Chapter 1: What is discussed at the start of this section?
Wayfair. New year, new stuff. New year, new stuff. Holler at Wayfair. For me, it started with bedding and bath basics. Things like new bedding and towels that make everyday routines feel better. Storage solutions that help me get organized and clear out the clutter. That's what it's all about. New year, you got to clear out that clutter or that clutter going to live in your mind.
Home decor pieces like accent pillows, mirrors, and faux plants that instantly updated my living space or even kitchen essentials that make a weeknight dinner easier. What I really love is how convenient Wayfair is. Their huge selection makes it easy to find exactly what works for your space, your style, and your budget.
I was honestly surprised by how many options there were and how easy it was to shop and find things that felt like me without having to go to a bunch of different stores. I picked pieces that fit my style because I wanted my home to feel comfortable but still elevated. Once everything arrived, it fit perfectly into my space and immediately made it feel more put together.
Whether it's something I use every day or a decor piece that just makes me smile when I see it, Wayfair really helped me get my home back on track for the new year. Get organized, refreshed, and back on track this new year for way less. Head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R.com. Wayfair. Every style, every home. Wayfair. New year, new stuff.
New year, new stuff. Holler at Wayfair. For me, it started with bedding and bath basics. Things like new bedding and towels that make everyday routines feel better. Storage solutions that help me get organized and clear out the clutter. That's what it's all about. New Year, you got to clear out that clutter or that clutter going to live in your mind.
Home decor pieces like accent pillows, mirrors, and faux plants that instantly updated my living space. Or even kitchen essentials that make a weeknight dinner easier. What I really love is how convenient Wayfair is. Their huge selection makes it easy to find exactly what works for your space, your style, and your budget.
I was honestly surprised by how many options there were and how easy it was to shop and find things that felt like me without having to go to a bunch of different stores. I picked pieces that fit my style because I wanted my home to feel comfortable but still elevated. Once everything arrived, it fit perfectly into my space and immediately made it feel more put together.
Whether it's something I use every day or a decor piece that just makes me smile when I see it, Wayfair really helped me get my home back on track for the new year. Get organized, refreshed, and back on track this new year for way less. Head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R.com. Wayfair. Every style, every home. Yeah, yo.
Woke up in the morning and to God be the glory. Thankful for another day to tell my story. Put my opinions in the universe and let them orbit. I'm from the dirtest soul with a dirty mouth, might need orbit. Missed same things on me like a nigga Norbit. Had to refuse them cause my bitch no rest future. Shit gorgeous. As I dab my sons up and kiss my daughter forehead.
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Chapter 2: How does Wayne Swanson describe his journey in farming?
I was like, damn, because Ebenezer Baptist Church is like right down the block. Oh, I know. By the fire hall. The old fire hall. Yeah, exactly. So, I'm like, damn, yo, they turned this... Yeah, I didn't know that was a co-op. It's like a co-op, though. They got like three or four black businesses in there, and then the entire...
like the entire like church area where you would have congregation and stuff is a art gallery. Nice. And it got meeting rooms and shit like that. So I was like, damn, bro, this is a good way to repurpose this while still servicing the community. It's not like, instead of like gentrifying it, it's like a renovation, but now it hold three businesses that generate money.
So I'm going to say this because how important Auburn Avenue is to me personally. Like what came out of when people say they from here or they come here for a reason and Auburn Avenue don't come up in a conversation, I half want to be like, you ain't shit. You ain't really about shit. Because you just want to use black to get up. But you had to know what Herndon and them did.
I take people to the Herndon house and be like, nah, it's still behind Morris Brown College. You want to really know what's going on with Atlanta, why we can do and move the way we move. It's because of them cats. And then Maynard, what he did. And we was feeling that in New Jersey. My dad loved that shit.
He was like, now we got to have a business because Maynard Jackson did this and you going to Atlanta. You went to school there. So you were originally from New Jersey. New Jersey. My grandparents from Georgia, they moved to New Jersey to great migration. So we'd come every summer. I knew I was moving back as y'all got lizards. I just knew as a kid, I was like, I'm coming here.
Cause they got lizards. I can catch lizards. I can do this for sure. So I came to Morris brown at 18, um, halfway through my first semester, somebody was like, you know, you can get an apartment for $300. I was like, what? So I robbed my housing money, went down Canada road, got an apartment in Clifton Glen. And I forget the first day I went in there, they came to see me.
They was like, yo, what you doing with these Jersey tags? I was like, yeah, I ain't in no business. I'm just here to go to school. You got nothing to worry about with me. This ain't one of them situations. I said, I'm squared up. And they was like, I bet. Get in trouble, just let us know. I said, I bet. I'm good.
