Willie Huston is a man who wears many hats.
He's a devout husband and father, a talented bluegrass musician, a small-scale farmer and now the subject of an upcoming documentary on his regenerative farming journey.
A growing number of farmers across the country are embracing traditional regenerative farming, moving away from large-scale industrial farming practices that have become the norm in recent decades.
On a 13-acre property outside Bowling Green, Kentucky, Huston is one of the farmers leading that trend. He purchased his property in 2016 with the goal of restoring the land through regenerative agriculture, a practice that promotes biodiversity and stewardship of the forests and fields that make up his farmland.
He says those practices are in direct opposition to industrial farming, which often prioritizes mono-culture crops that leave soil and surrounding ecosystems depleted of nutrients.
"It does strike a nerve, because when I see it called farming, the first thing I think of is, 'Well, I guess, if you want to put that label on it because land is being used,' - but in a real sense, that land is being used up," Huston said.
Regenerative farming focuses largely on prioritizing soil health and replenishing existing ecosystems, yielding crops free from pesticides or synthetic fertilizers.
Huston says the key to the practice is re-introducing the movement of large animals on the landscape, replicating the migrations of buffalo and other large mammals that once roamed the United States.
"Once you get to emulate how animals used to move on the land, you start seeing the animal-plant relationship that's necessary that makes things just burst forth with life from the nitrogen and the carbon sequestration and to the constant moving, and letting microbes break down like manure and things like that," Huston said.
He first created that relationship by allowing heritage hogs to forage his forests and fields, directing their rotational grazing with minimal electric fencing. He now rotates a small herd of cattle through his property as well, and says the difference in the health of his land and food has been staggering.
"You get better aggregation in the soil, deeper roots, thicker blades on the plants, and so then you get into this case where you're supporting wildlife systems in the future for different birds and insects and things like that that are necessary for a long future. An Earth future. Not just a used up dominating future," Huston said.
After a season of running the property, Huston says the hogs become a vital part to the next part of his regenerative plan - restoring a sense of community. He personally harvests the hogs to feed his family, neighbors, and the community around him.
Huston, his wife, and daughters form deep emotional attachments to the hogs, naming them and learning each of their personalities. Huston said he has nightmares about the process, but added that showing love and respect to an animal throughout its life is a display of gratitude to the animal that is giving life to his land and family.
"There's a deeper appreciation that I have when I continue to name the animals. They each have their own personality too, I think that's the thing, to see that is important. My whole ideology on that I guess you could say, or take on that, is just that the more that I take care of them, I know I'm going to have to deal with more sadness and grief. I care for them even more," he explained.
Grief, joy, and bacon
Emily Cooper is a Bowling Green native creating a documentary that follows the annual cycle of Willie bringing in a new group of hogs, their rotational grazing process, and their eventual death.
She says that Huston's approach to animal husbandry strays from any other depiction she's seen.
"This idea of, kind of masculine, not feeling, not caring, just buck up, and Willie allows himself to feel. And I think there's a beauty in that, so for me, it just boils down to, this is a really interesting, character-driven documentary about a man who's trying to do the right thing on so many levels," Cooper said.
The documentary, Willie + Pigs, is currently in post-production. Cooper says the film's themes will explore the complex relationship between human beings, animals, and their intertwined role in impacting the land.
"So, it's not this binary of 'Do you choose to eat meat or do you not eat meat? And if you choose to eat meat, do you choose happy meat or not happy meat?' But this idea of, if we want this certain type of land in our country, there's a way that we need to nurture and care for our land, and part of that healthy ecosystem is having animals on the land," she said.
Huston says that when that relationship is fostered successfully, he sees that success in the forests and fields around him. He says he's seen dormant species spring back to life, wildflowers occupy what was once depleted soil, and healthy produce nourish his family and neighbors.
In time, he says that landscape becomes a self-sustaining system that will benefit future generations.
"So, on the human level, like with my girls, it's establishing a good soil that will be able to take care of itself some day if they weren't to do much, so it'll be easier for the next generation, whether that's my girls or not," Huston said.
While regenerative farming creates a multitude of physical benefits like biodiversity, nutritious food and improved soil quality, Huston says the spiritual journey of land stewardship is equally rewarding. He's an avid musician and poet, using nature as a creative muse and an outlet for expression.
"If the land's not inspiring music or poetry or thought, I must not be doing something right by the land. Because that's what it is in itself. Whether it's the wind, the trees, the birds, the different insects, the animals, it's music. It's poetry in motion out there, it's a great office in that way."
Cooper is collecting donations to fund post-production of Willie + Pigs, with the goal of making the 15-20 minute film publicly available in spring of 2026. Huston hopes that the documentary's exposure brings more attention to the practice of regenerative farming, and the positive impacts it has on the planet and community.
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