Farming practices and winter growing
About the Farm
Winter Sister Farm is located in south Sebastopol bordering the Laguna de Santa Rosa on Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo land. The organizing goal of our farm is to provide food to our community during the cold, wet, dark time of California winter and spring. This is a time of year when many farmers in our area scale down or close up shop. But, in our (relatively) mild climate, a lot is still possible! Our farm offers folks the opportunity to still eat local, delicious, exciting food in the ‘off-season’ and hopefully fill a small gap in our local food system. Farming for the winter does not mean we only farm in the winter; we work hard all summer long to grow staple storage crops (like potatoes, winter squash, onions, beans) to stockpile and distribute in the colder months. We farm all 12 months of the year, but we are actively feeding people roughly November through May. Our primary outlet and the beating heart of our farm is our CSA program.
Growing Practices
Farming always has an impact on the land, but the health of our soil and ecosystem is central to our farming systems. We work to grow soil first, vegetables second (to pay for the soil building!), and to minimize our impact on the land. We cover crop every field once a year, whether in the winter for our summer production fields or the summer for our winter production fields, and graze the sheep at least once through the cover crop, which saves us tractor work and builds the soil faster. We use compost applications to further boost organic matter and fertility, and some additional organic amendments to boost the nutrients available to plants and avoid depleting our soils.
We also are trying to meet a scale that can sustain our business and our bodies, which means we balance tractor work with hand work. We use a reciprocating spader as our primary tillage, which results in less compaction than a rototiller, and once our beds are prepped, most cultivation and all harvest is done by hand. Though we are not certified organic, we follow organic principles and beyond-organic standards for the health of the soil and the people who work it.
Growing for Winter
When we decided to call ourselves Winter Sister Farm, we wanted to reference not only that we, the farmers, are sisters, but also that we are sister to the winter season. We aim to fill a niche and need we saw in the community for a CSA that could operate during the colder months. We have two strategies to provide food over these tricky months: grow staple storage crops in the summer to store and distribute all winter long, and then supplement that with the fresh crops that we can actually grow during the winter and spring. Thus no matter the season, winter is our constant partner (and sometimes antagonist) on this farm - we always are trying to find a way to farm for her and with her. That can mean a lot of different things, depending on the winter we receive any given year.
Storage crops like potatoes, onions, winter squash, beans, and corn are too tender to grow during the winter cold, but when grown in the summer and harvested properly in the fall, can be stored and eaten for months. We grow and stockpile these goods and then dole them out to our community throughout the colder seasons. This reservoir of food is a crucial protection against the harsh weather of winter which may, given the season we are dealt by nature, thwart fresh harvests in January, February, March, and April. Proper storage takes skill, knowledge, infrastructure, and energy, but allows us to eat delicious and hearty vegetables year-round.
Growing in Winter
There are also all sorts of goodies that can be grown and eaten fresh during winter herself! The shorter days do mean that there is not as much energy (sunlight) for the plants to draw upon as there is in the height of summer (the magic of photosynthesis!), and plants grow much slower. This means that it requires significantly more space and time to produce the same product (e.g. a bunch of kale), and thus the cost of production on that bunch is also higher, even in the mildest of winters.
For the most delicate crops that need the most regulated growing conditions, we use caterpillar tunnels to increase temperatures, disperse light, and protect from wind. We use row cover on crops most sensitive to frost and pests. Still, we feels the whims of the weather especially strongly in the winter. This infrastructure costs money, takes time to manage, and is vulnerable to wind and weather. We have learned a lot on how to build stronger, more robust structures that can withstand our weather events, but given the changing climate, it's hard to know what to predict.
