This is the response I sent to a message from one of my Zaadz friends, who wanted to know what this activity means to me - the friend is vegetarian and does not agree with humans' killing and consumption of animals.  She also appears to have removed me from her friends list over this issue.  Here is my reply to her, and for all my Zaadz friends (including those I don't know yet):

Thanks for your message.   I appreciate that many people object to the killing of animals for food or any human purpose.   No, I don't consider it fun.  It is a great deal of work for the humans involved, keeping the animals in conditions that are clean, safe and humane.   It also makes for extra work to ensure that the conditions of slaughter are as humane as possible, which is what we try to do on the farm where I live and work.   No, it's not fun.  No one here enjoys the killing.  It's very serious work.  

It is also part of my personal spiritual path to be connected to the food I eat.  I choose to eat meat, and I choose to be completely aware of what that choice means.   I  help care for the animals from the moment of birth, to the moment of death.

Please be assured these are questions I have considered, in depth, over many, many years of study and reflection.   I practised vegetarianism for two years when I first discovered my personal conflicts on this issue.  Those conflicts are ongoing, however my main objections centre around the meat industry, and the treatment of animals in the industrial production of meat (and dairy), not on the eating of meat as a philosophical question. 

I have not eaten “industrial” meat for many years, except occasionally at a restaurant or a special event.   All the meat eaten on this property is grown, slaughtered and processed here, under conditions controlled by the owners, who are committed to providing the most humane and healthful conditions possible.

My current position on the question of whether or not to eat meat is that meat is a natural part of the human diet (if you study our teeth in more detail, you will find that they are not herbivores' teeth, nor carnivores' teeth, but something intermediate).  Paleontology and archeology support a long history of an omnivorous diet throughout human evolution.   Current nutritional research suggests that a small amount of meat is a healthful addition to the human diet, especially if that meat is from animals grown in “natural conditions”, i.e. allowed to live in a free-ranging environment with daily access to pasture, natural light and freedom to move around.

I also choose to have cats and dogs as companion animals.   Even if I was to choose not to eat meat myself (which can be a healthy choice), it would be cruel and neglectful for me to choose a vegetarian diet for these animals, who are carnivores.   They absolutely require a diet of animal origin in order to survive and live long, healthy lives.   So animals will continue to be killed for food as long as I continue to have carnivores as companions, regardless of my own dietary choices.

I hope this answers your questions, and helps clarify what I mean by Processing the Christmas Turkeys.

Best Wishes for a Joyful Season and a Happy 2008.
Vicki

Author: Tony Stromberg
Product Code: 14999
ISBN: 978-1-57731-499-8
Pages: 168
Package: 1 Hardcover 
Size: 11 X 11

Quotes from the publisher's website:




http://www.newworldlibrary.com/productdetails.cfm?SKU=14999

Canada's national police force is getting some bad press right now - this story shocks me to my very core.   I am saddened and distraught at the apparent callousness of the police and airport authorities.   The seemingly cavalier use of the Taser seems to be an ongoing problem with many police forces.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/11/14/bc-taservideo.html

I'm sad and upset by this today.  I love my country;  I have always trusted the police, and take pride in their reputation for professionalism, probity and compassion.   RCMP officers have been among my friends and acquaintances.  But more and more, it appears that our police officers are not only human, with frailties just like everyone else, but are subject to a systemic failure of compassion, probity, and even common sense.  

I'm not naive, I know there have always been instances of police brutality in this country ( our First Nations peoples have been among the most frequent victims).  But now I fear that there is a system-wide lack of maturity, lack of training, lack of sense, among our police.   I hope this can change.

Spike is 15 years old.  He's always been my fierce tiger (that's my Chinese sign, too).  But for multiple expensive veterinary interventions over the years, he would have been dead several times over from abscessed bite punctures, from fighting (but hoo boy, you should have seen the other guy).

Now he's got probable tooth root abscesses, and his kidneys may be failing.  He hasn't eaten for nearly 4 days, and he's dehydrated.

We went to the vet yesterday, he's on antibiotics now, but he's facing general anesthetic for dentistry, which the attending vet said will probably give him a good prognosis, depending on the results of his kidney and thyroid function tests. 

