#winter farming

High tunnel

winter weather outside/ so cold!!!

Brad Ackerman

The last of the flowering han tsai thai (a broccoli relative grown in an unheated high tunnel),the first of the earliest spring tat soi, and chooks enjoying the sun despite the cold temps

On the downside, garlic is pungent, broadcasting what's for dinner to the neighbors and making us shy of embracing friends and loved ones after we eat it. Discreet it's not. On the upside, garlic is pungent, making foods zing with flavor, breaking through winter congestion, and offering a palette of flavors to work with in a small, inexpensive, easy-to-handle package. Raw it turns up the heat, sautéed it provides an umami building block for the rest of the dish, roasted it becomes a sensory indulgence.

Farmers market shoppers have access to garlic in a number of forms over the course of the year. Since the garlic is coming straight from the farm, the farmers market is tuned in to the annual growing and harvest cycle of the plant. Conventional stores skip over most of these garlic harvests and offer only the familiar papery, white bulb. And only one variety of bulb garlic at that. At the farmers market however, the garlic harvest begins in the spring with garlic scapes - long shoots that the plant sends up with buds. Then comes spring garlic with green stalks and tender, newly formed bulbs. New garlic is the next stage, offering crisp, juicy cloves before the outer wrapping has fully dried. At this time of year, the garlic you see at the farmers market was harvested weeks ago and allowed to air dry to form its protective papery covering. This is the garlic that will see us through the winter until we loop back around to scape harvesting season in the spring. As long as they are stored in a cool environment and not allowed to dry out, these bulbs will stay fresh and flavorful for months.

Our winter farmers markets are a testament to the growing interest in local foods. Granted, there are fewer markets through the cold months and the mix of products changes. But you, the shoppers, continue to come out and our farmers and food makers continue to produce. That's one thing if we are talking about filling stands with products made in cozy kitchens but quite another when we talk about the farms. How do they do it? How do farms that depend on sunshine, rain, nutritious soil and mild temperatures keep producing vegetables through the winter? They go under cover! The cover can be as simple as a sheet of plastic to shelter a row of hardy vegetable plants in the field or as high tech as a climate controlled greenhouse.

You will notice that the displays at the winter farmers market are a mix of cold-resistant vegetables like kale and root vegetables and quick-growing, compact crops like salad mix. Sprouts and tender, small-leafed greens are especially well suited to growing in the limited space of a greenhouse. These are supplemented with storage crops. Onions, apples, garlic, winter squash and some root vegetables are harvested in the fall then stored in optimal conditions, keeping them fresh and market-ready for weeks or even months. Here is the scene at some of the farms attending our markets this winter.

Our region hasn't faced a blizzard yet this year, but last year, Earth Nurture Farms was ready to kick start spring planting, even while the fields were still buried in snow, thanks to their greenhouse.

This year, Sun Sprout Farm is using every inch of their three greenhouses to extended their harvest through the winter. The plastic row cover blankets the crops with an extra layer of protection, keeping pests and frost out and moisture in.

4E Farm's production is greenhouse based, with vegetables coming out of 10 structures year-round and some outdoor fields during the summer. This allows them to transition into winter growing without losing a step.

No sheep out in the sheep yard this morning, but we did get a feline visitor apparently.

Keep the Greenhouse Warm Without Electricity

Winter months are upon us. Cathy Isom has a few suggestions on how to keep a greenhouse warm without electricity. That’s coming up on This Land of Ours.

Keep the Greenhouse Warm Without Electricity

The number one trick to heating a greenhouse without power is taking advantage of the sun. The sun is absolutely free energy and works day in and day out.

Some ways to naturally keep things warm in a…