June 5, 2025 • 36 mins
What starts with a few backyard chickens can spiral into a full-scale farming operation before you even know what hit you. In this kickoff episode of Next Level Nerds: From Hobby to Hustle, hosts Jennifer and Carey get real about how they each went from “just a few birds” to running multi-layered ag businesses — from breeding, shipping, and selling hatching eggs to creating feed brands, running delivery routes, and launching podcasts.
If you’ve ever wondered how to offset your feed bill (or justify those extra goats), this episode is for you. Whether you’re looking to start selling eggs, launch a side hustle, or go full-time farmpreneur, this series is your crash course in turning passion into profit—without losing the joy in the process.
hobby farming, poultry business, homestead income, farm side hustle, backyard chickens, hatching eggs, selling chicks, farm entrepreneurship, gamefowl business, quail farming, small farm startup, farm podcast, farm business ideas, NPIP, breeding poultry, livestock business, homestead to business
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jennifer (00:02):
Hey poultry nerds.
We are back.
I'm Jennifer and.
Carey (00:07):
I am Carey,
Jennifer (00:08):
and we are going to start a new series called next
Level Nerds from Hobby toHustle.
Yeah,
because there's so many people out there who have
taken their hobby to the nextlevel.
And are making a business out ofit, and we wanted to highlight
(00:29):
those people and maybe inspireyou to make a little money with
those eggs in your backyard,
Carey (00:38):
or at least help you figure out if you want to run
down the rabbit hole or justhave some cute yard candy,
Jennifer (00:47):
which is nice too.
Yeah.
So if you are interested, we aregoing to kick this new series
off with telling our stories ofhow we went from just eggs to a
full fledged business, and thenwe have some really cool people
coming on to explain the avenuesthat they're taking to turn
(01:11):
their hobby into a business.
Like later
Carey (01:15):
we're gonna try to teach y'all how to make money.
Jennifer (01:19):
We're gonna, with
Carey (01:19):
all of that you're spending
Jennifer (01:22):
Yeah.
All that feed.
All those feed bags, you'refine.
Carey (01:25):
And there's a lot of people out there that they're
just happy if they could offsettheir feed bill.
Yep.
Because if you feed'em we both know that ain't cheap.
Offsetting your feed bill.
While enjoying your animals.
That in itself is pretty huge,in my opinion.
Yeah, let's talk about it.
Figure it out.
Jennifer (01:46):
All right.
So I'm gonna go first to tellyou how I got started and at
what point it kind.
Turn a sharp corner and wentfrom David.
I just want a couple ducks inthe backyard to, wow, we're
going to chicken shows and we'regonna do this and we're gonna do
that.
And oh, by the way yeah, andthen he just rolls his eyes and
(02:09):
goes, okay and look
Carey (02:12):
guys, she is not bluffing.
I have seen her.
Pop off with some really outthere ideas and this man
straight up, yes, dear.
Jennifer (02:25):
He likes to build stuff though.
Carey (02:27):
He does like to build stuff.
He's very good at buildingstuff.
Jennifer (02:30):
Yeah.
Carey (02:31):
Every farm needs a David.
Jennifer (02:33):
Yep.
So a little bit about mybackground is I actually grew up
on a farm, not like afull-fledged farm, but we had
cows and chickens and gardensand mom canned and just, I don't
know.
To me it was normal.
I had a horse and went off tocollege and got an animal
science degree and swore I wouldnever own another chicken as
(02:58):
long as I lived.
Hated him.
Never wanted to see him again,and managed to not have any for
about maybe 15 years.
Carey (03:13):
Okay.
You held out for a while
Jennifer (03:16):
and so I looked at David one day and I said.
I think that I want a chicken.
So after he picked himself upoff the floor, we decided on
Orpingtons.
He just instantly fell in lovewith them.
Never had orpington.
He's never had chickens beforeat all.
And so we went on a shoppingspree and found a guy that lived
(03:40):
about an hour from us and hadOrpingtons.
And at this point I did not knowthat there was a difference
between production Orpingtonsand Exhibition Orpingtons.
So we just picked up 10 chicks.
And went home and then we had togo get food and we had to do all
this brooders and we had to doall that stuff.
(04:02):
And I wasn't on Facebook, Ididn't know any of this stuff.
Just kinda winging it from thispoint,'cause I was a kid and we
always let mama hand do thechicks.
So this part of it was all newto me.
And then I went to the feedstore.
And then we had ducks.
Carey (04:23):
Man, that's how a lot of crab starts right there.
Jennifer (04:25):
And then we had guineas, and then we had
turkeys.
And then I had a friend that hadturkeys and then we were sharing
turkeys and then I looked at ouryard and I said, David I need
goats and I want like more dogsand stuff.
And so then we went shopping andwe actually bought a farm, and
(04:49):
now we have.
Cows, goats, pigs, dogs quail,but quail ducks, turkeys,
orpingtons.
Still, we'll always haveorpingtons and breasts.
Is it oh and two cats?
Is that it?
Carey (05:11):
Is there a partridge in a pair of tree?
Jennifer (05:15):
And I have a garden.
We garden too now.
And I learned how to
Carey (05:20):
you, did you forget cows?
Jennifer (05:23):
I think I said cows.
Okay.
I have a Holstein, she's, hername's Mabel.
She's like the mascot out in thefield, but you can't miss her.
So last year I got a livestockcrayon.
Have you ever played with alivestock crayon before?
You can write on animals withit.
So I went out there and wrote on
Carey (05:42):
did you ride eat more chicken or something on?
I did
Jennifer (05:44):
eat more quail.
Pictures because Chick-fil-A forall of y'all, people that not
live in the south, we haveChick-fil-A and it's a Holstein.
It says, eat more chicken.
So I run on the side of it, eatmore quail, and then posted
pictures of that.
But I did it in red and then itstarted raining and it didn't
(06:05):
look pretty.
So next time I'll need to do itin blue, I think.
Carey (06:10):
Somebody probably was like, oh my god, that cow's
dying.
That got shot.
Jennifer (06:15):
Yeah, it wasn't really pretty.
Wow.
Okay, so now we're out at thefarm.
We have all these critters and Istart hatching.
I had already been hatching, butnow I like have the setup, like
I have the barn and I got theincubate, the good incubators.
'cause I had the crappyincubators before that.
(06:35):
You get borrowed from somebody'syard sale or something and got a
good incubator.
Everybody
Carey (06:41):
has a start somewhere.
Jennifer (06:42):
You don't know until
Carey (06:43):
that's right.
Jennifer (06:44):
I start hatching and I was like, oh, this is fun.
So I can take all these eggs andI can make babies.
This is awesome.
And so I posted a sign out atthe road and it said, chicks for
sale.
And then.
People were coming and then morepeople were coming and then I
(07:04):
started selling eggs and then Ihad quail and started selling
quail.
