In return, they laid more eggs than I could eat. In summer when insects were their chief diet—ants being plentiful, and grasshoppers in August—their yolks took on the color of a sunset and tasted good ...

I arrive in the early morning light to find James, now 44, directing traffic on the patio of his simple home (a repurposed hay barn and cowshed) as kids, chickens and border collies transverse the ...