The Road Less Travelled – Responsibility For Your Own Food

For outdoor folks it is easy to talk about being able to harvest and produce all your own food for your family. With the exception of the basic food staples, my wife and I have discussed employing the proposition for some time. Since we are in the woods and water all the time anyway, it only makes sense nutritionally, ethically, and economically, to utilize the harvest to the full extent possible. With our younger boys now coming of age to trap, hunt, and fish, our annual legal take of meat is more than adequate to sustain our family throughout the year. However, actually making the switch from food industry dependence to personal self responsibility for acquiring your own sustenance from the abundance of Mother Nature is much easier said than done. The modern food culture has made convenience the mantra of the day. However, it is highly questionable whether this highly processed convenience is worth the nutritional and environmental costs. As world renowned poet Robert Frost put it, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.” In other words, the way of the masses, or the path of least resistance, is not always the best or even most responsible choice.

These days, with all the buzz in the health media about childhood obesity and obesity in general it is worthwhile to note the obvious health benefits of sustenance from Nature. Wild meat and fish naturally contain no high-fructose corn syrup, steroids, preservatives, antibiotics, pesticides, hormones, or other chemical additives. They also typically have less fat than their domestic counterparts. As for home-grown herbs, fruits and vegetables, they too avoid the pitfalls of preservatives, pesticides, and other chemical additives if you grow organically from the onset. Also, taking personal responsibility by growing and harvesting your own food and learning the intricate workings of the cycle of life and death in nature are both educational and intellectual benefits of eating from Nature’s bounty. Finally, in the act of trapping, hunting and fishing, by definition exercise is a necessary component of the undertaking. And if you don’t think you will get exercise working in a garden then you have never grown a garden!

After the growing and harvesting is done, for some, the fun is over and the real work starts. Your dedication to the endeavor or lack there of, will be evident in the processing, packaging, and storing step of the undertaking. Butchering wild game is an art that can take many years to master. There is an enormous amount of available literature online and at specialty book stores on the subject to show the novice how to best butcher wild game. Food borne illness is an issue to address with vigor when harvesting your own meat. Proper handling of wild game necessitates quick processing of the carcass in order to prevent spoilage. Maintaining a clean working environment is also vital so as to prevent any cross contamination. After processing the carcass you must dispose of the offal in a quick, ethical, and clean manner. For herbs, fruits, and vegetables raised in the garden, drying, canning, and freezing are the storage options of choice. Again, there are ample informational resources available on the subject. My resource of choice for gardening and canning is Grandma Stephens. At 86 years old she has done it all and she is a walking encyclopedia on the subject! (she just reminded me that it is time to get out the potatoes, lettuce, and onions)

Make no mistake, food culture is learned at home. Growing up around my grandparents Stephens’ and O’Day’s homes I was exposed to farming, gardening, and hunting on a regular basis. On our dinner table there were always garden fresh tomatoes, corn, peppers, onions, potatoes, watermelon, pumpkins, and I could go on and on. Likewise there was always deer, turkey, fish, quail, squirrel, rabbit or anything else Nature had to offer. I took those foods and experiences for granted as a child. Now that I am much older I understand and appreciate the value of the food culture that was instilled in us as we were growing up. I am blessed to be able to reflect back and repeat those same experiences for my family. However, these days there are many that don’t have past experiences, parents, and grandparents from which to glean this valuable information. Healthy eating through raising, harvesting, and cooking with whole foods and fresh ingredients is a valuable experience to pass along. As more and more studies come down the pike, society is learning that the old ways utilizing whole foods organically grown or harvested from Nature, while maybe not as convenient, are many times healthier than processed food alternatives.

Today, we each have the opportunity to either revive an old family practice or learn a new and valuable lesson of taking responsibility for our own sustenance. The valuable lesson of maintaining a healthy food culture as provided by Mother Nature is a great lesson to pass on to our future generations. It mixes the great fun of trapping, hunting, fishing, and gardening with life’s lessons of hard work, time management, and personal responsibility. Given our present economy, it is also a worthy undertaking just for the economic factors. Considering only utilization the meat and fish harvested from trapping, hunting, and fishing our family of four (with two older boys and their families eating with us when they are home) has managed to live on a budget of approximately $200.00 per month for food. After our garden begins producing this spring we expect to cut that amount in half. Amazingly, today in this modern society advances in nutritional technology have revived the importance of the old ways of producing food and elevated those practices to a place more important than ever before. As parents it is our responsibility to provide the progeny with a healthy food culture and it starts in the Great Outdoors. It is the ‘Road less travelled.’ So says the One-eyed Hillbilly. Good luck, be safe, and get a big one.