Urban Picnic 2009

The nights on the farm were restless, especially in such a tiny tent, but we wouldn’t have slept any better indoors. We’re never at ease sleeping away from home. Nevertheless, waking at five in the morning was effortless. Maybe it was the anticipation of all the new experiences that each day brought or maybe it was because we hadn’t been stuck breaking down our station so late the night before. As we walked from our tent to the school, we said good morning to the ducks for the last time. In a half an hour we would return with the rest of the class to butcher several of them.

We weren’t sad, nor did we feel sorry for them. They had simply become a part of the landscape. We heard them occasionally throughout the course of the night, much like the wind rustling the leaves of the plum trees. We assumed that anyone who kills animals with regularity had to develop a similarly callous attitude, that to be responsible for the death of another animal required a certain amount of detachment. However, listening to Rick Misterly speak about the toll each lamb’s passing had on him made us realize how wrong we were.

At the Quillisascut Farm School we gained a greater respect for the lives that are taken so that ours may continue. From the feet that were given to the dog to the tongue that we meticulously peeled, we had never been so conscious of waste. Now when we consider "total utilization," we think less in terms of food cost and more in terms of not wasting any part of an animal that gave its life to nourish us.

Tickets for the Urban Picnic 2009 will be on sale through Saturday. On Sunday, local chefs are participating in a fundraiser to help send Seattle’s rising culinary stars to the Quillisascut Farm School in Rice, Washington. More information available at seattle.chefscollaborative.org.