For My Birthday I Asked To Be Gifted a Chicken
I told Zach that I want to be given a chicken for my birthday, and not necessarily from him. I wanted it to come into my life at the right time when I needed it and there were others to share it with.
Transcribed from my journal originally written on 5/28
After not eating meat for 7 years, I began to rethink how I feel about consuming animal products and under which circumstances I find it to be ethical and worth that animals’ life. Reading Hormone Intelligence by Dr. Aviva Romm opened my eyes to hormonal issues I have suffered from and how diet and lifestyle can help to heal those issues along with certain herbal remedies and supplements. I have been dreaming about a juicy chicken roasted whole from a small, local sustainable farm for a while now which I interpreted as a message from my body asking for specific nutrients. I see it in my dreams and when I feel hungry during my luteal phase. My chicken dreams started as strong intrinsic desires to tear my teeth through a skin-on chicken thigh like famished cavewoman. They morphed into images of cooking a whole chicken carcass into a rich broth that I sip slowly under a cozy blanket. Then I dreamed of using that chicken stock to make a congee topped with chili crisp and found myself searching for recipes passed down from Asian grandmas. I know it's a food I’ve been craving since I’ve reshaped my relationship with which foods are nourishing and also ethical to eat along with where the food comes from (currently reading The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan on this topic). I want to nourish and heal my body from hormonal disorders naturally, and gifting my body a wholesome meal that utilizes the entire animal and is eaten with intention is the perfect gift I can give myself to progress on my journey as it symbolizes listening to my body when she is trying to speak to me.
This can look like: Tuning into my intuition and trusting it in this exploratory period of my life; a chapter in which I get to try as much as possible to learn about myself and how I want to exist in the world; what I want to fill my time, use my attention and energy. Where I get to dream and create who gets to be there and ask who needs to be there. What are my needs? What are my boundaries? I won't know unless I go search for the answers. In a future chapter I see myself having stability, community, and land. I’ll tend to vegetables, chickens and ducks, children, and relationships. I’m seeing my life as a gift I can give myself.
I can ask for things and receive them.
(6/4/23)
I Received the Chicken of My Dreams:
Looking back at the last few weeks when I was manifesting a chicken, I truly had no idea or image of how this would happen, only that I knew it would. On May 31 we left our wwoof in New Hampshire (that I wrote about in my last wwoof update) and arrived at Fox Run Orchards in Lebanon, New Hampshire. A new housemate Hannah arrived here at the same time that Zach and I did and I quickly learned that she is Jewish and enjoys celebrating Shabbat and leading song circles. She quickly invited me to a song circle that was happening on my birthday (June 4), and since I didn’t have any birthday plans not knowing what our situation would be, I gladly accepted her invitation and thought it would be the perfect celebration. We set off for Strafford, Vermont which was a lusciously green drive through the mountains from our stay in NH to find this song circle in the woods. We made it to the property and were lead by signs to a yurt down a small stream tucked away in the trees. I heard voices coming from the tent and opened the door to many smiling faces and beautiful melodies. This land belonged to a small group living in community where they raised goats and… you guessed it… chickens.
After the event concluded my new friend Hannah told me that they had raised and processed their own chickens on the land and probably had some available in the freezer. I told her that I had literally been dreaming of a finding a small-farm chicken for a while now and that I was hoping to receive one as a gift (more for the metaphor of my food journey catalyzing). We left without hearing about the chicken where-abouts and concluded my birthday evening with a lovely vegan Thai dinner that had to be rated in my top 5 of favorite Thai meals ever eaten.
I got home from my lovely birthday celebration day to a chocolate cake and new friends to sing to me. Hannah then announced that the farm back in VT did in fact have whole processed chickens and she got one for me!
I was so humbled and grateful. Other people around were confused as to why I was so excited to receive the chicken. They’re not that hard to come by and they’re cheap at the grocery store. Some of them I’m sure were also confused as I told the house members that I was vegan (it’s easier that way since I mostly eat plant based and wont eat conventional animal products). I felt honored to have asked the universe for something and to receive it with love and ease. It was small, but to me it truly was a symbol of listening to my intuition and receiving the medicine I need to move forward on my hormonal health journey.
Our host Rory learned of the chicken and immediately went to brine it for dinner tomorrow. He even pulled out a second one that was raised on this very farm last year so there will be enough food for everyone. I didn’t even know they had farm raised chickens here, so the gift keeps on giving. We will all be enjoying this poultry feast tonight at “family dinner” which is ought to be lovely.
I am coming back to this drafted post to add that we just finished our family meal and it was more than I could have hoped for. The chicken was juicy and flavorsome and was as nourishing for my mind and body as I could have dreamed it would be. We paired it with rice, fresh picked asparagus from the garden, and a kick-ass salad which was my contribution. For dessert we had scrumptious banana bread and bread pudding. After a sweet day of working in the garden, writing, and doing yoga, that meal was an ideal gathering under the setting sun. Thank you Fox Run for your hospitality and for your good vibes.
This is awesome! I am so honored and happy to be sharing in your savory expressivity.