Heritage Breed Humans

Relocalizing for people (with my favorite chicken pics)

If you've in any way been exposed to homesteading or backyard farming, you've probably heard of heritage breeds. These are the animals whose ancestors were around before modern agriculture started selecting for characteristics that gave livestock advantages under industrial conditions.

The Livestock Conservancy, a U.S.-based organization dedicated to preserving heritage breeds, describes them this way:

Heritage breeds are traditional livestock breeds that were raised by our forefathers. These are the breeds of a bygone era, before industrial agriculture became a mainstream practice. These breeds were carefully selected and bred over time to develop traits that made them well-adapted to the local environment and they thrived under farming practices and cultural conditions that are very different from those found in modern agriculture.

For example, heritage breed chickens have traits such as a strong urge to scratch and hunt for their food rather than relying totally on what is in the feeder. The tendency to go broody (sit on eggs to hatch them) is preserved, and their mothering instincts are intact. They have developed advantageous features specific to their region, such as small combs that resist freezing for birds living in cold climates.

Broodiness has been bred out of industrial egg layers because when a hen goes broody she does not lay eggs. Obviously there is no need for maternal instincts or the ability to search for food in battery hens whose only job is to survive in a small cage and lay eggs until they are culled. In the industrial model, traits selected for are rapid growth, large egg size relative to body weight, and docility.

Within each population of heritage animals there is maintained a healthy level of genetic variability. Though less than that maintained in wild populations, this diversity is important for resistance to disease. Whether chickens or row crops, organisms sharing genetics also share similar susceptibility to disease, and whole populations can be affected at once. In the industral setting, however, this homogeneity is maintained because it is valuable: Animals that are all the same size, with similar behaviors and creating cookie-cutter products, allow for streamlining of production tasks and equipment, and facilitate brand-building.

It is quite possible to have a flock of non-heritage breed chickens that range for food and are capable of raising offspring. My Barred Rocks, Light Brahmas, and Rhode Island Reds are not listed by the Livestock Conservancy as heritage breeds, but they exhibit many of the same desirable qualities. They haven't been bred for an industrial setting, and are popular breeds for small-scale farming. Nurture is also important. Allowing chicks access to the outdoors at a young age, where they can practice the typical activities of their wild foremothers, fosters traits desirable to the backyard farmer.

At some time in the past, all humans were by necessity like present day heritage breeds. We could feed, clothe, and shelter ourselves by using locally sourced materials. We had deep knowledge of local plants, animals, weather, and topography that enabled us to thrive. While some people might have traded for goods from far away, they probably didn't face famine or societal breakdown if stone age supply chains were disrupted.

These days heritage breed humans are rare. Not only do present day humans tend to be much less connected with the outdoors, industrial society encourages sameness in the way we eat, drink, and dress. Cities grow increasingly similar with the same chain eateries and big box stores. One can eat at McDonald's almost anywhere in the world even as regional culinary traditions disappear, along with their complementary landrace grain and vegetable varieties. Basic modes of living are no longer those which spring naturally from local conditions, but those which are most easily mass-produced. The logic of economies of scale increasingly rules our lives and landscapes.

And what about work? Are workers in cubicles doing similar jobs the analog of industrial livestock? The comparison is only superficially apt because humans can make the conscious decision to attempt reversion to heritage breed status. After reading that sentence, you might imagine yourself roaming your local park with a spear to take down deer, and then using every last bit of the carcass for food, clothing, and tools. While such rewilding of people, as if we could simply go feral and return to a state of pre-civilization, is not realistic, there are many feasible steps to becoming heritage breed.

Homesteading is sometimes conceived as such a step. This route requires much time and money, however, and often creates redundant infrastructure with everyone equipping to butcher, can, ferment, and make soap and herbal remedies, plus a thousand other necessities on the path toward self-sufficiency. Such a lifestyle is impossible for most of us. Rather than attempting to become ruler of a self-sufficient fiefdom, simply finding local sources for needful things is the way to go.

The ethos of the heritage breed human isn't to try to do everything for yourself, an overwhelming goal that is soon abandoned by many. It is better expressed as living well where you are, with what is at hand, as much as possible. The specifics will vary widely depending on location and personal preferences. I don’t spend the time to make my own moisturizer when a local farmer’s market vendor offers a fantastic selection. If cooking every meal from scratch isn’t realistic, occasionally patronizing nearby restaurants that use locally sourced ingredients is a suitable stand-in.

For gardeners, incorporating native plants, especially native fruit and nut trees, is an excellent way to connect with other heritage beings. Non-native plants are also under the big heritage breed tent of course. Garlic probably originated in Eurasia, but I grow a hard neck garlic variety that has been developed to thrive in Ohio. In fact, few annual food plants in my garden originated in the eastern US, but saving seeds from year to year creates plants that thrive here. This is the essence of heritage breeds. Even when I forget to collect seeds, plants often self sow, creating the next generation of plants perfected suited to the local conditions.

Heritage humanhood is only partly about learning certain skills and acquiring equipment. It also means fitting into the local community. Community, both the word and the concept, is becoming a bit shopworn these days, with lots of writing on why we need it and how to get it back. Of course, participation in political and social institutions is crucial, and this can mean everything from trade unions, political parties, the Lions Club, and the Girl Scouts. It’s also important to expand the scope of the word to encompass a meaning beyond just a web of human social connections to include physical infrastructure, the means of production so to speak.

In my town there once existed a communal kitchen where local residents could make jams, pies, breads, and other prepared foods which could then be legally sold because the kitchen was inspected by the proper authorities. This made it possible for people who couldn't otherwise afford an inspected kitchen to participate in cottage-industry level activities, adding value to their produce while also interacting with others who wished to do the same. Tool libraries, makerspaces, and community gardens are more examples of including physical infrastructure in our definition of community. If you’re a heritage breed human, or aspire to being one, these are the sorts of things that make that possible.

Livestock heritage breeds of the past developed of necessity, naturally arising in response to conditions on the ground, with help from farmers. Replicating this process for humans might mean pretending for a while that your needs can’t be met by industrial consumer culture. If you couldn't simply visit Big Box Everything Store to get what you need, what would you do? With a little imagination and a little effort, you’ll be on your way to becoming a heritage breed human.