O’Neill: Filling a much-needed niche

We need more winter production in the local food system. There is a huge niche open for new farmers or gardeners who want to expand their production during the winter months. No season of farming is easy, and growing successful crops in winter has its challenges, but with season extension techniques it is more than doable in our climate. 

There are so many greenhouses that are now unused or underutilized after the crash of the cannabis market, and these agricultural structures could be put to good use during the colder months to produce high quality salad mixes, cooking greens, root crops and alliums. We need more food producers who are focused on the winter months, and I have often thought about what it would be like to be a winter farm and actually take some downtime during the summer months. 

In the years to come, I hope to produce more food in winter as well, but the challenges at our elevation have to do with snow loads on structures and a lack of flat space for more greenhouses. This coming year we hope to build one more sizable tunnel, a 20×60 that would have space for six beds of late winter production and would help to fill the current gap in our market channels as we edge deeper into February. 

If I had more space, I’d grow a whole row of greenhouse kale, one of collards, two more of Asian greens like Komatsuma and Chinese cabbage. I’d grow more radishes, turnips, beets and carrots. There are never enough carrots available in our winter foodshed. If I had more space, I’d grow more lettuce and more of the Asian greens blends for salad mix. I’d grow more scallions, more green garlic, more leeks. 

It’s partially about what I’d grow with more space, and it’s about what I’d grow if I had more energy. I’m worn out by the end of the long summer growing season and the heavy lift of harvest time, and I also want the soil to be able to rest and regenerate through cover crops that occupy much of the bed space during the cold months. If I had more energy and more greenhouse space, I’d plant a whole host of the aforementioned crops in the late fall, especially the longer-growing heavy greens like kale and collards. I have read of winter-focused farms that grow cover crops during the summer months to replenish the soil while the farmers get some downtime. 

There is so much potential for winter production here with just a layer of plastic or floating row cover (spun fabric in different thicknesses, from a thinner light covering to a heavy frost blanket) and some hoops. In the higher elevations structures need to be much beefier for snow loads, but it’s also much colder in the low-lying valley areas so that presents challenges as well. It seems like there is a real banana belt in the 2200 to 2600 foot elevation range (we’re at 3000)—above the inversion layer of cold air that sinks to the valley floors but where there is often less snow load. 

High tunnels, hoop houses and greenhouses are all amazing for winter production because they provide so much space to work with. Low tunnels made from hoops of EMT conduit and a baling wire purlin can span a single wide bed or two narrow beds and can be covered with plastic or the 14 inch width floating row cover. We use these low tunnels effectively with sandbags to hold the covers down. 

Winter production needs less irrigation than summer crops, but watering can be tricky if lines are frozen. Hoops and structures heat up on sunny days and need venting. Covers loosen or blow off in storms and need resetting. Aphids can be problematic if nitrogen levels are too high, and harvest mornings can be brutal on the colder days (we keep tubs of warm water to dunk hands during wash-pack) .

Elliot Coleman farmed in Maine for decades and his excellent Winter Harvest Handbook provides step-by-step methods for growing in a climate far colder than what we experience here on the North Coast. It was a critical piece of instruction for me in my efforts to expand our winter production, and remains a benchmark of my thinking on the subject. For folks looking to grow more food in the winter, there is no better resource out there. Ben Hartman’s The Lean Farm is also an excellent book about minimizing waste and maximizing efficiency in the small farm setting. 

Overall, there is a huge niche open for folks who want to grow food for sale. It’s not easy, but winter production is rewarding in many ways, and the short days aren’t nearly as grueling as the long work of summer production. Winter is the time when we have the least local food security, and it is the time when many farmers are worn out and trying to recuperate from the heavy workload of the hotter months. I’m happy to dialogue further and offer support to folks who are interested in this conversation. As always, much love and great success to you on your journey!