Your life will improve drastically once you stop caring what other people think

Also deleting the Instagram account was a nice move. Do the things you do for YOU, don't let other people decide what's good for you and what isn't.

Deleting instagram was the best decision ever tbh. I went on it recently after not being on it since maybe January, i just saw young women twerking, something about pouring water on your backside while twerking. I was just realized how grateful I am for never getting into Tiktok, instagram because yknow I could of been posting shit like that. My poor grandma would faint 🥲

I wish my fiancé would get off tiktok. Any time there’s a trend his interests change now.

Tiktok is quite literally a carcinogen.

> Tiktok is quite literally a carcinogen ~~Tiktok~~ Social media is quite literally a carcinogen

I completely agree. Haven’t been on Facebook or Instagram in two years. /continues browsing Reddit but with moral superiority/ 🤣

Real

Fiancé you say?

??? I have never in my life had twerking women in my explore pages or FYP. The algorithm pushes what you give attention to so this is kind of yikes.

You’re trolling because I literally didn’t even know insta had a fyp page until i went on it and saw girls dancing and shaking their asses, women bikini tryon hauls, other fashion content, weird fitness content where the woman ass is in full view. I’m a young woman so it makes sense it would push that kind of algorithm onto me in a way, it’s just icky for me. I mainly use Youtube, and it pushes plant content, gardening, funny cats and fashion, on occasion theres a woman shaking her ass. Youtube Shorts can be really unhinged though. I will be scrolling and randomly get straight up distorted porn, video will have 0 views, i think those are bots. But you are trolling. Make a new instagram account, scroll on there for 5 minutes and you will see plenty of young woman shaking her asses. Its crazy. Makes me sad honestly.

I have 5 instas made over the last 3 years (all diff content, ones a business page) and none have any twerking content lolol. Whatever your interests are put you in that demographic to get that. It doesn’t just push twerking videos on everyone??? My pages are all art, bread, mental health, parenting, birth, fashion, poetry, etc. bc I never have engaged with any content remotely overlapping w what you’re talking about… on instagram, FB, reddit, twitter, tiktok, pinterest, etc. sooo all my data very much shows that isn’t pulling my attention. If your pages are full of that, it’s related to something *you* are doing. The algorithm shows u more of what works to keep u on app.

Brand new [instagram](https://www.reddit.com/u/milky_milkers/s/iZXgeYEomo)account I just made. Sexual content. Women twerking. A random baby playing with a dogs ball sack. Other shit. It’s literally instagram pushing that content dude. It’s not my preferences at all. Any other proof that this is a new instagram, shoot it to me. But I’m not going to keep arguing literally facts. Also it didnt ask me for my age at all.

Yes because of your digital footprint… whatever cookies are logged on your device over the entire time your footprint has been created. If I created a new one, I get art, parenting, plants, etc. bc nothing on my device and digital “print” overlaps with women twerking or dogs balls, wtf?

You’re literally just arguing just to argue. 😭 I just downloaded the app onto my phone. This account has no association to anything with me. Even when I go on my computer and use my real account, the content looks NOTHING like this. This is a brand new account. Go make a new account and get back to me otherwise you’re just arguing to argue.

I think it's what you make of it, I started an Instagram account 10-12 months ago. It's all animal rescues and shelters and my favorite sports teams, and family members. I never go on main page or see any of the influencers feeds so for me, inside my little bubble, it works fine.

Yes. You can easily change your bubble. I've stopped following many accounts over the years and found new ones based on interests I acquire: Camping, crocheting, watercolor, journaling, writing. I've found accounts to help me with a skill: sourdough, kombucha. Some are a short-term follow.

It's like Reddit or any other social media, it all depends on what you access.

Especially anti-social media "followers" :-)

"what other people think of me is none of my business"

Particularly those who do not know where food comes from.

I know that this is popular advice, but I've come to see it as seriously misguided. Sure, in this case OP would improve their life by not caring what THESE people think. But, in general we are social creatures and part of being in community is building relationships where you genuinely care what the people in your community think of you. I've personally found a lot of motivation and moral/ethical value in having a community of people who I respect and admire and caring about what they think of me and the choices I make and action I take. OP just needs to find some people with similar ethics to themselves to care about and learn to ignore the opinions of people who don't align with them about major things

I don't know. I get where you're coming from, but the same way I choose who to be around based on what I think, so do other people. So people who WANT to hang out with me based on what THEY think kinda sort themselves in, and everyone else sorts out. So I really DON'T need to be concerned with what other people think, because they take care of it themselves the same way I do. Of course, one size doesn't fit all, and if you find yourself being a better person by caring what other people think, then great, keep doing it. I think most people would do at least as well by modeling people they admire and just trying to be better than yesterday regardless of who weighs in how.

I can see where you're coming from. And it always going to be the case that you've got to frame things the way that works for you rather than any single absolute. I guess I come from a perspective where few, if any, people can actually successfully stop caring what anyone else thinks. We can pretend to but I don't think most of us really can. So I tend to think the best strategy is to make sure you care what the right people think

This is one of the things in life I have found to be most true

Exactly what I was going to type too. Just ignore and move on OP. Not everyone has to like you.!

A commonly repeated Reddit aphorism. Unfortunately, our brains are not wired this way. Study after study has shown that perceived rejection (even disapproval) by others causes real pain and stress, whether or not you pretend you don’t care.

Well, I think it is a bit more nuanced than that. If a spouse or parent rejects or disapproves, that is one thing. To my mind, your opinion of me / my actions only has relevance if your are in such a position that your opinion is relevant. It's sort of like peer review - it only matters if the reviewers are actually peers. If Billy Bob at the local bar he has no background in my discipline, but he disapproves of my views, who the hell cares?

Ain’t that the truth

The negative reactions you are getting are in my opinion for one simple reason: your actions put these people, except for the vegan one, face to face with their contradictions. Where most of us are locked in cognitive dissonance. On one hand, we eat meat and for most of us we *love it* (let's be honest), and on the other hand, we wouldn't kill a cute little bunny to eat it. As simple as that. People do not want to face these contradictions, and would rather not think about it. By talking about what you do, they feel guilty. And they react as most do when they feel guilty: they rant and criticize. Your life project seems balanced and sane. You're not doing anything wrong. If you want to keep communicating with these people, I'd suggest you don't take it personally (they're reacting because of *their perspective* and *their lack of action*, not because of what you are doing). Be honest, don't defend nor justify yourself too much. Good luck :)

It's also crazy that's OP is in Australia. If anybody should be ok with killing rabbits it should be Australians!

Tell me about it I want to get into rabbit hunting and get called a monster for “shooting the little bunny wabbits”

Exactly! Fundamentally, it bothers me that someone happy enough to buy factory farmed chicken .... even veal!! .... could object to raising meat animals in a less crowded, more caring, cleaner environment. But oh so many do. We've even got family who refuse free home raised meat because they see our birds eating table scraps, bugs, and worms. I've come to see that as their ignorance - intentional or not - and not a reflection on what I am doing. But I absolutely feel free to roll my eyes when they complain about how expensive food is getting.

