Pigs & Poultry column & photos by Rodney Wilson
Sometimes when I scroll through my Facebook feed or peruse the bookstore aisles, I’m struck by just how popular chickens have become. No urban agrarian worth their salt would be caught dead without a plucky flock of hens, and there are more how-to books about backyard chicken-keeping on bookshelves than a person could hope to read in a lifetime. I’m not grumbling; I think it’s great, down to the rooster-themed merchandise filling big-box department store shelves. The idea of our family farm started out as a vegetable bed and four hens in a tight backyard, and I’m all for whatever softens people to the idea of growing food for themselves and their community. With doom-and-gloom predictions of a food-scarce future creeping into the news, increasing our sustenance independence is a pretty good idea. More gardens and farmers markets, fewer corporate grocery stores sounds nice to my ears.