Nested stories (part two of five)

THE VILLAGE ELDERS were meeting to discuss the situation at Glamis Farm.

‘You know, he’s sold off almost half of his land, and much of it with fine crops already growing in the fields… He’s going to really suffer at the end of the season when he adds up the income from what he has left, as now he not only has a whole lot less, he’ll get a poorer price for his grain and his hay, since he can no longer supply in the kinds of quantities he’s been able to provide up to now… I can’t understand why he did it. He must need the capital for something, but it doesn’t seems to have the ring of entrepreneurial skill about it that Glamis has exhibited thus far.’

‘Is there anything we can do to help his cashflow?’

‘There is plenty we can do, but whether he’ll see the point is another question…’

‘The harm it’ll do to local industry if he goes under will be enormous. He employs a lot of hired hands, you know, and if he can’t afford grain for planting, there’ll be no planting, no tending, no harvest, and no grain next year. It’s a downward spiral…’

‘I think we should dip into the community chest and provide him with some help.’

‘Why should we? It’s his own fault…’

‘Yes it is, but we should help him because the alternative is that this village suffers from this disaster he’s brought upon himself and us.’

So the elders arranged for a gift of 30 head of dairy cattle to be given to Glamis Farm, along with the building of a Milking Parlour. ‘You’ll have to hire some men for the daily duties,’ Glamis was told, ‘and learn how to keep livestock – we realize you’ve only had an arable farm to this point, but with the income from the milk sales coming in on a regular basis, it should help to keep the cashflow a little more buoyant.’
 

‘I am truly grateful to the Chamber of Commerce for this generous grant,’ said Farmer Jack Glamis. ‘I know next to nothing about keeping dairy cattle – we’ve had a couple of goats, but never been a livestock sort of chap. This will change things but should help me keep my head above water, and provide a much-needed additional supply of milk, butter, cheese and yoghurt for the local community.’

The elders were rather pleased with themselves; but then disaster struck.

THE CHARITABLE WORK was growing, thanks to grants and legacies, and was able not only to open a number of hostels for the homeless, but also to consider establishing a variety of enterprises to provide opportunities for their residents to find work in a protected environment, which would be a sort of half-way-house for getting them back into the community.

One of the beneficiaries of the wealth that flowed through the accounts of FASHION was Charles Cooterie. He had spent a while as a beneficiary of their accommodation, but qualified for a bursary when he proved himself to be a trustworthy and reliable man with a desire to contribute to the community that had helped him in his hour of need. 

Cooterie recognized that city folk were disposing of their food scraps and waste in the streets outside their houses, leaving it to rot and causing pollution, an open invitation for vermin and disease, and an unsightly mess as well. He took the capital and arranged for hired men to take a fleet of barrows from house to house to collect waste. They brought it to his farm, where he buried some of the waste, and fed the scraps to a few pigs. His long-term intention was to increase his livestock holding until he could farm the animals and send them to market, to provide further food and help provide for his family.

The pigs grew healthy at first, feasting on slops and throwaway food scraps; but then disaster struck.

to be continued