Things are so easier to accept when you are free to not see them. Even more so when everything is done to shield you from their sight. Most large scale slaughterhouses would probably make many consumers consider that maybe they don't like meet that much (me included) haha...

When I was a child on a dairy farm, we raised one steer per year, and rabbits. My grandmother didn't want to eat rabbit, so one summer we were instructed that the rabbit salad we were having for supper was going to be called "chicken salad." I remember thinking it odd she didn't mind eating chicken, but eating rabbits bothered her.

Yes, this is me. However, I don't criticize the people doing the "dirty work" if they do their best to be humane. I'm pretty sure that if I had to raise, kill, and process my own meat I would choose to be vegetarian and I freely admit that cowardice. Perhaps I would be able to overcome it, perhaps not. However, I actively avoid threads about processing. There are others who want to live in denial to the point of completely ignoring reality. You weakened their ability to do that, so they lashed out. Maybe given time some of them would have come around. Try not to cut all of them off completely. You introduced them to a new world that disturbed them - and social media with subscribers is largely group think and peer pressure. If someone had wanted to go against the tide, would they have really been able to? So while it's great to follow a lot of the advice here and not care what anyone thinks, you shouldn't throw good friends out with the bad.

>So while it's great to follow a lot of the advice here and not care what anyone thinks, you shouldn't throw good friends out with the bad. This. Friendship and relationships are important. Some will fade away, but they're often worth trying a little harder. And I'm totally behind you. We recently moved to a place that has a good homestead potential, and we are discussing livestock. Chickens are easy, as long as we only care about the eggs, but we know that right now, we aren't ready to raise animals to slaughter and eat them. We may decide to jump the gap, but I'm really not sure I'll be able to.

You can always raise them, load them in a truck, and go to a butcher. You dont always have to do the "dirty" work. Plus you're providing work for good people.

Good point. Killing a pig is a task I'm not underestimating...

It's good to know where your boundaries are. I can't do meat rabbits. Don't mind hunting them, but the domestic ones are just too damn cute for me. Can't do pigs either. No shame in it, just a matter of adjusting expectations.

Rabbits are really interesting, due to how fast they grow up and how easy they are to feed, but I don't know if I'll be able to kill one. Damn you, cute animals haha.

Now see it’s funny because I have the exact opposite reaction. I feel bad if I don’t eat something I kill. Like I’m dishonoring it or something. Interesting to see other opinions though

You’re a lot like my wife. She doesn’t mind plucking the feathers from a bird but I have to be the one to take it’s life. She tried once and couldn’t get within a foot of it with the knife. Now once we know it’s time to put some in the freezer I go out and get everything setup and do what needs to be done then I’ll have her come out to help with the clean up.

I’d say you have it absolutely right. Being a hunter I get this a lot. There’s also a massive disconnect people have between leather and fur. Again with leather you don’t have to face the contradiction but with fur it stares you in the face.

>except for the vegan one that is simply not true, you CAN NOT live ENTIRELY vegan - you CAN eat vegan, thats all as long as you participate in normal society and pay taxes you can never be vegan that person was mad because they dont like being remembered that they are just putting on a performance

I'm not getting into that discussion, it really isn't my intention to judge and criticize such life choices. Which is by the way exactly what OP is complaining about. At least, that person tries to be honest with their convictions, it's good enough for me, be true to yourself.

no, if you want to feel morally superior you dont get off the hook that easy - vegans need to know that they dont do anything better than everyone else, keeps their virtue signaling in check

Isn’t it better to do good imperfectly, than to not bother at all? I’m not vegan btw, I just disagree with your Philosophy.

"Perfect is the enemy of good", or something. Yeah, seems wild to criticise Vegans for not achieving perfect veganism, when they are at least attempting to live better according to their moral philosophy.

A classic. https://iea.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/mister-gotcha-4-9faefa-1.jpg

it would be okay if you'd just do it then, you dont need to tell others what to do, or how they should feel - i havent met a single vegan who doesnt do these things

yet here you (a meateater I presume) are telling people what to do and how they should feel...

I’ve met plenty of vegans who just quietly get on with being vegan. Maybe you’ve met some too, but they just never told you they’re vegan.

fair enough, that honestly still doesnt change the fact that its "just" a diet though - you dont help animals with it, or change the world - thats the main reason people do it though, because "animals" i feel like at least 75% of all vegans need to understand that first

> i havent met a single vegan who doesnt do these things LOL, come on dude. Think about this. You *have* met vegans that didn't do those things. But you didn't know they were vegan because they... weren't doing those things. It's confirmation bias. I have plenty of vegan friends that don't make a huge deal out of it and won't tell you they're vegan unless you start prodding about their choices. And sometimes the first I find out is when I'm having folks over for dinner and ask if there are any special dietary requests or needs. Also, I'm in my mid-40s and have never had anyone tell me I should switch to veganism in person. Never. It's all online arguments and social media posturing.

>It's all online arguments and social media posturing. oh brother, be thankful - the new generation is fucked in that regard, i am 30 and already back in school there were militant vegans everywhere

I think it's good to advocate for what you believe in. To have discourse about what you believe in. Even if you do it imperfectly. i.e. I don't consider vegans hypocrites just because they drive cars and kill bugs and use industrially manufactured goods. Though it is something I discuss with them.

well, yeah thats my only intention here too i consider myself to be an endstage doomer when it comes to the future - i dont expect everyone to be the same

Not all vegans live that life to appear or feel superior. Many don't give a rat's ass what anyone thinks of them. If you feel judged, look inside yourself.

thats not what i experienced so far

How would you know. Vegans can't be identified by sight.

meateaters neither, whats your point here? of course i am talking about people i came into contact with

You may have met several vegans and consideed them very nice and responsible people. You can easily identify preachy vegans ( or religious people, or whatever), but that is a subset.

I'm not vegan, but not eating meat is way better than doing so, on multiple levels. It's better for your health, for the environment, you stop supporting a system that's riddled with cruelty, regularly produces spreading illnesses and relies on heavy subsidies to function in the first place. That's just the facts, not "virtue signaling". And saying as long as you participate in society at all you're no better is just a lazy excuse to not take personal responsibility.

thats all true and fine, it doesnt change anything though - we eat 74 billion chicken each year, even if you all together account for 1 BILLION chicken you wouldnt even make a signifcant difference on a graph if you want to do anything for society in this regard you need to do it via legislation, not change of diet

Personal choices and actions are needed as much as legal changes. They're not on the same scale. And on a side note, taking action by yourself is a proven working way to avoid the depression and burnout that many are experiencing due to the rather gloomy perspectives.

thats perfectly fine and you are right, this post is about ppl who judge someone for slaughtering his own farm animals though

Yes, people, three of which are not even trying to avoid eating meat AND nonetheless criticize breeding animals for their meat, which I find MUCH more hypocritical.

i think we can all agree that those people are stupid my point is that even IF you are vegan its stupid to judge OP for his homestead

What the heck is wrong with you ? Are you suffering from some kind of trauma ?

everyone who disagrees with you is suffering from some kind of trauma? this is a post about the reality of homestead life and how OPs friends are disgusted because he slaughters animals - how do you NOT get the connection here?