What year? 91. Oh. So yeah. Yeah, I was just fresh to the earth. Yeah, I was brand new on earth. Brand new, brand new. Yeah, I was born in 90, so. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Chapter 3: What are the challenges faced in the farming business?
You said you went to Morris Brown? I did. Okay. So let's go through the journey, because we rolling. So let's go through the journey. How did we go from... What did you go to college for?
Mass communication. I was going to be the newsman. Had a little intern at Channel 2. Worked for Channel 2 in the morning. And then I was like, man, you ain't going to make no money doing this. And... was sending my resume to another radio person. And I don't know if I transposed a digit or God had other plans, but a guy called me and was like, man, your resume is nice.
You probably do good in insurance. Would you be interested in an interview? At the time, man, I'm living off of Columbia Drive. I lived in, I had a duplex in where, who got shot over there and died? I can't remember, but he cost me a bunch of money when that, what's my man's name? Um, When GZN was fighting and the kid got shot on Columbia Drive. I know what you're talking about.
I can't think of his name specifically.
I was 26, 27. I had a house there and I was trying to sell it at the time that happened and I lost a bunch of money. So anyway, went to Morris Brown and had always wanted to be outside because my grandparents, my dad's parents had 18 kids and they were raised on a farm in New Jersey. So weekends, I'm a bit unique and weird because
One morning I could start my day off on a farm, literally on a farm. By the afternoon, I'm cutting grass in the suburbs. And then at night I'm in Camden, acting a fool. So it's one of them weird experiences. Not everybody gets to experience all that. So always wanted to be outside. My dad's an electrician. I grew up an electrician as a kid. I love working outside.
Yeah. That's a thing that a lot of people don't know about some of these like Northeastern states is that there's a lot of land out there. But I, cause I didn't know that about New Jersey until I actually went there. Yeah. Especially in South Jersey. Exactly. Yes. Yeah.
Because it doesn't, I think the idea is like New York is when you not, when you from the South and you never like been to the Northeastern cities and you only visit metropolises. Right. Your idea is that everything up there is metropolis. Right. So like when you go outside of New York city, Shit, the further you travel north, the more I feel like you in the south. You know what I'm saying?
The same thing, New Jersey, same thing, Western Maryland, same thing.
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Chapter 4: How does Wayne view the relationship between farming and community?
So it wasn't anything new. It's just, you find a problem and solve it. And if you can do it in a space that you love, it's even better. So I was in corporate America. I did well in corporate America, just I didn't fit. And my people are kind of free. So when you free, you don't mix well with mediocre folks. And they can't stand you and you can't stand them.
And the most, the best feeling I ever had was the day I was sitting there, I was like, man, I got cows. I got a garden. I can literally eat. I can crush cans and pay this little $1,200 house note. Right. I said, what am I doing? Stretching myself out with these folks and I can eat. Food is freedom. So.
Yeah, because I think the thing is, is that a lot of people don't understand like the initial grind is for necessity. Like bare necessity is just human need. And then we get caught up into the materialism of everything. Yeah. How long did it take you to click? To make that, like, for that to click for you, though. Like, I got everything I need already. I don't got to chase, like, the look.
I don't have to chase a career. I just need to return to what was already laid out for me.
It was like, it hit me in two stages. So the first stage was in the corporate where I wasn't getting the bump and the promotion. I was like, well, I don't need to be here. And then I had done so well, I didn't respect what I had come through. So I'm just like, I'm always going to make this kind of money at it. There's always going to be grass. There's always going to be rain.
And then the drought hit. Then Oprah got on TV one time and said she don't eat beef no more. Sales went, doom. And I had left my corporate job. So then I'm broke. When I say I'm broke, nobody, I'm 53 now. So I might've been 42, 40. And I'm broke because of me. It's not no situation. I can't blame anybody. And then what clicked in that was I was so poor, I couldn't hire somebody to change my oil.
I had to learn how to mechanic, had to learn how to fix everything, but I wasn't complaining about it. I just was like, this is what it is. I just know God has put me on this path. I'm not taking another job. I'm going to either be under a bridge or this is going to work. So it worked. But in that space, you realize, man, I don't need half of this stuff I got. Because you're doing stuff.
You're active. The more active you are, the less you're concerned with the TV, the less you'll watch whatever it is you want to watch, YouTube or a movie. But the more active I got, the more active I got civically, the more active I got in the business, and the more active I got in mentoring, what I call my farming tree.
I'm in demand answering questions, helping people out, mentoring, and then being mentored in other spaces that you just don't, you don't need all that stuff. Like I dressed up for y'all. But other than that, I, you know, I bought, somebody bought me these as a gift two years ago.
