Hello 2012!

Happy New Year! As 2012 rushes in, we say goodbye to the year which spawned the genesis of Two Bridges Farm. The year will be remembered fondly as a successful start to a life in which we followed our hearts and were delivered to circumstances which will allow us to continue living our life as a dream. We can't express enough gratitude to the support and friendship we have kindled within the various communities which farming inevitably guides you towards. While our success in our first full season exceeded our (rather vague) expectations, we are still growing and trying to figure out exactly where we will fall as a part of this growing and ever-changing community of local providers and supporters. 2012 should prove to be more full of activity and change than 2011 and we are meeting the new year with excitement and open minds.

As we move forward, here's a snapshot of where the farm stands now.

-We're maintaining a consistent cycle of our meat chickens to process every week so we can provide fresh chicken for our customers every week at the market, which has been a major success. We have landed on a breed which we are very happy with, variations of the acclaimed Freedom Rangers (pictured right). We also have a several-week old batch of heritage breed Silver Laced Wyandottes to continue with our idea of being able to provide a heritage breed option for chicken. The customers who got our original batch of White Rock really enjoyed it, so the outlook is good.

-Our original flock of laying hens is still in moult, the yearly process of losing and replacing their feathers, in which they stop laying completely. We weren't expecting nearly every chicken to moult at the same time, but their age along with the trigger of shorter days has caused an egg shortage and we have had to turn away many faithful customers because of this. Luckily, a new batch of 50 chickens just laid their first eggs a few days ago, so it can only go up from here. On top of those 50, there is another 100 which are growing and will be laying by the time Spring hits. Suffice it to say, there will be no more egg shortage as we begin the new market season this spring!

-We're expecting the goats to start birthing their kids in the next few days, going on into February. We have had a hold on our goat meat while we wait for this batch of kids, as we don't want to cull out perfect breeding goats while we build our herd to a comfortable size.  Expect a return of the goat meat sometime around May, after which we will hopefully have a consistent supply.

-We ambitiously decided to jump straight into winter veggie production right after our first season of in-season production. Having been lucky enough to pick up supplies for a number of high-tunnels (unheated greenhouses) from a local nursery going out of business, we put up 3 different tunnels with slightly varying designs and growing techniques to see what works best for us. Since local produce is always in high demand on the off-season, our customers have been happy with the results of our experiments and so have we. We're confident we've found a system to build off of for next winter season. In the meantime, the crop plan for the Spring has been finished, the land is being fertilized by chickens and worked as we get the chance (since this Winter's weather has treated us so well). We plan to increase or veggie production significantly going into the new market season and are very excited to implement new techniques and continue to create a sustainable system which integrates all of the farm life into a cohesive and vibrant ecosystem.

On top of all this, we'll be doing a little re-imaging heading towards Spring. I plan to update this blog on a weekly basis, to keep customers and friends informed and involved in the farming process. Expect detailed updates of farm life spattered with some opinions and personal news. I'll be working on creating a monthly Two Bridges newsletter. I'll be revamping twobridgesfarm.com (again) to make it more interactive, informative, fill in the incomplete gaps, and make it a more accurate reflection of the current state of things on the farm. We'll be working a bit on sprucing up our market tents, offering more literature and recipes, more logical and appealing set-ups, and working towards a fresh new look.

We look forward to what 2012 brings and hope all of you feel the same way. Huge thanks to everyone who we have met in our journey so far, and here's to another full year of wonderful community, friends, family, food, and nature.