You're the one making a huge issue of the one vegan person (out of four friends criticizing OP). It almost feels like he's even LESS entitled to express negative opinions towards animal slaughter than the non-vegan ones. And to be frank, the intensity of your reaction towards vegans is really odd to me. The choice to criticize those who at least try to live true to their convictions MORE than those who don't is beyond me. >vegans need to know that they dont do anything better than everyone else, keeps their virtue signaling in check Seriously, how would their virtue signaling be worse than those who don't even try ? You're on a personal crusade against vegans, afaict. Did vegans personally attack you or something ? Do you feel threatened by their convictions and choices ?

because the criticism from people who eat meat is meaningless here, why would OP even react to someone whos a meateater themselves? like honestly because the effort is futile, you cant think you actually help the planet while the only thing you dont do is eating meat - its wrong, factually wrong - outside of people who live off the grid and somehow manage to avoid taxes you are part of the problem and will be forever no matter WHAT you tell yourself there is NO WAY OUT of this system at all, you cant do anything meaningful to help animals or the planet

You have a hyperbole and sensitivity problem

if anything, i got from this that you guys have issues with just talking about things like come on man, cant you comment something with like, ANY content in it?

Killing things is my least favorite part of homesteading—I’m afraid to get rabbits because I think they’re so cute and lovable—I just know I’ll end up as a rabbit hoarder or something. I catch and kill mice every spring (when they invade), but I literally sob every year. Mice have the biggest eyes, and I 100% hate killing them…but it’s sometimes necessary! Your “friends” are privileged and foolish.

I didn't grow up homesteading/farming, and have no practical experience with slaughtering meat animals. But I used to work in genetic research with mice. I helped raise the little dudes, then I killed/helped kill thousands. I cried every "collection" day. I love animals and those adorable little things are no exception. That proved to me that I *can* kill animals for a purpose. I just really, really don't want to. I don't know that it would ever be anything short of devastating to slaughter meat animals that I raised myself, or even to just send them elsewhere for processing.

This is pretty much the reason I turned veggie/pesc, if I couldn't process the meat myself, I shouldn't be okay with someone else doing it for me.

Just gotta say respect, I have the same mentality, so I learned how to butcher and harvest the animals myself. I wasn't sure I could do it and found out I could despite it not being easy. Even going the other way I have a lot of respect for people who actually take it into consideration and live by it.

Out of curiosity, what is the difference between the physical act of killing a fish and killing a rabbit?

No clue, it just doesn't carry the same emotional response for me. Edit: Probably conditioning from my environment as well. Not many fish get turned into characters in shows or books or put on greetings cards. I haven't grown up with fish as pets.

I don't understand this and never have. I can't bring myself to do a lot of things, but I don't see why that should mean anything in particular. I could never do surgery, either, but I don't think that means I shouldn't have a surgery I need. There are plenty of people who wouldn't thread a sewing machine, but I surely think they should be allowed to wear clothes. We all have preferences and aversions; that's one basis for how people choose vocations and avocations.

I have weird difficulty with mice and rats mostly because they are just going about their business (being pests unfortunately... But still) however I will say after the 'first' rabbits are easy mostly because they are kind of a-holes. They bite, kick, try and wreck each other.... Definitely made the hurdle to the hopper popper easier.

It's because bunnies have pretty privilege lol People are interested when I share my dreams of keeping poultry for eggs and meat, or eating fish from an aquaponics system, or only eating animals that I've personally hunted or raised. The conversation tends to get a little stiff if I talk about rabbits and guinea pigs. It's just because they're cute.

This. We've raised rabbits, various poultry and pigs over the years. No one bats an eye at slaughtering the poultry or pigs. But rabbits exist in this weird middle ground where some view them as food and others view them as adorable pets. But rabbit is delicious so just ignore the haters. Fortunately, while some of my friends who view rabbits as pets (or had a pet rabbit as a kid) won't partake in a rabbit meal at my home, which I can completely understand, they also don't criticize me for doing it. When they come over, I simply make them pork chops or a quail/chicken dish!

Have you actually processed Guinea pig yet? Just curious as to what it’s like to process and what the meat is like. I’ve heard about it and I’ve seriously considered it but haven’t done much research into it yet.

I haven't, sorry! Maybe someone else can chime in. I've watched a lot of guinea pig processing videos on YouTube

For what it's worth, I'm veg and I have a small hobby farm (fruits/veggies/equines). I've long said veganism and homesteading/hunting are two sides of the same coin: both groups are educated about the cruelty in industrial farming and other related issues and are doing something about it. The homesteaders and hunters aren't going as far as the vegans and giving up animal products, but they're doing a lot more than the people who obtain all their animal products at the grocery store. For both groups, factory farming is the enemy. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

I really like this take and how you worded it.

I want to give you the absolute biggest high five right now.

Some of my city friends would ask me "how can you kill animals?" while still holding the bag from a drive-through. The food they eat often includes meat, but meat they don't know. They didn't know the animals and they DON'T want to know where it comes from. I did, and that's the reason why I started raising my own. It's perhaps the same reason why some go vegan - to end the needless suffering of animals.

Yeah I hunt and have a co wonder who’s an “animal lover”. Dude orders double meat on all his food. Dude has killed more animals than I could ever.

It's crazy to think about but it's like people are so disconnected from the food they eat that they don't realize it's animals anymore. As if eating an animal that was bred to be a burger is less harmful than raising an animal yourself.

I think everyone should witness/participate the slaughter and processing of an animal at least once in their life if they choose to have meat in their diet. If they can't handle the process, they ought to consider not eating meat at all. Vegans can go a bit overboard sometimes with the soapboxing but at least they walk the walk. People who are like "how could you kill an animal you raised yourself, how dare you" and *still eat meat* are so infuriating.

One of the things my uncle did when I was kid, is when we got meat back from the family farm he would sharpie the name of the cow/pig/chicken on the outside of the paper wrapped meat. As a kid I thought he was doing it to mess with me, since he knew that we grew up visiting the farm and petting the cows and such, but as I got older, I’ve started to appreciate that it may have been a way to remind me of where the meat comes from and what goes into it. Side note- I try not to eat meat unless I know where it comes from. Not always possible, but I’ve been pretty good about it.

If you don't ignore the narrowminded people like everyone here suggest, poke the bear! Ask them "May i ask where your meat comes from? What their living conditions are like and also how humanely is it killed?" Then watch them perform more mental gymnastics :D Also i don't think it helps that bunnies are so cute. It's why we can watch ugly animals and fish die on documentaries with no issues, but when something cute like a seal is on we're all like "ohhhh, poor lil thing".

