tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5733417645352174190.post6117784337692586868..comments2023-05-23T08:30:37.221-07:00Comments on The Itty Bitty Farm in the City: An Open Letter to James McWilliams: On Hatching a Plan to Get the Real Inexpert Killers - CatsHeidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13263795936437012313noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5733417645352174190.post-51135983195890856662014-03-23T11:44:49.815-07:002014-03-23T11:44:49.815-07:00I just want to second what Rob says in the comment...I just want to second what Rob says in the comments above. Having seen what happens when meat is slaughtered, I feel deeply about making sure I appreciate meat when I do choose to eat it, and I don't waste it or take it for granted. I had to take one of my chickens to be harvested because she turned out to be a "he." I can't have Roosters in my neighborhood. I helped with cleaning the bird after it was killed but couldn't bring myself to actually kill it. The farmer who was helping me (who actually killed the chicken when I couldn't bring myself to do it) said that she helps lots of people who want to raise their own meat but who have a hard time doing the actual harvest. She said they all get together on certain days and do all the killings at once. She says it makes her emotionally tired, exhausted even, because its a hard thing for anyone to do. That made me wonder if we evolved that way on purpose. If killing is emotionally hard so that we don't overdo it. Only now, we have this "graceful" distance and its allowed us to become complete gluttons, wastefully taking more than we need, more than whats good for us or for planet in general. <br /><br /> I applaud your honesty and what you are doing. More people, not less, need to raise their own food. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04625250717020661085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5733417645352174190.post-40174177495552400882012-06-09T04:05:46.512-07:002012-06-09T04:05:46.512-07:00Love it! I just thought he was a corporate shill.Love it! I just thought he was a corporate shill.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5733417645352174190.post-55829304668044990932012-06-08T19:34:39.048-07:002012-06-08T19:34:39.048-07:00You now have one more fan. Excellent rebuttal to a...You now have one more fan. Excellent rebuttal to a simple minded out of contex article.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16617098688242538849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5733417645352174190.post-68626716055370136522011-11-09T06:56:50.669-08:002011-11-09T06:56:50.669-08:00Awesome post Heidi! I was doing research on the A...Awesome post Heidi! I was doing research on the <a href="%E2%80%9D//www.fornazor.com/concentrates.html%E2%80%9D" rel="nofollow">Animal Feed</a> business and came across your blog...I will definietly be back to read more from you!Mike Martihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03005081046134848518noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5733417645352174190.post-79626268393916383892011-10-12T11:14:13.590-07:002011-10-12T11:14:13.590-07:00Love your awesome post. Would love to hear the Atl...Love your awesome post. Would love to hear the Atlantic's response. James is a dufous. <br />BTW as noted by another person above, indeed while domestic cats totally suck, raccoons are your problem for sure. They are big enough to take your girls down and they only eat the heads as evident in your picture. The body and etc are too heavy to cart off and eat in privacy. While coons are a native species they are now nuisance wildlife due to pure human blundering. We leave our garbage out, stupid kitty lovers feed them, and they have adapted to our urban landscape. So preditor proof your girls with buried wire, stop feeding pets outside, and lock down your garbage. Keep the little bastards from reproducing. <br />As far as killing-er I mean euthanizing birds, make a CO2 chamber. It is humane and cheap to make if you are going to consume your birds. I euthanize suffering animals using anesthesia gas and CO2. Its very peaceful. Backyard poultry keepers should share and help each other out so we don't have dufouses like James writing about us. <br />Thanks again for the great blog. Will be following...Pouletchaletnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5733417645352174190.post-5674954382152413862011-10-09T09:14:22.170-07:002011-10-09T09:14:22.170-07:00Brilliant. I would leave a more extensive comment...Brilliant. I would leave a more extensive comment but I've got to go round up the neighbor's cats...Catherinehttp://thecompostclub.