Like so many stories, this one starts with a boy…
Kendall’s story
After falling for my 5th-generation farm-boy Jay, I set out to learn everything about his previous life as the owner and operator of a large-scale quail farm. The more I learned about the industry, the more I realized the labels I trusted on the meat at the grocery store didn't mean what I thought they did. And, I finally knew it first hand.
Determined to know exactly where the food was coming from that I was feeding our family, I set out to start raising it myself. The only problem? Jay, having retired from farming years before we met, swore he’d moved on from that part of his life.
Now don’t worry, you’ll soon learn I’m not one to take ‘no’ for an answer! I finally convinced Jay to, at the very least, teach me how to raise a few chickens for our family.
Under the agreement that I would at least raise enough to sell to friends and family to offset my costs, Jay dug out some of his old farm equipment while I was at work and surprised me with 500 chicks when I got home that day.
I’m pretty sure he figured it was best to go big with 500 birds so I’d only do it the once, even if that meant we’d be eating the same old batch of chicken for the next 10 years.
Well the joke was on him, over 200 chickens flew the coop on the first day back from the processors and just like that, back in 2015, Central Park Farms was born…
And we’ve been running to catch up since!
Jay’s version
After my family got out of farming I certainly didn’t expect to get back in, especially the way we farm today but here we are eight years after Kendall first talked me into that first round of chickens.
There’s no way I would have thought Kendall would want to make agriculture her life’s work when we first met. She was a corporate business woman with almost no understanding of farming.
And while she didn’t know the first thing about farming, I didn’t know the first thing about social media and tech is not my area so we’ve taught each other a lot along the way as Kendall began sharing our farm’s story online.
Now as far as those first chickens are concerned, that’s right I didn’t think there was a chance that she would ever want to go from the one batch of birds to a full time farmer.
Regardless of how we got back into it, I’m glad to get to work with my family and connect with our customers.
Charitable Giving
We deeply believe that everyone has a right to be able to feed their family quality, nutrient dense food and it’s with that belief that we focus heavily on giving back to food security initiatives in the communities we work in.
Through the years we have donated thousands of pounds of pasture raised meat to organizations including Sources Food Bank in Langley and the Boundary Food Bank where our ranch is located.
With the generous help of our customers, we were able to raise over $1000 during COVID to support children who’s families’ relied on school lunch programs. These funds went to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank, the SHARE Society in the Tri-Cities, and the Langley School District.
During the devastating floods in the Fraser Valley that impacted many farmers and put our food supply chain at risk, we spearheaded a fundraising initiative that raised over $15,000 that was donated directly and immediately to farmers who needed help faster than government and larger non-profits could facilitate. We worked with local farming organizations to identify who needed help and these funds went to emergency needs like fuel to transport animals to safety and short term feed supplies for evacuated livestock.
We’re honoured to get to help our community and can only do that because of the support of our customers. If you’re interested in helping, stay tuned to our social media and newsletters for our next giving opportunity.
“A family run farm you feel like you are part of. We have been buying from the farm for several years now and have grown attached to them like they were part of our family.
At home we call them kindly "our farmers" and everyone knows who we are talking about.”
- Camille M., Google Review