7c

Chapter 11
Precis: When the rotational grazing process is used, all of it is fully natural. The animals fertalize and feed each other without any artifical chemicals being placed into what they consume. It is the most natural way of farming animals.

Gems: "Polyface is proof that people can sometimes do more for the health of a place cultivating it rather than by leaving it alone" pg 209
"In an ecological system like this everything’s connected to everything else, so you can’t change one thing without changing ten other things" pg 213

Thoughts & Questions: How much of the US population would have to start farming if we were to take away industrial animal farming? Would it even work in such a industrialized society?
I personally think of it as wishful thinking, that maybe we can fix the world. In all honestly I think we have become too far apart from nature to form a strong bond with it once more, it's what makes us "normal humans" today.

Chapter 12
Precis: Chicken slaughtering is a process that is done periodically which makes it still more or less a job able to be done by people. Slaughtering of chickens(though they are small animals)can be very unsanitary due to the mass number.

Gems: “Slaughter is dehumanizing work if you have to do it everyday" pg 233

Thoughts & Questions: Farming has changed too much over the years. It is no longer a relationship between human and nature, it is now just like any other job. A relationship between companies and money. The reason why I say this is because the industries don't care much for the consumers, changes are made to seem like it benefits the customers but in the end it is being made to benefit the buisness. By opening up slaughterhouses to the public, it would force these companies to clean up the process and make it seem more humane. It may completely reestablish a cleaner and safer food industry.

Chapter 13
Precis: By purchasing products straight from farms, the food is much more organic and fresh. It also supports the farmer and his lifestyle of supporting communities with food. It also allows an interaction to between the consumer and the grower that is rarely done today.

Gems: "I tell them the choice is simple: You can buy honestly priced food or you can buy irresponsibly priced food" pg 243
"We can, in other words, reject the industrial omelet on offer and decide to eat another" pg 257

Thoughts & Questions: Though this can't be done or I guess I should say won't be done by 100% of the population in the US, but it offers a chance for people to hop off the bandwagon and try something new and better in the sense of quality of food. It also supports the farmers that refuse to industrialize their buisness. It may be more expensive and limited, but after viewing the way animals are raised and slaughtered, If I had the chance to buy from a local farmers market or from a supermarket, I would be much happier and safer purchasing straight from the farmer.

Chapter 14
Precis: By feeding animals corn, we changed the natural system of both the animals and humans. For years we continued to feed on grass fed animals who offer much more nutrients resulting in healthier people. Such sudden alterations and forced evolutions of what people consume can lead to bad and lethal results as we see today.

Gems: “When chickens get to live like chickens, they’ll taste like chickens, too" pg 271
"we evolved to eat the sort of foods available to hunter-gatherers, most of whose genes we’ve inherited and whose bodies we still (more or less) inhabit" pg 267

Thoughts & Questions: The rapid growth in human population forced agriculture which led to industrialization of society. Though it does not mean we are bad people, we just created it in order to survive the change was too sudden. I believe the biggest change was not technology but agriculture. Once we stopped becoming hunter gatherers and became farmers we lost a significant mentality of what it means to live.

Chapter 15
Precis: Unlike all the hidden secrets we have today within the food industry, when we were hunter gatherers there were no secrets. It is immpossible to revert to the old method, but it is very crucial that we let people view the process of creating food.

Gems: “So even if we wanted to go back to hunting and gathering wild species, it’s not an option: There are far too many of us and not nearly enough of them" pg 279

Thoughts & Questions: Have we exploited the industrial system too much, or was it necessary for our survival?

Chapter 16
Precis: As humans we have choices in what we eat, since we are the top of the food chain. Though we have the meantality of "choice"  it causes stress and confusion. Due to confusion society has created an unchangebale what to eat and what not to eat guideline  that limit our acess to the large variety of foods.

Gems: “Cooking, one of the omnivore’s cleverest tools, opened up whole new vistas of edibility" pg 293
“The blessing of the omnivore is that he can eat a great many different things in nature. The curse of the omnivore is that when it comes to figuring out which of those things are safe to eat, he’s pretty much on his own" pg 287

Thoughts & Questions: I find the freedom of the omnivore is very nice since I enjoy food and its choices. Though the human mind is so complex that we are pressured by these decisions, with these strengths that not many other animals have there is always a side effect. If you were given the choice of taking out the omnivore's dilemma from your head would you? Do you believe life would be much easier?