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5733417645352174190.post-15685549687683129742011-10-02T19:27:17.015-07:002011-10-02T19:27:17.015-07:00You are so awesome.You are so awesome.SashaLeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13490324709550607577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5733417645352174190.post-38132360573704875382011-09-26T09:53:01.502-07:002011-09-26T09:53:01.502-07:00Everyone has to jump on the bandwagon - no matter ...Everyone has to jump on the bandwagon - no matter how idiotic they are. Would love to know if you hear back from The Atlantic. Due diligence, guys, due diligence.Susanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12573143203599624833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5733417645352174190.post-2681780608932595722011-09-25T14:33:17.773-07:002011-09-25T14:33:17.773-07:00What a great letter! One of my greatest disappoint...What a great letter! One of my greatest disappoints as an adult is how few other adults in positions of authority act like... like I thought adults were supposed to as a child. What a jerk, and what a disappointing editorial process.<br /><br />I'm really sorry about your chicken... I used to babysit in the Berkeley hills, and the day raccoons left Jelly Bean looking like that was a bad one. They picked off all their chickens, one-by-one, over the course of about two weeks.<br /><br />In my years of experience with cats and chickens, sights like that tend to be raccoons. I have seen chickens mutilated like that numerous times by raccoons - who have the height advantage over chickens that cats lack, and are very very vicious (and always travel in 2s or 3s). Everyone I know with chickens (Berkeley, Sacramento, upstate NY) has had raccoon problems (and cats, whom I've never seen go after chickens). This becomes important when trying to predator-proof the cage against a predator with opposable thumbs!Jenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04539056427788301023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5733417645352174190.post-3400960065087184072011-09-24T09:17:58.154-07:002011-09-24T09:17:58.154-07:00Excellent rebuttal this! Did you ever hear back f...Excellent rebuttal this! Did you ever hear back from the magazine btw?<br /><br />I am a meat eater and I firmly believe that everyone should witness or assist with a slaughter at least once - so they appreciate where their meat comes from. I have done that and honestly hope never to have to do so again, but it has made me aware of what it is I eat, where it comes from, the quality of life it had, and how it was despatched. Therefore I eat less meat (but do still eat it), buy my meat more carefully and go to extreme lengths not to waste any of it...you are brave to raise your own.Robhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14577573347139512005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5733417645352174190.post-54343074788938854892011-09-23T16:52:25.216-07:002011-09-23T16:52:25.216-07:00Gotta love the chicken shits (pun intended) that h...Gotta love the chicken shits (pun intended) that have to be anonymous.Rachelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05607208465219962573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5733417645352174190.post-34967237763233991192011-09-23T15:20:47.325-07:002011-09-23T15:20:47.325-07:00You are gross.You are gross.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5733417645352174190.post-47530245371353619012011-09-22T13:52:06.747-07:002011-09-22T13:52:06.747-07:00I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion... e...I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion... even if their opinion is idiotic. <br /><br />Keep up the good work. I'm glad I found your blog. It's great, and I can't wait to read more!<br /><br />(PS - I just HAD to google "sadistic chicken suffocater". Your Facebook post was the first item listed, and this post was #7. Well done!)Mrs. Farmerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07626026331824645859noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5733417645352174190.post-60802859929264924992011-09-22T12:51:42.083-07:002011-09-22T12:51:42.083-07:00I think I love you.I think I love you.Nicole Kramerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09651894547243362593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5733417645352174190.post-33862868566722170862011-09-21T22:56:41.336-07:002011-09-21T22:56:41.336-07:00The other day I watched my four cats get together ...The other day I watched my four cats get together to terrorize an innocent fly for hours, finally swatting it down and chewing on it, spitting it out, smacking it around, chewing on it again, etc. while it struggled with all of its little legs going in the air. After all that, they just left its mangled corpse there for *me* to deal with. No one ever talks about the immeasurable cruelty inflicted on these poor flying insects. My cats are on notice.Carla Brauerhttp://carlabrauer.