The Barret Family Story
Articles Reflecting a Vegan Lifestyle From All-Creatures.org

Vegan lifestyle articles that discuss ways of living in peace with humans, animals, and the environment.

FROM

Rodney and Jennifer Barrett, Rowdy Girl Sanctuary
December 2018

[Go here to learn more about Rowdy Girl Sanctuary's Rancher Advocacy Program]

I’ve heard that the soul is covered by a thousand veils and this revelation tore down many of them. I slowly started to realize that what we were doing was wrong. I remember standing in one of our chicken houses the day before they went to slaughter and feeling so heavy with grief that they were all going to die…and for what? My job up until then had been one of those badges of honor, a “dirty” job, a good old American way to make a living. And it was hard!! So hard on us in every way. But we did it with pride because we were providing a product and we were serving the greater good and it was, at the very least, allowing us to live on our beloved farm.

I thought for a while that I could live with the hypocrisy of it. I thought I could be a vegan that just so happened to raise chickens for a living. But it got dark for me.

Barrett Family
Rodney and Jennifer Barnett

My name is Jennifer Barrett. I live on a farm in Southwest Arkansas where my husband, Rodney, and I have raised cattle and chickens for 18 years. My family and I moved to this farm when I was in high school (1987). I got married in ’91 and moved away for 8 years and then my husband and I moved back to the farm and took over the operation in late 1999.

We are drawn to be here on this land. It is our home and we have been poor stewards.

In 2011, Rodney was diagnosed with Ulcerative colitis which launched this journey to find health. I was suffering from arthritis, depression, obesity, hypertension and was headed nowhere good. Over the course of years and our search for health, we started to eliminate things from our diet and learned as we went. I started to lose weight and feel better. Rodney’s UC symptoms were in remission most of the time. I started working out and learning more about nutrition and how it affects our health. I started to dig and question everything as my body responded to treating it better. I was voracious for information and for sharing my journey. It was so exciting.

Then, in May of 2016, we did a 3-week plant-based program. We only had a small amount of animal protein in the first week and then the second two weeks were fully vegan. When that program was complete, I felt like a whole new person. My mind was so sharp and clear. I was sleeping like a baby. I had so much vitality and energy and JOY. We both did. It was revolutionary…but, it raised a million questions.

I’ve heard that the soul is covered by a thousand veils and this revelation tore down many of them. I slowly started to realize that what we were doing was wrong. I remember standing in one of our chicken houses the day before they went to slaughter and feeling so heavy with grief that they were all going to die…and for what? My job up until then had been one of those badges of honor, a “dirty” job, a good old American way to make a living. And it was hard!! So hard on us in every way. But we did it with pride because we were providing a product and we were serving the greater good and it was, at the very least, allowing us to live on our beloved farm.

I thought for a while that I could live with the hypocrisy of it. I thought I could be a vegan that just so happened to raise chickens for a living. But it got dark for me. Last December, I was at the bottom. It was so horrible to know that all of this suffering and death and decay, this holocaust situation, was so unnecessary. I started to see the chickens differently. I’d never really looked at them as individuals before but, my heart started to break when I would see their terror and their suffering. They were no longer a product. They were birds!! They hatched from an egg…that miraculous thing that happens when a baby bird hatches from an egg…and we’ve mass produced it, and put them on an assembly line, and sentenced them to a life of misery, then slit their throats and for what? To clog our arteries and destroy our health? To spend a few minutes mindlessly munching on their flesh? It became more than I could bear. So, one day, I wrote a letter to the universe. And the universe responded.

We have stopped raising chickens in the hopes that we will soon be growing mushrooms in the chicken houses. We have also stopped the breeding and selling of our cattle. Which is why I need help. We had really pushed our grazing acreage to the limits in hopes to make a profit while we had an abundance of hay. This backfired as the market dropped and the hay ended up not being that great. So we are now feeding 205 head of cattle on about 120 acres of grazeable land. We only have enough hay to get us through until the 15th of December.

I can’t sell. I won’t sell. The pain and darkness I’ve been through with the realization that we are needlessly killing these animals has been profound and I will not shirk in my responsibility to make sure they are safe now. We are the reason they are here in the first place. And, when the history books are written, I want to be on the right side. And, this is the right thing to do.

Cowws

Having said all that, we need help. We need to either buy some surrounding property, find another farm for some of them to go to, or buy lots of hay. We have secured a lease on some grazing property that would buy us a few more weeks but, it needs fencing work done to hold them and we don’t have the money to do that either. Since we stopped raising chickens and selling cattle, we don’t have any income and we have exhausted all of our savings. The build out for the mushrooms should begin soon, but it will still take time to put into operation and see any cash flow. It is just this interim that is going to be the hurdle we will definitely need help with.

I hope this explains our situation enough to help get something rolling. I’m so happy to be awake but I’m scared as well. I feel that surrounding myself with as many other people who get it and see it and know the truth is the best thing I can do. Even if nothing can be done financially, we need support in every sense of the word.

Thank you for any and all assistance.

Peace and joy,
Jennifer


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