WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.210 Por que como esquilos? 00:00:02.210 --> 00:00:04.827 Ironicamente, eles vinham comer 00:00:04.827 --> 00:00:06.970 as proteínas vegetais 00:00:06.970 --> 00:00:09.670 que eu plantava no meu jardim: 00:00:09.205 --> 00:00:10.960 girassóis e amendoins. 00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:13.253 Na permacultura, existe o ditado: 00:00:13.253 --> 00:00:16.274 faça do problema a solução. 00:00:16.274 --> 00:00:19.460 Como os esquilos eram o problema, 00:00:19.460 --> 00:00:21.268 a solução foi jantá-los! 00:00:33.020 --> 00:00:34.835 Quero explicar direitinho. 00:00:34.835 --> 00:00:37.190 Como tudo aconteceu? 00:00:37.190 --> 00:00:39.355 Como passei a comer os esquilos 00:00:39.355 --> 00:00:41.470 que estavam comendo meu jardim? 00:00:41.470 --> 00:00:44.302 Recentemente, iniciei a missão 00:00:44.302 --> 00:00:48.153 de cultivar 100% do meu alimento 00:00:48.153 --> 00:00:50.434 por um ano, sem comprar em mercados 00:00:50.434 --> 00:00:52.518 lojas ou restaurantes, sem embalagens 00:00:52.518 --> 00:00:54.164 sem processados, sem produtos 00:00:54.164 --> 00:00:56.841 transportados, literalmente tudo 00:00:56.841 --> 00:00:58.970 que eu ia comer em um ano 00:00:58.970 --> 00:01:01.783 ou brotava no meu jardim ou eu colhia 00:01:01.783 --> 00:01:05.237 na natureza. Comecei o jardim 00:01:05.237 --> 00:01:07.864 e os esquilos começaram a vir. 00:01:07.864 --> 00:01:11.970 Tive de produzir minha farinha, minhas calorias, 00:01:11.970 --> 00:01:16.515 meu açúcar, proteínas, legumes, frutas. 00:01:16.515 --> 00:01:19.530 Literalmente tudo, até meu óleo. 00:01:19.530 --> 00:01:23.574 E eu planejava cultivar também 00:01:23.574 --> 00:01:25.642 algumas proteínas vegetais. 00:01:25.642 --> 00:01:27.751 Colhi com êxito feijões 00:01:27.751 --> 00:01:31.662 e ervilhas, mas tive esse problema 00:01:31.662 --> 00:01:33.889 com girassol e amendoim. 00:01:33.889 --> 00:01:37.708 O problema foi que os esquilos 00:01:37.708 --> 00:01:39.906 vinham comê-los. Ironicamente, 00:01:39.906 --> 00:01:42.197 comiam minha proteína vegetal. 00:01:42.197 --> 00:01:45.159 Na permacultura, a questão é: 00:01:45.159 --> 00:01:47.355 como transformar 00:01:47.355 --> 00:01:49.034 o problema numa solução? 00:01:49.034 --> 00:01:51.408 Se os esquilos eram um problema, 00:01:51.408 --> 00:01:54.846 como eu solucionei o problema? 00:01:54.846 --> 00:01:58.383 Foi aí que decidi comer esquilos. 00:01:58.383 --> 00:02:01.205 squirrels. A lot of people in this scenario 00:02:01.205 --> 00:02:03.853 would just kill the 'pests' who are a 00:02:03.853 --> 00:02:07.004 problem in their garden. But I am not 00:02:07.004 --> 00:02:10.439 someone who just wastes resources or who 00:02:10.439 --> 00:02:13.370 looks at life as a pest in itself. 00:02:13.370 --> 00:02:16.037 Yes, these squirrels were posing a problem 00:02:16.037 --> 00:02:19.227 for me but I still had great respect for 00:02:19.227 --> 00:02:21.687 the squirrels for the creatures that they 00:02:21.687 --> 00:02:24.522 are. So I wasn't going to just kill them 00:02:24.522 --> 00:02:27.364 in order for my garden to be able to 00:02:27.364 --> 00:02:28.850 produce peanuts and sunflowers. 