Wintergreen Farm: Cool-Season Greens and Vegetables for the Other Half of the Year by

1. Wintergreen Farm: Cool-Season Greens and Vegetables for the Other Half of the Year by Jennifer & Keith Grabner Ashland, Missouri http://wintergreenfarm.wikispaces.com Artwork by H. Willman 2008

2. An Energy-Efficient Solar-Heated Greenhouse Produces Cool-Season Vegetables all Winter Long By Andrew L. Thomas, Anastasia Becker, and Richard J. Crawford, Jr. University of Missouri-Columbia, Southwest Research Center, Mt. Vernon, Missouri

3. "How do you produce first-rate food all year-round in northern places? This is the big question facing the local food movement, and Eliot Coleman…has come up with excellent answers...." — Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food

4. We applied for and received a NCR-SARE 2007 farmer/rancher grant: project # FNC07-668 “Growing & Marketing for a Winter CSA in Central Missouri”

5. Project Objectives • Develop & Market Winter CSA • Grow & sell weekly cool-season veggies to 6-10 families and 1-2 restaurants from October through April • Compare different types of unheated greenhouses & coldframes • Overall costs, upkeep • Crop germination, growth, productivity

6. For Today… • What are we doing? • How are we doing it? • What have we learned so far?

7. Who are we? Keith has a real job! *ecologist with USGS *supports Jen’s gardening habit! Jenny *former botanist with state; *full-time mom *part-time farmer & school garden leader

8. Good job, Kevin!! Put the bottle down, Kyle! We’re pretty good at tearing things down! We’re not as good at building them yet… We have no time or $$ for real frame construction right now. So…………… What?!?!

9. 1) EZ Build-n-Gro Cold Frames (from Farmtek)

10. 2) Cattle Panel Greenhouses

11. 2) Cattle panel greenhouses, cont’d Spliced old garden hose secured with hog rings onto end panels (protects plastic from sharp edges of panels) ½” or ¾” conduit clamps to secure plastic on ends of panel houses

12. 3) Modified ‘low tunnels’ over garden beds Floating row covers as inner protective layer, Greenhouse plastic over pvc hoops as outer layer ½” pvc

13. 4) Standard small cold frame

14. Getting water to each greenhouse Quick-coupler valve & riser; Snap hoses on to water

15. Root Crops: carrots, beets, turnips, radishes, green onions, leeks Greens: lettuce, spinach, chard, arugula, mesclun, collards, mustards, turnip, Asian greens (mizuna, komatsuna, tatsoi), kale Cabbages: bok choy, pac choy, joi choy, red cabbage, Napa-type cabbages Herbs: parsley, cilantro, chives, fennel, dill Storage Crops: sweet potatoes, winter squashes, onions Other: celery, kohlrabi, broccoli raab 25+ Successful Winter Crops So Far… So what are we growing?

16. Succession Plantings… Every 2-3 weeks, July through September For most crops. Through October for some.

17. Other helpful winter growing tips… Closely spaced plantings work well in winter Young plants survive the cold better. Plan your successions for this. Cut & cut again --Asian cabbages --Greens --Herbs --Green onions

18. Mid- to late October…the skin goes on.

19. Mid-November…the ends go on. Late November, early December… the row covers go on inside each greenhouse. (Agribon-19 for max light)

20. Every layer of protection moves you a zone south (Add 2nd row cover when very cold)

21. Hardy, reliable, productive • winter crops so far: • -carrots • -spinach • -bok choy (joy choy, pac choy) • -Swiss chard • -lettuce (esp. red lf.) • -Asian greens • -beets • -parsley • Challenging Crops: • -broccoli • -endive • -sweet potatoes (storage)

22. Modified CSA Model • Decided not to use traditional CSA approach: • We don’t know what we’re doing yet! • We want to keep it affordable for middle & lower income families • Customers pay weekly • Bartering is an option (farm work, child care, etc.) • Seems to fit well with most family food budgets NOTE: This is not our main source of income… This makes a BIG difference!!

23. Last Year (’08-’09): *8 families (+ us) *Weekly boxes October - December *Weekly farmer’s markets March - July *weekly bags of greens for 5 families October-May This Year (’09-’10): *16 families (+ us) *Weekly boxes October - December *Bi-weekly boxes January & February *Weekly boxes March - May *Farmer’s Markets Nov., March, April Next Year (’10-’11): *20 families (+ us) *Weekly boxes October -April *Bi-weekly greens for 2-3 stores/restaurants October -April *Farmer’s Markets November, March, April

24. What have we learned? There seems to be no difference in winter crop growth, survival, or overall success between the 4 types of greenhouses & cold frames we are using.

25. Successes People LOVE winter veggies (esp. carrots & spinach) These plants are amazingly hardy Demand is much greater than our ability to supply right now Challenges Time Money Timing and amounts of succession plantings Learning germination and growth rates for Sept., Oct. Nov. Ventilation Successes & Challenges

26. Sustainability for Wintergreen Farm http://wintergreenfarm.wikispaces.com

27. "The winter was not given to us for no purpose. We must thaw its cold with our genialness. We are asked to find out and appropriate all the nutrients it yields. If it is a cold and hard season, its fruit, no doubt, is the more concentrated and nutty."— Henry David Thoreau