What Do You Do During the Winter?

By Chef/Farmer Andrea

Jorge, Jose Luis, Leonardo and Silvestre trimming turnips.

As I began writing this article, the snow was just beginning to fall gently outside my window.  As I do the final edits to this on Wednesday morning, November 6, I am happy to report that we woke up to a beautiful white valley blanketed in about 4 inches of snow!  Yes they said it may happen, but I’m not sure any of us were really ready to accept it.  So this morning we faced the reality that winter is here.  We pulled out the snow shovels and buckets of sidewalk salt, pulled on the snow boots, and started our winter shoveling workout.  Over the past few weeks we’ve watched the weather and strategized.  What do we need to do before it rains?  Will it freeze overnight?  If so, how long will we have to wait in the morning before the air temperature is above freezing so we can send a crew to the field to harvest.  Will the double cover over the daikon be enough to protect it from damage if the temperatures really drop into the twenties?  How many people do we need to get all of the Brussels sprouts harvested before the sun goes down today?  Are we going to have enough dry and somewhat warm days to be able to plant garlic, horseradish and sunchokes for next year?  We’ve hustled, we’ve worked hard, and with the exception of more tat soi and maybe some radicchio in two weeks for CSA boxes, our 2019 harvests are complete.  Miraculously, garlic, horseradish and sunchokes are all planted thanks to our hardworking crew that understands the importance of getting these things done before the ground is covered in snow as it is this morning.  Now what?

All hands on deck to harvest Brussels Sprouts before the big freeze!

“What do you do during the winter?”  This is a common question we get asked every fall, so we thought we’d give you just a little insight into what we all do once the harvests are complete, the ground freezes and the snow starts to fly.  Last weekend the first group of our crew members departed en route to sunny, warm Mexico.  We’re always sad to see them go, but the huge smiles on their faces as they say their goodbyes is all we need to see to know it’s time.  They’re anxious to see their families and ready for a little rest.  Before Thanksgiving we’ll say goodbye to another group and then the final members of our field crew will return to Mexico before Christmas.  I asked some of our guys what they plan to do once they get back to Mexico.  Most of them plan to take a few weeks off to rest, relax and spend time with their families.  Of course there will be some holiday celebrations and at least one family will be celebrating with their sister who’s getting married in December.  After a little R & R, it’s back to work for many.  Some will spend the winter months doing construction on their homes, taking care of repairs, making improvements, etc.  Others will find work driving truck, working on vegetable farms near their homes, or managing their own businesses back in Mexico.  The months will go by way too fast and before we all know it, April will be here and it will be time for them to head north to Wisconsin again.

Nestor and Manuel M. sorting firewood.

Our field work has transitioned from harvest to clean-up and preparation for next year.  This is the time of year we clean up brush piles, cut firewood, pick up sandbags and row covers, clean fallen trees out of waterways, and winterize machinery.  We still need to mulch the strawberry and garlic fields and then we’ll officially be finished for the year!

In the packing shed, we’re still rockin’ and rolling as we whittle away at the pile of storage vegetables we’ve stockpiled in our coolers.  We still have over 350 bins of vegetables in storage, plus sweet potatoes, winter squash, onions and garlic.  We hope to sell out of most items by Christmas time, but we will carryover some vegetables into the new year that we’ll wash and pack in January.  Yes, we do still have a crew in January!  We have about 10 crew members who work with us year round.  During the winter months they take care of all the winter cleaning projects, harvest curly willow and pussywillow, prepare the greenhouses and then start planting in the greenhouses in mid February.

After the holidays are behind us and we ring in a new year, it’ll be time to get serious about laying out the framework for a new growing season.  Amy has already started inventorying the seeds we’re carrying over into next year.  The first seed catalog has arrived and we expect more in the mail any day now!  Richard, Rafael and I need to lay out the plans for next year’s crops.  What crops will we plant?  Which field will we plant them in?  How much do we need? Do we have seed or will we need to purchase it?  Our growing season technically will start when we plant those first onion seeds in the greenhouse in February!  That’s not far away!

Our seed cooler nicely organized and inventoried.

Kelly and Gwen will have plenty to occupy their time with once 2020 CSA sign-ups start rolling in after the first of the year.  Gwen will be working on the new CSA calendar and they’ll be busy processing orders.  Andrea will be doing some traveling to meet with some of our wholesale buyers throughout the region as well as working on improvements to our food safety program.  Richard will be working on his crop plan with Rafael as well as ordering field supplies such as drip tape, row cover, and plastic mulch.  Of course if it snows, we’ll all be spending a lot of time shoveling and clearing snow as well!

Crew harvesting curly willow in February.

While much of our crew will be enjoying sunny Mexico, those of us remaining in the cold of the upper Midwest do hope to have a little time to relax as well.  We’ll take some time off for Christmas and New Years and we’ll close down the farm for one week at the end of January so our crew can have a little winter break.  Hopefully we’ll have some time to do some snowshoeing and build a snowman or two!   Kelly and Gwen haven’t decided where they’ll be going for winter vacation, but I am looking forward to traveling to Italy for the first time with my friend Kay from JenEhr Farm!  Richard is anxious to do some woodworking and has chosen to have a ‘staycation’ so he can work on building a bed frame with a beautiful live edge walnut headboard.

Winter does mean a slower pace for all of us, but the work doesn’t stop.  Animals will still need to be fed, coolers will need to be managed, and we need to work diligently towards our winter goals so we’re ready for another growing season next spring!  While this hasn’t been the easiest year of farming and we’ve had some challenges to surmount, we’ve also had many blessings and many more things that have gone well.  We’re grateful for all our crew members who helped us pull off yet another year of farming.  We wish them all safe travels home and will look forward to seeing them next spring when we’re all refreshed and ready to do it all again!