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Chapter 5: How does Wayne Swanson reconnect with nature?
When I'm walking, I'm looking at the birds. I'm listening. Sun's on my face and there's no, I'm not, excuse me, there's no goal. It's just, it's how I kind of recalibrate. If I could walk in woods, I'd always walk in woods. So early, you'll see me always doing videos in the morning and there's a beaver that's over there and I'm in there and that's indicator.
yeah and if i'm at the farm i'll do videos at the farm but it's important for me to reconnect and sometimes i realize i'm a pain in the ass to myself and i was like oh bro you just need to get outside right you just need to get outside and stop fussing you wanting stuff to go your way only that's that inside energy i need to get outside and kind of get my collaborative mind back so i can get some stuff done all right so let's talk about let's talk about being outside yeah um
What's the process of busting down a cow?
Ah, busting down a cow. So the process, it takes you really three years to raise a cow, right? So from pregnant to about two and a half years to what's up. So we like to do it at about a thousand pounds to 1200 pounds.
Chapter 6: What is the process of busting down a cow?
And then we will process the cow and then we'll kill the cow. And then it hangs for 21 days, maybe. If it's smaller, doesn't need that. But 21 days so that the enzymes can loosen up the meat, can let the flavor profile come out. And then so it's not a piece of shoe leather when you get it.
Right.
And then from there, we'll take it down in halves. And then the I call them artisans, but the butchers will then decide on certain cuts.
Chapter 7: How does Wayne approach the cultural aspects of farming?
uh so they're like all right wayne look some of the videos like wayne this this one has a really nice london borough i don't think we should i think we should take it it'll be very presentable the customer probably would love it okay let's do the london borough and then we literally hand craft with knives and then break down the muscle groups that's all meat is muscles break down the muscle groups so we can get to a product that we can cut what we call fabrication and
And then after we cut it, there's a little bit, you gotta brush them a little bit, make them a little pretty. And then we put them into a machine with the plastic and then it compresses it, vacuum seals it, and then it's ready to go to a customer. So we like to do halves, wholes, quarters, and eighths. So my goal is to get our people out of the grocery store.
And when you do the math, what you're getting from me will save you hundreds of dollars, particularly if you start buying halves because you're getting 60, 70, 80 pounds of ground. And when we bust them down, the difference between How I do it, I'm not gonna give out too much proprietary information, but how I do it is I'm looking at us as a culture.
There are certain things we eat and there's certain things we don't eat. So I'm only giving you what you eat.
Chapter 8: What insights does Wayne share about community and agriculture?
And what I learned over the years is when I would take boxes to people, sometimes they'd be, I'd scare them. They're like, what am I doing with all this? Like, I mean, I paid, but you can see it in their mind. Like, I know I paid for it, but damn. It's too much. And then some people don't want the tongue. They don't want the liver.
So over the years, I started keeping a spreadsheet of what people smiled at and what made them be like, look what I got. and what didn't, and I started eliminating those things.
Shit, I take the tongue too, cause I'ma feed that right to my dog.
Man, I tell people, see what I tell them, I say, you got a dog, your dog will love this.
Yeah. You got some knuckle bones. I got a Staffy too, man. Yeah, he'll love that. He like to break shit down. I gave him some chicken thighs the other day. You should've told me you had a dog that bought you some. I mean, I'm literally in there cutting stuff. I didn't know you had a bully. Yeah, yeah, man. He, man... I ain't... It's few times where I just can see him visibly happy as hell. Yeah.
And it's always around food. It's either around food or running. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, when he running in the yard, it's like he ear-to-ear with it. But when I give him, like... salmon or chicken thighs and he get the crunch, man, he like a pig and shit, bro. He's so happy. I don't think people understand that. Because that's what they built to do. That's what they meant to do.
You got these working dogs that like, you know what I'm saying? They not eating how they supposed to eat. They ain't getting enough exercise and then you wonder why they tear shit up. I know when he tearing shit up that he need to run. I got a treadmill for mine.
because I'm up here so much that he can't, after he killed the damn cat, I was like, well, I don't know. I need him out. Cause you know, cows are vindictive. Like they'll be like, oh, he ain't looking. Let me get him. Oh really? Yeah. So the dog is, you know, he got my back, but he hate cats. So when he see a cat, he's like, oh man, this is my opportunity. I'm gonna kill this motherfucker.
He done. So yeah, but I got a treadmill for him. He does a couple of miles on the treadmill. I could see it in his face. Like when I went, I took him for a ride the day we went to Douglasville, but he had that look and I was like, oh, come on, man, get in the car. So we drive to Douglas field, make a delivery for a customer. He wanted to get out. And I was like, nope, you can't get out.
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