Wild Meat at Cae Mabon
Jasper and Emma had a lovely weekend in North Wales teaching hide tanning and wild meat processing.
People come to this work for a number of reasons - some are meat eaters and want a greater connection to, and understanding of the food they eat, some want to learn about using as much of the animal as possible, for others its gaining a connection to our ancestors - this work definitely unlocks something instinctive inside of of us, and really doesn’t feel like I’m ‘teaching’ very much - rather guiding / facilitating.
For some people it’s the shadow work aspect that draws them in, and this is something I am very passionate about.
Death
Our culture has such a fear of death, fear of facing many stark realities - so much in our culture is brushed under the carpet, swept away from our ultra domesticated lifestyles. Every part of existence is white washed, bleached, and polished to create these shiny beautiful lives!
It is rare for people to die at home, even rarer for them to have an open casket at the funeral, and less and less children are ‘allowed’ to attend grandparents funerals.
What are we thinking?
Death is the only sure thing about this life - we are all born, and we will all die…. some stuff happens in the middle!
But it is this fear that I find fascinating - walk down the meat isle in the supermarket to lots of plastic wrapped packages, that look nothing like the animals they came from.
When I went veggie/vegan for a while my mum was insulted by vegetarian, food ‘what no meat, thats not a proper meal’ yet she was even more horrified when i brought a road kill home - because it looked too much like an animal!
Death is a part of life - everything lives, and everything dies - we are responsible for death - we, living in the 1st world, in this weird disconnected world are responsible for slaves working in sweat shops in India, China, Bangladesh and more… we are responsible for loss of biodiversity due to wheat and grain productions via combine harvesters, we are responsible for hideous import / export industry for the newest fast food fads - be it avocado’s from mexico or vegan big macs & subways…
All of this contributes to the destruction.
The idea that you can buy a clear concsience!!
This work brings us face to face with a waste product, a beautiful creature that causes much destruction - because they are out of balance, they are invasive and if the numbers are left unchecked, then rates of Myxomatosis and other horrible diseases take a hold - not to mention decimating the grasses and vegetable production in the neighbourhood!
So now what are we to do?
Dig a hole and bury them, then go to the shops to buy ultra processed, plastic wrapped foods whether meat or vegan?
Or do we honour their beauty and work with these bodies - facing the mistakes of our ancestors and working to create food, products and untimately life from death?
Or will we let our learned disgust, and distaste take a hold and turn our backs - pretending not to see?
This work can be triggering for sure - our triggers are a gift, if we can be grateful for our triggers and see then for what they are - stuck emotions / something to work on, then we can begin / continue to unravel part of what this crazy human existence means.
