New Year, New Logo, New Puppy, New Plans!

Happy New Year to all of you - we hope that you enjoyed as much good food and good company as we did this holiday season. Thanks to everyone who came out to the farm to bring in 2012 with us! It was a blast.

So along with this new year that's come upon us, we'd like to introduce a swanky new logo for Fresh Roots Farm, designed by the talented, lovely Danielle Sheedy. She's been toiling away for a while now, trying to find something that 'fit' for us - and this does, beautifully! Take a look:

Speaking of new, a good snowfall was kind of a 'new' thing in these parts lately, and we got a nice one last week. Alas, most of it melted this week, with our +5 temperatures. Can't complain - it's amazing that the cattle have still been grazing on grass, as well as the bales, at this time of year. It just makes me a tad nervous, wondering what the upcoming planting season will be like...

To take advantage of this weather, while it lasts, Troy and I are thinking of insulating our newly-constructed hoop house...so we can actually use it for our veggie transplants this year. This will involve putting insulation on our plywood ends, and ideally, doubling our poly. If anyone out there has suggestions for a double-wall (with blower) design, or another more passive heating method, send it our way! Check out the amazing, creative greenhouse design that our friends Greg and Carissa deJong have been working on for the Spring at the Harvest Moon Learning Centre, here.

Lastly, Troy and I are looking forward to participating in a Holistic Management course later on this month, with instructor Don Campbell, renowned for his great facilitation of the course. Keep updated for our perspectives on what we'll learn in HM, and the valuable things we take away from it to further improve the sustainability of our farm and balance out our general lifestyle.

By the way, check out our brand new puppy, 'Merle'! He's an Australian Shepherd cross with a beautiful 'blue merle' colouring (aren't we creative in our naming?), and he's stolen our hearts away since we picked him up on Thursday. We're hoping he will be a help here on the farm, and know he'll be an awesome companion. More pics of him are sure to come.

Cheers to New Years,
Michelle (and Troy)