Well, we knew it was coming, so it is not quite fair to say that winter “snuck up” on us, but after such a lengthy, lovely fall, that crisp, wintry air was certainly an awakening! With lows down into the teens at night we awoke to Center Valley dusted in a white, wintry mix nearly every morning last week. The frost was thick enough to trick you into thinking there had been light snowfall overnight. The low temperatures reminded us here at the farm that winter can certainly be a hard time to farm on the peninsula. We are lucky enough to be able to grow food year-round here, but with freezing temperatures not every day can be a field harvest day.

We have prepared for winter by harvesting and storing as much produce as we can, packed away safely until its time is called to be washed and sent out into the world. Other crops are buried under their protective cloth blankets, which provide those extra few degrees of warmth during cold snaps. Many of the other winter crops in the field are hearty enough to take the cold temperatures, some in fact grow even sweeter with the cold.

Beyond the winter air the signs of winter are all around the farm: the fields have certainly thinned since the summer bounty; white lights now adorn the Farm Stand to illuminate the path at the dark of 4PM; and, the crew has shrunk to the winter few. As we move from our summer and fall crops into our hearty winter crops the crew share soup recipes, tips on baking squash and tales of what fall crop we were delighted to discover tucked away in the corners of our produce drawers. Mine was Romanesco: as I chopped my last bit of Romanesco for the season I was thankful for the great variety of produce we had this year and I am looking forward to what 2019 will offer.

~ Siobhan