00:02:28.850 --> 00:02:31.717 For me, this was actually about finding 00:02:31.717 --> 00:02:34.682 a valuable resource that there was and 00:02:34.682 --> 00:02:38.405 using that resource wisely. Now squirrels 00:02:38.405 --> 00:02:40.982 are actually a sustainable source of meat. 00:02:40.982 --> 00:02:44.582 There was a huge abundance of squirrels 00:02:44.582 --> 00:02:47.183 in the environment that I was in which 00:02:47.183 --> 00:02:50.298 was the city of Orlando, Florida. And so by 00:02:50.298 --> 00:02:52.599 harvesting these squirrels it wasn't that 00:02:52.599 --> 00:02:55.946 I was taking from a resource that was not 00:02:55.946 --> 00:02:59.148 renewable and there wasn't already an abundance 00:02:59.148 --> 00:03:02.281 of it there. If that was the case It is not 00:03:02.281 --> 00:03:04.241 something that I would have done. 00:03:04.241 --> 00:03:07.933 So this is a form of organic gardening. 00:03:07.933 --> 00:03:09.857 Some people would choose to use 00:03:09.857 --> 00:03:12.372 pesticides to kill things. So this was a 00:03:12.372 --> 00:03:15.308 sustainable local source of food right in 00:03:15.308 --> 00:03:18.387 my garden and the reality is that even 00:03:18.387 --> 00:03:20.589 before they were eating my peanuts and 00:03:20.589 --> 00:03:23.788 sunflowers I was already thinking about 00:03:23.788 --> 00:03:26.900 catching these squirrels and eating them. 00:03:26.900 --> 00:03:29.407 So it is not that I was forced to do this 00:03:29.407 --> 00:03:32.898 or that I had to, but it really motivated 00:03:32.898 --> 00:03:35.671 me to finally do it. So really the reason 00:03:35.671 --> 00:03:37.057 I was eating the squirrels is because 00:03:37.057 --> 00:03:40.155 they are a local source of protein. A 00:03:40.155 --> 00:03:43.090 local quality source of food. But at the 00:03:43.090 --> 00:03:45.689 same time I was able to deal with a problem 00:03:45.689 --> 00:03:47.821 that I had in my garden and actually turn 00:03:47.821 --> 00:03:50.159 it into a solution, into a positive thing. 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:54.086 Alright so, here is the situation, I am 00:03:54.086 --> 00:03:57.188 in no doubt, under the crossfire for this. 00:03:57.188 --> 00:03:59.156 A lot of people will look at this, whether 00:03:59.156 --> 00:04:01.203 they are vegans and they are against 00:04:01.203 --> 00:04:04.341 eating animals altogether, or people who 00:04:04.341 --> 00:04:05.759 just like squirrels. They think they are 00:04:05.759 --> 00:04:08.921 really really cuddly and cute and think that I 00:04:08.921 --> 00:04:10.822 shouldn't eat this while they are eating 00:04:10.822 --> 00:04:14.602 cows and pigs and chickens, for example. 00:04:14.602 --> 00:04:17.438 I am in the direct crossfire here because 00:04:17.438 --> 00:04:20.233 I am sharing that I am trapping and eating 00:04:20.233 --> 00:04:25.173 the squirrels. But the reality is that I have 00:04:25.173 --> 00:04:28.056 put myself out there but the truth is 00:04:28.056 --> 00:04:31.256 that every single one of you watching this, 00:04:31.256 --> 00:04:34.273 while animals are dying on your behalf, 00:04:34.273 --> 00:04:36.943 whether you are vegan or you eat meat, 00:04:36.943 --> 00:04:41.021 the death is happening. I will do another 00:04:41.021 --> 00:04:42.942 video where I go into that a little bit 00:04:42.942 --> 00:04:45.115 further but if you are eating vegan and 00:04:45.115 --> 00:04:47.478 the food is coming from farms, animals are 00:04:47.478 --> 00:04:51.607 dying. Whether it is mice and rats, or 00:04:51.607 --> 00:04:55.225 birds or just the place being created 00:04:55.225 --> 00:04:57.741 where animals are being kept out, 00:04:57.741 --> 00:04:59.565 where an environment is being created 00:04:59.565 --> 00:05:02.021 that doesn't want animals to be there. 