the soil makes short work of destructive insect pests. Too often agriculture separates plants and animals. When a well thought out plan is implemented, we can reap the benefits of both worlds in the same space, thus maximizing efficiency. This becomes more important as acreage shrinks. Many of us only have a few acres, or even less. Stacking as many functions per square foot goes a long way towards feeding your family and keeping a healthy balance in your landscape.

So far we’ve only touched on domestic livestock. Another world lies awaiting our thoughtful harvest. Wild animals freely move about the landscape, unchained by the constraints of pens and fencing. Oftentimes, these visitors cause extensive damage in the gardens and orchard. As part of our pest control we can, and I would argue should, include thoughtful hunting. Deer are known for decimating young fruit trees. To ensure you harvest fruit in the future, you can harvest venison in the present. Some folks even go the extra step in planting certain deer attracting plants. While they aren’t usually welcome into the orchard with open arms, they have a lot of meat on them! Persimmon trees will keep a deer population happy in the hungry months of winter, while the hunter stocks his or her freezer and thins a potentially over-populated herd. The other end of the spectrum is planting species that deer abhor, such as pawpaw trees. This delicious native fruit is almost completely unbothered by deer nibbling the branches. Wild boar have become such an invasive nuisance in some states that everybody is encouraged to hunt what they can to decrease the population. The choice is yours whether or not to partake in this ancient ritual of human survival. Even if the meat doesn’t reach our own plate, it can be utilized. Squirrels devouring every peach on the tree? A pellet gun will take care of them and the carcass can be picked clean by chickens, who will certainly relish the extra protein. Ditto the rabbits that ravage the lettuce bed and girdle your fruit tree bark. If your landscape includes a pond, well, then you are truly blessed. Fish such as trout can be raised in it and eat for free, while the water attracts any thirsty animal to its banks.

In short, what you decide to do is limited only by what lives in your area and what you can raise in your area. The meat industry is packed with pollution, corruption and blatant disrespect for the lives of the animals. Corporations are to blame for those pitfalls, not the meat itself. You will be doing a service to your family and the planet to raise animals as close to their natural state as possible. The argument that meat is inherently destroying the planet and that we should replace it with tilled crops like soybeans and corn is a logical non-sequitur. Animals have fertilized this planet for eons and will continue to do so if put in the right setting. Even the intimidating steps like slaughter and processing become simple once you face any initial aversion and go for it. In fact, many find that it taps into a primal, visceral part of our human identity, an identity that has largely been stifled and ignored in the convenience world of pre-packed snacks and T.V dinners. Honoring the life of the animals has impacts that go beyond the nutrition of the meat. It is a reward system that tells you that you are doing right by yourself, your family and the animals on your land. Your health will thank you, your soil will thank you, and perhaps you will find that you mature even more as a human on this earth as you connect with our ancient food pathways. As for me and my homestead, we will serve meat!