Hey y’all, hello and welcome

So, as y’all may know the poll result was for the town, and so I’ve gathered my ideas but I want to take this one step further

I’d like y’all to ask any specific questions or give any specific ideas in regards to pelican town, which I can answer or theorize more in depth

Thank y’all for the interest and have a wonderful day/night

topics

hello and welcome, this is a quick poll to help me get my bearings on what yall are interested in hearing

this is more in the order of what will be talked about and less what topics will/wont be talked about

town: headcanon's, theories, and guesses on how the town functions and its inner workings

livestock: an insight into the livestock found in the valley, their origins and some fun facts

farming: comparing farming in the real world and its counterpart in the game

au/world/etc: my own concoctions swirling about my head

poll results

hello and welcome, i just want to say a quick thank you for all the positive feedback and interest

the recent poll that i have put up has shown an overwhelming trend in that yall wanna hear what i think, for which i am thankful

im not quite sure where to start so expect another poll in the near future

have a wonderful day evening or night

sdv ideas/au/etc

please let me know, and thank y'all who were kind enough to like and comment on my other things, i appreciate y'all

cattle of stardew valley

this will be one half head cannon and one half speculation on the cattle of stardew valley, i hope you enjoy and let me know what you think

first off, lets cover what we know. for instance the cows come in 2 main colour's white and brown, but are treated as the same entity as well as at times, cows will birth calves of the opposite colour. we also know they produce 1 jug or regular or large milk a day depending on happiness

generally we can see a few things right away, the two colours belong to the same breed or grouping, and they have a milk production affected by care and age. all of that gives us a good starting point

my general headcannon is that stardew valley cattle belong to a breed of cattle with highly varying colours, something like shorthorns. or in place of being a proper breed they are a local landrace, which fits well with the games themes of a village stuck in the past. either way making the assumption the cows origins are quite local which could explain their milk production, based on size and dimension of the milk jug sprite/item in game, the best estimatr of milk output i can come up with (and verified by a dairy farmer and 2 farm workers) is about 9-14 litres or 2-3.5 gallons of milk a day, an output thats more inline with typical heritage/dual purpose breeds than commercial dairy animals

on top of that, making some estimated guesses based on the ingame sprites, these cows have short leg's with short broad square bodies, somewhat like jersey cattle, yet with more outward meat like a hereford cow, this body shape is logical, as their bodyplan is quite alike to cow breeds that tend to both graze pasture and forage brush

putting all this together, stardew valley cattle are seemingly a local landrace whos colour ranges from white to brown, that is well adapted to the regions forested hills and meadows while supplying an ample supply of meat and milk to local families, making these often overlooked animals all the more special to the area

In addition to all I said something else was brought to my attention, on top of everything else, the chickens that were bred by Shane developed highly ornamental features while retaining a high egg production

blue chickens

ok, so let me preface this with, i'm no chicken expert nor biologist, this is just something i find fascinating and i'm still a biology nerd just not employed for it lol

ok so first of all, lets lay out some facts, shane who for a majority of his time in stardew valley has been depressed and highly alcohol dependant, while working a dead end job in a soul crushing company, managed to breed chickens with not only an unusual colour but unusual physical traits, seen in functionally no other hens. that is both objectively impressive and kinda insane, but when broken down its much more impressive

firstly, creating a new breed of anything takes years and a lot of patience, on average it takes 5-7 generations to have chickens breed true (reproduce creating offspring with the same traits as them) without setbacks and on average one generation would take 6-7 months, which would mean roughly 4 years of work

on top of the time it would take, shane would have to have a very good grasp on genetics, to realize what combinations would produce whatever outcome he wants, and while he likely discovered a mutation in the colour pigment that he took advantage of, he'd still have to meticulously plan pairings and keep track of genetics and generations, trying to avoid major inbreeding while keeping the blue gene dominant in the gene pool.

but there's one thing off, true blue pigment is extremely rare in animals, with only one known species producing it, Obrina Olivewing butterfly. so how the hell could the chickens be blue?

its quite simple, Rayleigh scattering

(definition)

-Rayleigh scattering refers to the scattering of light off of the molecules of the air, and can be extended to scattering from particles up to about a tenth of the wavelength of the light. It is Rayleigh scattering off the molecules of the air which gives us the blue sky

its rayleigh scattering that also causes blue jays to be blue, seeing as the predominant pigment in their feathers is melanin making them truly brown/black in colour. ironically real world blue chickens aren't really blue, the blue genes are more of a dilution gene for black pigment

now i'm not knowledgeable enough to tell you how to make a blue chicken but my hypothesis would be a mutation/modification in feathers(possibly naturally iridescent feathers) that caused more blue to reflect, this mutation being bred through the lines, being crossed bac to produce more blue, till the chickens became solid blue.

