December 7, 2009

Hello everyone and Happy Holidays!

Well, my apprenticeship at Garden of Eve ended on November 1st. Since that time, Holly and I have been busy preparing for the launch of our first full season of raising poultry on pasture beginning in the spring of 2010. We'll be raising birds in two locations, Biophilia Organic Farm in Jamesport and Charnews Farm in Southold. We will be writing to everyone shortly about chicken CSA shares and/or buying clubs on Long Island and in NYC. We hope to offer our chickens at one Farmers Market on Long Island as well. Supplies will be limited to approximately 1,000 birds overall so we stay in compliance with on farm processing regs in NY State. If we have a successful first year, I hope to grow and process many more birds beyond that level.

The "off season" in farming means the beginning of conference season. I just returned from a two day Young Farmers Conference at the Stone Barns Center. What a fantastic conference and I made more contacts than you can imagine. There were approximately 200 attendees and most were in their 20s or 30s. If you ever wondered if sustainable farming is attracting the younger generation, you should've seen the turnout!!

In January, I'll be attending the NofA (Northeast Organic Farmers Association) Mass conference which is highlighted by a full day seminar wtih Joel Salatin, the farmer who made pastured poultry famous in Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma. Also, in January, Holly and I will be attending the Nofa NY conference. I'll be busy ordering equipment and supplies as we prepare for year 1, so we'll be very busy getting ready. Stay tuned for more updates as we move along.......Oh, and we have created a Facebook fan page for Browder's Birds and we've put up alot of the great pictures everyone sent us. You can also see pictures of our chickens out on pasture in the 'chicken tractor', as well as being processed on harvest days. If you know of anyone interested in pastured poultry, be sure to have them friend us on Facebook.

Signing off from the North Fork!

Chris