JUMPING OFF A CLIFF: CUTTING UP A CHICKEN
A retired gentleman was in the farm store this morning and was quite animated about a major change of life event. Sitting on the counter, at the cash register, was a chicken.
A whole chicken.
He made it clear that this momentous occasion surrounded the following life changing event: "I'm going to cut up my first chicken. It's a big day."
I saluted him and praised him and did everything but kiss him. This simple act of practical immersion in food connection puts him in the top 2 percent of Americans. Not only did he get a whole chicken, he got it from a farm, from a farm he visited, and from a farmer he talked with and with whom he shook hands.
Indeed, this is a day of celebration. A day of empowerment. A day of understanding. And a day of giving a significant leg up to the healers and a bloody nose to the hurters. Well done, my friend.
That 50 years ago when boneless breasts were not even available at the supermarket such a defining act would be considered revolutionary could not have entered the foggiest imagination of anyone. And yet here we are, Modernus Home
Convenience Sapiens, celebrating the inspiring take charge spirit of one man ready to cut up a chicken. I hope he Youtubes it.
That this singular act merits such praise speaks volumes to where our culture has gone. Lest anyone think this post is making fun of something, it is not. I am as serious as a heart attack when I say this man has joined the answer. He's the solution. He's a Polyface partner. I wish I had 1,000 more just like him.'
So today is a good day. One more has left the dark side. Progress really does come in little things. Wendell Berry writes eloquently about there being no big problems. We could argue that, but his point is that even big problems start with little solutions. Buying a whole chicken from a real farm and cutting it up, cooking it--this is the stuff of cultural shift. Well done.
Do you cut up chickens?