Blog – Page 6 – Hiland Naturals

How To Build Your Own Chicken Coop

Have you ever considered raising chickens as pets? What about for eggs and meat? The rise in new backyard farms is a trend that isn’t likely to cool anytime soon. Whether you live on an actual farm or in an apartment building in the city, you can raise chickens and insure that your family is eating GMO-free poultry.

There’s lots of steps you must take in order to get your new backyard farm ready. You’ll have to do some research and decide what kind of chickens to start with, where to get your GMO-free chicken feed, and pick a design for your chicken coop. Luckily, you can build your dream chicken coop by following these simple steps.

The Truth About Chick Starter Feed

April 10, 2015 / Posted in: Farming Practices / Tagged: non-GMO feed, raising chickens, science of GMOs

Spring is upon us and as the earth comes back to life, we see images of chicks all over the place. Since ancient times, chicks hatching from eggs has been a symbol of spring. Today, the adorable, fluffy little creatures can be found on candy wrappers, baskets, and even in the plush form. The chickens are just as adorable in real life. For families and farms that raise chickens—whether it be for eggs or for meat— it’s important that their animals grow to be strong. For these farmers, the chicks only get the best organic chick starter feed so they can grow to be beautiful, healthy chickens.

Empowering The People: Talking GMOs & Backyard Farming With Joel Salatin

April 8, 2015 / Posted in: Interviews / Tagged: food choice, GMO debate, Joel Salatin

Hiland Naturals is committed to providing GMO-free feed to the masses, and we’re very proud to be a Non GMO Project verified brand, but not everyone feels the same way we do about GMOs. We wanted to hear from someone who really understands the debate from every angle, so we looked to a living, breathing example of successful sustainable farming in the United States—Polyface Farms.

The “farm of many faces” operated by the Salatin family, at the head of which sits third generation alternative farmer, Joel. He’s a highly-sought after speaker because of his deep insight and impassioned prose and the perfect person to weigh in on the GMO debate.

This is the second installment in a three-part series where Joel talks to Hiland Naturals about everything from his feelings on GMOs to the effects of a backyard farm on family. Joel agrees with the GMO lobby that we shouldn’t put new labeling laws into effect, but it might not be for the reasons you might expect. Here’s what he had to say:

What The Backyard Farmer Should Know About Raising Pigs

April 6, 2015 / Posted in: Farming Practices / Tagged: farming practices, gmo-free feed, raising pigs, sustainable farming

Pigs are one of the most adorable creatures on the planet. (Even when they aren’t piglets anymore.) As your backyard farm grows, purchasing piglets and beginning your own swine operation at home can be profitable and a lot of fun. Before you dive in, however, there’s a bunch you should know about pigs from how they should be kept to the importance of GMO-free pig feed.

The Tomato-Ness Of A Tomato: Talking GMOs & Backyard Farming With Joel Salatin

April 2, 2015 / Posted in: Interviews / Tagged: GMO debate, Joel Salatin, science of GMOs

Hiland Naturals is committed to providing GMO-free feed to the masses, and we’re very proud to be a Non GMO Project verified brand, but not everyone feels the same way we do about GMOs. We wanted to hear from someone who really understands the debate from every angle, so we looked to a living, breathing example of successful sustainable farming in the United States—Polyface Farms.

The “farm of many faces” operated by the Salatin family, at the head of which sits third generation alternative farmer, Joel. He’s a highly-sought after speaker because of his deep insight and impassioned prose and the perfect person to weigh in on the GMO debate.

Backyard Farmers Can Practice Sustainable Farming

April 1, 2015 / Posted in: Farming Practices / Tagged: backyard farm, GMO-free chicken feed, sustainable farming

Believe it or not, food is both affordable and abundant today. Modern farming practices have made it so there’s no shortage of food on the shelves or in our bellies. Why then are so many individuals concerned with changing the way that we farm? The way big business typically farms isn’t good for our animals, and it isn’t good for us. Sustainable farming is an extremely important concept that all people should be aware of and budding backyard farmers should consider.

Sustainable farming is about much more than just raising chickens to provide for your own table, although that is a big benefit. Joel Salatin argues, “That today 50 percent of all the human edible food produced in the world goes into landfills or greenie-endorsed composting operations rather than through omnivores is both ecologically and morally reprehensible.” Can you disagree? There should be a way to cut down on our wasteful production.

Mendel’s Peas & Today’s Conversation Around GMOs

March 31, 2015 / Posted in: The GMO Debate / Tagged: healthy food, science of GMOs

In the grand scheme of things, genetics is a relatively young field. The innovative human spirit has taken science to new heights in only the past two hundred years or so. (That’s not really a whole lot of time.) Some of our more brilliant ideas have aided the human race in previously unimagined ways, while others have created even bigger problems. The flame that lit the GMO firestorm that concerns many, many individuals today was actually sparked back in in mid 1800s with the experiments conducted by a man named Gregor Mendel.

Bye-Bye Roundup Weed Killer: GMO-Free Livestock Feed Is Here To Stay

March 30, 2015 / Posted in: The GMO Debate / Tagged: health dangers of GMOs, healthy eating, herbicides and pesticides

We all want to eat naturally, to get food in the purest, healthiest form possible, but sometimes these desires are in direct conflict with a farmer’s need to produce a high yield for an ever growing consumer base. Nature is working against us in our quest to consume all-natural, as weeds and bugs attack our crops. Enter Roundup weed killer.

Those crops, in turn, need to feed our livestock, and we believe that those animals shouldn’t be stuffed full of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Hiland Naturals chicken feed, pig feed, turkey feed (and the list goes on) are GMO (and Roundup) free, and here is one reason why.