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5733417645352174190.post-68040122209760319922011-09-21T18:38:40.270-07:002011-09-21T18:38:40.270-07:00Burn! Fight the good fight Heidi.Burn! Fight the good fight Heidi.Benhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02151548411161002644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5733417645352174190.post-27114325995436947032011-09-21T13:55:17.272-07:002011-09-21T13:55:17.272-07:00Kudos, Heidi, for a snappy and well-written respon...Kudos, Heidi, for a snappy and well-written response to a crappy cheap-shot article. It was a shitty way to find your blog, but I'm glad I did, and I look forward to reading about your farm... chicken-slaughters and all. Cheers, girl!Kris Mohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09931265448216559469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5733417645352174190.post-30709295248349131122011-09-21T10:06:45.418-07:002011-09-21T10:06:45.418-07:00Found you from Dog Island Farm! And this has got ...Found you from Dog Island Farm! And this has got to be the. Best. Post. Ever. I'm linking to you and this post shortly. Glad to meet ya, and keep on keeping on!<br /><br />All I can say about the McWilliams letter; F'n moron. Through and through.Carolynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14436557172029575513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5733417645352174190.post-86662268861389245562011-09-21T09:47:57.839-07:002011-09-21T09:47:57.839-07:00I love you more than chocolate ice cream. :) Reall...I love you more than chocolate ice cream. :) Really happy to "know" you on line. I'd let you choke my chicken any day. LMAOMrs Pretzelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15013942924710797563noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5733417645352174190.post-68037125529038539232011-09-21T09:44:08.383-07:002011-09-21T09:44:08.383-07:00You go, girl, right on.You go, girl, right on.Jannahttp://jannamo.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5733417645352174190.post-56911014861510090612011-09-20T11:04:26.154-07:002011-09-20T11:04:26.154-07:00Awesome post! Im so sick of these so called "...Awesome post! Im so sick of these so called "do-gooders" who just push their own personal agenda that has nothing to do with reality. Real life is messy, those that want to hide it go to the slaughterhouses and pretend that nothing happened. Most good people tho know where their food comes from. And some are lucky, like you to be able to know personally. <br /><br />But what I see out there in the world is a media gone wild and your blog just proved that. They dont even fact check or anything. Its all sensationalism. The good news is real people are catching on and calling them on their shit.....real people like you! Bravo.seanymphhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01396429978477892522noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5733417645352174190.post-16080985154464474862011-09-20T08:19:30.177-07:002011-09-20T08:19:30.177-07:00This is seriously bizarro world. It blows my mind...This is seriously bizarro world. It blows my mind that this is the issue The Atlantic wants to grab on to. Seriously, of all the important things to write about food production, this is what he chooses?<br />You're going to end up on a PETA hit list.Little Farm in the Big Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09868939423713002611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5733417645352174190.post-17568763182759557112011-09-19T17:24:45.200-07:002011-09-19T17:24:45.200-07:00This is the sexiest, most awesomest, most bad-asse...This is the sexiest, most awesomest, most bad-assest piece of writing I've seen in a while. You're so cool (even for a sadistic chicken suffocator, or SCS for short). <br /><br />Chai and hangouts soon?Jessahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06177946900069698361noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5733417645352174190.post-70818833423578387402011-09-19T16:46:21.561-07:002011-09-19T16:46:21.561-07:00Thanks Heidi. I plan to link to this post from my...Thanks Heidi. I plan to link to this post from my blog as well. There is so much in the mass media news lately about this kind of issue, and as far as I can tell it is all from people who tend to be vegan and animal rights activists....and oddly enough I have always felt we were all on the same side. <br />I wonder if all the media recently is because there are so many that are opposed to family/urban farming practices or if it is a result of the media being swayed by Big Ag. I think I know the answer...as disappointing as it is.Melhttp://polloloco-pdx.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5733417645352174190.post-75987648385621340432011-09-19T16:06:45.241-07:002011-09-19T16:06:45.241-07:00He gives Vegetarians a bad name. I hate high-hors...He gives Vegetarians a bad name. I hate high-horse douchebags. I have been a vegetarian for 30 years and APPRECIATE itty bitty farm in the city's kind and thoughtful farming. I've met the chickens and they are happy. And I've eaten the eggs (I'm lacto ovo.) <br /><br />When I need a good laugh, I turn to this blog post response and LOL. Thanks, Heidi, for an other job well done!kortneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05906767507341574572noreply@blogger.com