Lip Service vs. Getting Physical

Okay, now since I typed my title I have that stupid Olivia Newton John song from the disco era running through my mind …"Let’s get physical, physical …" I can’t stand her or that song, but the brain retains things you’d like to forget and brings them to the forefront when triggered.

Anyway, getting back on topic: we were visiting with friends day before yesterday, when a comment was made about the expense of raising chickens versus just buying them piecemeal at the Supermarket. I kinda got torqued but decided I wasn’t even going to try to justify myself on the topic because (1) I wouldn’t have been heard over the “ca-ching” of minds veering in the direction of money being spent {foolishly} on raising chickens – they think they’re right, so arguing would be a total waste of time (2) when people are focused on money, they miss the aspect of DIY fun involved in what’s happening … no matter what is taking place.

But after thinking on it (yes, I stew over topics), I figured that the cost of raising chickens for food and buying them in the Supermarket is about even-steven cost-wise. When you figure in the healthy aspect of raising and processing your own food, monetary concerns are moot: doing it yourself wins hands-down. But back to the expense of raising chickens for food … a structure to house your birds in will run the gambit - or it is {free} if you already have an enclosure or materials on hand - to around a couple hundred if you build an upscale Hen Pen, which is what we did - chicks run about $15 or so for a dozen – feed is about $25 a bag, (one bag of feed will feed your chicks, and later another bag will feed your chickens for about a month), so that’s roughly $250 for 12 months (give or take a buck or two) – Butchering them will cost you between nothing to a butchering fee which is about $25 for the butcher to come out to your home, butcher the birds, wrap and store them for you for a small fee until you collect them. None of this means much to me. Money is money and we all make it to spend it in one way or another; why not on raising chickens for food?

Here’s my breakdown of the cost involved in raising my birds: the structure we built was a joint effort and it paid us more than we dished out to construct it – it paid us dividends in bringing us back together after the torpedo-job our adult children did on our marriage; so to my way of thinking, we actually were enriched by the Hen House: our thoughts and activity was focused on building rather than on worry and depressing thoughts; we worked together as opposed to avoiding each other for fear of bickering over things we can't change; we laughed and joked instead of crying and complaining. The construction of the Hen House probably saved our marriage, so we don’t consider that money spent as money wasted. I didn’t get a full dozen chicks, so they probably ran a dollar or two more than the dozen-deal … but they are so therapeutic (in the sense that they keep me occupied and my thoughts from veering into “best-left-alone” thinking), that hubby is actually grateful for their presence; I’m laughing again and he says that alone is priceless and worth getting them. I’m just happy to finally have chickens (I have waited 34 years for them!) that I am enjoying the heck out of them! They are entertaining and keep my busy; they are a true blessing. As for the feed … when this bag is finished, I will be making my own Organic Feed, so the cost will be flexible and the feed will be better for them – which makes their meat better for us (no more chemically-enhanced or putrefied processed meat for us): cost at this point is flexibly unpredictable. I will be butchering my birds myself; so butchering fees don’t apply – again, health and DIY mentality is the key here. Sometimes it isn't just about the $$$ ...

All things considered, raising and processing our own food – in this case, chickens – the cost involved is actually cheaper when you start figuring that each store-bought bag of steroid-enhance chicken breasts run between $6 to $8 a bag for 5 to 6 breasts (which is roughly about $72 to $96 a year if you only buy chicken once a month – thighs, wings, and whole chickens are about double the cost = $144 to $192 a year/once a month. If you buy chicken twice a month, you’d double the calculations: and that’s only for breasts – triple the cost if you like dark meat!). Then, because the meat is scientifically altered, medical costs will figure into your assessments. Steroids kill; so add on burial costs to your balance. Get the picture? Money is money and we all make it to spend it in one way or another. I choose to spend our money wisely. Raising chickens makes financial sense to me. Hubby is coming around … but for the time being, he’s seeing the value of having chickens out back (I'm hoping for more. LOL).

But all these facts aside, I do not garden or raise my chickens for economic purposes, though that surely does figure into my mindset – I do these things because they offer spiritual, healthful, and emotional satisfaction. My garden and my birds keep my Spirit in tune with the earth and they give me two more reasons to thank and praise God, my Creator and Father. I enjoy tending my garden and flock of birds. They keep my thoughts pure and occupied with productive activity; they keep my body in constant motion which is a beneficial thing, and because I know how they are prepared for the table, I know they are healthy from start to finish; therefore we will be healthy; and one less doctor will vacation in Hawaii on our tab.

Spiritual, Healthful, and Emotional Benefits are why I do what I do. My husband sees this and he is getting more involved too because he is finding it as relaxing as I do! Normally during the winter months he is warming the chairs at the doctor’s office with one thing or another that needs the doctor’s attentions … but this winter, he didn’t go to the doctor at all until last week when he came down with a cough that was probably due to his work environment (breathing in bark dust and inflaming his lungs: retirement can’t come too soon!!) MPO is that he didn’t get sick Fall or Winter this year because he was spiritually and emotionally healthy due to eliminating the stress in our lives, as well as the calming effects the birds brought into our lives in the Spring. So already that’s B-I-G $$$ saved! And there wasn’t much time involved in setting the chickens up either: a couple weekends … that’s it.

Truth be told: in real-time-life in America, people who calculate how much homesteading activities cost and discredit it as being “a waste of time and money” have their priorities twisted! Politically-correct-Americans give a LOT of lip-service to “living green” and boasting “look how much money we save” when they do neither. These are the same people that say, “yeah, well a pack of vegetable seeds cost $1.25”, but they plop down a hefty sum to tote that big-screen TV home so that their minds can vegetate! Or they say, “Chickens take so much time … and they stink too”, while they wander like zombies through Malls trying to find something (anything!) to throw their hard-earned money away on … and they reek of perfume, which to those of us who are allergic to perfumes, think they stink to high heaven. LOL.

So, the anarchist that I am, I refuse to bow to the Almighty Dollar that has become the Green Paper God of mainstream American Society, where living easy and light has become a money-making venture for opportunistic capitalists who make a killing off lip-service-lazy- working-people’s expensive tastes. That simply isn’t where my priorities lie. I refuse to adopt the easy-out “look-how-much-we-saved” mantra in order to be hypnotized into funneling our hard-earned $$$ into buying things we don’t need or require for fulfillment. I am not a lemming. And in this {New World Society} Age, where so many things in our lives have been politicalized beyond our control, it’s a satisfying feeling to know that here, in our home and our back yard, the precious moments spent in my garden or crooning to my chickens is my own … and well spent; getting physical as opposed to just parroting meaningless words.

I’m pretty confident that my husband has become a convert to this homesteading lifestyle. Praise God!