Raising 8-10 pigs a year?
"I started raising pigs a few years ago, with just one in the barn. Now I raise 8-10 a year and have a professional butcher come to the farm and dispatch and prepare the meat for me and the folks who co-own the pigs. "
Either I've missed HUGE parts of her blogging history, She raises pigs that she has never mentioned, or she shook her magic 8 ball to fill in the number of pigs raised per year.
I seem to recall she couldn't fulfill orders that people paid for in the spring for fall pigs because she had trouble "sourcing" pigs. I don't remember the exact number of pigs from 2014, but I think it was three. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like way more than I remember.
ReplyDeleteOh, you guys just forgot about the pigs she raised in the Argrocola game! Don't those count too?
ReplyDeleteOkay then, I'll venture a guess that half of them die young.
ReplyDeleteI have a great idea, and we can capitalize on Jenna's fairy tale life.. A new board game called "Jenna Land", where everyone can just hope that they get dealt a good card, and as they don't have to make any choices, or do any work, and if they are lucky, they can then rake in the dough!
ReplyDeletewhat's crazy is she had purebred Swedish flower hens from Greenfire Farm at some point. They have selectively been breeding them for appealing traits...only for Jenna to turn them into her chicken mutt stew. Greenfire Farm sells their purebred Swedish Flower Hen chicks for $29 PER CHICK!
ReplyDeleteJenna could make a ton of money breeding these chickens and selling them...though that would take time, effort, and record keeping. I don't understand why people send her money when she is given the tools to make money. literally, from breeding stock, to the bunbaker wood stove, gardening tools...the list goes ON and ON and ON.
http://greenfirefarms.com/chicken/swedish-flower-hen/
"At 2:35 in the afternoon of June 17, 2010, a jumbo jet from Stockholm landed at JFK airport in New York carrying in its vast metal belly a most unusual cargo: 15 Swedish flower hens. This breed, for more than half a millenium isolated in small villages in Sweden, had made the leap across the Atlantic for the first time as part of Greenfire Farms’ ongoing program of introducing rare chickens to America. Until now, very few people in the world (including most Swedes) have ever had the opportunity to see living examples of this breed, let alone the ability to own and raise them."
Yeah, one of the funniest parts of her "seeee, look how much stuff I actually do around here!" post was her patting herself on the back for her collection of mutt chickens that she got from haphazardly mixing purebred, rare breed chickens and allowing nature to take its course.
DeleteJenna, on your newest post (the 9 one). You make you LIVING off the internet... and it's fools. Stop trying to give advice you lummox. You can't even be responsible for your own daily needs. Please. Just SHUT UP!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if you have seen her Facebook page but she has several family members who reply to her posts and it seems she is often rude to them as well.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking specifically when her mother mentioned something about having a cell phone in this day and age for safety and again recently when Jenna posted about wanting to be named "Goody" or some BS and her mother stated that sounded crazy and she (Jenna) was baptized. Jenna's responses to her own mother seem quite rude and made me think her family must be so embarrassed by her actions and attitudes.
I have noticed as well that someone makes a comment which most would answer in a constructive way (to answer a question or educate) she gets so incredibly defensive (ex - the comment someone made about the horse needing a shelter). Why not just use that as an opportunity to impart wisdom since she is an "award winning" homesteader? Why just trot out one side and make it seem like the commenter is such a complete moron and Jenna is doing everything correctly? That attitude she has is so off-putting I can't believe I was encouraged by her at all!
It's hard to believe anyone is encouraged by her after reading more than a few blog posts. Her attitude is crap, and she loves to play the victim. I'm really kind of counting down the days until she's finally outed as the fraud she is. And when it does happen, I hope she takes it as a wake up call and fixes herself.
ReplyDeleteForget the cross bred chickens, we have Brian Williams and Oprah in overalls here. Homestead consultant and life style farm guru, get the T shirts and coffee mugs because this is for real, we must take the challenge to be positive, easy to say when thIs SOS gets answered by some suckas but this dream turns nightmare with the bank examiner from Elmira counting down the dead chickens and taking poliroids of vlog appeals
ReplyDeleteshe posted again the other day about pipes being frozen and the crowd was definitely starting to call her out for always being in trouble. I think the tide is turning. And this just now from Jon Katz....
ReplyDelete"The big thing here at the farm is to be prepared to ask for help, and I am. I need food, cash money, hay, firewood, snow-shoveling (pet friendly) salt, sweetfeed for horses and sheep. Some treats for the dogs, too, maybe. And hair dryers for my frozen pipes. I'm going to post that dire message on Facebook about how much trouble I am in, and just go out to lunch and leave the barn door open. There are a lot of good people out there, they are ready to go, eager to help, all I need is for a few of them to feel sorry for me and bring me stuff. When the storm is over, I will be set." It was a satirical piece gee wonder who he was satrizing?
