I’ve always felt a strong connection to nature and have never been surprised to learn about the hard realities behind animal behavior, husbandry, life or death. Awed, surely, but not surprised. I find it sad that as a society we are so far removed from the source of our food that people eat meat with a “see-no-evil, hear-no-evil” mentality, blissfully (or willfully) ignorant of how that meat arrived on their plate. So, I advocate for this information being more widely disseminated. For instance, I don’t believe in hiding these truths from children. I also don’t believe I’ve had enough experience with slaughter or butchery myself. So I considered it a goal-met when I was able to witness, learn and perform chicken butchery with Heather Marold Thomason at Eat Retreat Los Altos Hills. That experience stuck with me and I chose to attend the lamb butchery at Eat Retreat Anderson Valley.

Set in an impeccably-maintained barn overlooking mountains, a pond and trees, the lambs were slaughtered with respect and precision by Sophia and Brittany. Before the slaughter Sophia gave us a talk about the farm’s approach to lamb husbandry and the industry in general, during which we all got to ask questions and take some courage-swigs from Mario’s handy bottle of whiskey. Watching this relatively large mammal be slaughtered felt a little different than my prior experience with the chickens, mainly because it was a closer link to my own mortality. I had been feeling this keenly after having given birth to my first child just four months earlier, another awe-inspiring life and death experience. At the end there was a bright red pile of wood chips under the hanging carcass, near a bucket of offal, another of guts, and the perfectly preserved hide. I left with greater resolve to take care when purchasing meat to consume, mindful of the choices made in getting there.