Fields of Plenty

February 1 started with a brisk 5 degrees in the morning and a high of 18 degrees. And an unexpected, unpredicted all-day snow flurry that made everything just a little slick. Just to make sure that we knew winter was really here. February brings us noticeably longer days, and we are back in the magic 10-hours of daylight days (10 hours being the minimum that vegetable plants need to keep growing). And we are getting our January thaw in February, with 50 degree days on the 3 rd and 4 th . Sunshine and moderate temperatures make everyone, including the plants, a little happier around here. And while it is windy, cold, snowy, or other weather quirks outside, we are able to harvest lots of greens inside. We are learning A LOT about hydroponic growing, and expect to continue learning the ins and outs of hydro growing for a few years. We have harvested most of the first seeding and a lot of the second planting, with the third round of harvesting coming up quickly. Some of the pla...

(A few - ok 7 - days late, but here's January's post). We have been expanding our winter growing over the past 20 years, trying to keep up with the demand for fresh vegetables in the six months of the year that are not famous for producing much. At all. We have found that people enjoy eating all year, and our customers, accustomed to eating really fresh produce all summer, do not want to give up great taste in the winter. As a small farm, we scramble to grow as much as we possibly can during the standard growing months. First we added row covers. Then low tunnels. Then high tunnels. Then a heated high tunnel. Then two heated high tunnels. And all of these helped, and we grew more winter produce than ever before. I have spent a lot of time studying daylight hours and   nighttime and daytime temperatures needed for different crops to keep them growing and what crops grow best in protected winter conditions.   And still the demand was ahead of us. Learning to grow in ...