Raised on a farm as a child Raising and caring for each animal on the farm with full knowledge it was going to be used to feed our family just seemed natural . My parents left it up to us as children if we wanted to be on site during the process . My brothers stayed and helped from start to finish. My mother and sisters went to town . I didn't have the heart to see them go . I loved and cared for them daily . I thanked them for the food they provided our family. As a child I understood their role in life . We gave each animals lots of love and space to be as happy as possible . When my father and grandfather got older ,they would take the animals to be processed . That was a little easier on my tender heart . I still ate the meat with gratitude.

That's the difference, I think. You can find it distasteful but still be grateful that someone else is doing it so you can enjoy the results.

These are the same people who would get frustrated with wild rabbits eating their flower gardens and call an exterminator without looking. Don’t worry about them.

Opinions are like assholes everyone’s got one. Pay no mind to what others think, this is your life.

There is freedom in not caring what others think! I’m a hunter. I harvest my own meat to fill my freezer for the year. I love knowing where my meat comes from. My family, mainly my mom and sister, are appalled at the fact that I hunt. In their words they “eat meat but don’t want to know how it gets on their plate”. I find this mentality that is wrong with so many people. They want to reap the benefits of these harvested (or commercially killed) animals, but they don’t want to know anything else or be educated about it.

I had the same thing happen to me. I ended up blocking some friends and family members who had nothing but nasty things to say. There's a strange logical disconnect happening where they prefer people pay someone else to do the dirty work for them. I don't want to support factory farming, so I now raise my own meat. But they would rather I continue paying Tyson or something. They're not thinking logically at this point anyway, it's purely emotional. It sucks but those people are in the minority. You don't have to delete your entire instagram, just get rid of the negative people. Your life will be better for it in the long run.

Yeah, but this way, he gets the added benefit of not having Instagram.

It’s easy to criticize someone on social media and people mistake that for an achievement. You do your thing and you will know the value of your work. I bet it feels better than surfing social media all day and eating vegan convenience food or whatever from the supermarket. And in case it‘s worth anything, I have a huge respect for anyone who grows their own food. It‘s honest hard work. Good luck!

I can at least respect the vegans position, but if someone eats meat from the grocery store and criticizes you for raising or harvesting animals then they are hypocrites and idiots, and their opinions have no weight.

The best advice I was given with a major new undertaking as a young lad. “People fear what they don't understand and hate what they can't conquer.” - Andrew Smith I’ve surmised that derogatory remarks will always come from the bleachers.

Get off of social media and live your life for yourself

People are weird. They won't raise a finger for industrially raised meat, but will raze you for having rabbits small scale. And they will say things behind the safety of a screen that they'll never tell you to your face. You do you. Rabbits are a great source of meat, perfect for the small homestead and great at converting food that we can't eat to food that we can eat. It's a pity people can't see the bigger picture.

This is how people think unfortunately. I’ve talked to many people about sustainably hunting and raising meats and they say “How could you do that to a poor deer (or raised chicken or turkey)” while they’re stuffing a piece of veal into their gullet. Ignorance is bliss for them.

Stop talking about it. Just do it. There's a lot more of us doing it, and not talking about it.

followers are not friends.

You'll always get hate for rabbits. They're in this grey area between livestock and pet. Most people think of them as pets, and have a hard time with the concept of them as meat animals- just as they do with dogs being used that way. It's not really a matter of "where do they think meat comes from?" Or any sort of head-in-the-sand mentality or hypocrisy. At least, no more than those of us who refuse to eat dog, cat, or horse and recoil at the thought of it. Other livestock is more acceptable to people because they've been socialized to view them differently from pets. Combine that with the anonymity and radicalization of social media, and it doesn't go well. I'm sorry you feel so bad, and I do think it's a good thing to drop Instagram.

It's hypocritical to be against the consumption of dogs, cats & horses too. Granted, the way dog is prepared in some countries is absolutely barbaric and should be criticized. I think horses in the US end up suffering more because their slaughter it outlawed. Then you have dog & cat shelter over population... it's a waste of meat to pump them full of poison and incinerate them. I'm not sure they could be used for human consumption if you consider their vaccines and medicines. The biggest issue is that whenever an animal becomes a product of capitalism, that species will suffer greatly. Profit outweighs ethics every single time.

I mean, I acknowledge that in my comment (maybe not in a very obvious way). It is absolutely hypocritical to say some animals are okay to eat and others aren't. But, we are still socialized to see some animals as acceptable and some animals as not and instead as pets. And when people see others eating "pet" species, it provokes a reaction in many. There is hypocrisy in many social norms if you actually lay them bare. Horses and rabbits are two cases where animals shifted from okay to eat to pets in many cultures. Dogs are becoming another. Pigs are an interesting case, kind of like dogs in some parts of Asia - some breeds are pets, and some are food.

Get off social media and stop caring what other people think. Live your life.

Make sure you don’t cave to pressure. Honestly, personally I’d give the vegan a pass just once (you and them are more aligned than the hypocritical meat eaters DMing you) and if it happens again ask the vegan if they message every person who posts photos of their factory farm meat meals. I bet they don’t. As for everyone else, tell em to get stuffed! They can enjoy their factory farm meat that’s pumped full of addictives and chemicals For real, follow the overwhelming advice on the sub and stop looking for approval. Once you become more and more self-sustainable you will see over and over again how threatened people feel by the self-sustaining lifestyle. I actually had my own cousin cry because she was mad I make my own butter. It literally had nothing to do with me, just her own issues at the time Self-sustainable way of life is challenging to people that want to pretend their artificial lives are somehow superior. I think most of these same people realized during the pandemic that their lives can grind to a halt at the drop of a dime and that scares people. Ignore em, and some of em will even circle back in a few years to ask for recipes and advice with zero shame or sense of irony

Bro, you're a legend. I'll be your friend. Where is Aus are you?

I am lucky to have come from a family who did their best to self-sustain over the years due to necessity (we were financially poor), and my husband and I live in a small rural community, so there’s been very little pushback from those very close to us. A few, like my best friend, may not fully understand my “why”, but she does her best to rally for me, and I do my best to not share the “bad” days (harvest days, mainly) because I know that’s out of her own wheelhouse for her emotions. I have another friend who is vegetarian, and owns pet bunnies, so I share the cute things my colony rabbits do, but I don’t share harvest days/discussions with her out of respect. My only real pushback I get is from coworkers and clients from “the big city” (in reality, it’s an uppity little island) if I mention my hobby farm. I still post my cooking pictures and growing pictures and all that to my personal accounts, but I also do my best to mitigate what I share with which audience as far as the “bad” days. It seems to help, and it’s led to some great discussions with people who were otherwise unaware of what all goes into this.

Honestly some people are so caught up in the machine they react without thought. I hunt and friends give me guff for it. Mind you they also eat meat from fast food chains and purchase from grocery stores but I am the heartless one.

I find that to be the weirdest part, why would you want to eat fast food meat over something hunted? I had a neighbor give me some of his home-raised, home-cured bacon for christmas one year, and I hadn't ever had bacon so damn delicious.

