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.
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.