“You think I care about how an animal was raised? We eat meat and eggs in our house!” That’s the statement someone recently made about why they wouldn’t pay an extra $0.05 for farm-fresh eggs. At first glance, it’s easy to dismiss it as just another example of entitlement. But dig a little deeper, andContinue reading “Farm Table Talk: Does It Even Matter How Our Food Is Raised?”
Author Archives: Traci Houston
Farm Table Talk: When Roosters Rumble—The Pecking Order in Action
Last week, we added four new roosters to our flock. As I stood there watching them sort things out with the established boys, I couldn’t help but feel a little queasy, like I was some kind of outlaw spectating a backyard cockfight. Sure, cockfighting is illegal, inhumane, and utterly unethical—there’s no defending that. But here’sContinue reading “Farm Table Talk: When Roosters Rumble—The Pecking Order in Action”
From Battery Cages to Bliss: Rehabilitating Chickens at Huckleberry Farms
At Huckleberry Farms, we recently embarked on a compassionate mission to rescue and rehabilitate a group of hens who had endured the harsh reality of life in industrial farming systems. These ex-battery hens arrived in mid March 2025, and their condition spoke volumes about their prior lives. Missing feathers, clipped beaks, and signs of nutritionalContinue reading “From Battery Cages to Bliss: Rehabilitating Chickens at Huckleberry Farms”
Farm Table Talk: Turbo-Charging Health, One Meal at a Time
Let me confess something right off the bat: justification is one of my greatest strengths. It’s practically an Olympic sport for me. Dinner is my one consistent meal, while lunch is a rare luxury, and breakfast? It might as well be a weekend-only unicorn. When someone mentioned intermittent fasting as a health-boosting lifestyle, I practicallyContinue reading “Farm Table Talk: Turbo-Charging Health, One Meal at a Time”
Cover Up: Why Healthy Soil Needs Protection
Bare soil is like an open invitation for nature to wreak havoc. Without something to shield it, the ground becomes vulnerable to erosion, nutrient loss, and even a total collapse in biodiversity. At Huckleberry Farms, we’ve learned this firsthand—thanks to a free-roaming flock of highly enthusiastic chickens. What was once a lush yard has nowContinue reading “Cover Up: Why Healthy Soil Needs Protection”
Farm Table Talk: Environmentalism Through Action, Not Abandonment
The word “environmentalism” tends to conjure up certain images—solar panels, wind turbines, thrifting your way to sustainable living, maybe even a headline or two about the latest push for net-zero emissions. But there’s a lesser-heard approach that flips the script: environmentalism through action, not abandonment. It’s a philosophy shared by Joel Salatin, the renegade farmerContinue reading “Farm Table Talk: Environmentalism Through Action, Not Abandonment”
Soggy Soil Blues: The Risks of Extended Wetness for Soil Health
Rain can feel like a blessing—until it becomes a burden. While soil needs water to sustain life, too much of it can quickly turn helpful hydration into destructive saturation. At Huckleberry Farms, we’ve had firsthand experience with prolonged wet spells, watching once-healthy ground struggle under the weight of persistent rain. Bare patches caused by chickensContinue reading “Soggy Soil Blues: The Risks of Extended Wetness for Soil Health”
Farm Table Talk: The Self-Appointed Judges of Society
Let’s face it—there are way too many people in this country trying to tell other people what to do. It’s like we’ve entered the age of self-appointed judges, each one convinced that their perception of how others should live is the golden standard. Why does this happen? Probably because we live in luxury, have itContinue reading “Farm Table Talk: The Self-Appointed Judges of Society”
Farm Table Talk: Tariffs, Penguins, and the Art of Blindfolded Knife-Throwing
Well, folks, it seems we’ve reached a new level of absurdity in the political circus. Last week (on my birthday, no less!!), the Heard Island and McDonald Islands—remote, uninhabited specks of land in the southern Indian Ocean, home to nothing but penguins, seals, and a whole lot of ice—were slapped with a 10% tariff. Yes,Continue reading “Farm Table Talk: Tariffs, Penguins, and the Art of Blindfolded Knife-Throwing”
The Deep Bedding Method: Chickens, Compost, and Confined Chaos
If you’ve ever let chickens run wild in your yard, you probably learned one thing pretty quickly: these feathered landscapers are not here to decorate. They’re here to annihilate. Chickens don’t gently nibble and coexist with your flowers and grass—they decimate. They dustbathe their way into oblivion, turning spring’s promising green shoots into sad littleContinue reading “The Deep Bedding Method: Chickens, Compost, and Confined Chaos”
