Life on the “Kill Truck” with Grace Gurganus

For some, in the digital age, life feels faraway and disconnected. As if each and every part of life comes from a separate factory, Amazon’ed right to our front doors. Today’s guest, Grace Gurganus, wanted to connect the dots and have a more immediate connection with her lived experience. She set out to make an impact in her local food system in southern Oregon, and experienced a radical change in lifestyle and career.  

Grace is a mobile butcher, meaning she earns her keep traveling from farm to farm and slaughtering animals onsite. It wasn’t the life she expected to have, but the life she found from following her heart and trusting the process along the way. On today’s episode, Corinne and Grace not only discuss the story of how Grace wound up on the “kill truck”, but also how her work experience has shaped her life and healed some deep wounds. It’s a powerful conversation for anyone interested in getting to the heart of the matter— the line between life and death, and how by doing challenging things, life becomes easier.  

Corinne and Grace talk about:  

• Grace’s circuitous journey to become a mobile butcher 
• How Grace’s vision transitioned from a future of being the butcher cutting meat, to the butcher performing on-farm slaughter
• The power of Grace showing up, and being willing to learn
• Grace’s first day on the “kill truck”
• Grace’s relationship to her empathy, in context with her work
• Slowdown Farmstead
• Start a Farm 
• Where flowery language meets the lived experience 
• “There’s no practice cow”
• Why Grace is always going to be the person who slaughters her own livestock
• What is lost when we prioritize efficiency over everything else in animal agriculture
• How Grace embraces the varying shades of morality in her work
• The reason doing hard things made Grace’s life so much easier 
• The ways butchering brings Grace home to herself
• Grace’s journey with her mother’s cancer diagnosis, and eventual death
• Walking through the fears around losing loved ones, and learning to let go
• The way Grace feels her mother’s essence in her everyday life
• The power of beginning change right in your own community 

 
Connect with Grace on instagram @gracieg_goodkarmafarm 

This episode was brought to you by Late Bloomer Ranch. Be sure to check our farm-raised yarn, flower essences, and BloomBoxes available to ship in the continental USA. 

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And if you’re craving food that aligns with your values, don’t forget to order from the ranch. It’s nourishment that supports your body and the soil.

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Thanks for being here.
– Corinne