How we Farm During Winter
Many people ask how we farm during the winter months, so we wanted to share some of the ways we continue to grow and share food with you all!
Thanks to storage crops and microgreens, we can provide fresh produce during the colder months. We also use high tunnels and row cover to protect other crops from the weather conditions. Some vegetables that you can expect to get during the winter months are sweet potatoes, winter squash, cabbage, beets, carrots, radishes, turnips, rutabaga, kale, collard greens, mustard greens, salad, and microgreens!
We also partner with other local farmers to offer mushrooms, apples, grains, bread, and other items to round out your meals. We’re so grateful to grow food for our community year round and can’t wait to see what you’re making with your local winter produce this season!
Storage Crops
Storage crops are planted and harvested earlier in the year so that we can store them for the colder months. We plant some of our crops, like sweet potatoes and winter squash, in the late spring/summer and harvest them in the early fall. Cabbage, rutabaga, radishes, and turnips are all planted in the fall. We grow a wide variety of these types of veggies so that you can use them in different ways throughout the winter season and change up your meals. We also add new crops to add more variety like rutabaga, celeriac, and parsnips, which will be coming next year!
We store crops in different temperature coolers depending on the veggie. Winter squash all have different storage lengths depending on the variety. For example, butternut and Tetsukabuto squash last up to six months, where pumpkins store up to four months. Another way we are able to store crops is by cutting the tops off of vegetables with greens like radishes, turnips, and beets.
Protecting Our Crops from the Cold
We use high tunnels to protect crops from wind, snow, hail, and other weather conditions. Since they are covered in plastic, high tunnels keep the temperature a couple of degrees warmer than outside. We open them every morning and close them every night. Veggies that we grow in high tunnels include salad, kale, collards, mustard greens, radishes, turnips, and spinach.
Some crops are hardy enough to grow outside during the winter and survive, but we put row covers on them to protect them from frost. One year we harvested collard greens in the snow—we removed the row covers and were able to harvest the plants. Sunchokes are unique because they don’t require protection since they grow underground. They also were the first thing we planted this year!
Microgreens
We grow microgreens year-round in our greenhouse! We grow them under LED lights and they only take as little as 10-14 days from seed to harvest. We also grow a variety of different types like micro radishes, cabbage, mustards, cilantro, basil, and pea shoots. We make mixes with them like spicy mix or radish mix.
Interested in eating locally year-round?
Shop la carte in our Online Farmers Market ($30 order minimum) or join our CSA!
We’re still accepting sign-ups for our Peak Season (June - November) and Perennial (year-round) CSA! We have multiple share sizes, weekly *and* bi-weekly frequency options, a swap option, and more! Need help finding the right subscription for you or have questions? Email support@moonvalleyfarm.net and we’re happy to help!