Cotton Patch Geese T-Shirt

Cotton Patch Geese are an endangered domestic landrace goose from the Southeastern United States. Probably bred by formerly enslaved tenant farmers (some enslaved people carved out the time to become skilled poultry breeders), the geese are so named because their taste for narrow-bladed grasses means they can be used to weed cotton or tobacco crops. Once they're fattened, they dress out to 11-12 pounds, just right for a Depression-era oven -- and in fact, their eggs and meat got many Southern families through the Depression! Today, a few of us are fighting to save this heritage breed from extinction on our farms and in our backyards -- including on the half-acre poultry pasture at Loch Nest Farm.