And then I.
Guinea, in the summertime youcan't hardly hatch enough
guineas in Tennessee.
And we sold them like all summerfor three summers.
And then David said, get do theguineas.
Carey (07:24):
Like people buy that Guinea.
Jennifer (07:27):
Yeah.
I can tell you this story, but Idon't really wanna offend
anybody.
So a lot of Westerners moved toTennessee.
And then they, I guess theydon't know about ticks and Chis
from, and I don't know, do theynot have ticks and Chis in the
west?
I have no idea.
So they get on these Facebookgroups and they're like, what do
(07:51):
we do with ticks and Chis?
And I think people are mean to'em and tell'em they need
guineas.
And so they would come here?
Yeah.
I need 20 guineas.
And if they said they needed 20guineas, I sold'em 20 guineas.
Carey (08:04):
When somebody says, Hey, I need this.
Don't argue with'em.
Jennifer (08:09):
No.
But if they come and they say,we just moved here and we have
ticks and triggers, and we sawonline that.
Guineas eat them.
What's your opinion?
And I'm like that's true.
They do eat them and got alittle bit more information to
find out.
They only had five acres andthey were told they needed 20
guineas.
Carey (08:31):
In, in all actuality, I think 20 Guinea would more than
fix a problem.
Jennifer (08:41):
I didn't even have 20 guineas.
Carey (08:43):
But holy cow, 20 guineas for five acres.
Jennifer (08:49):
I think at one point I had, I think the most I had was
like a dozen or 15 becausethat's about all I could stand.
And I would, I just would tellthem, just stand here for a
minute and let them get going.
And I would make some kind ofnoise to get'em going.
And I'm like, that's.
Like a dozen out there going, soyou tell me how loud do you want
(09:10):
it to be at your house?
How much do you like yourneighbors?
And they would usually leavewith five or six.
But at the end of the summer,all those people who bought 20
guineas.
Would text me or call me and Doyou want back?
Hey, do you want something back?
Back?
Nope.
I do not want them back.
(09:32):
But eventually David just, hekinda looked at me one day and
he said I'm really over theguineas.
I'm really over, I'm really overthem.
And since he doesn't say stufflike that, they
Carey (09:46):
being loud.
Jennifer (09:48):
So we were on the back deck trying to eat breakfast,
and they were on the far side ofthe barn and they were so loud
we could not have aconversation.
So he went inside and closed thedoor and he just looked at me
and he goes, please, can we getrid of the guineas?
(10:10):
And since he doesn't ask me fora lot like that, I got rid of
the guineas because truth betold, I was really sick of them
too.
You can't handle'em.
They I have scars all over myarm from trying to handle them.
Their talons are like razorblades.
And it, they're super hard tosex.
(10:31):
I got really good at it oncethey were adults, but they are
incredibly hard to sex.
So yeah, there's that
Carey (10:42):
sucks.
Jennifer (10:43):
Yeah.
They have I forget what they'recalled, the.
The things on the side of theirhead, the horns, I guess on the
side of their head, I forgetwhat they're called.
That the males would be likemore upright and a little bit
larger, and then the femaleswould be a little bit smaller
and sloped down.
That's literally the onlydifference, aside from an egg
coming out of one of them.
Carey (11:02):
Oh wow.
Jennifer (11:03):
Yeah, so you
Carey (11:04):
just have to flip over your bucket and sit out there
and watch and be like,
Jennifer (11:08):
yes.
Carey (11:09):
And then chase that one down and hope that you catch
that one and put a little pinkleg band around it or something.
Jennifer (11:17):
So I had white and lavender guineas, which kind of
was a specialty thing.
And I got them on accident too,but to go into the cage'cause I
had'em in a cage to collecttheir eggs'cause they're
seasonal layers.
And to go in there, I had towear a ball cap, a le, a denim
jacket and leather gloves,because that's the only way you
(11:41):
can catch them.
They will slice you open ifyou're not careful.
Not meaning to they won't attackyou, but if you're trying to
pick'em up and handle'em they'reta, their nails are just that
sharp.
They're razor sharp.
They just weren't fun, and hedidn't like'em, so I got rid of
them.
But anyway, so the point of allof this is where did it turn to
(12:03):
go towards business?
And that was when I decided tostart selling hatching eggs.
And learn all the ins and outsof how to do that legally, which
is the NPIP, how to box them,which is the foam and the double
boxing, and then how to findbuyers.
(12:26):
'Cause remember I wasn't onFacebook until about, five years
ago, COVID is when I got onFacebook.
And then Facebook doesn't allowanimal sales, so they kept
shutting my farm page down.
So I just went around them andcreated my own website and
that's how I started sellinghatching eggs.
(12:48):
And I couldn't find a foamsupplier that could keep up with
the demand.
So I designed and created my ownfoam and started selling that,
and then expanded to boxes andother, if I use it, then I would
(13:11):
just buy extra and sell it, andit's just gone from.
Hey, I just need 10 orpingtonchicks to full flowed website
and, have feed delivered by thepallets.
Carey (13:29):
It it happens.
Jennifer (13:30):
Yeah, so it kind, I hope that kind of makes sense
how it started and kinda made aright hand turn into full
fledged business.
Yeah.
He,
Carey (13:44):
yeah.
Jennifer (13:46):
Yeah, so the basis of my business would be hatching
eggs of all the species.
I sell live birds, obviouslylive birds.
I ship live birds.
I ship frozen birds.
I dehydrate for pets.
And then I sell the products forthe other breeders to support
(14:08):
their business.
Yep.
And now I have ventured intomore website design and creating
courses on how to do it tobecome a seller of things.
So it's just a domino effect.
Carey (14:27):
So now you're teaching people how to run down that
rabbit hole.
Jennifer (14:32):
Yes.
I'm, I am enabling.
Carey (14:36):
I was gonna say, we're like, we're such enablers.
Yeah.
Jennifer (14:40):
We're really bad.
Carey (14:42):
To me, I just, I don't know.
I.
Jennifer (14:48):
We forgot the best fart, and then that started, top
chicken.
So then that led to podcast,right?
Yeah.
So if y'all don't know, we met like about two
years ago and I was wanting todo a podcast, but I didn't wanna
do it by myself, so I askedCarrie to do it with me, and he
(15:10):
is okay, whatever.
I now, I know that in the backof his head, he is like,
nobody's gonna listen to twoweirdos talk about chickens.
Carey (15:18):
I'm gonna be honest.
Look, in the beginning I waslike, man, I'm gonna learn a lot
from this lady.
People aren't gonna listenbecause they don't listen to
that kind of stuff, but.
Jennifer (15:32):
They do
Carey (15:33):
25,000 downloads later.
Here we are.
Jennifer (15:37):
Yeah,
Carey (15:38):
so
Jennifer (15:38):
So it's a thing.
