“We provide many types of greens throughout the winter, including chard, kale, arugula, mizuna, turnips and a greens mix of seven types of lettuce, arugula, mizuna and nasturtium flowers - as long as we can afford to heat our 10,000-square-foot greenhouse.” However, Jay Hill Farm will still function throughout the winter. Rozanski says the snow was hard on the trees that still had leaves, especially the pear trees. Unfortunately, the heavy snows weren’t so kind to the trees, according to Rowan Rozanski, a farmer at Jay Hill Farm. With the warm weather beforehand, the ground was able to maintain a higher temperature and their crops weren’t damaged. The break around the holidays is nice, though, says Cure.Ĭondon and Cure both say the recent snowstorms weren’t really a problem. After that, the ground starts to freeze and there isn’t enough light to keep up the growth rate. It is actually the dry cold that is damaging to the crops, as opposed to the wet cold.”Ĭure Organic Farm will provide produce through mid-December and offers a winter share program that runs for eight weeks. “We cover a lot of our crops to help keep them safe, so the snow on top actually keeps them from completely freezing. “The snow is actually really nice because it acts as added insulation,” says Anne Cure, farm manager of Cure Organic Farm. In fact, some farmers enjoyed the recent winter storms. Many farms are able to stay open and continue producing greens and other veggies long after the first snow. It’s Colorado, and it’s winter, so we just let it go.” By mid-December, it becomes more of an effort to keep things going because the ground starts freezing. “In December, the stand will have Christmas trees, grass-fed local beef, some greens depending on weather, potatoes and winter squash. “The farm stand will be open on the weekends in November,” Condon says. However, they will continue to keep their farm stand running as long as possible. In the winter, Condon and the handful of farmers he keeps working full-time mostly focus on basic maintenance of the farm, like repairing fences or changing the oil in the trucks and tractors. Isabelle Farm has several locations in Boulder County and covers a total of about 105 acres. “In the winter, we don’t have as much help, we’re doing repairs on equipment, we’re figuring out how much of what to plant, and we’re making the decisions we have to live with for the next year.” “Sometimes the winter almost feels busier,” says Jason Condon, co-owner of Isabelle Farm. Though some farm hands will use the time to travel, relax or get a job that is comfortably indoors, many local farms will continue to operate. The recent snow and impending closure of the 2011 Farmers’ Market have many asking where they will get local food for the next few months and what the farmers are doing in the off-season. No, the farmers of Boulder County continue to work hard, despite the unfriendly conditions outside. This group gives us fresh produce in the spring, summer and fall, but one wonders - what do they do in the winter? They don’t fly south or hibernate. On the outskirts of Boulder, past the myriad car dealerships, pizza joints and other signs of urban living, lives a mysterious group of people whose wintertime actions are unknown to many Boulderites.
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