Lapin a la Moutarde (e.g. I know where my meat comes from)

As I sit down to write this post, the first of hopefully many Helix Homestead rabbits is simmering in the pot, covered in delicious mustard sauce, destined to nourish my family. (Recipe from SimplyRecipes.com)

The journey to the point where this city girl could actually raise, name, dispatch, butcher and cook an animal has been a long one… but I think a good one.

I’ve realized over this whole process that the meat I purchase at the grocery store is so far removed from the animal it came from, that my attitude became cavalier about it… if I forgot about the hamburger I bought, and it happened to go bad – I’d feel bad about the money I had spent, but not really on the fact that an animal died so that I could eat.

As I journeyed farther into homesteading, I realized it was even harsher than that… the poor cow that hamburger came from, most likely never experienced even a portion of human kindness. Most likely, that cow experienced horrible living conditions, crammed into too small corrals with others destined for the same fate, wallowing in manure and offal until it met it’s end.

With our Helix Homestead rabbits, it is my intent to treat every we raise animal with kindness - from our dogs to our chickens, turkeys, and rabbits. To ensure they are never hungry, abused, or viewed only as a commodity. When I and my family are hungry - these animals will be treated with respect and a quick, as painless as possible end, followed by an appreciative use of every bit of them as I can muster (I can't bring myself to make blood sausage or head cheese - yet). Their life will go towards the nourishment and health of my family - and I promise to treat them with the thankfulness that fills me, and the food that fills my family's stomachs.

More and more, I want to avoid paying into animal Auschwitz represented by meat on those clean black or red styrofoam trays.  That’s why we started raising rabbits – and rabbit is what’s for dinner tonight. Thank you Hank Shaw (how to cut up a rabbit) and Elise Bauer (Rabbit in Mustard Sauce) for the recipes and virtual handholding through this new process!