Non-vegan work, huge dilemma

[WanderingFruitWonderer]

I'm feeling very stressed at the moment. I don't know what the heck to do.
I'm a strict vegan, and passionate about animal rights.
I'm self-employed, with a background in the arts, and usually work from home. However, I lost a lot of work due to the pandemic; and have been doing other bits and pieces of casual work on top, to make ends meet. Last year I worked on a fruit farm for a couple of months, picking strawberries and other things. I have to say I loved it - being outdoors, working hard etc. So I decided to do it again this year. Unfortunately it's not going nearly so well. I discovered the full-time year round workers are basically all fascists! Well, that's an exaggeration, but all much more to the right than me, with terrible attitudes to immigration etc. Then about two weeks ago the farmer used a very racist word, which I won't repeat. I politely explained the word is very offensive, and to be fair he apologized.
But the final straw came yesterday, when he told me that he shoots rabbits and, on occasion, badgers, on the farm, if he thinks they're a threat to his crops. I was aghast.
I've been up half the night feeling upset. I was planning to do work there (not every day) till early August. But feel like such a hypocrite if I do. But, I haven't got much other work lined up till then, and desperately need the income.
Would you leave immediately? Wait till you've found something else? Just stick it out for the next few weeks, knowing you wouldn't return next year? Have you ever done work that clashes with your beliefs?

[WanderingFruitWonderer]

@SexyBastardSmile

This is the vegan section of mumsnet. Why is it being invaded by farmers and their pals?

Yes, I've been a bit perplexed by some of the posts I must admit. I wasn't intending at all to start a debate, or I'd have posted in AIBU. I was just expecting responses from fellow vegans, or those sympathetic to veganism, that's why I posted in the vegan topic.
Of course it's an open forum, so anyone can post, but I don't totally understand the motive. C'est la vie.
Lots of lovely, very helpful posts from vegans, and the generally empathetic. I'm so grateful, and it's helped enormously. I slept much better last night, so thank you all. Sorry I haven't replied to them all yet. I've got a bit more time today, so I'll re-read through...

[WanderingFruitWonderer]

Much talk of soya on this thread. You can see here that vegans are significantly less responsible for rainforest destruction (to grow soya) than most meat eaters and milk drinkers -

www.ethicalconsumer.org/food-drink/soya-sustainable

I once heard George Monbiot suggest that the best way to reduce consumption of soya, is to eat more soya!

[maddy68]

@WanderingFruitWonderer

Yes, I've been a bit perplexed by some of the posts I must admit. I wasn't intending at all to start a debate, or I'd have posted in AIBU. I was just expecting responses from fellow vegans, or those sympathetic to veganism, that's why I posted in the vegan topic.
Of course it's an open forum, so anyone can post, but I don't totally understand the motive. C'est la vie.
Lots of lovely, very helpful posts from vegans, and the generally empathetic. I'm so grateful, and it's helped enormously. I slept much better last night, so thank you all. Sorry I haven't replied to them all yet. I've got a bit more time today, so I'll re-read through...

It was in active threads

[ehb102]

@maddy68

It was in active threads

Yes, sorry. It was in active threads. It didn't show the relative board, I thought it was an AITA. Obvious I ATA here.

[WanderingFruitWonderer]

Ah @maddy68 and@ehb102 I see! No worries. I can see how that happened. Come to think of it, I think someone said something similar earlier in the thread. Anyway, that makes more sense. No need to apologise 😊
I have to say that I definitely wouldn't be so brave, or possibly masochistic, as to post my OP (of this thread) in AIBU!

[LiarActressGoTheFuckOut]

It doesn’t matter if it was in active threads, it’s still in the vegan section. Most sections appear on active threads if there’s enough posts. You were clearly a vegan posting on the vegan topic. Some people just can’t help themselves saying what did you expect or being vegan is a luxury. Absolute garbage. They should start there own thread if they want to be nasty or talk about veganism in general. They won’t, they just see anything vegan and make some silly, nasty or false comment.

How are you feeling about things now OP? 🌱

[WanderingFruitWonderer]

@LiarActressGoTheFuckOut sorry for my delayed response. I only read your post when I was on the way out this morning. Thank you for asking me.
I'm feeling much better about things. All the advice (the helpful stuff!) on this thread actually helped enormously.
I'm seeing it as a progression, and a learning time. I don't feel so guilty, which is the thing that was crippling me before.
I'm vaguely looking for alternative casual work for the same time period, but no joy yet. It ends in a few weeks anyway, and I'm not there every day. It's a bit better now, as so much fruit needing harvesting that the workers are given a variety or section each, so I'm often alone with nature these days, working quietly to the sound of birdsong. I far prefer that. I'm saving insects there, and saved a worm in peril yesterday, who would otherwise have perished in the sun. That made me happy (fellow creature savers will understand!)
I'm still very worried about the badger thing. I tried to talk to the farmer about it, but he was busy, and didn't want to discuss it. He said it was legal, and a rare occurrence. I'll try to discuss it with him again, as it sounds as though, both badgers and sets are protected. In the interim, I made a donation to The Badger Trust the other day.
I think I'm going to put my name down for an allotment, so I'm less agriculture dependent in future. I want to work towards getting my life in such a place that I no longer have to do jobs I don't believe in to survive. I'm learning to make the best of things till then. It's a blooming minefield though! Trying to be ethical. But, I'll keep trying...