trapping goodness

Bethany has been including her four-year old son in her meat-space process since the beginning, and I'm flipping excited to have this young mind's feedback and perspective. I'm going to give you, with Bethany's permission, the entirety of her email to me this morning.

Rough telling of my conversation with Grayson. Feel free to do what you want with it. It is all over the place as most conversations with four year olds are.

Bee🐝
My son Grayson has recently been referring to his "nest cage" as a trap. I asked him what he was hoping to trap and he said "birds to roast." I asked where he got that idea from and he mentioned his Grandpa John and Nona who live in Arizona. Hmmmmm. He went on to talk about the "bird" that we roasted and ate at Thanksgiving. Ahhhh, turkey, now mommy gets it. I asked if his trapping and roasting applied to all birds, including the Cardinal that frequents our yard. NO MOMMY!

When we first built his "nest cage" he placed his toy elk, moose, and fawn inside and made nests within the "nest cage"for each of his animals. I asked if he would trap and roast a moose and he vehemently replied NO! I asked why he would trap birds to roast (excluding our Cardinal) but not elks, moose, or fawns (animals I know he has a special attachment to). He then asked me if I had ever eaten an elk, moose, or fawn and if they were good for you. I said no I had never eaten one and I was not sure if they were good for you. We talked for a bit longer about other animals like pigs and cows. I asked if he thought the pigs that supply the bacon he loves to eat so much were happy. He said yes because bacon is so good and because we fed the pigs at Delta Sol our vegetable scraps.

Grayson is not a huge lover of vegetables, but he is starting to come around. He eats corn, peas, broccoli (a recent addition) and green beans. Yesterday I was cutting up carrots for a green minestrone and he asked to taste one. He has tried carrots before and didn't like them. He took a bite and declared that the carrot was delicious. He then asked me what animal had to die so he could eat this carrot. None I said.



THank you Bethany and Grayson! I am curious to see those nests for elk, moose, and fawn.