Baby It's Cold Outside....

It's snowing a little bit today.  Fine, misty, white flakes drifting through the air.  It's cold too, though not as cold as it was the last few days.  28 degrees today....it was in the single digits the last few days.  We've got the woodstove going in the house .....it's on pretty much all the time so we don't have to use fuel oil very much. 

While I miss the summer months of growing, harvesting and selling and dislike the cold, I do enjoy being home and not having to run everywhere this time of year.  I have time to visit with family that lives far away.  There's more time to spend with Jennifer in a mom & daughter kind of way...shopping, movies and of course, Jennifer's music.  Winter days are spent quietly (hopefully quietly) also catching up on bookwork, tidying the house and cooking and baking.  Things I don't get to do during our growing season. 

Jennifer decided to join the school's cheer team this year, so lately we've been attending some of the basketball games at school.  Last fall it was the football games.  That's been fun....and her cheer team is very talented, what with all the stunts they do and such.

Chuck has been working on equipment repairs and readying tractors for the next season.  It's nice because he comes home earlier in the winter and we actually get to eat dinner together, enjoy the fire and maybe a glass or two of wine.  Today, he's getting the truck ready in case he needs it to plow...though there's not much accumulation and it's been snowing since about noon.

About this time of year we start pouring over all the seed catalogs looking for new items to grow for the upcoming marketing season.  We grow a lot of staples, such as green beans, melons, cucumbers, lettuces, kale, collard greens, spinach, tomatoes, peppers, summer and winter squash.  I also like to have a few other things we don't normally do.  This past season we added cut herbs to our offerings.  The Basil was a huge hit as was the Rosemary and Cilantro.  The Cilantro was very finicky and production was sporadic with that herb.  Once it hits a certain point, or if it gets hot or too stressed in any way, it tends to bolt (go to seed) quickly and then it's not really saleable.  We also grew Sugar Snap Peas this past season in the greenhouse.  They were super yummy, as one customer called it "addictive like crack." ;-)  I think we'll grow them again this year, but maybe outdoors early on so they don't tie up so much greenhouse space.

We actually started off doing some indoor markets this fall/winter, but had difficulties holding crops during the prolonged, sub-zero temperatures.  Now we're starting from scratch again and hope to return soon to the markets...but only on Saturdays for now.  We've got the hardier crops started again such as kale, collards, spinach and our own salad mix. 

We welcome comments and suggestions, so if you follow us at the markets, please let us know either by commenting here or contacting us through our Facebook page.  Enjoy your winter weekend friends, wherever it may lead you!