I'm facing this decision of whether to push on with the tests and  the oral surgery, or have him put down now, before his suffering increases.   Having trouble predicting the future.

Please pray for us.  

"Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" from "The Jungle Book" by Rudyard Kipling. 

I think it must have been the assonance with my own name that made me identify with the title character, a brave, snake-eating mongoose.   Plus the fact that the cute, furry mongoose saves the people from the evil reptile, is bound to appeal to children of all ages.   Later on I felt sorry for the snakes.  After all, they were just trying to raise their own family; they were just in the wrong place.

Zaadz, of course!

On the few occasions when I have been paid to sing, it has felt wonderful!   Like the icing on the cake!  On top of the high I get from performing, the knowlegde that people are willing to pay to hear what I do, just makes it that much sweeter. 

However if I tried to sing for a living I'm pretty sure it would not be so sweet.  There might be too much stress, for example once there was a concert scheduled (for a group of 8 singers I sang with) and I had a cold.   I didn't cancel because there was no rescheduling possible,  and that performance was very difficult, and of course I am glad there was  no recording made at that one!

My "regular" paid work is rewarding, too, but I wouldn't do it if I didn't get paid.  It's not my passion, but it is very interesting, absorbing.   But I feel great about getting paid for that work too;-)

Here's some awe-inspiring video of an astonishing and emerging  horse guru.  Russian  Alexander Nevzorov,  is a former movie stuntman, TV broadcaster and politician whose popular and controversial 1990s news program "600 minutes" catapulted him to fame and eventual public office  .  He eschews all cruelty, punishment and forceful means of controlling the horse, and himself works without bits, bridles, spurs or violence of any kind.  The whip is used only as a communication tool, not a punishment, and the only equiment in place of a bridle is the cordeo, a light cord around the horse's shoulders.

I think the videos are shot by his wife, Lidia Nevzorova, a photographer and horse biomechanics and health specialist.




Here's another one, with a Russian techno-rap soundtrack  (I'm not sure if that's the right name for the music - but there you go:



Here's the English Wikipedia page on Nevzorov.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Nevzorov

And this is his own website, dedicated to the school of horsemanship he founded, rapidly gaining adherents worldwide:

http://www.hauteecole.ru/en/

A man with a complex, compelling (maybe chilling?) history of fame and power,  who now would rather spend his time playing with horses.   And what they do for him is mind-blowing.  Enjoy! 

Vicki

It's kinda tough to answer that one.   I've bucked convention and felt like an outcast my whole life.  This hasn't always felt negative (just mostly).   I hope I've learned with age to be more considerate of other peoples' feelings, even when I dislike their ideas.   Otherwise I haven't changed.

I guess whatever my current rebellion is, that's my most rebellious phase.   Right now it's me trying to take care of three previously neglected mares and learning to dislike a lot of what's done to horses in captivity, even the most expensive, pampered equines   I'm rebelling against most of what I learned, very early in life, about my greatest passion.   It feels like the biggest rebellion of my life, so it must be.

I come from a dysfunctional family.   But who doesn't?   I sure don't know many people that haven't had some kind of mess in their lives due to human weakness.  

I wrote about it here, a little in my mini biography, but that's not all I'm about any more.   I've come across some amazing tools and knowledge on my healing journey in the last 2 or 3 years, and I have so much positive energy lately, I hardly think about that stuff any more.   When something does come up, I use it as a healing opportunity.   Thank you Gary Craig for EFT and what it is helpinig so many people achieve, i.e. freedom from the negative emotions that have weighed them down for too long.   www.emofree.com 


I feel like I'm flying in my life right now.   I have a project that's my passion and it's taking a lot of time and energy   ( see this blog entry - one of  the 3 horses in my care)  but I'm finding the balance, finding support from all kinds of sources, learning to let my ego take a back seat,  I'm finding the patience and serenity to allow things to unfold, and I'm keeping my energy level up where it needs to be to do the necessary tasks.    Learning where to draw the line, where to say, "whoa, I'm overmatched, time for new strategy", is boosting my creativity.   The little failures don't get me down, and small successes make me glow with accomplishment.  I don't feel in danger of burning out the way I have done in the past. 

It's great to have Zaadz as a place to share this,  with all the people on here making a difference and sharing the light.

Vicki