Meat Deliveries, Bush Hoggin’, Andy Catlett
Lots of meat deliveries this week. I delivered to Marion on Saturday while Amy took herd shares to the Abingdon Farmers Market. On Monday she and the kids delivered to Knoxville. Yesterday she delivered to Bristol and Kingsport, with the Transit van giving her a scare in between stops. When the time came to leave Bristol and head to the Kingsport drop, the van didn’t want to start. After about 5 minutes and roughly 20 failed attempts, thankfully it finally fired up for her to be on her way. She’ll be back at the Abingdon Market tomorrow 8:00-noon and then delivering to Chilhowie and Abingdon on Monday afternoon. We appreciate all you putting in orders and coming out of your way to pick up meat. We know how busy life is and that there are a million other things you could be doing. Thank you for prioritizing eating local meat.
We’ve had some hot hay making weather, but with the baler still in the shop, I’ve mostly been catching up on some bush hogging instead.
We had a lighter crew processing chickens on Wednesday, but we still got along just fine. Our family plus Aunt Peggy, Uncle Jimmy, and Bella Jane. My mom came later to help with packaging. We harvested about 150 birds this week, parting over 100 of them. About 3/4 inch of rain was dumped on us just as we were finishing up. The perfect way to end the day.
More chicks out of the brooder and to the field yesterday. Keeping cows moving. That’s about it.
More from Andy Catlett by Wendell Berry as Andy reflects on childhood memories with his grandparents.
“[We] were not merely descendants of his blood. As he saw us, we belonged to a line of succession that had maintained itself in that place by struggle. And we, therefore, had to be prepared to continue the struggle. His love for us, therefore, was rarely indulgent, and it could be extremely demanding, burdened as it was by a fearful tenderness and an expectation that was and would be difficult to bear.”
“I understand that his life had been lived in devotion to our place here and its creatures, as my own life in its way also has been lived. And I know now how to value his passion for good crops, good animals, and good work and how to appreciate his grief when he failed to live up to his passion. For he had known failure as he had acknowledged bluntly, as he acknowledged everything else.”
“His life, his very flesh, had been shaped by weather, work, and the struggle to keep what he had and what he loved.”
Have a good week.
Will