00:05:02.021 --> 00:05:05.257 The truth is what I am saying is that death 00:05:05.257 --> 00:05:08.055 is happening for every single one of our 00:05:08.055 --> 00:05:11.191 meals whether they have animals on the 00:05:11.191 --> 00:05:13.570 plate or not. I am happy to be under the 00:05:13.570 --> 00:05:15.873 crossfire but I know that I will get a 00:05:15.873 --> 00:05:18.288 lot of comments for it and this is about 00:05:18.288 --> 00:05:21.171 going into the truth of the food. 00:05:21.171 --> 00:05:23.954 And that was a big purpose of my year of 00:05:23.954 --> 00:05:25.522 growing and foraging all my food to 00:05:25.522 --> 00:05:27.837 really go into the depths and go into 00:05:27.837 --> 00:05:30.737 the food and look into those grey areas. 00:05:30.737 --> 00:05:32.321 And the more that I've looked into the 00:05:32.321 --> 00:05:34.287 grey areas the more I realise that no 00:05:34.287 --> 00:05:37.686 labels, whether it is vegan or gluten-free 00:05:37.686 --> 00:05:41.624 or organic. No label is actually one 00:05:41.624 --> 00:05:45.404 that is cruelty-free and that is not 00:05:45.404 --> 00:05:47.855 causing destruction to people, to the 00:05:47.855 --> 00:05:50.561 planet and to other species. 00:05:50.561 --> 00:05:54.538 I ate the squirrels. It is obvious to see it. 00:05:54.538 --> 00:05:56.754 But we are all killing the squirrels 00:05:56.754 --> 00:05:59.373 or something like it in one way or another 00:05:59.373 --> 00:06:01.246 through our modernised lives. 00:06:01.246 --> 00:06:03.522 What I didn't eat, such as the fur and 00:06:03.522 --> 00:06:05.961 the skin went right back to the land and 00:06:05.961 --> 00:06:09.154 actually fertilized my garden. So it was 00:06:09.154 --> 00:06:12.703 a closed-loop system. In fact, even the 00:06:12.703 --> 00:06:15.173 bait that I used to trap them was sweet 00:06:15.173 --> 00:06:19.163 potatoes from my garden using a metal trap. 00:06:19.163 --> 00:06:22.188 So zero waste whatsoever and a completely 00:06:22.188 --> 00:06:25.804 closed-loop system. So we are talking about 00:06:25.804 --> 00:06:28.739 sustainability here. Squirrels are also 00:06:28.739 --> 00:06:31.604 rodents. They reproduce a lot. So it is a 00:06:31.604 --> 00:06:35.007 sustainable source of food. Now a big thing 00:06:35.007 --> 00:06:39.570 that people would ask or say is, 00:06:39.570 --> 00:06:42.204 'Would it be sustainable if everybody did 00:06:42.204 --> 00:06:45.187 it?' or not a question, just saying if 00:06:45.187 --> 00:06:47.505 everybody did this, would all the squirrels 00:06:47.505 --> 00:06:51.960 be dead? Yes. So sustainability 00:06:51.960 --> 00:06:53.922 is about critical thinking and problem 00:06:53.922 --> 00:06:57.303 solving. If everybody in Orlando is eating 00:06:57.303 --> 00:06:59.339 the squirrels then I wouldn't have been 00:06:59.339 --> 00:07:01.376 in that scenario in the first place. 00:07:01.376 --> 00:07:03.512 And if my neighborhood all wanted to 00:07:03.512 --> 00:07:05.670 eat squirrels I would think about this 00:07:05.670 --> 00:07:08.454 situation differently. True sustainability 00:07:08.454 --> 00:07:12.322 is not about any direct set of rules. It is 00:07:12.322 --> 00:07:14.389 really about looking at individual 00:07:14.389 --> 00:07:17.091 circumstances and deciding what the 00:07:17.091 --> 00:07:19.657 sustainable thing to do in that scenario is. 00:07:19.657 --> 00:07:22.037 So that requires critical thinking, it 00:07:22.037 --> 00:07:24.693 requires problem solving, it requires 00:07:24.693 --> 00:07:27.214 not thinking in a black and white way. 00:07:27.214 --> 00:07:31.254 It really requires localized thinking and 00:07:31.254 --> 00:07:34.154 understanding our resources. 00:07:34.154 --> 00:07:35.858 Alright if you have got this far you 00:07:35.858 --> 00:07:38.394 might be wondering what does squirrel 00:07:38.394 --> 00:07:42.004 taste like? And recently I did a video 00:07:42.004 --> 00:07:43.939 for BuzzFeed that has been viewed over 00:07:43.939 --> 00:07:46.562 three million times and the answer I 00:07:46.562 --> 00:07:50.165 give is just squirrel tastes like squirrel. 