Living High On The Hog (Reprinted from Friday, February 8, 2009)

Today is Friday, February 9, 2018. This is my blog from nine years ago. When I wrote this, I was still early on in dealing with the impact of my diabetes diagnosis. Enjoy!

As I continue to do research on information concerning dietary matters relating to my diabetic situation, I can't help but smile at some of the stuff I read. Now I fully realize there are many folks dealing with diabetes who find very little to laugh about but at this stage, I just can't help myself. I would never intentionally poke fun at anyone who is worse off than myself and dealing with advanced complications from this incurable ailment. I was recently reading about the differences between organic meats as compared to the chemically injected stuff we typically buy at our local supermarket. In doing so, I happened upon something I thought was pretty funny. Even in my own lifetime, I've seen the results that come from plumping up the foods we buy. Take chickens for instance. When I was a kid we could buy 3 fryers for $1.00 and they were probably around a pound each and perfect for barbecue or grilling. Today, those same birds typically weigh between 3 to 4 pounds or more and they look like the 'before' on one of those weight loss advertisements. But I digress. Here's the information on organic meats that caught my attention:

The philosophy of organic production is to provide conditions that meet the health needs and natural behavior of the animal. Thus, organic livestock is given access to the outdoors, fresh air, water, sunshine, grass, and pasture, and are fed 100 percent organic feed. Any shelter provided must be designed to allow the animal comfort and the opportunity to exercise. Organic practices prohibit feeding animal parts of any kind to ruminants that, by nature, eat a vegetarian diet. Thus, no animal by-products of any sort are incorporated in organic feed at any time. National organic standards require oversight of production and handling systems. For instance, production and handling operations must undergo onsite inspections and have the farm operating plans in place in order to be certified organic. The standards also specify feed requirements, including what is and is not allowed. For instance, in organic production, livestock cannot be fed plastic pellets for roughage, or formulas containing urea or manure. They cannot be given antibiotics or growth hormones. All of these are allowable practices in conventional agriculture. For an animal to be raised for organic meat, its mother must have been fed organic feed for at least the last third of gestation.

Now, I don't know about you but to me, this sounds like some pretty good treatment for animals whose next stop includes being ground up into patties, or cut into pieces for folks near and far. Reading this reminded me of a funny story told by the late Jerry Clower, who was a country folk humorist. I believe the story adds some perspective on what it really means to value the animals that end up on our plates. Here's Jerry's story:

We was out visiting Uncle Ronnie Ledbetter, and my brother and I like to have had a heart attack. There was a hog out there in a pen - - with a wooden peg leg. And my brother said, "Uncle Ronnie, what in the world is that hog 'doin' with a wooden peg leg? Why has he got a peg leg?" And my uncle replied, "Sonny, that's the most wonderful hog in the world. My house was burning about a year ago, and that hog rescued the baby, got the baby out, saved its life. We love that hog, that hog's just like a member of our family. The year before that a little boy was drowning down at the 'batizin' hole in the river, and that hog jumped in that river and grabbed him and rescued him. And that hog's like a member of my family. We do love that hog!" My brother said, "Yeah, but you still ain't told us why he's got a wooden peg leg." And Uncle Ronnie said, "Sonny boys, you just don't eat a hog that wonderful but one ham at a time."

Have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend. I highly recommend that you spend time with your family and that you will not find yourself being the missing letters in the question, "Who's missing in CH_ _CH?" Lord willing and I'm able to get up and go next Monday, I'll see you then. (Fooled you on that one with no Creek Indian Nation, no streams, bayous, or rivers.) May God bless. Amen. ....More later.