Yeah,
Carey (15:40):
it is a thing.
Jennifer (15:41):
Yeah,
Carey (15:42):
it is definitely a thing.
Jennifer (15:44):
So how did you get started?
Carey (15:45):
When I was a kid my granddaddy was a huge role model
to me, and he had reds and Idon't know what kind these
little black.
Bantam chickens were that weretiny and they laid a small egg,
but he called'em banies.
(16:06):
So it was the black, the littleblack ones, the Rhode Island
Reds.
And he had some game foul, andthat was probably some of my
fondest memories of him, andI've always wanted to delve back
into that.
(16:27):
But never really been able to.
And like nine, eight or nineyears ago my wife and I we were
renting a house in aneighborhood and we were gonna
buy it and then they decided,oh, we don't wanna sell it.
(16:49):
We just want to keep renting itto y'all.
And I was like.
I'm tired of not puttingsomething, putting money into
something that's gonna be mine.
So we started looking for landand we found us a spot that is
very close to town, but I'm notin 80 city limits.
(17:12):
So I can do what I wanna do andit's at the end of a dead end
road.
So it was pretty nice.
And we built a house and gonnagimme some chickens.
And I found a lady down inShelby County that had some
Rhode Island reds that I lookedlong and hard and they were
(17:34):
about the best ones I couldfind.
And so that's what I did.
I said, Hey, I wanna get 20.
And she was like, I'll put youon my list.
And then she gave me a hatchdate and she said, come a couple
days after that.
So I did.
Raise them suckers up.
And they weren't like, they wereRhode Island reds, but they were
(17:57):
not reds.
So my quest began to find redsor breed reds and get standard
reds.
And then amongst that, I wasable to come across some game
foul that reminded me of theones that my granddaddy had as
well.
And I'm raising these, doingwhat I can and hatching
(18:21):
everything I can to try toenrich this.
And I start finding outmanganese and stuff will help
get them ready.
So I start looking at my feedand.
My feed sucked.
And so I started trying tofigure out ways to make it
(18:41):
better.
And I was, so let me get thisand mix it with that, and mix
that.
And, I find myself spendinghours every week mixing up some
feed with, all kinds ofdifferent grains and some
pellets and stuff like that.
And, that was a headache.
(19:02):
And so I actually asked youabout my Reds and you were like,
I don't know, you need to jointhis group and you need to look
for this guy.
Jennifer (19:18):
Is that how?
Carey (19:20):
No, we had met before that.
Okay.
Jennifer (19:22):
I don't remember.
Carey (19:23):
I had asked you about quail'cause they inched their
way into this whole thing too.
We came into it and you werelike, join this Facebook group.
Find this guy.
Ask him.
He knows everything about reds.
I'm like, okay.
Sounded good to me.
I didn't think it would be veryfruitful, but I met a man that
(19:48):
has over the last couple yearsbecome one of my best friends.
Rip?
Yep.
Rip.
And, he.
He basically told me that Icould get them there, but it was
gonna be a long process.
And he showed me what some ofhis reds looked like and I was
(20:10):
like, oh, those are reds.
That mahogany deep red colorsjust and things progressed and I
was actually able to get some.
Standard Reds from the Tompkinsbloodline, and I've been working
with those for about a year andsome change now year and a half.
(20:34):
So that's where I've got thosefrom and I've also got a lot of
quail.
Because, you
Jennifer (20:43):
enabled you
Carey (20:44):
Yeah.
You were enabler.
Which I will say in yourdefense, a lot of quail people
are enablers because we like toshare our passion with folks.
But, their eggs taste prettygood.
Their meat's pretty lean.
And with the quail, I was like,I'm just gonna get me a few.
(21:06):
'cause I like to listen to'em.
I really wanted Bob Whites, butthat's like a whole different
world and'cause some more ofmine.
And my favorite memories of mygranddaddy was quail hunting for
Bob Whites and they have thatwhistle that I really enjoy
listening to.
And the.
(21:27):
The NICs that I have, they're,their crow is more like a, I
stuck my finger in a lightsocket type, like a weak wiki or
some kind of crap.
But, that was a whole road thatI wasn't really prepared for
because once people found outthat I had quail, they wanted
(21:48):
some and they wanted them alive,they wanted them grown.
They wanted chicks, they wantedhatching eggs.
And then I had somebody approachme about feeders and they want
those, which is a thing.
It's a whole different world.
And from working with my gameFoul and my Reds, I finally
(22:14):
decided that it's time to sharethose.
I also have a really good set ofHardy.
Vigorous American breasts.
And so I finally started sellinghatching eggs.
And that's a different world.
(22:34):
Quail hatching eggs, that's onething, but you get into a
standard red or something else,that's a really good bloodline
and people really get excitedabout that.
I get it.
I was excited when I was,practically gifted a trio of
Standard Reds.
(22:55):
So it's become a thing.
I'm pretty, I'll sell my quaileggs to anybody that wants'em,
but my chicken eggs, I'm prettyparticular with who I let have
'em because I do wanna make surethat they maintain the
bloodlines and not just.
Stick'em somewhere and letwhatever, do whatever, and act
(23:16):
like they're the reds that Ihave or the breasts that I have.
So there's that.
And I went from a nature, right?
360 enjoying that little chirpto now I have.
(23:38):
Five cabinet incubators, threeminimum running around the
clock, and a hatcher that'sabout the size of a
refrigerator.
And I recently purchased aRedwood incubator that I've got
(23:59):
to.
They had to get a special pieceof equipment to get it out of
their building, to be able toload it for me.
So we're gonna do that later on,and I'm gonna get that into my
warehouse, but it holds 25,000quail eggs.
And it's functional.
(24:21):
It's a rabbit hole.
You can go down.
It went from.
To cover the feed bill to Can'tfind good feed to now I actually
have a feed company where wemake supplements and we make
breeder feed.
(24:42):
And things like that for peoplethat couldn't find it.
Some say it don't exist, buthey, I'm in Birmingham, Alabama.
It does exist.
We got it and we ship it.
And it's a thing, so it's aworld that's been really good to
me.
Jennifer (25:00):
So your direction went a little bit different because
you went into the nutrition.
Versus where I went, but we'reboth into supporting other
breeders with our businesses.
Carey (25:12):
Yeah.
So like for you your problemthat you had was you couldn't
get a good supply of egg foam.
So you had to fix that.
And you
did.
And other people, myselfincluded, are glad that you did
that because I don't have toworry about a supply.
Egg foam.com has a containerfull of it and she can help you
(25:36):
out.
The thing for me that I reallyget nerdy when it comes to the
nutrition side because there's alot of things that are similar
and a lot of things that aren'twith the different animals.
That's, that was my quest, wasto find adequate food for my
(25:56):
animals, to be able to see whattheir genetic potential was.