00:07:50.165 --> 00:07:52.039 And that is actually how I feel. 00:07:52.039 --> 00:07:53.922 But I am going to go into it a little 00:07:53.922 --> 00:07:55.770 bit more for you. It basically tastes not 00:07:55.770 --> 00:08:00.091 that different from rabbit or any wild bird 00:08:00.091 --> 00:08:04.907 or wild small game or chicken. You know 00:08:04.907 --> 00:08:08.971 to me, most meats don't taste that different 00:08:08.971 --> 00:08:11.308 from each other. But it would basically 00:08:11.308 --> 00:08:12.673 taste like a combination of that. 00:08:12.673 --> 00:08:13.988 How did I cook it? 00:08:13.988 --> 00:08:15.921 Generally, I would just put it into stews. 00:08:15.921 --> 00:08:20.520 A vegetable stew with potatoes and cabbage 00:08:20.520 --> 00:08:22.367 and different greens and carrots and 00:08:22.367 --> 00:08:24.605 things like that. And just make a stew 00:08:24.605 --> 00:08:28.931 that added a lot of flavor and a lot of consistency 00:08:28.931 --> 00:08:32.587 to that stew. Squirrels aren't very large 00:08:32.587 --> 00:08:35.071 but they can really go a long way in 00:08:35.071 --> 00:08:36.339 adding to a meal. 00:08:36.339 --> 00:08:38.538 I want to close by saying that this 00:08:38.538 --> 00:08:41.687 really isn't about the squirrel at all. 00:08:41.687 --> 00:08:43.703 This is about a bigger picture. Honestly, 00:08:43.703 --> 00:08:45.573 I wouldn't do a video that is really just 00:08:45.573 --> 00:08:47.874 about why I ate the squirrels if there 00:08:47.874 --> 00:08:50.187 wasn't a much bigger thing behind it. 00:08:50.187 --> 00:08:53.318 I went into that, but really the take home 00:08:53.318 --> 00:08:55.770 lesson is that the world is not a black 00:08:55.770 --> 00:08:59.607 and white place. When you actually unlift 00:08:59.607 --> 00:09:02.171 the veil behind the food you are buying 00:09:02.171 --> 00:09:04.137 at the supermarket you realize it is far 00:09:04.137 --> 00:09:06.089 more complex and far more intricate than 00:09:06.089 --> 00:09:09.454 that. When you look deeper at life you 00:09:09.454 --> 00:09:12.454 realize that all of our actions are far more 00:09:12.454 --> 00:09:16.094 complex and deep than we think or would 00:09:16.094 --> 00:09:19.239 like to think. Labels are a false sense of 00:09:19.239 --> 00:09:21.671 security. When you really look there are 00:09:21.671 --> 00:09:24.071 pros and there are cons to everything. 00:09:24.071 --> 00:09:26.721 So that is where I want to go. I want to 00:09:26.721 --> 00:09:28.905 go into the grey areas that really create 00:09:28.905 --> 00:09:31.437 critical thinking and that is the purpose 00:09:31.437 --> 00:09:34.137 of talking about the squirrels and 00:09:34.137 --> 00:09:37.687 why I chose to eat them. 00:09:37.687 --> 00:09:40.121 And I hope that you got that. I hope that 00:09:40.121 --> 00:09:43.021 you see that intricacies of life. 00:09:43.021 --> 00:09:45.189 Now if that is where you want to go in 00:09:45.189 --> 00:09:48.247 life, if you want to go further down the 00:09:48.247 --> 00:09:51.197 path of sustainability and living a just 00:09:51.197 --> 00:09:53.837 and equal life then this is definitely the 00:09:53.837 --> 00:09:55.756 channel for you. So make sure that you 00:09:55.756 --> 00:09:57.823 subscribe, like and comment and share 00:09:57.823 --> 00:09:59.987 this video to help get it out there. 00:09:59.987 --> 00:10:02.055 I love you all very much and I will see 00:10:02.055 --> 00:10:03.488 you again real soon.