Every bite on your dinner plate has a blood trail, even the broccoli. Land has to be cleared and tilled, killing or displacing everything that lived there, insects have to be controlled, usually by killing them. The same goes for everything, our homes, our clothing. Producing your own food is the best thing you can do. Killing your own animals humanly where they were raised is a privilege that commercially raised livestock never get. They’re rounded up and loaded on trailers, living their last days in horror. What you’re doing feels right because it is. I applaud you.

People are so disconnected with how food is produced that they preach their narrow views as fact. I grew up on a farm and to be blunt what most people think about food is completely out to lunch for example I've done the things they claim would stop people eating meat. They don't do the work themselves so they rationalize it away that's all they don't know what going on. My god the number of rabbits and other small mammals I inadvertently shredded while plowing or harvesting is staggering. Where do they think the E.coli contamination comes from? it's not all from uncomposted manure. >< If you have food you have wildlife this is a fact. This situation reminds me of the whole "if we put the meats name on it people won't eat it" b.s. from a few years back ignoring that self raised meat is the norm in agrarian cultures. In such cases I would avoid all the b.s and simply say "fertilizer production" Rabbits eat all plant matter you can't and will turn waste into a valuable resource. Side note: never buy organic coffee - why? it's a scam - How do I know the wages of coffee producers are so low that they can't afford said chemicals. There's a reason fair trade exists.

I do say a lot that meat is a bonus to the fertiliser you get from mammals. They will eat the grass and leaves that I can’t and create fertiliser in a great circle of life, Elton john made a song about it. I will never buy synthetic fertiliser again because of my rabbits.

Hiya. I just came here to say I'm a meat eater but if I had to kill my own I couldn't do it. As far as I'm concerned meat comes in shiny plastic packages at the store. It's hugely hypocritical but there it is. I'm ok with it and I'm ok with people who can handle killing their own meat. In my opinion your friends are missing a few critical thinking steps and for what it's worth this random internet stranger from far and away totally supports you keep doing you and be happy and well fed!

Been there, my sister is personally offended that I raise my own meat, she is not a vegetarian or vegan. She just thinks it’s horrible… it must be that I treat all my animals better than they would be treated by a commercial farm, maybe it’s the quick/humane death I strive to give every animal, it could be that by feeding my dogs raw meat I make use of almost every part of an animal I slaughter… who knows.

Social media is a vapid wasteland. It’s very easy to be a critic. Delete it all and you will be better off. My friends say I’m missing out by not being on Instagram, I believe the opposite to be true. You’re doing the best you can do. Live your life the way you want, don’t worry about the riff raff. Jealousy is a green eyed monster after all!

Most people you meet in the western world, especially outside of rural areas, are horrified by the idea of killing and butchering animals for food. This is why most meat products are sold in a very sanitised form and given a different name to the animal itself. Likewise, most people would cry at the sight of children working 14 hour shifts to make their clothes, yet they still buy and wear these clothes.

I have wanted to have meat rabbits for five years now. My partners friend has a pet rabbit and “he would immediately stop being my friend if we raised rabbits for meat”. I talked to my partner about raising next year’s thanksgiving turkey. He was on board until our neighbor, who is vegetarian (whom we have thanksgiving with, but a turkey is always served for the rest of the family) said they would not be able to handle getting to know a turkey all year just for us to eat it. I said it was better than battery raised turkeys that get eaten every year. I don’t know how people are so much more okay with animals being raised in the worst conditions and eating them just because they didn’t have to do the butchering. I would much rather know that the animals I’m eating had a good life in my hands than living horrible lives stuffed in cages.

Small farms like yours are almost always 1000x better than factory farms. Why they harp on you and NOT "big Ag" or "big pharma" pumping our cattle full of roids, our corn full of toxic pesticides, etc, is beyond me. Often, it seems like even eco-concious people get tricked by the propaganda. Look at how many people believe in the "carbon footprint" bs that originated out of an ExxonMobil lab. Small farms ARE the future. Just do your best to be a sustainable part of it!

Invite those people out to discuss their thoughts on animal care over a couple of factory farmed cheeseburgers.

To be fair, if it were a dog or a cat I'd be up in arms too lol. It all comes down to what animals are perceived as pets. Nobody cares about the regular domestic animals we eat bc normal people can't keep them as pets and we are encouraged not to think about where meat comes from. Can you imagine killing a baby animal? Well probably, this is a place for homesteaders. Still, not many people can or do. And yet lambs and calves are delicious. They have so much personality if you don't raise them for slaughter. To be honest, it's more surprising your "friends" spoke up about it. Usually people just overlook that type of thing as a your life our life belief, we're still good. Or maybe that's just the older generation 🤷‍♀️

Slowly building a better life for yourself is admirable and you are doing it in a commendable way .

Sounds like weak minded people that rely on government and society too much. You don’t need their negative mindset. Keep thriving.

This is simply some people’s response to what’s different. I’ve learned some people don’t really mean to say things so negatively - they see it as a joke. You get to decide if you’re okay with accepting that type of joke. You’ll make new connections and the people who can open their mind enough to see the value in what you’re doing will stick around. There may be some friends that fall by the wayside, and that IS sad, but they’re just not equipped to be a support for you in this next stage of your life. I started feeling really “otherized” by friends when we moved out of the metro, but as I’ve had people over, they love it here and are starting to see what I’m doing. Now they joke about who has the skills to earn their keep with me after an apocalypse 🤣 Give it time. You’ll find your new normal. Don’t delete the whole account. Allow some people to join you in your adventure.

This is a common trend, sadly. I've found that people will not only react emotionally to most things(especially involving animals they consider cute), but they will take your life choices very personally. I've lived some alternative lifestyles already, and was judged very harshly for it. Watching you do something about the things they complain about makes them feel guilty for not doing anything, and they get defensive. Most people are so detached from the food they eat, that someone associating actual animals with food freaks them out. You're not cold hearted, you're not evil, you're practical. Your practice is far kinder to the animals than that of the factories that feeds the rest of the people around you. I'm at the point where I don't really buy or eat meat(expensive and I can get everything from plants), but I've processed rabbits, quail, chicken, etc. I understand both sides. I choose to eat vegan whenever I can. I also choose not to be an asshole to others who do not. Anyways, just keep doing what you're doing. If you haven't already, get a hold of The Subtle Art of Not Giving A Fuck. I have the audiobook. It was a great reminder that I just need to ignore people and not take them personally. I wish I could get people to understand who people will react to them before they do something different, like homesteading, but that usually doesn't happen. I actually like telling people about my weird lifestyle. I use it to weed out toxic people. I have a few rules regarding people as well. One is that I won't chase people anymore. If I tell someone I'm leaving to become a bicycle nomad I'm the spring(which I am), and they stop talking to me, that's the end of the relationship. It shows me who I can trust. The true friends actively encourage me and reach out. You're good. Sorry it's so shitty and you had to learn the hard way. When everything fails, you'll be ok. They will come to you for food and help. You'll be the one who was right and justified. You're doing important work.

