So Completely Grossed Out

So I was looking at CNN today and I read the article about the 143 MILLION pounds of beef being recalled. I was even more sickened by the reason. This nasty company in SoCa was basically throwing sick cows into the mix, lifting them with forklifts to be slaughtered. There is a flippin' video! When did this happen you may ask? February 2006! So now they are recalling? Most of it has already been eaten! Lets not even talk about the practices in other countries!
Now there have been times, especially since starting yoga teacher training, that I have though about going veggie but then I stop and think about what that would mean giving up. I like to eat a heck of a lot of things that are made with our furry, feathered and scaled friends. Then I thought about the additional veggie products etc that I would need to add to my diet. Where are many of them made? Not in PA. So, by going veggie, I would then be adding to the destruction of the environment by having those products brought to my door.

So what is the alternative? Going local.
When I was living at home, we got almost all, probably 95% of out meat, poultry and pig products from a farm in Honeybrook, PA, Tobey Hill Farm I think it was called(the other 5% came from another lost art, the local butcher). I never knew that people actually got meat from a g-store until I was in high school. I remember loving going there. There was a big pond with an old wooden seat swing, hung in such a tall tree that you felt like you were flying over the pond when you pumped hard enough. Inside the sales area, there was a picture of a cow pointing out all the parts that you could get. They also sold candy sticks in like 20 flavors. If we were good we got to pick a couple out.
The animals were visible all over the farm. They were right there and I remember knowing that we ate them but somehow it didn't bother me. The only time I have become bothered by the conditions of the amimals I consume is when I see them being treated badly. I think the fact that because I also became so removed from the animals I was eating, it was even more shocking. As I came to this realization today, I decided that I needed to make some changes. I need to go local again. I need to see where my food is coming from, animals, veggies, fruits, herbs, etc. Unfortuantely, I did a quick search and it seems that Tobey Hill Farms may be no more. I know that there are other places out there to fill my need though and I am going to start doing some research.
Getting 90% of my food from local sources rather than just randomly grabbing whatever at the g-store and taking it home will take some sacrifice and some big changes (especially for P).

I just can't take being a blind consumer anymore.