on top of the strange color, these hens have also developed more rooster like tails, this being much simpler to explain, likely being a mutation causing increased feather growth akin to a rooster, within hens

this shows how much work and dedication shane put into his hens, and is one of the reasons he's my favourite characters, this man, who likely (to me atleast) has no science background, managed to create chickens defying what was believed to be the barrier of poultry colouration

blue chickens

ok, so let me preface this with, i'm no chicken expert nor biologist, this is just something i find fascinating and i'm still a biology nerd just not employed for it lol

ok so first of all, lets lay out some facts, shane who for a majority of his time in stardew valley has been depressed and highly alcohol dependant, while working a dead end job in a soul crushing company, managed to breed chickens with not only an unusual colour but unusual physical traits, seen in functionally no other hens. that is both objectively impressive and kinda insane, but when broken down its much more impressive

firstly, creating a new breed of anything takes years and a lot of patience, on average it takes 5-7 generations to have chickens breed true (reproduce creating offspring with the same traits as them) without setbacks and on average one generation would take 6-7 months, which would mean roughly 4 years of work

on top of the time it would take, shane would have to have a very good grasp on genetics, to realize what combinations would produce whatever outcome he wants, and while he likely discovered a mutation in the colour pigment that he took advantage of, he'd still have to meticulously plan pairings and keep track of genetics and generations, trying to avoid major inbreeding while keeping the blue gene dominant in the gene pool.

but there's one thing off, true blue pigment is extremely rare in animals, with only one known species producing it, Obrina Olivewing butterfly. so how the hell could the chickens be blue?

its quite simple, Rayleigh scattering

(definition)

-Rayleigh scattering refers to the scattering of light off of the molecules of the air, and can be extended to scattering from particles up to about a tenth of the wavelength of the light. It is Rayleigh scattering off the molecules of the air which gives us the blue sky

its rayleigh scattering that also causes blue jays to be blue, seeing as the predominant pigment in their feathers is melanin making them truly brown/black in colour. ironically real world blue chickens aren't really blue, the blue genes are more of a dilution gene for black pigment

now i'm not knowledgeable enough to tell you how to make a blue chicken but my hypothesis would be a mutation/modification in feathers(possibly naturally iridescent feathers) that caused more blue to reflect, this mutation being bred through the lines, being crossed bac to produce more blue, till the chickens became solid blue.

on top of the strange color, these hens have also developed more rooster like tails, this being much simpler to explain, likely being a mutation causing increased feather growth akin to a rooster, within hens

this shows how much work and dedication shane put into his hens, and is one of the reasons he's my favourite characters, this man, who likely (to me atleast) has no science background, managed to create chickens defying what was believed to be the barrier of poultry colouration

shane pt 2

heres a few more headcanons/whatnot of our favorite depressed chicken man, let me know some of your's

if you married shane, he would without a doubt help you around the farm, even helping with crops, but the one part hed love the most is taking care of the coop/s, especially the chickens

with chickens in mind, this man has a dilemma anytime hes served chicken, cause he loves chickens but they also taste really damn good, the only reason he will eat it, is that he rationalized that chickens eat each other so its probably not a big deal if he eats them too lol

shane had hand raised charlie, from a newly hatched chick, which is why they're so close(also why she gets her own private coop on the farm lol), shes actually the mother of some of shanes firs-gen blue hens

and with that, can we admire how dedicated he is to his chickens, he managed to create an entirely new breed of chicken with a feather colour/tone considered impossible, in roughly half the time it normally takes to create a new breed chicken (may have to do a whole post about that)

Lewis

These are some ideas/headcanons/whatnot about Lewis that I’ve had. This is no end all be all, just my ideas, please share your own

To preface, I dislike Lewis, for a handful of reasons, but I will try to remain objective

firstly, Lewis doesn't know or care about like half his job. I know no 2 places are the same and often have differing roles and responsibilities and such but here are the general duties of a mayor

to be CEO (chief executive officer)

to execute and enforce the laws of the city/municipality

to hire municipal managers and employees

to preside over meetings/cast votes

to provide public services to the town and ensure they work

to give information and recommendations to the city council on improvements to be made

To serve as the official spokesperson for the city government and build a sense of community