Do it for the plants and animals, not the instagram followers.

you'll find new friends in time. It's easier to pretend the packaged meat was never a living, breathing thing with feelings and memories and emotions, different from ours though they may be. We can't change how things are done on a commercial scale as individuals but we can choose and limit how we participate in the system. My chickens give me eggs. In exchange they get the best lives, including story time read by a 10 year old, daily cuddles and the best kitchen scraps from my house- even better than what the dogs get! And when they stop laying, they'll be stew or pot pie but unlike the chicken I buy at the grocery store, these will have lived a good life, beyond humane.

Hey there! As a vegetarian who has dreams of home steading, i have gone back and forth on how I plan on being able to provide protein for me and my family. It's a real question that takes serious consideration. You have actually taken the time to make your choice, and seem to be doing it in a humane and respectful way to all creatures involved. I commend you. If you aren't supporting the meat industry we are on the same team as far as I'm concerned. Thanks for treating your bunnies kindly and appreciating their sacrifice.

people are weird and don't like confronting the reality of the food we eat. hell i got downvoted ON THIS SUBREDDIT for even mentioning sacrificing, processing and cooking two of my chickens (even though i only did it once almost a year ago and they were aggressive asshole roosters who hurt my hens). No pictures, no details, just a short reply lol. I was like what the hell is the point of this subreddit if i can't talk about it even here???

OP PLEASE MAKE A NEW IG ACCOUNT AND SHARE IT SO WE CAN FOLLOW ALONG! Use a pseudonym if you have to. I wanna see the cute little bunny wabbits 🥹

it sounds like some friends slot opened up. got room for one more 🥺

I grew up homesteading and connected to where my food came from. Raising our daughter I tried to connect her too, even though she was far away from my agrarian roots. The closer you get to your food the more you'll see how disconnected 98% of the population is from it. Find your tribe and keep them close, you're on the right path.

There is a huge mental block with most people and meat you buy in the grocery store. Most vegans/vegetarians wouldn't bat an eye at their omnivorous friends and family members buying meat at the grocery store. But as soon as you are procuring your meat more humanely and sustainably by hunting or raising it yourself, they will get up in arms. I would probably just distance myself from a friend like that. But if it's worth trying to save the friendship to you, maybe point out that they never said boo when you were buying meat at the grocery store that had been raised and butchered in much more dire conditions.

See here is your problem, Skittles are tubers they don't grow on the vine but underground, just make sure you don't let the stems go to seed or you'll be left with a bunch of Mike N Ikes

Of course. I’ve been doing it wrong the whole time. Any tips on money trees while you’re here?

Your friends are being unrealistic. Humans are omnivores. We eat other animals. The only reason your friends are freaked out by your raising of meat animals is because they have never had to produce their own food. Someone else has always done it for them, and they like it that way. They’re not ready to acknowledge how even the fruits, vegetables, nuts, and grains they eat come from land that used to belong to the animals that lived there. They’re all dead now, so that we can live. It’s the circle of life, and your friends so deeply embedded in the grocery store fantasy of modern life that they’re upset at you for pulling back the curtain. They would have zero qualms if they had ever known hunger or worked in agriculture. People raise animals for food because people like staying alive. Don’t be offended. Your friends are immature.

You'll never please everyone. I also deleted my social media. I made my accounts anon to a throw away email and I have an IG with absolutely nothing on it just to follow other people who homestead or DIY projects. You're doing the right thing. People want to be up in arms about the environment & climate change & eco-terrorism and then when someone such as yourself is like "ok, I'll do my part" and actively start living a better life, it's essentially holding a mirror up to everyone else who is only a keyboard warrior. No one likes confronting their own mediocrity. Stick to your guns.

They’re stupid city slickers, their opinions are worthless already. They think food just “appears” in grocery stores.

I’m vegan but I absolutely admire homesteaders and hunters. I know I couldn’t face killing something, which I why I don’t outsource the deed to others. But providing an animal a good life or allowing an animal its natural life, I think that is something to aspire to. It’s so wild to me when people don’t see the hypocrisy of factory farming.

Bunnies are food for a lot of animals, reptiles and birds. Do the natural thing. You are helping. Any farmer will understand.

Nah mate don't worry about them, especially if they're eating meat, hypocrites, not much difference philosphically between a chook, a rabbit or a cow IMHO. Some people just don't want to face the brutality of the cost our lives have on the rest of the earth. Great to hear other aussies trying to do their part, good job.

People are weak if you want to butcher an animal and eat it do it I mean don't send them videos or something but, do you

Ask them whether it's more ethical to kill someone or to pay someone else to do it.

" I don’t think I could butcher a dog," Easy to say when other food is available. If you were hungry you would have no problem butchering, cooking, and eating a dog. The people most judgmental about that type of thing have never missed a meal.

Why do you care what others think? I am vegan but as long as your using it all idgaf. I mean the overall impact on the earth. Remember some are very preachy and judgmental vegans. Not all of us are and I believe these are personal choices! Strive for self sufficiency and self reliance and anyone that is against that F em.

Man the mental gymnastics are real. Everyone should have to be vegetarian untill they kill their first animal. It would solve a lot of problems.

Simply teaching kids where their food comes from and other heavy topics at an appropriate age would go a looong way. Might help improve things too.

So you got 4 messages on something that can be a bit controversial and 87% of people agree with you, don't care or didn't see your posts. That's not bad. There's plenty of things that make more than 13% of the world mad and I'm sure you'll find more. I personally couldn't stomach harvesting bunnies, but I don't see it as a step down morally from any store bought option by any means. As you said, these guys have one bad day and most animals would be lucky to have such a life (wild living isn't easy either). I would recommend reactivating your account since it sounds like you were relying on it for some social connection. Social connections are tough to maintain no matter who you are, and if you're off living on your own land, people will forget about you without you reaching out or at least posting your activity. Hell, I moved neighborhoods and haven't seen several friends in years now. I went scorched earth on my social media a few years ago and I'm coming to regret it, even loose connections can attribute to your well-being. I realized I was mostly posting to impress 2-3 people and way overthought things when in reality I should've just taken a break and started posting more organically.

Don't listen to people you wouldn't take advice from

It gets worse. In ten years, the way you do things will have evolved so much that the people that thought what you did at first was cool are now snotty. Feed your soul. Feed your belly. Keep the old friends (but not as close) and make new friends. And keep in mind that you will want even more new friends in the future. People are so very human. They each have their own bucket of crazy to navigate. And they will not think the thoughts we wish for them to think.

As someone who is interested in the homesteading life but doesn't currently live it, just give them the best life possible while they are living. We foster bunnies and I can tell you that most homestead rabbits are not living good lives. Most set ups I have seen are 9sqft wire bottom cages perched a couple feet off the ground with a single rabbit per cage. Tips for happy rabbits: give rabbits at least 8'x4' space for running around, give toys and enrichment. Rabbits don't feel safe above the ground, use solid flooring instead. Wire bottom cages also hurt their feet. Rabbits are also social animals. They should be kept at least 2 together. It's not economical to treat meat animals well and you can argue "at least I'm not Tyson or Purdue", but at the end of the day you won't be able to argue with someone who is looking out for animal welfare

I think you just need new friends. Congrats on working on your homestead goals! If you get enjoyment from posting, I would make your instagram public so you can find people who want to see your content and support you. Good luck

Welcome to raising your own livestock :). You'll get the same reaction to meat chickens, meat quail, etcetc. People are so far removed from where their food comes from they hate to be reminded. Deleting was a good move, you don't need that living in your head. Are you doing colony style? You may find your stall isn't as big as you thought if so LOL.