So I knew exactly what I had.
And it's made a huge difference.
It's been really exciting.
Jennifer (26:10):
So you had to make it yourself and Yeah,
Carey (26:13):
because it, I.
I, I met Jeff and we startedhaving conversation and it
doesn't exist, period.
And I was like that's ridiculousbecause I'm sure I'm not the
only person with this problem.
He said, you're right.
Just people don't wanna pay forit.
I said I want my birds to havethe best, so tell me what that
(26:36):
is.
And he did.
And, I went from ordering somebags for me to ordering some
bags for me and some friends toshipping it by the ton all over
the country to people
Jennifer (26:55):
and delivering.
Carey (26:56):
Yep.
And I do run a delivery routeand have it in the Birmingham
area for people to come pick uptoo.
Jennifer (27:05):
Oh, and you forgot the cages now.
You still cages too.
Carey (27:09):
Oh yeah, I do.
So I do have cages.
'cause apparently that's anotherproblem that people have, which
I had that problem and so Isourced cages where I could get
'em at a reasonable price and beable to help people out at a
reasonable price and fix thatproblem for people.
(27:30):
So I guess I.
For me, what I would say is ifyou're wanting to figure out a
way to essentially cover thefeed bill, find a problem and
fix it, and then once otherpeople find out that they have
the same problem you did andwhat you did to fix it.
(27:53):
Then help'em with it.
Jennifer (27:56):
The problems will come.
You don't really have to lookvery hard.
Carey (28:00):
Oh my God.
Jennifer (28:04):
They appear when you're trying to do farm
animals.
They have, they appear prettyreadily.
Carey (28:11):
So I recently picked up some Nigerian dwarfs who, I
thought it's just some goats.
Okay.
Now I'm figuring out that yougotta take really good care of
your goats more so than a lot ofother farm animals are.
They'll just fall over dead.
Jennifer (28:30):
Yeah.
That was a whole conversationbefore we hit the record button
because Yeah I didn't send youhome with any goats on Saturday.
You mean you just took'em?
Carey (28:44):
I did pick them up and give them a hug and.
Put'em in the back of the truck.
Jennifer (28:49):
I would like to know what Tamara's face was when she
saw them
Carey (28:55):
actually.
Okay, so this is how it wentdown.
She actually thought they werecute.
Jennifer (29:01):
Aw.
They are
Carey (29:01):
cute.
The black one that I have hasthis like white glow.
Around its actual eye and shejust thought that was beautiful.
And then the white goat that Ihave has beautiful eyes too, so
that's become a thing.
She's I think that's something,we have a toddler.
(29:23):
And she's I think that'ssomething that Kristy would play
with.
I'm pretty much got a greenlight to make a big.
Area just for said goats and seehow it works.
When I was a kid, I'm not gonnalie, I had a goat that I played
with a, like somebody would playwith a dog and we would headbutt
(29:44):
the yard that's
Jennifer (29:46):
what's wrong with you?
Carey (29:48):
Yeah, that's what's wrong.
Oh, and since we're talkingabout the goats On my way to the
warehouse today, I found adouble slide, like step two,
some kind of kid's toy typething that looked atrocious, but
it wasn't broken on the side ofthe road.
(30:09):
Since I was in a truck, I pickedit up, put it in the back, got
here, sprayed it down with someLysol and some degreaser, and
hosed it off.
Got it.
Really good and clean, and Ithink my kids are gonna love it.
Jennifer (30:22):
Okay, so the goats
Carey (30:23):
and the toddler,
Jennifer (30:24):
we have to back up for just a minute because the truck
that you were in had to bepurchased to deliver, said feed.
That you have to mill for saidfires.
Carey (30:37):
Yeah, that rabbit hole grew quickly because I had a 20
foot trailer that would haullike eight to 10,000 pounds.
Pretty easy, but it was open andI really wanted an enclosed
trailer or something.
I really wanted a box truck, butI thought that was out of the
(30:58):
way.
And then one of my buddies waslike, Hey, I got a friend that's
trying to sell a 16 foot and gota really good deal on it.
And it's already, it's come invery handy.
Jennifer (31:12):
So the cool thing about all of this is you make a
business out of it, but youstill got food to eat.
And food to share, and food topreserve, and eggs to eat.
Oh
Carey (31:27):
yeah, like I have a kitchen table that's got eggs in
plastic trays waiting to eitherbe put in, foam to ship, put in
a refrigerator, or let somebodyget them from me for some
purpose.
And I have a 17 cubic foot, a 10cubic foot and a 22 cubic foot
(31:50):
deep freeze.
And the 22 cubic foot has someroom in it.
The 17 does not, and the 10 mayhave a little bit.
Jennifer (32:02):
Both of my freezers are completely slam packed full.
And I have another cow going.
In July.
So I have to get to canning orhave a big barbecue.
Carey (32:15):
So right now I have a boar that needs to be no more,
and I have nowhere to put himafter they get done.
So I'm looking for a deal for adeep freeze.
Yeah, farming can, you can put afew dollars in your pocket to
(32:40):
give you some return on yourinvestment and have fun.
You can also use it to feed yourfamily and benefit that way.
'cause I don't know if anybody'snoticed and looked at their
grocery bill lately, but it'snot getting cheaper.
And you are what you eat.
Jennifer (32:58):
Yeah, so hopefully what the, our purpose with this
new series is to show you thatyou can still do what you wanted
to do and.
Maybe make a little bit of moneywith it.
Or turn it into a whole thingthat is a business.
Carrie's retiring from his otherjob here soon to do this full
(33:22):
time.
I was already semi-retired andnow I'm not.
I worked this 12 hours a day itseems like, especially during
spring.
Yep.
But farming isn't for the faintof heart.
I have not been on a vacation insix years.
2019 was last vacation, and wedon't have anybody to help take
(33:44):
care of the animals and there'snot really where I want to go
anyway.
So there's pros and cons toeverything.
So you gotta think about thatkind of stuff.
Carey (33:54):
Hey, I could send my, I could bring my farmer hand up
there and you and David couldget away for a few days.
Jennifer (34:00):
That might be nice.
We might, we could work thattrade out
Carey (34:04):
mean he wouldn't mind getting out, getting town and,
coming to Tennessee for a fewdays.
Jennifer (34:09):
Yeah.
Carey (34:09):
So
Jennifer (34:10):
we might, could do that.
Carey (34:11):
Heck, I might could talk my wife into to coming up there.
Us get away for a few days
Jennifer (34:19):
and let your farm hands stay there.
So we have some people on thebooks we're gonna have on, we're
not gonna do this all the time,maybe like once a quarter.
We'll do this series and thenext guest that we're recording
with have turned it into, theydo pastured meat and they have
turned it into a local sourcefor homegrown meat and are
(34:40):
supplying local businesses.
