Photo: Courtesy of Powisset Farm

Meryl LaTronica, Guest Contributor
Powisset Farm

Winter on the farm!

This is the time of year when I get the question, “what do farmers do in the winter?” My usual response is, “we sleep, at last.” And, I’m only partially joking! For me, December, January and February are the months of the year when I get to catch up on life outside the farm, drink lots of coffee, eat lots of food, cozy up next to the wood stove and flip through seed catalogues. For most of the year we are going full steam, bouncing from crop to crop, trying to keep up with the weeds and harvests. The winter offers me the time to slow down and reflect on the season in all of its successes and challenges.

This is the time of year when I hire the crew for the next season, fix and maintain equipment and tractors that we depend on during the season, cover the fields with compost and manure on days when the fields are frozen and hard, and of course make the crop plan for the next season. Creating the crop plan is like painting on a blank canvas. Each winter I am able to start over, taking into consideration things I’ve learned in seasons past, what our CSA community wants me to grow and what grows well on these Powisset fields. Every year, even with the losses and triumphs of the previous season, I get to look at the fields as if it were the first season, full of potential, ready to grow beautiful produce that will fill our bellies in the year to come.

I love what I do. I love nurturing plants, building soil, harvesting crisp, tender vegetables, working side by side with wonderful people and sharing stories of farm fresh feasts with our CSA members. But even with all this love, I look forward to winter on the farm with the kind of warm delight and expectation that children emanate when they think about summer vacation. After nine months of intense crop production, this New England farmer is excited for a little rest!