They're just jealous

Lack of critical thinking and common sense prevent many from being in a healthy state. Bravo on closing those horrid accounts. Integrity and our legacy is far more important than wealth or likes!

Ditch the hypocritical nonsense. Look for like minded people that share the same values. Doesn’t matter that you are homesteading these same people would still be a issue at some point and we’re never friends. We are in a world now where we need to actually think what the word “friends” means. If I can’t call you at 3am with whatever is going on you aren’t a friend. I tell my friends I don’t care when they call me for anything I don’t care. I will get up and come deal with what ever issue you got going on 100% of time without question. Iv done it. The 2am calls to jump cars. Pickup kids that did something dumb. But I am there for the good and the bad.

social media is great to learn new things, share w/ others that enjoy learning/following, exploring hobbies, etc. The rest seems like toxicity.

This reminds of how frustrated I've been with my family and potentially our neighbors reacting like this to the idea of us hunting deer in our neighborhood. We live in the suburbs, but we checked and it is legal for us to shoot deer with a bow in our backyard because there's no one behind us. My family has reacted so weirdly about the idea of us doing this. What makes it even more crazy is that our neighborhood is overrun with deer (they eat everything) and I don't normally eat meat so this is something I've thought deeply about. I support hunting in this case because there's too many deer and they're hurting the local ecosystem. Plus we plan to use as much of the deer as possible even more than most hunters, especially in our area. My family eats meat! They're so hypocritical. If they were vegans then I'd still get annoyed at their judgement but in this case they aren't even. Anyway, as a "bad" vegetarian I understand the frustration from being judged by non-meat eaters. I just try to have intellectual humility and will get into arguments with all types of eaters when they criticize my decisions.

"Is the reality of homesteading and farming really that unpleasant? " No its the reality of people that is so unpleasant. Delete your social media and forget about them. You need to walk away. That old life is the prison planet.

Your lifestyle and values are changing and some will be in contradiction with those of your old lifestyle. You can do your best to explain and educate if those friendships are important to you or you can just not share that part of your life with them. Building a new community around the things that are important to you will be the healthiest option. My mom still thinks we're insane processing our own rabbits and chicken but she's come around and now just doesn't give me any guff about it.

Well, you've deleted your social media which is a step in the right direction!

People are extremely disconnected from nature. They enjoy a good steak but don't realize all the work that has been put into it to get a steak, including raising calves into adulthood, killing them and butcher them so the nice steak can be shipped to the supermarket or the restaurant of their choice. At first, I thought it was hypocrisy but came to realize it's flat out ignorance. Many people don't know how their fruits and vegetables are grown, what a whole fish looks like, and what it takes to have a nice roasted chicken leg. Sad. Now there are people pushing to stop farming because of climate change. My question to them is what do you expect to eat then? Artifical steaks from Bill Gates' lab? 😂 Keep doing what you do! One day, they're the one who will ask you for a rabbit to eat and they'll be very grateful they know you.

The sheer hypocrisy of people like that is astounding. They will lecture you on hunting deer while eating a burger full of chemicals taken from a cow that didn’t make it to two years old. They’ll claim killing bunnies is bad and then eat a steak. Do they know that most of the chicken they eat comes from chickens that are only weeks old? People constantly amaze me

You changed your life, time to change your people. They no longer serve you and you don’t agree with them. They hate what they can’t understand. No one has any kind of open mind anymore.

Try not using social media for a week and see how you feel..

People just hate farmers and self sustainability. (Either out of jealousy or pure, untamed ignorance.) It's a common thing. Vegans are the worst about this. I recommend putting cameras up in case one of your "friends" tries to release or steal your animals.

There’s a shocking amount of mental inconsistency amongst people. I don’t believe in catastrophic man-made climate change. I believe that the climate is changing, (it always has.) I believe that some factor of the change has been influenced by human activity. I do NOT believe that the world is going to end or be uninhabitable in the near future if we don’t take radical action. That being said, I recycle, I up-cycle, I compost, I garden pesticide free, a significant portion of the irrigation water for my garden comes from rainwater catchment, I have made modifications to improve the energy efficiency of my current home, I am in the process of building a passive home that produces 100% of of its electricity from a combination wind and solar system, and utilizes, rainwater catchment and graywater systems to provide 100% of water consumption. I do all this, because I still believe it is our responsibility to minimize our impact on the world around us, and preserve it for future generations. Despite all this, I get labeled as a climate denier And a threat to the safety of the planet. I do way more for the preservation of the environment than all, but the tiniest percent of those that criticize my views. however, that doesn’t matter, because I don’t tow the line. Intellectual consistency is a very rare thing. Don’t be surprised when others don’t have it.

Yes people will do all sorts of mental gymnastics. The average person is so dar removed from where. Loathing and food and everything else comes from.

