I figure if one just goes missing every once in a while and then we're having chicken for dinner no one will be the wiser. I'm a big proponent of having fresh food and knowing where it comes from. The more local the better and the more involvement I have in the production of it the better as far as I'm concerned.

My wife thinks food (meat anyway) should come from the grocery store and she will only rarely eat anything that I have killed. She's on the fence with the whole sheep thing because she likes lamb so much. We shall see. I think it's important for people to know how food originates and what is involved in its production. I want my kids to have that understanding. That's a big part of the reason I made them shut off their video games and come pick grubs out of the compost pile as we filled the raised beds. We spent a total of about 5 hours in the garden today and we all had a great time (being sunny and breezy and 80 degrees doesn't hurt either).

I had an epiphany while hunting a couple of years ago when it hit me that the reason I love hunting so much is that it combines three of my very favorite things: food preparation and consumption, being outdoors and shooting. Fishing comes in a close second as it has the first two aspects but "usually" lacks the third.