The Blizzard of 2013!

Whoa, Nellie, that was some storm!  Our markets were (rightfully) cancelled last weekend and when all was said and done we got 31.9 inches. it has been a while sine we had that much snow and the wind made it that much more difficult to asses the impact until early Sunday morning. Thankfully our greenhouses withstood the avalanche and are all ok.  Two years ago we were not so lucky and they collapsed.  Farmer Q was on the ball and had the hoop-house completely snow free by late Sunday afternoon. .  The farm looks like the arctic, the hounds can barley walk let alone run through the drifts which at spots are over six feet, and if we thought winter was coming to a close anytime soon, Mothernature just reminded us who’s the boss.  We were lucky.

However, some of our fellow farmers were not so lucky.  Numerous reports of field tunnels and hoop houses collapsing have been flooding our email inbox, and our hearts go out to those without power throughout New England.  After Sandy, this was all anyone needed and thankfully Gov Malloy and his team were on top of this disaster as best as one could have hoped. 

So where does this put us with our field planning and early greenhouse production?  Happily, the greens we are planing in the hoop house are hearty and can survive even this chilly weather and the snow cover will actually help insulate the ground from freezing any deeper.   So, a mixed blessing.  Movement around the farm in is limited but the warmer air which is coming this week should help.