I really dislike returning to Standard Time. For the next four months, until we get back to Daylight Savings Time, it’s going to be getting dark really early around here. Sunset last night was 4:45. By the Winter Solstice, it’s 4:19 PM. Being in a valley, with hills to the east and west, shortens the hours of daylight even further. Add to that the ubiquitous fog and it can feel pretty bleak.
A beautiful winter evening, as the fog ominously rolls in from the river. By morning, the fog will blanket the whole valley and won’t lift until the afternoon, if at all.
For us, though, perhaps the most difficult part about the winter months is the lack of income. Farming in a floodplain and in a climate that usually produces at least one prolonged freeze each winter, killing off most of the vegetables in the field, means we had always assumed we wouldn’t make any income between November 1 (the start of flood-season) and March 1 (the earliest we might expect to harvest greens from a hoop house). Most years, we’ve managed to keep harvesting and selling veggies through Thanksgiving, at least, but a few years that early-November stop date has come true due to freeze or flood. This year, however, we’ve invested in infrastructure that will (we hope) allow us to keep selling produce well into 2014, and perhaps year-round. The two big purchases we made were an insulated shipping container for storing winter squash and a second walk-in cooler for storing crops that want it cold (i.e. carrots, parsnips, cabbage, etc).
Our shipping container, with Felix in front
Storing winter squash had always presented a challenge for us. It stores best at 50 degrees with 50% humidity. The problem is that it’s bulky, heavy, and takes up lots of space. The only place big enough was our seedling greenhouse, which is both too warm during sunny days, too cold at night, and too humid. Not to mention, it isn’t rodent-proof. By January, most of our winter squash would have succumbed to mold, vermin, or freezing.
Greenhouse full of curing squash, all of which have either sold or been moved to the shipping container.
This year, we doubled the amount of winter squash we planted, and then took most of the summer to figure out how we were going to deal with the many tons of squash we had to store. After much research and deliberation, we decided to buy an insulated shipping container that we’d run a dehumidifier in to keep the humidity down. It’s currently filled with somewhere between 10- and 20-thousand pounds of squash, and our greenhouse is still full of the bigger squash that don’t fit as easily in boxes that can be moved around on pallets. The only issue I haven’t figured out how to deal with yet (or how big of an issue it will be) is keeping the temperature at 50 in the shipping container. The dehumidifier puts off heat, and the container is very well insulated. I’d guess it’s closer to 70 degrees in there, and I’m concerned the squash will not keep as well because it’s too hot, rather than too humid and cold.
Pallets of squash (and a few potatoes) fill the shipping container.
The second walk-in cooler we bought is more straightforward. For the past two years, we’ve gotten by with a 10×10′ walk-in cooler and a supplemental 5×4′ “reach-in” cooler for overflow. However, this year the 225 CSA boxes we pack every week leaves very little extra room for storage crops. Add to that, the fact that our CSA is continuing through November 19th and we had left ourselves no extra room for winter storage crops. Last year we experimented with a bunch of storage crops that could be harvested before flood season and stored through the winter; which carrot varieties store best in the fridge? How long will daikon and watermelon radishes keep? When is the best date for planting rutabaga and storage turnips?
Brussels sprouts are a wonderful winter-time crop that only get better as the temperatures drop.
This year, we felt we had the knowledge to comfortably extend our CSA well into November, and we planted enough storage crops that we could fill four weeks of boxes entirely out of the coolers if it came to it. Well, the first November box is being packed right now, and the mild October we had means there are fresh greens in it too. Nevertheless, in our second walk-in cooler we are storing thousands of pounds of carrots, parsnips, daikon, celery root, beets, and more, ready for the next November CSA box and for sale at the now year-round Broadway Farmers Market and to restaurants through the winter.
Fall and winter veggies at the Queen Anne market
For us, the best part about trying to grow and sell year-round is that it will (with luck) generate enough income to pay more employees year-round as well. Vegetable farming in the Northwest is predominantly seasonal work, with the vast majority of the labor and income happening between June and October – five very intense months. What we’ve struggled with each year is losing workers every November for lack of work and cash-flow, only to replace them with new inexperienced people again each spring. For the past three years, we’ve managed to keep at least two veteran employees with us through the following season. And next year, two employees (Sam and Kyli) will return for their third season. Siri deserves a lot of credit for writing a budget and planting plan that has enabled us to generate enough income from June through October that we can continue to pay a few employees through the winter months. Nevertheless, one of our biggest goals for our farm is for it to be a place where people can find meaningful, year-round work and make a living wage doing so. For this to happen, I believe we need to keep investing in winter-storage facilities and to continue to experimenting with crops that can survive in the field through the winter we well as crop varieties that store best. I also want to keep building more hoop-houses so we can extend the season on less cold-tolerant crops like lettuce, salad greens, turnips, radishes, and more.
Direct seeding in the greenhouse in early-Spring
Every year we try to add another piece to that puzzle. This year, it was an investment in winter-storage. Next year, who knows….
One solution to maintaining a 50 deg temp in the container is to install a temp controlled vent fan. When its to hot in the fan vents the hot air and lets in outside cooler air. Talk to a HVAC person find one on craigslist. Use mothernature to put in cool air and cirulating will help with the humidity.
So sorry to miss this year, but the tradeoff of being in Pienza has been fabulous. We both really enjoy reading about what’s happening on ghe farm and seeing photos if Felix as he grows. Good luck with the storage purchaes. I trust that with Siri’s research all will go well.
Less skiing though 😛
Thanks for extensive report on your new storage system, and a few of the travails that challenge your farming. As a simple consumer, I rarely think about the work that goes into producing the food. But your blog helps me be more mindful of it. And grateful. Thanks for pursuing an important and challenging path! Judi
What I dislike is the whole daylight “savings” thing in general. Sure the evenings get dark “early” in the winter months, but if we let it progress naturally instead of the artificial plunge back to normal (standard) time, it actually caps off the growing season nicely, as you fold into winter and winter chores. And as much as I like the long summer days at our latitude, it works against me when I’m out working in the garden or pasture until dark in June and July and come inside for dinner/chores at 10 pm. It would be much nicer if we didn’t mess with “time change” – a ridiculous practice.
I’m with you on the dreary Duvall fog, though. Many a sunny spring or summer morning is spoiled when the sun hits the valley and the fog rises up; it takes hours to finally burn off. Bleh.
Your winter squash bounty is awesome – great post, and great pictures!
Thanks for sharing your experiences. They’re super valuable. I’m in the desert with temps usually hot rather than cold so I’m still trying to figure out how to store our crops.
[…] Once I have time and money to add more infrastructure to my farm, it would be fantastic to have dedicated curing and storage areas for my winter squash and other storage vegetables, especially because storage vegetables allow a farmer to continue to make sales well after the growing season has ended. Last year, when I worked at Local Roots Farm outside of Seattle, the farmers, Siri and Jason, purchased an insulated shipping container for storing winter squash. The container had vents on one end that could be opened or closed to help regulate the temperature and it had a dehumidifier and a fan to keep the air moving and at the right humidity. We still had some squash rot in storage, but for the most part, it allowed us to keep literally tons of squash safely stored through the fall and winter. You can read more about the shipping container here on the Local Roots Farm blog. […]