So we're going to try to bringin all these different avenues
to show you like where thebusiness can turn, all the
different areas it can turn to.
And hopefully maybe give yousome ideas and inspire you a
little bit to, to turn yourstuff into a business.
Carey (35:01):
Yep.
Jennifer (35:03):
So thank you guys for listening.
As always, subscribe and leave areview if you don't mind.
Carey (35:10):
Have a good day.
Jennifer (35:11):
Bye.
Hey poultry nerds.
We are back.
I'm Jennifer and.
Carey (00:07):
I am Carey,
Jennifer (00:08):
and we are going to start a new series called next
Level Nerds from Hobby toHustle.
Yeah,
because there's so many people out there who have
taken their hobby to the nextlevel.
And are making a business out ofit, and we wanted to highlight
(00:29):
those people and maybe inspireyou to make a little money with
those eggs in your backyard,
Carey (00:38):
or at least help you figure out if you want to run
down the rabbit hole or justhave some cute yard candy,
Jennifer (00:47):
which is nice too.
Yeah.
So if you are interested, we aregoing to kick this new series
off with telling our stories ofhow we went from just eggs to a
full fledged business, and thenwe have some really cool people
coming on to explain the avenuesthat they're taking to turn
(01:11):
their hobby into a business.
Like later
Carey (01:15):
we're gonna try to teach y'all how to make money.
Jennifer (01:19):
We're gonna, with
Carey (01:19):
all of that you're spending
Jennifer (01:22):
Yeah.
All that feed.
All those feed bags, you'refine.
Carey (01:25):
And there's a lot of people out there that they're
just happy if they could offsettheir feed bill.
Yep.
Because if you feed'em we both know that ain't cheap.
Offsetting your feed bill.
While enjoying your animals.
That in itself is pretty huge,in my opinion.
Yeah, let's talk about it.
Figure it out.
Jennifer (01:46):
All right.
So I'm gonna go first to tellyou how I got started and at
what point it kind.
Turn a sharp corner and wentfrom David.
I just want a couple ducks inthe backyard to, wow, we're
going to chicken shows and we'regonna do this and we're gonna do
that.
And oh, by the way yeah, andthen he just rolls his eyes and
(02:09):
goes, okay and look
Carey (02:12):
guys, she is not bluffing.
I have seen her.
Pop off with some really outthere ideas and this man
straight up, yes, dear.
Jennifer (02:25):
He likes to build stuff though.
Carey (02:27):
He does like to build stuff.
He's very good at buildingstuff.
Jennifer (02:30):
Yeah.
Carey (02:31):
Every farm needs a David.
Jennifer (02:33):
Yep.
So a little bit about mybackground is I actually grew up
on a farm, not like afull-fledged farm, but we had
cows and chickens and gardensand mom canned and just, I don't
know.
To me it was normal.
I had a horse and went off tocollege and got an animal
science degree and swore I wouldnever own another chicken as
(02:58):
long as I lived.
Hated him.
Never wanted to see him again,and managed to not have any for
about maybe 15 years.
Carey (03:13):
Okay.
You held out for a while
Jennifer (03:16):
and so I looked at David one day and I said.
I think that I want a chicken.
So after he picked himself upoff the floor, we decided on
Orpingtons.
He just instantly fell in lovewith them.
Never had orpington.
He's never had chickens beforeat all.
And so we went on a shoppingspree and found a guy that lived
(03:40):
about an hour from us and hadOrpingtons.
And at this point I did not knowthat there was a difference
between production Orpingtonsand Exhibition Orpingtons.
So we just picked up 10 chicks.
And went home and then we had togo get food and we had to do all
this brooders and we had to doall that stuff.
(04:02):
And I wasn't on Facebook, Ididn't know any of this stuff.
Just kinda winging it from thispoint,'cause I was a kid and we
always let mama hand do thechicks.
So this part of it was all newto me.
And then I went to the feedstore.
And then we had ducks.
Carey (04:23):
Man, that's how a lot of crab starts right there.
Jennifer (04:25):
And then we had guineas, and then we had
turkeys.
And then I had a friend that hadturkeys and then we were sharing
turkeys and then I looked at ouryard and I said, David I need
goats and I want like more dogsand stuff.
And so then we went shopping andwe actually bought a farm, and
(04:49):
now we have.
Cows, goats, pigs, dogs quail,but quail ducks, turkeys,
orpingtons.
Still, we'll always haveorpingtons and breasts.
Is it oh and two cats?
Is that it?
Carey (05:11):
Is there a partridge in a pair of tree?
Jennifer (05:15):
And I have a garden.
We garden too now.
And I learned how to
Carey (05:20):
you, did you forget cows?
Jennifer (05:23):
I think I said cows.
Okay.
I have a Holstein, she's, hername's Mabel.
She's like the mascot out in thefield, but you can't miss her.
So last year I got a livestockcrayon.
Have you ever played with alivestock crayon before?
You can write on animals withit.
So I went out there and wrote on
Carey (05:42):
did you ride eat more chicken or something on?
I did
Jennifer (05:44):
eat more quail.
Pictures because Chick-fil-A forall of y'all, people that not
live in the south, we haveChick-fil-A and it's a Holstein.
It says, eat more chicken.
So I run on the side of it, eatmore quail, and then posted
pictures of that.
But I did it in red and then itstarted raining and it didn't
(06:05):
look pretty.
So next time I'll need to do itin blue, I think.
Carey (06:10):
Somebody probably was like, oh my god, that cow's
dying.
That got shot.
Jennifer (06:15):
Yeah, it wasn't really pretty.
Wow.
Okay, so now we're out at thefarm.
We have all these critters and Istart hatching.
I had already been hatching, butnow I like have the setup, like
I have the barn and I got theincubate, the good incubators.
'cause I had the crappyincubators before that.
(06:35):
You get borrowed from somebody'syard sale or something and got a
good incubator.
Everybody
Carey (06:41):
has a start somewhere.
Jennifer (06:42):
You don't know until
Carey (06:43):
that's right.
Jennifer (06:44):
I start hatching and I was like, oh, this is fun.
So I can take all these eggs andI can make babies.
This is awesome.
And so I posted a sign out atthe road and it said, chicks for
sale.
And then.
People were coming and then morepeople were coming and then I
(07:04):
started selling eggs and then Ihad quail and started selling
quail.
And then I.
Guinea, in the summertime youcan't hardly hatch enough
guineas in Tennessee.
And we sold them like all summerfor three summers.
And then David said, get do theguineas.
Carey (07:24):
Like people buy that Guinea.
Jennifer (07:27):
Yeah.
I can tell you this story, but Idon't really wanna offend
anybody.
So a lot of Westerners moved toTennessee.