Oh my, I wonder if the Jennafans will call him a hater?
DeleteYeow! His posts re JW are getting worse and worse! When she writes so defensively, I'll bet it has a lot more to do with his blog than this one. Especially considering that a couple years ago, it was a total mutual love fest. That's certainly gone down the drain.
DeleteWhoa! Jon Katz wrote that?This must be how the locals view her.
ReplyDeleteThe post your mentioned in your first sentence - was that on Facebook or her blog? What were the comments? Can you copy and paste?
Here are some more quotes from Jon Katz's satiric blog post:
ReplyDelete"I have some tips for you.. (further details this summer at the Bedlam Farm Workshop On Hysteria, Emergency Preparedness, Armageddon, and Scaring The Shit Out Of People For Money (BFWOHEPASSOOPFM) while remaining brave and independent at the same time. You can, in fact, have it both ways. People will love your for it."
"I know that farmers always help one another in emergencies like, so I called my friend Carol Gulley. She and her husband Ed are real dairy farmers and so they might help me, I thought, if I posted a really pathetic message on Facebook ("oh, I am buried in snow and am out of everything! Can my farm be saved?"
"If you want people to give you things, they have to feel sorry for you."
""Well,' I said, "my car needs new spark plugs the mechanic tells me. It will cost $1,000 and I don't have it, and I'm pretty upset." There was a long pause. "What does this have to do with the snowstorm?," she asked, warily, I thought."Well, " I said, you want a car that runs smoothly, especially in a snowstorm that lasts four months or so. Till Labor Day."
Wow! He really nailed her!
DeleteIf she can't see herself as the subject of this post, no matter what his disclaimer is, she's delusional. That said, it's a brilliant summary of how she runs her life.
DeleteD.
Damn, he really pulled out all the stops. That's epic.
DeleteSatire is a wonderful invention, pity it is somewhat underused today (many people take it literally).
ReplyDeleteand then someone posted in the same thread that she was complaining about busted pipes (even her mom said dude get some oil) the post where Jon talked about enablers. And they were like Jenna do you think he was talking about your life? OMG Priceless. She was like well i havent heard from him in a long time but he was referring to a dark time in his own life. She just doesnt take advice well does she? And whats up with making your supposed "best friends" pay for workshops?
ReplyDeleteCould she really be that dense, or is she just trying to save face?
DeleteHahaha... I would love to go to one of his workshops. I wonder if he has a life time membership plan yet?
ReplyDeleteWhere is the thread where someone told Jenna that Katz was writing about her??? I'd love to see her response!
ReplyDeleteJon and Jenna live a mile away from one another, share the same book store, town and know each other fairly well. I am sure his motivation is to wake her up and hope she can grow up. His blog has integrity and he asks for money for readers, she is bringing a dark cloud to the blogging community by histrionic begging and vapid emotional immaturity, and I am sure he is asked about this craziness by others. But you know what, these upstate burgs all have their "characters", witches, hermits, cat ladies, new age gurus, so in a sense it's like so what, we could do another Woodstock here 'cept the frozen pipes, starving animals, birchthorn stories, bank photographers, Stewart's wood piles and rotting kale put this one on the map of kwazyland, get your paypal vaccine before you get the CAF fever and just start enabling the next chapter of the Thorn
ReplyDeleteHe must also be awfully embarrassed for being such a staunch supporter of Jennas in the past. He said some rather distasteful and immature things in her defense in the past. perhaps clarity and intuition are easier when not personally invested in the community and person.
DeleteThanks for the info Anon 8:43 I did not know that. Has anyone reading Meredith's blog ever been to Jenna's farm for a workshop or indie day? I'm wondering what it's like in real life - what the set up is for the animals. I read the chickens roost in the trees - is that normal in that area?
ReplyDeleteWhoa! As you say, there's no way she can't get that he's talking about her. That was crazy to read. I wonder if she'll respond to it--probably not.
