For most of us that eat meat, we tend to consume it while giving as little thought as possible to how meat gets to our plates. As you can imagine, it’s not pretty to slaughter and process cows, sheep and other animals, and I found myself witnessing a whole other aspect of food production that I’ve never seen before. Despite the mess and blood, the workers at the Royal Butcher were unfazed, professional, and went about their work with great focus and attention to detail.

A cow peeks through metal bars while waiting for processing at the Royal Butcher slaughterhouse (abettoir) in Randolph, Vermont.

A worker at the Royal Butcher processes a cow. After using a ‘percussion stunner’ on the animal, it is bled upside-down for several minutes. Here, the cow is being skinned; next it will be eviscerated and cleaned.

Seedlings are moved to larger containers at High Mowing Organic Seeds in Wolcott, Vermont. These and thousands of others are destined for High Mowing's local fields, where they will be grown for seed production in coming summer months.

I found myself learning quite a few new things as I wandered around the massive greenhouses at Pete’s Greens, observed biodynamic farming at Heartbeet Lifesharing, and helped Sterling students slaughter and prepare their own chickens for this weekend’s commencement dinner. I think this, in particular, is important to show because there is a cycle of life and death involved in food production that most consumers would rather avoid talking about altogether.

Even in Vermont’s rural areas, this disconnect is apparent: In Nicola Smith and Geoff Hansen’s book Harvest: A Year in the Life of an Organic Farm, Smith shares how a local paper published a story about a traveling Vermont butcher, accompanied by photos of the butcher slaughtering animals. This caused a flurry of angry emails and protests from readers, who deemed the butcher barbaric and cruel, the newspaper sensationalist and tasteless for publishing the story. The butcher was considered one of the best in the state, but it didn’t really matter; most of us would prefer to not think about where our next hamburger is coming from. I appreciate the conveniences of modern life, but I sometimes wonder if food shouldn’t play a bigger part in our lives.

I plan to shoot more on related topics and look forward to a plentiful and beautiful summer of farming in Vermont!

Chickens before slaughter at Sterling College in Craftsbury Common, Vermont. Students and staff raised 50 chickens, with the intent of serving them up at the college's 2012 commencement dinner.

A Sterling College professor shows students how to place chickens into metal slaughtering cones.

A student cuts the throat of a chicken using a metal slaughtering cone system. One must be careful not to cut the windpipe, or the blood sucks into the organs and tinges the meat.

Metal cones make it easier and more efficient to slaughter and drain chickens.

A chicken, after being slaughtered and bled, but before going into the motorized tub plucker that will remove most of its feathers. The chickens are also dipped in hot water (150˚F) to loosen feathers first.

Students help pluck and eviscerate chickens for the weekend's commencement dinner. Several of the students, despite being vegetarian, participated in the class anyway.

Students prepare freshly slaughtered chickens in the backyard of Sterling College.

A student shows the inside of a chicken gizzard, which can be cleaned out, cooked and eaten.

Often, chicken feet are saved as a treat for dogs.

EDIT: On a side note, Jericho Settlers and Open Heart both lost crops and livestock to Irene. This has been a difficult year for farmers and I wish them the very best in their recovery. Support them by buying local food! Coincidentally it is Eat Local Week October 1-9.