Welcoming Winter
Since our growing region has a fairly mild climate in the winter, we are not hindered by snow or frozen ground. While more traditional farms slow production in the winter, we continue to focus on feeding our community; providing chefs with fresh and diverse products; and harmonizing the skills of our team. We do not take the opportunity to shift from fieldwork to work on other projects or farm maintenance that could not be prioritized during the busy summer. Instead, we focus on winter crops such as artichokes, baby greens, cabbage, cauliflower, and chicories. Scaling winter crops is not for the faint of hearts. With limited space in the field and the greenhouse, timing is everything. Growing, transplanting, and harvesting products can vary with winter temperatures. Leeks and carrots take twice as long to grow than lettuce. From planning which beds to utilize to starting the next seedings takes hours of planning. As a result, in winter we spend more time on our planting schedule to eliminate stumbling blocks of time and space.
Growing year round means we can continue to supply our community with food and provide consistent work for the whole team all year long.
While our crops may be safe from snow, morning frost and winter rain is a time constraint in the field. Plants have to fully defrost before harvest can start. This shortens available harvest time in an already time constrained time of year. While it may be cold, we still have to manage our crop for diseases and pests. By covering delicate lettuce greens with thin tarps, we can make sure that they stay warm enough in the winter.
We value that we can grow year round and stay connected to our team and community. We continue to grow and learn from one another as we are all passionate in what we do here. Although the winter time is not as abundant as the summer months, we appreciate you taking advantage of what the cooler months have to offer and welcoming winter.