ReplyDeleteI have been there, but it has been a long time so I am not sure it is the same now as it was then. What do you want to know about it? She has a small coup - may have been a shed of some sort that she used to have the chickens in and closed it every night. I think maybe that has changed not that she has so many?? That shed was falling apart, and I don't think it was totally predator proof b/c it has holes/rotted wood. You can see it in the picts she posts. It is red. The Barn, such as it is - is very small. I saw rabbits in it- in regular rabbit cages. One per cage along one wall - on a wood counter that lined the wall. On the other side was a very small area that she kept 2 pigs in before they were put in the woods I guess. The whole barn is quite tiny. It has a loft, but is not very sturdy up there so I am unsure if she could even store hay up there. I don't recall. The whole barn isn't very sturdy, but doesn't look like its about to fall down or anything. Its cute. Then she has a middle section of the barn where she used to let the goats come inside to escape the weather - not sure if they still do that. There is a fence around one side of the barn where the goats can go outside. The sheep are on a hillside right by the house. Back then she did not rotate pasture and the hillside didn't fare very well, but I think she cleared some back acreage so she could rotate them. In the sheep pasture she does/did have a 3 sided, roofed, small pole barn on the hill. I think some guy from commonsense built it. Is that what its called, a pole barn? I think 4-6 sheep could fit in it. The horse is in the pasture next to the sheep. I think there is a fence between the sheep and the horse area, but I don't recall exactly. She did build some sort of shelter for the horse, but since I am not a farm person I cannot comment on whether it is good or not. She posted about it on Sunday, June 17, 2012: Barn Raising Tales: Part 1. Its a structure built into the side of the hill. I know she used to let Jasper in the barn, but since she built the goat thing, I don't think the horse goes in the barn anymore. I am not sure Merlin would fit anyway. What else?
ReplyDeleteIt may not compute in her mind that he has posted about her twice recently. If she has NPD, then her brain can't process negative stuff like that. She would never fathom it is about her. That said, if she doesn't have NPD, it probably hurt her feelings, but she wouldn't admit it. I doubt it will change how she operates, sadly to say.
ReplyDeletehttp://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fWB1uT-ktRQ/T-OKS3WtfYI/AAAAAAAAA5s/4wViE__KvGk/s320/Ta+Da+Barn.JPG
ReplyDeleteThat is a picture of the horse shelter - unless maybe she put sides on it???? I have no idea.
I like how her commenters on that 9 to 9 post have gotten it wrong. They clearly haven't read through her post very well. They think she means that you should stay off the computer from 9 to 9, but she means that before nine AM you need to be off it and enjoy the morning and all, and after nine you need to get off of the thing. There's no way she wants all her amen charlies OFF the computer during the day! Her revenue would sink to record lows if everyone was out there actually doing stuff and staying away from social media and blogs and kickstarters and all that jazz.
ReplyDeleteThanks Anon 10:59 -- I just wondered what the set up was like there and you did a nice job explaining it. It's odd to me she only posts close up shots and never the living conditions of the animals.
ReplyDeleteThen again I think a lot of what she does is odd and immature and no matter how many times she writes she isn't lonesome, it's painfully obvious she is. It's like she's writing to an inner critic in her head, not to the public. If you really were OK with your life it wouldn't occur to you to defend it constantly.
I used to check her blog for the gardening tips/info as I have no desire for animals. Now I check it out for the trainwreck its become and I've found my jaw on the floor several times through the years. Notably when she floated the idea that people come up to her farm and pay her to help her do 'chores' and stay in a hotel (that never happened as far as I know but how far up your own @$$ do you have to be to think people will pay for that nonsense), then the crowd funded camera that is never mentioned (sold???), then the Kickstarter which I knew was a disaster when she said she would write it all winter (another pre-paid scheme) and she's already admitted the $15k helped 'save' the farm this summer (so what about when its time to edit and publish?? What money will pay for that??), now she's going to ask her public to do another Kickstarter campaign for the calendar idea.
Since I've read for so long I remember how she used to offer soaps and things that were actually already made and created, which seemed practical and good business sense, then she 'bought' her farm with the pleas for donations, quit the 9-5job and realized she could continue begging and pre-selling things that don't exist. That's when things soured for me.
Meredith, I also remember you commenting on her blog back in the day and even then you were one of the very few questioning her behavior. I didn't see it clearly then, but I certainly do now. Thank you for letting us have this space to vent and discuss with each other because her readers turn over so fast and since she only publishes the positive comments you might think you're going crazy that no one else sees JW for what she is!
Does anyone remember a nice older gentleman that used to comment frequently on JW blog with 'tough love' advice - it seems he also built her something or gave her something (I can't remember), but is MIA now. I wonder if he too got the wool pulled over his eyes one to may times. There were several very knowledgable people who used to comment on her blog that I enjoyed hearing and learning from, but now its just a steady flow of Amen Charlies and no substance.
Yes I do remember him...did he offer to give or build her the goat milking stand?
DeleteI vaguely remember him. Back then there were quite a few commenters with great advice. Even when I got tired of JW, I kept reading the comments for the great stuff that was discussed. I had to stop reading even the comments when the tone became nasty to people who didn't agree with JW.
