“I’ve spent the WHOLE day processing these f***ers. First I hung them in the bathroom, cut off their heads, and bled them (they were freshly killed).” ~Novella Carpenter, Ghost Town Farm Blog
“I feel like I’m orchestrating a murder. It’s very complicated. So many details. Like who’s going to kill them? How will I transport the pigs to the assassin? Does my friend’s truck have a trailer hitch with a functioning light? Etc. In short, I’m freaking out. A friend of mine asked if I’m going to miss the pigs and I didn’t hesitate: absolutely not. They’re so much work to feed. They’re ill-mannered/rude. They fight over food. They are not gentle. The attract flies.” ~Novella Carpenter, Ghost Town Farm Blog
“Then the sweet and gentle next door neighbors complained that the pigs smell. ‘My little girl,’ he pointed to his adorable little munchkin, ‘was in the backyard and almost vomited from the smell.’” ~Novella Carpenter, Ghost Town Farm Blog
“As promised, I unearthed the goose from the freezer…and killed the two living ones to boot. My downstairs neighbors finally complained about the incessant honking of the geese, and like a true country bumpkin, I slaughtered them the minute after the complaint was lodged.” ~Novella Carpenter, Ghost Town Farm Blog
“‘Want to see a baby goat?’ I brought him into her room. ‘Don’t get attached,’ I said. ‘He’s not going to make it.’ … ‘Can’t you save him?’ T asked. ‘Probably not, plus he’s a boy: worthless in the dairy business.’” ~Novella Carpenter, Ghost Town Farm Blog
“We don’t want to open up a slaughterhouse in the backyard. We just want to kill a chicken.” ~Novella Carpenter, Businessweek (“Kill-It-and-Eat-It Locavores Give Cities Indigestion”)
“The Lord of Death rode the 24-hour heat wave into the Bay Area and swept up my sweet little [rabbit] Lisa. Virgil has panted through the heat but Lisa nursing and keeping her litter could not bear it. It has been such a stupidly cold summer, I would not have thought one day of mid-ninties would devastate my doe [female rabbit] and her kits [baby bunnies], but these are the lessons to learn…The only way I could think to prevent this from happening again is to not breed in June, July, or August so as to prevent the overlap of physical strain with any possible hot days.” ~Esperanza Pallana, Pluck and Feather blog
“Back in August ’10, my doe [female rabbit] Lisa sadly had a heat stroke, leaving me to hand raise orphaned kits. Once this was under control, I located another doe, Anabelle, who has turned out to be quite a number. Anabelle is a skittish rabbit that does not take easily to breeding. She fights like hell and pins her bum to the ground. She also has not been so good with maternal duties. She killed her first kit and she abandoned the next litter (I told you, complicated). I have contacted the breeder she came from (she actually originally came from the East Coast – has to do with a genetic diversity project of 4H breeders).” ~Esperanza Pallana, Pluck and Feather blog
“I am often asked if I break the necks of my poultry and I do not. I thought, since I had someone right there with me, I would personally attempt this by hand with my rabbit…mistake. I was not strong and sure enough, maybe my arms are not long enough. Whatever it is, I shall not attempt that again if I can help it.” ~Esperanza Pallana, Pluck and Feather blog
“I probably…slaughtered – or helped slaughter – maybe 400 animals, so I don’t consider myself an amateur.” ~Kitty Sharkey, Havenscourt Homestead