And then they, I guess theydon't know about ticks and Chis
from, and I don't know, do theynot have ticks and Chis in the
west?
I have no idea.
So they get on these Facebookgroups and they're like, what do
(07:51):
we do with ticks and Chis?
And I think people are mean to'em and tell'em they need
guineas.
And so they would come here?
Yeah.
I need 20 guineas.
And if they said they needed 20guineas, I sold'em 20 guineas.
Carey (08:04):
When somebody says, Hey, I need this.
Don't argue with'em.
Jennifer (08:09):
No.
But if they come and they say,we just moved here and we have
ticks and triggers, and we sawonline that.
Guineas eat them.
What's your opinion?
And I'm like that's true.
They do eat them and got alittle bit more information to
find out.
They only had five acres andthey were told they needed 20
guineas.
Carey (08:31):
In, in all actuality, I think 20 Guinea would more than
fix a problem.
Jennifer (08:41):
I didn't even have 20 guineas.
Carey (08:43):
But holy cow, 20 guineas for five acres.
Jennifer (08:49):
I think at one point I had, I think the most I had was
like a dozen or 15 becausethat's about all I could stand.
And I would, I just would tellthem, just stand here for a
minute and let them get going.
And I would make some kind ofnoise to get'em going.
And I'm like, that's.
Like a dozen out there going, soyou tell me how loud do you want
(09:10):
it to be at your house?
How much do you like yourneighbors?
And they would usually leavewith five or six.
But at the end of the summer,all those people who bought 20
guineas.
Would text me or call me and Doyou want back?
Hey, do you want something back?
Back?
Nope.
I do not want them back.
(09:32):
But eventually David just, hekinda looked at me one day and
he said I'm really over theguineas.
I'm really over, I'm really overthem.
And since he doesn't say stufflike that, they
Carey (09:46):
being loud.
Jennifer (09:48):
So we were on the back deck trying to eat breakfast,
and they were on the far side ofthe barn and they were so loud
we could not have aconversation.
So he went inside and closed thedoor and he just looked at me
and he goes, please, can we getrid of the guineas?
(10:10):
And since he doesn't ask me fora lot like that, I got rid of
the guineas because truth betold, I was really sick of them
too.
You can't handle'em.
They I have scars all over myarm from trying to handle them.
Their talons are like razorblades.
And it, they're super hard tosex.
(10:31):
I got really good at it oncethey were adults, but they are
incredibly hard to sex.
So yeah, there's that
Carey (10:42):
sucks.
Jennifer (10:43):
Yeah.
They have I forget what they'recalled, the.
The things on the side of theirhead, the horns, I guess on the
side of their head, I forgetwhat they're called.
That the males would be likemore upright and a little bit
larger, and then the femaleswould be a little bit smaller
and sloped down.
That's literally the onlydifference, aside from an egg
coming out of one of them.
Carey (11:02):
Oh wow.
Jennifer (11:03):
Yeah, so you
Carey (11:04):
just have to flip over your bucket and sit out there
and watch and be like,
Jennifer (11:08):
yes.
Carey (11:09):
And then chase that one down and hope that you catch
that one and put a little pinkleg band around it or something.
Jennifer (11:17):
So I had white and lavender guineas, which kind of
was a specialty thing.
And I got them on accident too,but to go into the cage'cause I
had'em in a cage to collecttheir eggs'cause they're
seasonal layers.
And to go in there, I had towear a ball cap, a le, a denim
jacket and leather gloves,because that's the only way you
(11:41):
can catch them.
They will slice you open ifyou're not careful.
Not meaning to they won't attackyou, but if you're trying to
pick'em up and handle'em they'reta, their nails are just that
sharp.
They're razor sharp.
They just weren't fun, and hedidn't like'em, so I got rid of
them.
But anyway, so the point of allof this is where did it turn to
(12:03):
go towards business?
And that was when I decided tostart selling hatching eggs.
And learn all the ins and outsof how to do that legally, which
is the NPIP, how to box them,which is the foam and the double
boxing, and then how to findbuyers.
(12:26):
'Cause remember I wasn't onFacebook until about, five years
ago, COVID is when I got onFacebook.
And then Facebook doesn't allowanimal sales, so they kept
shutting my farm page down.
So I just went around them andcreated my own website and
that's how I started sellinghatching eggs.
(12:48):
And I couldn't find a foamsupplier that could keep up with
the demand.
So I designed and created my ownfoam and started selling that,
and then expanded to boxes andother, if I use it, then I would
(13:11):
just buy extra and sell it, andit's just gone from.
Hey, I just need 10 orpingtonchicks to full flowed website
and, have feed delivered by thepallets.
Carey (13:29):
It it happens.
Jennifer (13:30):
Yeah, so it kind, I hope that kind of makes sense
how it started and kinda made aright hand turn into full
fledged business.
Yeah.
He,
Carey (13:44):
yeah.
Jennifer (13:46):
Yeah, so the basis of my business would be hatching
eggs of all the species.
I sell live birds, obviouslylive birds.
I ship live birds.
I ship frozen birds.
I dehydrate for pets.
And then I sell the products forthe other breeders to support
(14:08):
their business.
Yep.
And now I have ventured intomore website design and creating
courses on how to do it tobecome a seller of things.
So it's just a domino effect.
Carey (14:27):
So now you're teaching people how to run down that
rabbit hole.
Jennifer (14:32):
Yes.
I'm, I am enabling.
Carey (14:36):
I was gonna say, we're like, we're such enablers.
Yeah.
Jennifer (14:40):
We're really bad.
Carey (14:42):
To me, I just, I don't know.
I.
Jennifer (14:48):
We forgot the best fart, and then that started, top
chicken.
So then that led to podcast,right?
Yeah.
So if y'all don't know, we met like about two
years ago and I was wanting todo a podcast, but I didn't wanna
do it by myself, so I askedCarrie to do it with me, and he
(15:10):
is okay, whatever.
I now, I know that in the backof his head, he is like,
nobody's gonna listen to twoweirdos talk about chickens.
Carey (15:18):
I'm gonna be honest.
Look, in the beginning I waslike, man, I'm gonna learn a lot
from this lady.
People aren't gonna listenbecause they don't listen to
that kind of stuff, but.
Jennifer (15:32):
They do
Carey (15:33):
25,000 downloads later.
Here we are.
Jennifer (15:37):
Yeah,
Carey (15:38):
so
Jennifer (15:38):
So it's a thing.
Yeah,
Carey (15:40):
it is a thing.
Jennifer (15:41):
Yeah,
Carey (15:42):
it is definitely a thing.
Jennifer (15:44):
So how did you get started?
Carey (15:45):
When I was a kid my granddaddy was a huge role model
to me, and he had reds and Idon't know what kind these
little black.
Bantam chickens were that weretiny and they laid a small egg,
but he called'em banies.
