It's a common question for vegetable farmers: So what do you do in the winter, anyway?
Most folks assume that since it's cold and snowing, everything stops.
At NMF, we don't stop. We slow down, sure, but there is still a lot of work to be done.
We have been going to Sheridan School through March for many years now. That usually has meant some packout during the week of roots and potatoes and garlic, then packing up the TOG produce on Friday. In 2012, we added the winter Dupont Circle market. The addition of that market has changed our winters quite a bit, since it's producer only. We have to plan, grow and harvest greens and other items that we might've sourced from TOG in the past.
We've always done some winter growing in our greenhouse and two small high tunnels. In 2013, we built a new large high tunnel, and it has given us so much to be thankful for: tons of kale, spinach, herbs, and lettuce in the winter plus fennel, beets and more in the spring. This winter, we are harvesting spinach every week out of the tunnel. We have chard and kale and parsley in there, and we had several weeks' worth of head lettuce, too. Our smaller tunnels are struggling against the cold and diseases, and so they aren't as productive as we had hoped. But we harvested bok choi and lettuce out of one, and we will cut some baby greens soon out of the other.
Most folks assume that since it's cold and snowing, everything stops.
At NMF, we don't stop. We slow down, sure, but there is still a lot of work to be done.
We have been going to Sheridan School through March for many years now. That usually has meant some packout during the week of roots and potatoes and garlic, then packing up the TOG produce on Friday. In 2012, we added the winter Dupont Circle market. The addition of that market has changed our winters quite a bit, since it's producer only. We have to plan, grow and harvest greens and other items that we might've sourced from TOG in the past.
We've always done some winter growing in our greenhouse and two small high tunnels. In 2013, we built a new large high tunnel, and it has given us so much to be thankful for: tons of kale, spinach, herbs, and lettuce in the winter plus fennel, beets and more in the spring. This winter, we are harvesting spinach every week out of the tunnel. We have chard and kale and parsley in there, and we had several weeks' worth of head lettuce, too. Our smaller tunnels are struggling against the cold and diseases, and so they aren't as productive as we had hoped. But we harvested bok choi and lettuce out of one, and we will cut some baby greens soon out of the other.
Winter means projects. This can be anything from fixing up market baskets to housing improvements. This year, we are renovating the interior of our greenhouse in a big way. The layout was very tight, making watering inconvenient and time-consuming. For many years, we had soil beds in our greenhouse so we could make use of the warm, protected space during the winter to grow greens and herbs. But after last spring's tomato seedling scare, when we lost some plants due to pythium, we decided to remove the soil beds so we could keep the space free of pathogens. This also allowed us to reimagine the space, while laying landscape fabric on the ground (to prevent weeds from growing and making clean up possible), and to change our hose set up (we are installing a Hi Hose system). Plus, we can make the seeding workspace more efficient. All of these changes are with the goal of profitability in mind -- ideally, cutting out significant labor time and errors.
Of course, winter is the time for planning. Each crop manager spent time meeting with Pearl, the field manager, to discuss planting size, variety, and timing of each crop. Pearl then thought about the whole picture--thinking about whether we want to grow just enough for market, or for wholesale as well; diseases and pests issues, and past experiences with making changes--and made a seeding plan for the year. Then she orders seeds. This process takes many days of researching seed catalogs, seeing what is available or not, determining back up varieties when the ideal isn't available, etc. We have started to receive our new seeds and it's so thrilling to hold the future in our hands!
That's not all. Winter is conference season. We attend conferences and seminars and other educational/networking opportunities. Most conferences geared towards vegetable farmers are held during the winter since it's our "offseason." We typically attend PASA's Farming for the Future conference, the Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Conference, and sometimes others, like the Young Farmers Conference at Stone Barns, Just Food in NYC, or the Future Harvest-CASA conference in MD. Attending conferences is beneficial to us in many ways--obviously there's the opportunities to learn more about what we do--but a huge benefit comes in being surrounded by like-minded people. It is a great boost to the spirit to feel connected to the movement overall and to connect with other farmers and growers.
And finally, we get to take time off and go on vacation. Several apprentices left the farm for the winter: Jenni is building her Tiny House in VA, Natalie is helping to take care of her baby niece, and Dean is spending time with his family in ME. Those of us spending the winter here are taking time to visit family, pursue hobbies (Megan is planning to make a canoe out of a tree), travel (Emily is going to Alaska), go back to school (John is starting college courses) and just enjoy each day in the slow season. It's a time of renewal and relaxation, to catch up with friends and family, to cook, to be.
And finally, we get to take time off and go on vacation. Several apprentices left the farm for the winter: Jenni is building her Tiny House in VA, Natalie is helping to take care of her baby niece, and Dean is spending time with his family in ME. Those of us spending the winter here are taking time to visit family, pursue hobbies (Megan is planning to make a canoe out of a tree), travel (Emily is going to Alaska), go back to school (John is starting college courses) and just enjoy each day in the slow season. It's a time of renewal and relaxation, to catch up with friends and family, to cook, to be.
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