To speak with constituents and listen to their concerns and questions

Lewis seems to only cover the easier or more enjoyable parts, he decides things for the town then has others do them, he sends information and reports into the local city/governing body, he acts as a spokesperson more to build up pelican towns name than that he actually believes half of what he says as well as speaking with the townsfolk (some more than others lol) he half-asses at public services, the town has power, water and waste management, but no public transport in a town where (as far as i remember) only 2 people have some form of vehicle, or no industries to help keep the town alive (mining, lumber and such) he's a paper mayor at best

but here's the thing, just looking around, you can tell it wasn't always like this, there is lots of decayed mining infrastructure, and with how the forest near marine's home grow's, its closer to a new regrowth forest, which could hint at a small scale logging business, as well as all the broken down or decayed infrastructure. at one point the town was thriving, likely early in Lewis's career, but now everything is broken and supposedly the town is lacking in funds. the one commonality, Lewis

now I'm not saying he was the only factor, but he holds a lot of power to change said issues, its literally in his job description to fix the town but he relies on the goodwill of a private citizen to fix and build up the town, or is willing to sell land to a megacorporation that would flatten pelican town to build a factory in a heartbeat. now for disliking Lewis I don't think its laziness or pure greed-corruption that led him to what he is today, I think somethin may have happened, early on, he may have lost a loved one, or some similar heartbreaking experience, that left him depressed or distraught, and while id say he's possibly worked to manage it, it changed him, the happy man who wanted t help his hometown became a sad man alone in a big house who couldn't make the hard choices anymore and began skimming by life.

all that doesn't change what he's done but may explain it

decided to do a quick sketch of Marnie, it feels kinda obvious its not sprite accurate lol

idk why but this feels more "her" than her sprite, let me know what yo think

Let me be totally clear– I hate Pierre for his lying, his glorystealing, and his general douchbaggery, but that doesn’t mean i like Morris/joja more. 

I’m not saying Joja is better, in fact its massively worse because its a company that canonically is in control of the country’s imports and exports. The office scene we see at the start has several horrendous workers safety violations, if Joja hasn’t lobbied those out, and general health code violations–the guy on drugs to keep going, the literal corpse that seems to have rotted away in a cubical, the literal constant surveillance. The clerk we see in the store is the only one, even with two cleaners/stockboys. She’s never seen outside, when morris at least is. There doesn’t even appear to be bathrooms. Granted those aren’t in a lot of the game art but they do exist. 

That would be a much larger, more soul crushing evil. 

Pierre represents the small town guy trying very hard to have his wife and child conform to what he wants, while envying the success of joja franchise owners. He literally says he wants to open a chain of his own stores and become like them. He’s very much a ‘only dislikes this because its not in his favor’ kinda guy. He doesn’t talk about how Joja is ruining the town, polluting things, or causing landslides. He talks about losing customers. And how you being there is good for the economy– aka the whole 7 other shops aside joja that are equally struggling, but he’s more likely to profit because farming = more fresh food he can leverage against joja’s frozen selections = more $$$ for him.  And he wants to build on that image of being the sole provider of fresh food because he can’t risk you opening shop in competition. Thats why he kinda threatens you in later years to not consider other seed sellers. It links you to his seeds and no one else. He takes credit for the resulting food, because he sees them as coming from his seeds so really, he just let a middle man handle it, right? Sure. He’s the kinda guy thats so far up his own ass about being better than a competitor that he’d talk himself blue in the face to convince someone it was so. 

I hate Joja because its a mega-corporation that is deeply unethical in many ways and has way way too much sway in the game worlds politics. I hate Pierre because he lied to the people who rely on him for their goods, and i hate him because he takes what your farmer worked so hard to accomplish and slaps his name on it. He’s that small town flavor of corruption and pride that most people glaze over real easily.

Like how people ignore how Lewis has been stringing Marnie along for years, insisting on keeping their relationship a secret and insisting its for his reputation– even though he’s the only mayor they’ve had for years and literally nothing bad could happen to his reputation by the statement of “I am dating someone.” And then he also makes solid gold statues of himself out of the tax collection money, instead of FIXING THE GODDAMN BUS LINE or the bridges and roads.  OR THE COMMUNITY CENTER IF YOU’RE SO CONCERNED ABOUT IT LEWIS.

Jas

This is no end all be all, these are some headcannons and ideas that I’ve had

Firstly, I’d like to point out one major thing, jas is a child, she is young and her character reflects that, she is a seed of a character, with room to change and grow, while still having a personality

Now for the headcanons that I’ve had, feel free to leave your own

I personally always saw her as being a true farm kid, she mostly wears dresses, bows and such but is perfectly fine rolling in mud

She loves chickens but prefers the cows, they’re big warm and willing/able to eat weird things (like crayfish lol)

Though Shane is her godfather, they are also related (she says Shane was friends with her parents but that dosent change that they could be related) she and Shane are cousins but she calls him uncle( this is also something of a Marnie headcanon, in which she is the oldest of 3 kids, specifically her, then Shane’s parent then jas’s parent)

Jas only learned of her parents end by accident, she later told Marnie and they sat down and finally talked about it

Jas regularly sleeps over at the “player” farm every now and again, mostly on weekends

That’s a handful of ideas and headcanons I’ve had, let me know yours

Marnie

This is going to be both headcannon and discussion, this is no end all be all, this is my opinion and I’d love to hear yours

