Prepping for Winter
Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, more than the holiday season is barreling down upon us. I’m talking about winter. Sure, it’s nearly three weeks away, but why wait until that first bread, milk, & toilet paper storm is forecasted. Your farmers may have had a week off from markets, but that doesn't mean we were slacking with our feet up and a libation in hand.
With the sunny weather and extra hours it was tempting to go hiking or do some garden clean-up, but my trail pal was exposed to the crud and biologists advise against removing dead leaves and plants so the bugs have somewhere to live over winter. Instead, I took a look around the farm and asked myself what needed to be done that I didn’t want to be doing in foul weather. The two projects I came up with were stock tank heaters and snow plowing devices.
Having access to fluid water is critical for all farmers. Nothing is worse than going for a hose hooked to a hydrant and finding the whole mess frozen solid. I know farmers who routinely drag their frozen hoses into their kitchens to thaw out, draining all over the floor to make another mess for them to clean up later. I prefer to take my time on a balmy afternoon gathering up all the heaters and outdoor extension cords, inspecting each one for damage because…duh, water and electricity don’t mix. Trip a breaker repeatedly due to a bad cord and you’ll end up replacing the breaker. The heaters themselves only last three or four years so it helps to plug them in and check that they still work, too. Bonus points for keeping spares. Without windchill temperatures in the subfreezing range, I’m able to get everything set up and properly secured away from horns, hooves, teeth & lips. It’s no fun to come home from market to find a curious critter has unplugged a heater causing the water to freeze solid and split the tank. Yeah, there are a few nice self-draining stock tank flowerpots around the farm.
While freezing water issues cause headaches, a non-functioning snowplow is the worst. There are two machines on the farm used for snow removal and a few years ago both went down at the same time. You know what they both needed? A fuse. I got skunked by something costing less than a dollar. It was a Catch-22 situation. I needed to plow the driveway to get out to go buy a fuse so the snowplow would work. You can bet I always have spare fuses on hand now and I keep them where I can always find them—in the kitchen junk drawer where all the critical small items congregate. Now when I drop the mower deck and top off the fuel tank I also automatically replace the fuses that ensure the plow blade goes up/down and right/left. I also fire up the engine and take it for a spin to ensure everything is functioning normally.
It’s not just me. I talk to my fellow vendors each week as we recap our previous week’s work on our farms. The vegetable growers are doing seasonal maintenance on their greenhouses and high tunnels. They know that having a structure collapse under the weight of snow and ice or the plastic ripped off by fierce winter winds could mean losing the entire crop of what’s housed inside.
Like us, market patrons also need to start preparing for winter. Many of the smaller, seasonal markets have ended for the year meaning more customers will be shopping at the year-round markets. Also, we’ve got multiple holidays coming up in the next month that will have people shopping for celebrations, feasts, and gifts. While vendors can prepare as best as possible for this, the one thing we can’t prepare you for is inclement weather. There are going to be times that vendors can’t make it to market or that the market may have to close. That means you, dear customer, must plan ahead just like your farmers.
Like all those annoying advertisements for Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Giving Tuesday, this is my annual plea for you to sign up for Central Farm Market’s weekly e-Blast. It’s quick, easy, and painless, just follow this link and scroll to the bottom of the page. You’ll get a weekly email telling you which vendors will be at the market and in the event of a cancellation, will save you the trip to an empty parking lot.
If you don’t want to sign up for the weekly email, you can also check Facebook and Instagram, but we don’t do Twitter anymore.
One good thing came out of the COVID19 pandemic and that is many of the vendors now take pre-orders via their websites. That means you can order online and have a nice leisurely morning with coffee and the newspaper before heading out and finding a woefully picked over market.
Pre-ordering won’t insulate you from a cancelled market, though. Like squirrels with nuts and grandma with her canning jars, winter is the time to stock up, if even just enough for two weeks. Like me changing my fuses, this is your time to clean out your freezers so there’s room enough for a loaf of bread. Rid the crisper boxes in your fridge of anything wilted or slimy and fill them with root vegetables and fresh greens. Winter squash, potatoes, onions and apples do fine in a cool, dark spot. By shopping at the farmers market you’re already a step ahead of the game with fresh goods that will last longer than traditional grocery items.