Real Cold Arrives, Briefly

Farmer Gabby outside the upper Caterpillar tunnel, currently protecting lettuce mix, after she and Farmer Sarah erected interior hoops for heavy-duty row cover. Photo courtesy of Farmer Sarah.

I'm perennially hopeful that we can make it through the end of the year without the need for extra protection inside the tunnels, but that has yet to happen in 10+ years of Late Fall CSA. It's okay, though. Once we go through the trouble of erecting interior low hoops, placing sandbag anchors, and unfurling the inner cover, crops can safely endure outside cold temperatures down into the single digits. That kind of cold typically doesn't arrive until after the New Year and we're not pushing crop production that long anymore. Over the years it has been very interesting to observe the tolerance of plants in unheated spaces throughout the fall and winter months. For now, though, our goal is providing great harvests through the five weeks of Late Fall CSA. Depending on the regrowth of greens, status of storage crops, and farmer interest, we may do an occasional flash sale after the New Year. This week we embrace the Thanksgiving holiday. Hope you have a good one!

This is what the interior of three of our tunnels currently looks like. We declined coverage on the spinach and curly kale due to our confidence in their cold tolerance.