(16:06):
So it was the black, the littleblack ones, the Rhode Island
Reds.
And he had some game foul, andthat was probably some of my
fondest memories of him, andI've always wanted to delve back
into that.
(16:27):
But never really been able to.
And like nine, eight or nineyears ago my wife and I we were
renting a house in aneighborhood and we were gonna
buy it and then they decided,oh, we don't wanna sell it.
(16:49):
We just want to keep renting itto y'all.
And I was like.
I'm tired of not puttingsomething, putting money into
something that's gonna be mine.
So we started looking for landand we found us a spot that is
very close to town, but I'm notin 80 city limits.
(17:12):
So I can do what I wanna do andit's at the end of a dead end
road.
So it was pretty nice.
And we built a house and gonnagimme some chickens.
And I found a lady down inShelby County that had some
Rhode Island reds that I lookedlong and hard and they were
(17:34):
about the best ones I couldfind.
And so that's what I did.
I said, Hey, I wanna get 20.
And she was like, I'll put youon my list.
And then she gave me a hatchdate and she said, come a couple
days after that.
So I did.
Raise them suckers up.
And they weren't like, they wereRhode Island reds, but they were
(17:57):
not reds.
So my quest began to find redsor breed reds and get standard
reds.
And then amongst that, I wasable to come across some game
foul that reminded me of theones that my granddaddy had as
well.
And I'm raising these, doingwhat I can and hatching
(18:21):
everything I can to try toenrich this.
And I start finding outmanganese and stuff will help
get them ready.
So I start looking at my feedand.
My feed sucked.
And so I started trying tofigure out ways to make it
(18:41):
better.
And I was, so let me get thisand mix it with that, and mix
that.
And, I find myself spendinghours every week mixing up some
feed with, all kinds ofdifferent grains and some
pellets and stuff like that.
And, that was a headache.
(19:02):
And so I actually asked youabout my Reds and you were like,
I don't know, you need to jointhis group and you need to look
for this guy.
Jennifer (19:18):
Is that how?
Carey (19:20):
No, we had met before that.
Okay.
Jennifer (19:22):
I don't remember.
Carey (19:23):
I had asked you about quail'cause they inched their
way into this whole thing too.
We came into it and you werelike, join this Facebook group.
Find this guy.
Ask him.
He knows everything about reds.
I'm like, okay.
Sounded good to me.
I didn't think it would be veryfruitful, but I met a man that
(19:48):
has over the last couple yearsbecome one of my best friends.
Rip?
Yep.
Rip.
And, he.
He basically told me that Icould get them there, but it was
gonna be a long process.
And he showed me what some ofhis reds looked like and I was
(20:10):
like, oh, those are reds.
That mahogany deep red colorsjust and things progressed and I
was actually able to get some.
Standard Reds from the Tompkinsbloodline, and I've been working
with those for about a year andsome change now year and a half.
(20:34):
So that's where I've got thosefrom and I've also got a lot of
quail.
Because, you
Jennifer (20:43):
enabled you
Carey (20:44):
Yeah.
You were enabler.
Which I will say in yourdefense, a lot of quail people
are enablers because we like toshare our passion with folks.
But, their eggs taste prettygood.
Their meat's pretty lean.
And with the quail, I was like,I'm just gonna get me a few.
(21:06):
'cause I like to listen to'em.
I really wanted Bob Whites, butthat's like a whole different
world and'cause some more ofmine.
And my favorite memories of mygranddaddy was quail hunting for
Bob Whites and they have thatwhistle that I really enjoy
listening to.
And the.
(21:27):
The NICs that I have, they're,their crow is more like a, I
stuck my finger in a lightsocket type, like a weak wiki or
some kind of crap.
But, that was a whole road thatI wasn't really prepared for
because once people found outthat I had quail, they wanted
(21:48):
some and they wanted them alive,they wanted them grown.
They wanted chicks, they wantedhatching eggs.
And then I had somebody approachme about feeders and they want
those, which is a thing.
It's a whole different world.
And from working with my gameFoul and my Reds, I finally
(22:14):
decided that it's time to sharethose.
I also have a really good set ofHardy.
Vigorous American breasts.
And so I finally started sellinghatching eggs.
And that's a different world.
(22:34):
Quail hatching eggs, that's onething, but you get into a
standard red or something else,that's a really good bloodline
and people really get excitedabout that.
I get it.
I was excited when I was,practically gifted a trio of
Standard Reds.
(22:55):
So it's become a thing.
I'm pretty, I'll sell my quaileggs to anybody that wants'em,
but my chicken eggs, I'm prettyparticular with who I let have
'em because I do wanna make surethat they maintain the
bloodlines and not just.
Stick'em somewhere and letwhatever, do whatever, and act
(23:16):
like they're the reds that Ihave or the breasts that I have.
So there's that.
And I went from a nature, right?
360 enjoying that little chirpto now I have.
(23:38):
Five cabinet incubators, threeminimum running around the
clock, and a hatcher that'sabout the size of a
refrigerator.
And I recently purchased aRedwood incubator that I've got
(23:59):
to.
They had to get a special pieceof equipment to get it out of
their building, to be able toload it for me.
So we're gonna do that later on,and I'm gonna get that into my
warehouse, but it holds 25,000quail eggs.
And it's functional.
(24:21):
It's a rabbit hole.
You can go down.
It went from.
To cover the feed bill to Can'tfind good feed to now I actually
have a feed company where wemake supplements and we make
breeder feed.
(24:42):
And things like that for peoplethat couldn't find it.
Some say it don't exist, buthey, I'm in Birmingham, Alabama.
It does exist.
We got it and we ship it.
And it's a thing, so it's aworld that's been really good to
me.
Jennifer (25:00):
So your direction went a little bit different because
you went into the nutrition.
Versus where I went, but we'reboth into supporting other
breeders with our businesses.
Carey (25:12):
Yeah.
So like for you your problemthat you had was you couldn't
get a good supply of egg foam.
So you had to fix that.
And you
did.
And other people, myselfincluded, are glad that you did
that because I don't have toworry about a supply.
Egg foam.com has a containerfull of it and she can help you
(25:36):
out.
The thing for me that I reallyget nerdy when it comes to the
nutrition side because there's alot of things that are similar
and a lot of things that aren'twith the different animals.
That's, that was my quest, wasto find adequate food for my
(25:56):
animals, to be able to see whattheir genetic potential was.
So I knew exactly what I had.
And it's made a huge difference.
It's been really exciting.
Jennifer (26:10):
So you had to make it yourself and Yeah,
Carey (26:13):
because it, I.
I, I met Jeff and we startedhaving conversation and it
doesn't exist, period.
And I was like that's ridiculousbecause I'm sure I'm not the
only person with this problem.
He said, you're right.
Just people don't wanna pay forit.
