Winter Fun

The winter normally is a time for us to settle down and spend our days drinking tea. With the winter markets we still have the tea, but we have hardly settled down. We continue to bring vegetables to restaurants and travel to farmers markets on weekends. Our new Hoop Houses have been a great addition to having greens all year long. It can be freezing out side but on a sunny day its 50 degrees in the houses.

A special thanks to our CSA members who did not finish there credit with us by the end of the year, but elected to donate the value in food to the food bank. Definitely a great way to share the love this winter.

Winter farmers markets growing on Seacoast | SeacoastOnline.com

Winter farmers markets growing on Seacoast | SeacoastOnline.com

delicious greens and other treats...

Tomorrow will be the second of our Winter Farmers' Markets held at the Wentworth greenhouses in Rollinsford. It's been such a mild autumn, and our delicious arugula is still thriving! This outdoor planting will only be around until the snow flies, so now's the time to snag some. We will also have potatoes, carrots, parsnips, and turnips. Other vendors will be bringing seafood, freshly roasted coffee (my personal favorite) yogurt, meats, and more. You name it!!! We had an amazing turnout last time. Everyone loved the new space, and there was nothing but happy faces! See you tomorrow!

Thanksgiving Farmers' Market

This Saturday will be the first in a whole bunch of indoor winter markets this year hosted by Seacoast Eat local.  The market will be from 10-2 at the Wentworth Greenhouses* in Rollinsford.  Seacoast Eat Local started up just over two years ago with three markets, now they are up to eleven, all in bigger spaces.   And there are farmers' markets sprouting up all over the place.  It is exiting to see all the people who have been turning out for these events.  They are always surprised at how much food there is!  Plus fine music and fun activities for kids of all ages.  We have been putting a lot of work into our winter crops.  Potatoes, turnips, carrots, and this year...parsnips!  The root cellar is stocked, and we aren't done yet - we're still pullin' carrots!  We also plan on having greens until snow.  

But that's just our contribution; there will be almost 50 vendors at this Saturday's market!  That adds up to even more veggies, plus meats, dairy, and baked goodies.  Oh, yes, and also locally caught fish and seafood.  Farmer's and producers have been ramping up for these winter events, and working to meet consumers' demand for more fresh food all year round.  As we have said before about our summer markets: "we're like the freaking grocery store!"  It is so exiting to live in this area where so many things grow and thrive, even during the cold months.  It's something to be immensely grateful for.  Is our system perfect?  No.  We would love to have more growers and food producers.  Also, we want to have more people come to the table, and know that it is harder than ever to afford high quality food, but believe that everyone should have access to it.  Fortunately at our markets we will have some folks coming to donate produce to local food pantries.  We are making great strides in making local FRESH food available, while keeping it sustainable both economically and environmentally.   It's a tough balance, but...as we move forward- 

let us give thanks, and let's eat!

*Wentworth Greenhouses, 141 Rollins Rd, Rollinsford, NH
1 mile past Red's Shoe Barn on the Rollinsford/Dover border
for more information visit Seacoast Eat Local's Winter Farmers' Market page

cold roots, warm hands

We are delighted at our newest piece of equipment: a barrel root washer! Just in time for cold weather, we've got it put together. It makes quick work of washing veggies like turnips, carrots, even potatoes. In the end it will save time, water, and (more importantly) our FINGERS while washing up prior to those cold winter markets. It's like magic: roots go in dirty and come out sparkly-clean and ready for cold-storage in the root cellar.  Here is Bridget inspecting the first run of scarlet turnips in the washer (note dry, toasty-warm fingers!) 

onion harvest

On the eve of the fall equinox, one thing is for sure as we begin to close down the season: we've got onions. Lots of 'em. With more than a little help from Kate and Bridget (our intrepid farm crew) we've just brought what will be the most onions we've ever grown! It's very exciting to see all that work really pay off.

Whew! Now we can focus our attention on getting in the rest of the potatoes, fall carrots, turnips, and maybe even some beets & beans!

potato planting

We got all of the potatoes (that's right ALL of them) in the ground with the help of a 1930's era potato planter we borrowed from a neighboring farm. It wasn't quite as nifty as this video, but you get the idea. It wasn't no work, but we had some fun, for sure. The best feeling is that of all all those 'taters in the ground!



pulling up the discs









cutting seed potatoes with a seed cutter

first diggins!

They're finally here! Some purple-skinned new potatoes.