I popped down to the farm yesterday to see the originals of the artwork Veronica had painted for the cow calendar. They’re striking, and it’s incredible how statesmanlike the older cows look. The twin Kates are the old girls, the matriarchs of the Longleys herd. Their individual portraits really do reveal this, incredible. I’ll post them up here as soon as I can.
I popped into the farm kitchen after the art visit for an unexpected emotional contrast. The big table was stacked with big see-thru sacks full of meat. The cow from whence it came was a free martin; that is a female cow born as a twin to a bull calf and so always infertile. She could never join the milking herd so was raised as beef and at two years of age was sent to the abbatoir. The carcass was then hung for 21 days and today she came back, butchered and sitting in a dozen bags. Somehow gruesome yet I would a thousand times over rather see this, be aware of it, see the cycle of life, know the animals history rather than buy a prepackaged anonymous cut on a supermarket shelf.
