ely good insulation against the cold winter night's chill. Ducks and geese are excellent producers of eggs and meat, and geese give meat, down and delicious goose grease with little more than a good lawn to graze. No homestead is complete without them.
Relationship is the key to good homesteading; it is now, and it has always been so. Indeed, practically every breed of traditional farm animal is the product of a regional relationship between an area's farmers and their animals. Before the post WWII era brought us a facile illusion of comfort that led individual to compete ruthlessly against individual, country life tended toward deep cooperation in the clear and simple name of survival. Farm cooperated with farm such that all could see a new spring. Because of this, homesteads were able to support each other.
In the keeping of farm animals, this is essential. As years pass, a farmer sees the need to import new blood into the barnyard in order to insure against the dangers on inbreeding. Knowing that one's neighbor is in the same boat, it become logical to exchange breeding fowl, thus renewing the flocks of both farms. In order for this to be truly adventageous, however, it is essential that flock owners breed their birds with like goals of utility. Otherwise, the needed swap can cause more damage than good, another clear need for farmer cooperation. Over time this interaction leads to an outstanding level of uniformity among the fowl and farm animals of a region. Like reproduces like, and a breed is born.
The latter half of the 20th century witnessed the general breakdown of the whole of homesteading and rural life. Breeds fell like flies as homes no longer depended on them for their meat and eggs. In some cases, breeds that dated back through centuries, and even millennia, were reduced to marginalized minor populations, barely holding on. Corporate agribusiness rejected this rich bio-diversity for the marketing uniformity of a few breeds, bred into new and unnatural forms, guarded behind closed doors. Slowly, their grip has become like a vice over traditional rural life and the food supplies of both rural and urban centers.
Still, as a culture, we appear to be beginning to reawaken from this metal nightmare. For some breeds it is and will be too late. Their numbers are so reduced that they shall never rebound and will slip unsung into oblivion. For others, though, there is still time, and we shall be able to reclaim them from the ravages of neglect, if we are only willing to work together for their, and subsequently our, greater good.
To this end, we announce the Yellow House Farm Conservation Intiative, the goal of which will be the establishment of a network of homesteaders and farmers dedicating their efforts to specific breeds. As we do so, we will witness their strengthening and rejuvenation. They will enrich our homesteads with their many products and services. It will connect people of like mind and goal, and slowly refresh, in some small way, the general community.
Upon purchasing hatchlings from Yellow House Farm, customers will be encouraged to join the Society for the Preservation of Poultry Antiquities. The SPPA provides member farmers and homesteaders with the a national Breeders' Directory. Thus, as time passes and there is a need to refresh bloodlines with acquisition of new stock, breeders will be able to consult the SPPA Breeders' Directory to contact other area homesteaders and farmers for a traditional "rooster swap". Moreover, Yellow House Farm will continue its commitment to helping new breeders master the arts of poultry breeding and selection such that each year's hatchlings will mark a new step in the development of heritage breeds whose utility meets and surpasses the echo of yesteryear.
Moreover, membership in the Society for the Preservation of Poultry Antiquities allows for fraternizing between breeders. In our busy schedules, we often need support to make things run smoothly. The SPPA connects breeder to breeder and opens doorways of support and mutual benefit, i.e. we're all in this boat to