#jadie has no college debt for Monette Reasons

[kariachi]

I am still on the critters on Mari’s farm so...

The pigs are easy. Originally she did berkshires on pasture and silvopasture, fresh out of college, then added tamworths, then Triath followed her home and now she does tamworths and berkshire/whatever-the-fuck-Triath-is crosses. At best he’s a feral hog (far removed from where they’re common...) and at worst he’s some sort’ve not-pig that’s decided he likes Mari. Normal numbers for the breeders are two boars with seven sows each, which doesn’t sound like much but at about 8 piglets a sow twice a year that’s about 220 piglets a year she’s breeding out. There’s a reason she eventually cracked and hired somebody on. Some piglets get sold as breeding stock, show stock, or feeder pigs (Triath’s get are in high demand as breeders, they grow well and somehow have good temperaments) but the vast majority go to the butcher and are sold as either basic cuts, sausage, or smoked meat- the latter two she does in-house with a portion of the meat she gets back. Most of the meat is sold- local farmers’ market, pre-ordered by local buyers, shipped to restaurants, shipped to non-local buyers (fun fact: in the ‘present’ Monette only buys pork products from this farm for Monette Reasons)- but in true country fashion some of it is traded for things, some goes in the freezer, some goes to charity. She also sells lard, fat for making lard and soap, soup bones, skin, cracklins, and offal- mostly in the form of dog food because that’s the local market and it does her well.

The goats are inherited, technically. Her grandmother kept goats and she’s attached to the whole ‘having goats around’ thing. Plus, she’s developed a taste for goat milk that grabbing cow from the store cannot satisfy. Keeps alpines, four does that she AIs once a year, averaging eight kids between them. The milk she doesn’t use in-house gets turned into butter and cheese which is also used in-house or sold, with the leftovers from that supplementing the pig feed. Lowers costs some. Most of the kids get sold, either post-slaughter or live animals, and whatever of them she can’t sell also go in the freezer.

And finally the chickens, which mostly free range. They’re not Marian’s, they’re Jadie’s, but they live on the farm because, fuck it there’s space and Jadie lives there too. Right now primarily they’re working off a neighbor’s old flock- decided to move nearer to the grandkids and sold the flock off cheap- about ten hens, a mix of orpingtons, rhode island reds, wyandottes, and a single easter egger. They also order in about two dozen delawares every year to raise up for meat. They sell most of the meat, with a chunk going to family- sort’ve a ‘I know you don’t know I’m working as a farmhand but sorry for quitting my job and becoming a farmhand’ (as far as their family knows these are all the chickens they raise and it’s a hobby the farmer they’re doing marketing for helps them with)- and the eggs that aren’t used in-house (they eat about a dozen a week, they get ~5.5 dozen while the hens are laying) are sold. Mostly as homemade mayonnaise, but also they’re gauging interest in prepared eggs (pickled, smoked, salted, etc). Only offering pickled right now (they tried for more ‘exotic’ fair straight off, but no dice, gotta ease these country folk into it) but they’re selling out of them so it’s a start. The things you do when the fresh egg market in your area is swamped. They sell their products at the farmers’ market, same booth as Marian’s shit. The plan is to expand the business over time, eventually get their own self-sustaining dual-purpose flock together.

All together they’re both making a profit. Not much of one on Jadie’s end just yet, but Marian is making enough to set aside some decent savings for the future- whether that bring emergencies, a family, or just having to retire- while being able to insure Jadie and pay them slightly above the average wage for a farmhand in their area. Thankfully Jadie doesn't have to worry too much about bills, they’re living on the farm free of charge and have no college debt, so they’re working on a pretty nice nest-egg themselves to be used either to start a family someday or handle emergency expenses or buy a farm of their own.