It ain't meanness y'all, it's just hungry is what I am.
Jayne Barnes
-Posted by Isaac
Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!
Let's go kill a bird!
Last time it was The Who. This week we pay tribute to singer/songwriter Hayes Carll. But more than that, this post is going honor the greatest of American holidays. The one celebrating food, family and football. While all others have gone down the tubes, screwed up with too much religion and consumerism and drinking, during Thanksgiving we stick to what's REAL. We remember our core values. We rehearse what it means to be genuine Red White and Blue.
And by God, I'm going to celebrate!
I've been doing it for over 40 years. And it only gets better. If you are extremely mindful, or just lucky enough reach a state of food nirvana as I have, you too may realize that every day can be Thanksgiving.
But I had a distinct advantage. I grew up with food. My folks were grain farmers and cattle farmers.
Mom, Apple Pie, and HFCS.
Four of us, myself, my brother and two younger sisters were raised in the dirt. And it seems that we didn't go very far.
We're still food people.
While our friends and classmates all scattered to become doctors, insurance agents, and tax accountants, here we are, still grinding it out on the land.
Our spouses, also raised in the dirt, have joined us.
And if our children hate real jobs as much as the four of us did, maybe they'll someday be rewarded with the same charmed predicament.
(We no longer kill chickens for meat. We kill their progeny.)
Late November is a reverent time. A time to show gratitude for Earth's bounty by filling our stomachs with it.
"Earth's bounty," as you farm marketers can attest, will take literally hundreds of different forms.
As a business, we've fooled around with many of them. Oh so many! Some ok, some complete failures, some "break evens."
A learning experience, one and all.
The one that stuck was honey bees.
There are so many roads with bees! And we're eternally thankful for the new opportunities that bees present. For the yearly bounty that the bees provide.
Because after all, we do like to eat.