DeleteThe two that stood out for me that were verbally abused by JW and her crew were Meredith and another woman who blogged. All I can remember about the other woman was her blog was sweet and gentle. I think she had a photo of poodles that showed with her name. She took her blog down after the JW creepers would leave nasty, unkind comments. I am happy that Meredith did not give in and take this blog down. Meredith, thank you for being so strong and keeping your convictions. You are a pretty amazing young woman.
Valerie
Meredith that sounds right. I can't remember the exchange exactly but I always enjoyed reading his comments because he had a lot of practical advice and I thought even JW learned from him. At least he called her out a few times (as did you) and so did several horse people when she was considering Merlin.
ReplyDeleteAny update on your interview Meredith? I wish you the best with the job search!!
Yes, that is right! Was that the same guy who made her the horse buggy? Do ya'll remember the family family she used to be BFF with the way she is with Patty now? Firecracker Farm I think it was. Whatever happened to them?? They used to do a lot for her. She also never talks about Katz anymore likely b/c he calls her out on stuff - but didn't he used to help her out too? On a totally different topic - what is a good type of quiet laying hen for a first time chicken farmer? I want 2-3 - small and quiet - but good eggs. I want to make a coop and an outdoor run, then free range when I am home.
ReplyDeleteA quick note to all of you here- Jon Katz is not that well liked, has his issues that go way back to his Slash Dot days. He is known to be a bully online. Not a fan of JW, but JK is ...an ass. I have a friend in his area, and, well he is not well liked. Googlle him.
ReplyDeleteAgree. He said some really repulsive things on her blog about midgets...and something else. He also exploits his animals suffering for profit.
DeleteYes, his 'shepherding' skills are laughable. He really dishes it out but....well, if you read him long enough, you'll find out. I don't tolerate him anymore. And I agree, its one thing to write about your animals, but I too feel the minute the book is out they magically go away. 'Nuf said on him.
DeleteI've been there for a workshop. I found it dirty, unkempt, and Jenna was airy in her description of her life... meaning she didnt' really care about appearances, can't you tell- as she would say. The gates are sealed shut because there are no hinges on them. The entire place smells. I have to wonder how many people with a nose, or eyes that work would actually go back there.
ReplyDeleteAnon 6:24 how was the workshop? Were you glad you went? I'm wondering what people get out of them and some do seem to return. I just don't see how those are a sustainable endeavor. A good side income perhaps, but not a main income.
ReplyDeleteIMHO Jon Katz is no better than JW. Included on his webpage under "Blogs I Love" is CAF and a description where he raves about JW. If he truly is referring to JW in his recent posts, then he is a hypocrite. He also has used kickstarter. Jenna even mentions his venture in her response to a comment when she first announced her kickstarter, as if the fact that he did one lends credibility to hers. It appears that JK even took advice from Jenna and now includes "thank you for subscribing" ( complete with link to click on) after EVERY post.
ReplyDeleteAnyone remember this post from February 12, 2011 titled "here i come"? "I have some neat things to announce, including a joint project with two readers who are starting a small business making bamboo notebooks. They are using Kickstarter, a program that lets you rally funding online in the sense that a bunch of small-scale investors help get you started. A micro-loan thing much like Janet described in her post. You can see information about their notebooks here, which will focus designs like the CAF barnheat, veggies, woodcut animals, and other funky agricultural designs I come up with." if you click on "They are using Kickstarter" in her blog post it brings you to https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jaybill/refillable-bamboo-notebook. Althought JW's name is not on this project's KS page, she herself calls it a joint project when she advertises it on her blog. One of her designs is shown on the last photo on the KS page. Take a look at the comments section. Seems there are some unhappy backers out there. I wonder how long JW will keep her blog post up now that another one of her project failures has been exposed?
ReplyDeleteWonder how many prepaid cloaks were sewn and delivered?
DeleteAh, the hand-sewn wool cloaks. One of the most forgotten of JW's scams, but still my favorite. We have yet to have anyone come out of the woodwork saying they were a cloak buyer and never got the goods, but I'd be shocked if she'd managed to fill all the orders she got. (Or perhaps "all the orders" she got were just more lies to entice people to actually order one.)
DeleteYeah, I have always thought the cloak "orders" were just lies. I'm sure she was just trying to scam people into ordering. Peer pressure, folks!
DeleteBirchthorn ordered them for his victims. I tried to read her exerpt and thought well "she's not a homesteader but she is a writer obsessed with fantasy so maybe this will be inventive". I see no need to be an ass, so I'll say that I made it about four sentences.