I said I want my birds to havethe best, so tell me what that
(26:36):
is.
And he did.
And, I went from ordering somebags for me to ordering some
bags for me and some friends toshipping it by the ton all over
the country to people
Jennifer (26:55):
and delivering.
Carey (26:56):
Yep.
And I do run a delivery routeand have it in the Birmingham
area for people to come pick uptoo.
Jennifer (27:05):
Oh, and you forgot the cages now.
You still cages too.
Carey (27:09):
Oh yeah, I do.
So I do have cages.
'cause apparently that's anotherproblem that people have, which
I had that problem and so Isourced cages where I could get
'em at a reasonable price and beable to help people out at a
reasonable price and fix thatproblem for people.
(27:30):
So I guess I.
For me, what I would say is ifyou're wanting to figure out a
way to essentially cover thefeed bill, find a problem and
fix it, and then once otherpeople find out that they have
the same problem you did andwhat you did to fix it.
(27:53):
Then help'em with it.
Jennifer (27:56):
The problems will come.
You don't really have to lookvery hard.
Carey (28:00):
Oh my God.
Jennifer (28:04):
They appear when you're trying to do farm
animals.
They have, they appear prettyreadily.
Carey (28:11):
So I recently picked up some Nigerian dwarfs who, I
thought it's just some goats.
Okay.
Now I'm figuring out that yougotta take really good care of
your goats more so than a lot ofother farm animals are.
They'll just fall over dead.
Jennifer (28:30):
Yeah.
That was a whole conversationbefore we hit the record button
because Yeah I didn't send youhome with any goats on Saturday.
You mean you just took'em?
Carey (28:44):
I did pick them up and give them a hug and.
Put'em in the back of the truck.
Jennifer (28:49):
I would like to know what Tamara's face was when she
saw them
Carey (28:55):
actually.
Okay, so this is how it wentdown.
She actually thought they werecute.
Jennifer (29:01):
Aw.
They are
Carey (29:01):
cute.
The black one that I have hasthis like white glow.
Around its actual eye and shejust thought that was beautiful.
And then the white goat that Ihave has beautiful eyes too, so
that's become a thing.
She's I think that's something,we have a toddler.
(29:23):
And she's I think that'ssomething that Kristy would play
with.
I'm pretty much got a greenlight to make a big.
Area just for said goats and seehow it works.
When I was a kid, I'm not gonnalie, I had a goat that I played
with a, like somebody would playwith a dog and we would headbutt
(29:44):
the yard that's
Jennifer (29:46):
what's wrong with you?
Carey (29:48):
Yeah, that's what's wrong.
Oh, and since we're talkingabout the goats On my way to the
warehouse today, I found adouble slide, like step two,
some kind of kid's toy typething that looked atrocious, but
it wasn't broken on the side ofthe road.
(30:09):
Since I was in a truck, I pickedit up, put it in the back, got
here, sprayed it down with someLysol and some degreaser, and
hosed it off.
Got it.
Really good and clean, and Ithink my kids are gonna love it.
Jennifer (30:22):
Okay, so the goats
Carey (30:23):
and the toddler,
Jennifer (30:24):
we have to back up for just a minute because the truck
that you were in had to bepurchased to deliver, said feed.
That you have to mill for saidfires.
Carey (30:37):
Yeah, that rabbit hole grew quickly because I had a 20
foot trailer that would haullike eight to 10,000 pounds.
Pretty easy, but it was open andI really wanted an enclosed
trailer or something.
I really wanted a box truck, butI thought that was out of the
(30:58):
way.
And then one of my buddies waslike, Hey, I got a friend that's
trying to sell a 16 foot and gota really good deal on it.
And it's already, it's come invery handy.
Jennifer (31:12):
So the cool thing about all of this is you make a
business out of it, but youstill got food to eat.
And food to share, and food topreserve, and eggs to eat.
Oh
Carey (31:27):
yeah, like I have a kitchen table that's got eggs in
plastic trays waiting to eitherbe put in, foam to ship, put in
a refrigerator, or let somebodyget them from me for some
purpose.
And I have a 17 cubic foot, a 10cubic foot and a 22 cubic foot
(31:50):
deep freeze.
And the 22 cubic foot has someroom in it.
The 17 does not, and the 10 mayhave a little bit.
Jennifer (32:02):
Both of my freezers are completely slam packed full.
And I have another cow going.
In July.
So I have to get to canning orhave a big barbecue.
Carey (32:15):
So right now I have a boar that needs to be no more,
and I have nowhere to put himafter they get done.
So I'm looking for a deal for adeep freeze.
Yeah, farming can, you can put afew dollars in your pocket to
(32:40):
give you some return on yourinvestment and have fun.
You can also use it to feed yourfamily and benefit that way.
'cause I don't know if anybody'snoticed and looked at their
grocery bill lately, but it'snot getting cheaper.
And you are what you eat.
Jennifer (32:58):
Yeah, so hopefully what the, our purpose with this
new series is to show you thatyou can still do what you wanted
to do and.
Maybe make a little bit of moneywith it.
Or turn it into a whole thingthat is a business.
Carrie's retiring from his otherjob here soon to do this full
(33:22):
time.
I was already semi-retired andnow I'm not.
I worked this 12 hours a day itseems like, especially during
spring.
Yep.
But farming isn't for the faintof heart.
I have not been on a vacation insix years.
2019 was last vacation, and wedon't have anybody to help take
(33:44):
care of the animals and there'snot really where I want to go
anyway.
So there's pros and cons toeverything.
So you gotta think about thatkind of stuff.
Carey (33:54):
Hey, I could send my, I could bring my farmer hand up
there and you and David couldget away for a few days.
Jennifer (34:00):
That might be nice.
We might, we could work thattrade out
Carey (34:04):
mean he wouldn't mind getting out, getting town and,
coming to Tennessee for a fewdays.
Jennifer (34:09):
Yeah.
Carey (34:09):
So
Jennifer (34:10):
we might, could do that.
Carey (34:11):
Heck, I might could talk my wife into to coming up there.
Us get away for a few days
Jennifer (34:19):
and let your farm hands stay there.
So we have some people on thebooks we're gonna have on, we're
not gonna do this all the time,maybe like once a quarter.
We'll do this series and thenext guest that we're recording
with have turned it into, theydo pastured meat and they have
turned it into a local sourcefor homegrown meat and are
(34:40):
supplying local businesses.
So we're going to try to bringin all these different avenues
to show you like where thebusiness can turn, all the
different areas it can turn to.
And hopefully maybe give yousome ideas and inspire you a
little bit to, to turn yourstuff into a business.
Carey (35:01):
Yep.
Jennifer (35:03):
So thank you guys for listening.
As always, subscribe and leave areview if you don't mind.
Carey (35:10):
Have a good day.
Jennifer (35:11):
Bye.
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