A glorious day dawned for me about a week ago. For months I have been hoping that my favorite natural meat store would begin carrying rabbit. I looked for rabbit way back when I started the BTD almost 10 years ago and the only one I found was in a gourmet store tucked into a corner of the freezer section. It looked like it had been in there since the last Ice Age. So I didn’t bother looking for rabbit again until a couple years ago. And then… lo and behold as I was picking up my Thanksgiving turkey, there it was. Rabbit. Yes, It was frozen, but looked lovely. It cost an arm and a leg but I didn’t care.

As I was paying for my meats, I remarked to one of the store clerks that I was so happy they were now carrying rabbit. She replied that they had been searching for a very long time to find a supplier that met their standards. I knew exactly what she was talking about as they have a pledge posted across one wall of the store near the cash register that reads:

Our Pledge… Our Purpose

We believe food should be good… and good for you;

We believe food is a sacred gift;

We believe our health and well being is best served with whole foods, minimally processed, free of chemicals and artificial preservatives;

We believe food, animals, and the land should be managed using sustainable, humane practices, that promote the long-term health of rural families and communities;

We believe food should be produced as close to our tables as possible by people who love the soil and care for the land;

We believe the people who produce our food should earn a just income.



So I knew my rabbit had come from a place that embraces these practices and beliefs. And I know that the core belief of this store is to support family farms and rural economies. No agri-business here. Never. Nada. Zip.

And I think about that pledge every time I am in that store. If I have to align myself to a pledge of any sort… this is the one I choose.