DeleteJW has taken up tweeting. If, as her blog post indicates, she has hay banks, why did she tweet on 2/01/15 "Frozen Pipes. Out of hay. Firewood is damp. Some days farming is no fun." In tonight's post ("Roosters & Storms"), JW writes that she had to go to Patty's to get hay. In past posts, JW has stated that she either had to purchase, borrow or barter for hay from Patty because she has run out. Apparently JW's definition of a hay bank is somewhere she goes to mooch hay off others. Yup, she is well prepared at all times (NOT!).
ReplyDeleteWhy, after all these years, has she not figured out how to keep her wood dry???
ReplyDeleteGood news, everyone! Now you too can pay to gain access to the unedited novel called Birchthorn than Jenna is furiously writing at a snail's pace, even if you passed on the original Kickstarter! Get on that!
ReplyDeleteSeriously, it's taken 7 months for her to hit 30,000 words? I wrote 50,000 words in TEN DAYS for NaNoWriMo one year just to see how fast I could finish, and no one had paid me $15,000 to do it. Clearly I am in the wrong line of work.
You mean she's asking people to pay to read a book that isn't even finished?
ReplyDeleteYep! Her words: "You missed the Kickstarter and want to read along with it? Well you can, but it's too late to get a copy of the physical book or any of the pledge perks, but you are welcome to purchase access to the site and read the chapters as they are being written, if you'd so desire." So you won't ever see a finished copy of the book, but you can absolutely throw your money away to read the unedited posts that she throws up on the Birchthorn blog.
DeleteI can't imagine that ANYONE is going to take her up on that little gem of an offer.
In the words of P.T. Barnum - "There's a sucker born every minute"
DeleteI wonder how long it will take before Patty is tired of bailing her out.
ReplyDeleteAnon 9:29 I was wondering the same thing. From what little I've seen of Patty she seems like a nice, hardworking person. I would imagine JW hijinks would wear thin on her.
ReplyDeleteThe last time Jenna posted "Attention: Wool CSA Members" (Jan 5 2015), PattyW commented,
ReplyDelete"How long ago was this? A CSA is just that. If anyone hasn't followed up its a grudge match"
Either she hasn't researched her friend to discover Jenna's failure to deliver goes back years and beyond agricultural products, or she cant't empathize with people who have spent their precious time following up to get their product or at least recover their money from someone whose blog they had followed and were willing to support.
I hope she tries to advise Jenna on better shelter and care for her pets, or better business practices,(being a business person herself).
Jenna has expressed an intention to get a halflinger pony and /or puppy. I hope someone is helping her to take her blinders off and realize those are terrible ideas for someone who seems to be perpetually one step ahead of foreclosure, and the money would be better spent on proper care and shelter for the animals she has now, or a woodshed for that matter. Whatever one thinks of Jon Katz, at least he is no longer enabling Jenna.
Or would it be better for Merlin to have a companion horse? Maybe he could be boarded at Patty's during the winter. Please understand the last thing I want to do is criticize people I don't know. I would just like to know these animals are provided for, including sufficient funds for vet care.
ReplyDeleteApparently visiting friends is part of her storm preps. Wow, what a luxury of time. We don't get wicked snow like New England, but even with a coming rain storm with lots of wind, I would have never wasted my precious pre-storm hours visiting friends.
ReplyDeleteOh, but I forget, we had plenty of stored hay on hand (1/2 of a truck and trailer load) and didn't have to drive to town or someone else's farm to pick up a few bales at a time.
Jenn
Today she mentioned that the pigs have a shelter roof.
ReplyDeleteLove to see a pic of it- probably a piece of plastic tarp that will rip in the next wind.
DeleteShe'll probably take a photo of someone else's shed now! LOL.
DeleteI hope that the pig shelter is real. It would be great if this blog had some influence on her animal care.
ReplyDeleteThere are photos of the building of the pig "shelter" on the blog of her friend Tara. You can google "Going Slowly blog" , then type in her search bar: "A pigpen for Jenna". This will take you to Tara's posting on Jul 27, 2013, when she, her husband Tyler, ( I think), and a couple of women from a farm helped Jenna build a "pig pagoda" for J's "woodland pig operation" from "scraps of wood". Yes, there's a roof, but not much else.
ReplyDeleteThe roof may be used corrigated tin which is what Merlin's lean-to is made with, and I remember her mentioning that some of it was damaged in the first storm that hit it and would have to be fixed.
DeleteI remember the lean to where the previous pigs lived, which was clearly inadequate. She wrote that these two pigs lived outside in a pile of hay until yesterday, when she said they have a shelter. I suppose that might not be true, since she has not posted a picture of the current pigs in their shelter. I'd like to see it.
ReplyDelete