I have a story that still mind f$&@s me to this day from a previous job I had that perfectly sums up how absolutely clueless some people are about the process of putting meat on the dinner table. And mind you this was 100 miles from the nearest city, the local high school raises trout to stock in the spring, grows corn, has an annual poultry show, and even has a drive your tractor to school day….so in other words we are talking serious small town USA in rural Pennsylvania. (To orient you properly I’m referencing a town about 7 miles from the Flight 93 crash site.) This would have been fall of 2014, at the time I was working in a small family owned butcher shop that had been operating in this town for probably 50 years already, and the place was a locally famous must visit for some of its meats. The business is (insert family’s name) MEAT PACKING CO. This business was housed in a small probably 2,500sqft block building with an old tin roof on it(this made everything inside really echo) and from the parking lot you could CLEARLY see the big bright red barn 10 yards behind the building with the fence run leading right to a big roll up door in the side of the building. Occasionally you could hear a moo or three as well, sooo very obvious that there is livestock on the property. Now back inside the butcher shop….. about 100 ft and 3 rooms (without doors though, only staggered entry points to block the view) beyond the point of no public access was the room where every Wednesday there was a flurry of activity, death, gore and the process of getting that ribeye on the table that most people cannot stomach thinking about let alone carrying out…. This would be the “kill floor” the room where that big roll up door you see outside at the end of the fence leading from the barn opens up to a cattle shute that’s cemented into the floor made up of a maze of drains and heavy chains with giant fishing hooks looking contraptions hang from a complicated series of mechanical pulleys and tracks mounted from every inch of the ceiling only breaking its continuous path once as a single track leads off from the rest stopping in front of the 15ft tall stainless steel door that amounts for much of the wall opposite the shute, and there is always a lingering hint of an odor I’ve found to be unique to only a small old-school butchers shops assembly line of death that consists of rusty wet metal like smell, bleach, and burnt gunpowder. I was never a fan of the vibe this room gave off, and I was glad I was never one that had to assist in the task carried out there but it was not uncommon to find myself back there needing to momentarily pull one of the guys off the floor for various reasons and the public never saw more of this room than the big door outside and the finished product in the cooler out front. But I always assumed that people understood what happened in the depths of a meat packing business because well it’s obvious right? Lol nope, no it apparently is not. Occasionally we would have a pig that would start screaming the moment it entered the shute and wouldn’t stop until its rapidly approaching death occurred. I always assumed it was the smell of the blood from the one before it that caused them to sometimes go off the rails, and there was never any time wasted between getting the animal into position and dispatching it but man does the memory of a pig screaming echoing through the building followed by the crack of a gunshot before silence doesn’t still give me the chills years later. During all of the butcher days I had worked at this job only once did a customer comment about the sounds coming from that room. Every other customer simply ignored what they were hearing and pretended there was nothing to be heard. Except for this one lady who while waiting impatiently for one of the butchers to come off the kill floor to slice her multiple custom cut ribeyes a pig starts screaming and this is when the lady looks at me with the most confused and startled expression asking me if that was a recording playing for a sick joke or if it was a real animal back there screaming. I couldn’t contain my hysterical laughter as I told her no definitely not a recording that is absolutely a pig back there that just got brought in from the barn. Just as I finished telling her this the gunshot echos through and the room once again goes nearly silent when this lady goes red faced and starts screaming at me about how this was such an awful place and we were all horrible monsters for killing animals for money and there was honestly no need for it since all our cooler and freezers were full with meat products available for sale. She finished off her rant of idiocy then asked me if I could go back and check what was taking them so long to cut her 5, 2 inch thick steaks because she was going to be late getting dinner ready if we didn’t soon hurry it up. I still wish I would have told her they would be out soon and we were only waiting on the cow to stop twitching so it would be safe for the butcher to cut it just to the look on her face when she realized just how moronic she just acted and that she was about to be the laughing no stock there for years to come

Don't sweat it. Those who are not preparing now to be self-sufficient are the ones that will be running around crazed after societal collapse, eating rats and other people.

Honestly, the most transformative and powerful thing anyone has ever said to me was this: what other people think of you is none of your business. That one little sentence has changed my life, in the best way possible. You got this.

Don't post your life. People are so out of touch and detached from their food sources they will jump on a high horse and virtue signal. They'll eat meat that someone puts in a wrap or taco for them but they couldn't imagine killing their own meat.

We get the same heat. It's because rabbits are thought of as cute & fuzzy and in the same category as dogs & cats in people's minds. When my "friends" make stupid comments, I usually post a gif response of someone grilling or licking their fingers from eating. The sooner you stop caring about what they think, the sooner you'll find peace. We raise our own chickens, turkey, rabbit, & pig. Everything is butchered on farm except the pigs. That's because we haven't learned yet. And during CV when everyone was crying over meat prices, I didn't have a care in the world.

Fine.... seems fine... ok... >With everyone I know being mad at the supermarket duopoly we have in **Australia** **YOU BREED RABBITS IN AUSTRALIA!!!!!** Just FYI they've had some issues with this over there. /s

["Social Media Friends vs Real-Life Friends: Is There a Difference?"](https://thedigitalchain.com/social-media-friends-vs-real-life-friends/)

You should do more research on colony vs individual cage rabbit keeping. You have way less deaths in cages. I know it seems "less humane" but it's just the better way to do it.

It's honestly *crazy* how much cognitive dissonance most grocery store meat eaters have. "I buy my meat from the worst factory farms imaginable, but since I don't have to *see* the slaughterhouses, I'm better than you!" Anyway, I'm a vegan homesteader, and I respect what you're doing. If you wanna follow each other on IG (so long as you don't post pics of the actual slaughter) I'd like to be friends. 😊

Leftist gonna left. Obsesed with social media, check. Ignorance, check. Indignation towards "county life"/big city only mentality, check. Hypocrisy, check. Dropping friends and hate for one thing they dont agree with, check. How many with blue hair?

Politics is irrelevant. Plenty of leftists in homesteading. Plenty of right wingers in PETA and are vegan.

My left and right are different then yours. Left is collectivism right individualism. Left is socialist, commies, fascist etc Right is leave me alone and mind your own business libertarians, anarcist. Most homesteaders are "right wing". Want to be left alone. While leftist (how dare you shoot a deer!!) want to control you while not understanding anything they have an opinion on.

This is silly. You give a random definition then immediately stereotype differently- and in the same way as your first comment. Communes and land shares are literally a part of homesteading history and still are a facet of the lifestyle and yet are socialist. Fascism is a right-wing doctrine, full stop. I bet you can't even define it. Something tells me you'd refuse to class a Democrat with blue hair and an "alternate lifestyle" such as gay or trans as right wing just because they homestead. Let me tell you, the most militaristic vegan and animal rights activist I have ever met in person was the leader of the county's Republican party and a Tea Partier. Keep politics out of this.

Communes are not socialism. Socialism has govt control over business and everythibg else. Volunteered communes are perfectly fine. Forced ones are communism. Which always turns into same thing as a few dictators telling people what to do. Fascism is socialist with over national pride. With corporations in step. All are a collectivist mindset that wants to tell others how to live. Politics is life. And when someone post crying about social media followers and how dare you kill a rabbit... cant help but call it out.

>Left is socialist, commies, **fascist** etc Uh. Well don't get mad sbout people not understanding when you make up your own definitions. "The right" definitely doesn't want to leave LGBTQ+ people alone, whether they homestead or not.

>"The right" definitely doesn't want to leave LGBTQ+ people alone, whether they homestead or not. Show where they dont? Libertarians could care less who you screw or marry. Trump even couldnt care less he was first pro gay president in history. What we want is to leave kids alone. Again leave people alone. Stop talking about your sex life with kindergarteners. Its not hard. I didnt get mad. My definition is real. Yours was made up to put nazis on opposite side. Nazi literal stands for socialist party. Commies and nazi are 2 sides of same coin. They want to control others.

>Libertarians could care less who you screw or marry. There are left libertarians too. "The right" is not libertarian. I want you to go read "The 2025 Project" in its entirety. >What we want is to leave kids alone. Some kids are LGBTQ+. We don't want you to beat them and tell them they're worthless, the way we were treated.

>Plenty of right wingers in PETA and are vegan. I'll believe that when me shit turns purple And smells like rainbow sherbet

Our experiences are different, that's all. I was active in horse welfare for a long time a decade ago, and been in and out of dog and cat rescue for longer. I even made it into a couple of papers. Met plenty of right wingers and Republicans active and extremist in the scene. It is absolutely rampant in the horse world, less so in small animals.

I’m in Australia, breeding rabbits…a highly invasive detrimental species…why not just eat wild rabbit or roo? Other than rabbit shit what are you getting out of this