Farm Partner Highlight: Two Fishes Farm
To Ann Trout and her husband, giving back and taking care of the community is second nature. “We were volunteering at a garden that was run by Canyon View Church and the mission of that garden was to donate the fruits and vegetables to seniors and low income families in different housing areas,” she explains. However, as the Church grew, they found it necessary to sell the property the garden was on, something Ann and her husband were interested in potentially buying to keep the garden going. When that didn’t work out, they took to social media.
“So, we just put the word out on social media that we were looking for a place to grow vegetables and some landowners in the Redlands got in contact with us and said that we could use their property,” Ann says. With that, the first version of Two Fishes Farm was born. In 2018, the couple began cultivating two acres of farmland, figuring out irrigation and recruiting volunteered in the process.
“Fortunately for us, COVID happened and people's movements and outside activities were extremely restricted and as everyone knows,” she says. But because Two Fishes Farm was outside - it was a farm after all - it gave people a chance to volunteer in a safe environment. “So, we did have an onslaught of volunteers. That really helped us shoot right out of the ground,” she says, pun intended.
Two Fishes Farm used that property for four years, though it meant Ann and her husband tracked 10 miles each way to get to and from the farm. “It was a commitment for us,” she recalls. “Every day we had to go up and take care of the chickens and keep track of anything that was going on in the section that we were in” to report back to the land owners. They started to get the itch for their own land, so they started praying. “In September of 2022, we found out about [our current] property and we came out and looked at it,” Ann says. It didn’t take long for them for contracts to be signed, sealed, and delivered after that first visit. “The entire process was very miraculous,” she says.
That first two acres, though, gave Two Fishes Farm its start and is where the nonprofit side of the farm began. Once they were settled into their new home, Two Fishes Farm transferred their farming and nonprofit operations to the current farm that surrounds the house. But the mission stayed the same.
“We felt that donating at least half of the produce that we grow would be adequate and that the volunteers would be able to share in the second 50 percent,” Ann explains. Yet, the volunteers are aware of how much they will realistically be able to use if they bring it home, so that donation amount is frequently higher. “We normally donate 80 to 90 percent of what we grow just because of the volume of what we do grow.” The same is true for the eggs hatched by the farm’s chickens. ‘It works out really well. It's good for the community and it's good for people,” Ann says with a smile.
As for those volunteers? They come in all shapes, sizes, and ages. “We really enjoy having families come out and giving kids to participate in all aspects of the farm. We enjoy letting them feed the chickens and planting plants or sowing seeds,” Ann says.
Between the choice to donate their produce and eggs and their volunteer base, the Community Food Bank of Grand Junction was an obvious choice to partner with. “We are very good at growing vegetables, but not very good at distributing them. So it's a win-win situation,” Ann says. “We can take everything that we grow to the Community Food Bank and we know that it will be used. It will go to people who will need the vegetables and that's a benefit for the community.”
Ann also understands that access to fresh produce is essential to living a healthy lifestyle, something everyone should have access to. “The downside is that when you go into the grocery store, [produce is] not the least expensive thing that you can find in the grocery store. And for people that are on a limited income or are struggling with other budget items, it's really not fair that they should have to do without something that is really necessary for them to maintain their health,” Ann explains.
So, being part of helping neighbors in Mesa County live a healthy lifestyle and feel supported is “extremely gratifying” she states. “We also see that it gives hope to people that may be down on their luck or struggling to survive,” Ann says. “This is a very giving community and there's a lot of resources out there, and we want people to be able to have hope and I don't see any better way than to give a person, especially a hungry person, hope other than giving them fresh food, good food.”
Ann has seen Community Food Bank grow over the years, but has seen the organization blossom under Executive Director, Alisha Wenger. “When Alicia came on board, she brought energy and enthusiasm and her love for community, her love for good food, her love for farming,” she says brightly. “It's just so inspiring to work with someone like that and have that support.”
And the volunteers of Community Food Bank make the partnership even better. “When we bring our produce to the food bank, people are so kind and they're so grateful and they share stories with us about how people who come through the food bank that they get, the produce and what they say and what they like,” she says.
For Two Fishes Farm, the relationship with Community Food Bank has been encouraging. “When the Community Food Bank discovers funding resources that they may not be able to utilize but that would work for our mission, they share that information. So, we're both working together to help each other be successful.”