Firstly I would like to point out that, one of the generally accepted “biggest flaw” in marnies character is her shop schedule, and that’s fine you can feel that way, but if you stop and look at it as you would an actual person, it makes sense ( this also requires ignoring sdv immaculate conception of animals)

Marnie runs the only (vanilla) ranch/farm centred around livestock in the valley, meaning her job as a rancher is quite important both for the community and the local economy. Now anyone who knows about raising livestock (especially dairy animals) it’s a tiring time consuming job, from milking, shearing, collecting eggs, cleaning out stalls and pens, feeding, health checks and the like, most of which would eat into her mornings and evenings, which would only worsted in spring-early summer when animals are most likely going to be giving birth. And she does all this with only some help from Shane and a little “help” from jas.

On top of that Marnie still has a social life to maintain, meeting up with friends and Lewis, both to help her mental and emotional life and health but also for their sakes. Throw in the fact that Lewis is (clearly) leading her on, her mental and emotional health need some extra care.

Throw all of that on top of raising jas and keeping Shane alive, Marnie has a very full schedule to begin with. Logically her shop isn’t the priority, it’s a side business at best, selling materials and tools to neighbours (mostly you) as an extra income. Logically to me atleast, it makes plenty of sense Marnie needs to leave her shop often

All that being said, I myself have some issue with marnies character

For instance, marnies main character traits are she loves animals and she’s lonely, which is seen through much of her dialogue, otherwise there’s not much else to her, for the most part that’s it, otherwise it’s idle chitchat about the town or local goings on

She’s timid, quiet and honestly a tad naive, which could make a good character but I don’t feel it makes her one, throughout my entire life, growing up in an agricultural setting all the women I’ve met have been brave, outspoken and honestly a little terrifying, I’ve genuinely seen some face down a charging bull and stopping said bull in its tracks with little more than a stick and a bored look, but with all that they could still be calm quiet and reserved, and I feel that, that’s what marnies lacking

She had the background, the setting and the chance to be a strong, outspoken woman, with thoughts and feelings that go further than lonely animal lover, but she never did

Personally I see that as a massive oversight, to what could have been a great character, what do you think

Let me just say: as a recovering alcoholic some if y'all's Shane hate is pretty transparent and fucked up.

You can dislike him for a variety of reasons, but if I see one more crusty sock bitch about how "ewwww he's gross he's a mess he's an alcoholic not in MY house lolololol"

I WILL PERSONALLY STEAL YOUR TEETH.

Alcoholics ARE messy. They can be mean. They're a handful and in recovery it's even harder. He's an incredibly well-made character and also a damn good fictional man.

Alcoholism isn't quirky or cute or pretty. It's puking your guts up and still chugging your drink. It's blacking out, being a sweaty fucking mess. It's losing friends and family because of choices you made. It can result in death. I've personally finished a drink I threw up into. I've tried to kill myself over this shit. It's fucking nuts.

Alcoholics aren't just some "ew funny haha" shit and I get real big red flags when y'all act like that. Yeah he's a made up man, but that makes me wonder how you really feel about people who need help.

Anyways. I love Shane and I'll fight a bitch over it.

Shane

Shane is a character that has some very diverse opinions and beliefs attributed to themselves, though often fairly in line with his character, but taking a look at him through a lens of reality makes his character much more relatable yet sad

side note, personally, how I view Shane is somewhat based on my life and people I know personally as I've experienced similar things to Shane as well as what other people I know have experienced. you may not agree with my opinions and that is fine

Firstly, the idea that Shane is lazy or does nothing, which I've seen many people say they believe he is makes no sense to me, through dialogue, his schedule and a little logic, we can see he has a fairly long work day stocking shelves which can be a difficult job, then we know he helps Marnie with her chickens, and even selectively bred blue hens. it's not that big of a logical step to think he helps in other ways on the ranch, especially considering the amount of work that goes into animal rearing. yes, he also spends a lot of time drinking but even with his schedule and helping out the amount of time drinking is still a minor part of the day.

secondly, many people depict Shane as being heavily overweight, which people can do whatever they want but to me, that feels a little off, based on Shane's schedule, the distance between his job and living on and helping on the ranch, I feel he would be a bit on the heavy side, but still with a fair amount of muscle from his daily life

Thirdly, people often depict Shane in crocs, for a multitude of reasons, there is no way Shane’s main shoes are crocs, they are terrible for farm work, they offer no protection to your feet, they can’t stop you from having your feet covered in manure, not to mention how they are not great for doing a lot of walking.

all in all, these are some thoughts I've had on Shane, but this is not a definitive " this is this, end of discussion " post, this is how I see one of my favourite characters, and if you think something different, let me know, I'm curious what you think