A CSA Farm in Winter

A Peek Behind the Scenes at Shared Earth Farm, Mechanicsburg, PA

Most of us have an idea of what farmers do during the spring, summer and fall. We’ve been to CSA farms, farm stands and farmers markets. Maybe we’ve chatted with a grower about the weather and the work to be done that week on the farm.

But what do farmers do during the long, cold winter months? Do they just putter about the house in their pajamas, waiting for the snow to thaw? Or is there a whole world of farm work being done behind the scenes to make the summer’s bounty possible? I talked to Amy Leber of Shared Earth Farm CSA to find out.

“There’s about two weeks of just putting your life back together after the growing season has ended,” said Leber, who works up to 14 hour days, 7 days a week during the growing season.

So the first couple weeks of the winter are a time to tackle ‘spring’ cleaning, repairs and projects around the house, and general family to-do list stuff that piles up over the spring, summer and fall.

Then it’s back to work on the farm, but during the winter Leber only works 8 hour days and weekends are off-limits. The first thing she does is evaluate the previous season. She decides where mistakes were made and what was done well, and thinks about what they could do differently this year.

"We get a lot of ideas in the summer, but we just don’t have time to fully evaluate them until winter,” Leber said.

Next she starts laying out her plans for the new year. Deciding what she wants to grow is fairly easy, she said. “The harder part is deciding how much. So how many weeks do we want to give out kohlrabi before people get sick of them?”

She plots out each stage of the growing season, working backwards from harvest to planting. It's an exercise that involves several spreadsheets and takes a long time.

Finally, Leber orders the seeds and prices her shares.

A peek at Leber’s Off-season To-Do List:

• Remove stakes, weed suppressing plastic and other materials from fields
• Inventory current seeds
• Order new seeds
• Source potting soil
• Catch up on bookkeeping
• Answer member emails
• Fix machinery (fertigator, tractor) & perform maintenance
• Clean and organize greenhouse. Patch any tears & clear fans of bugs.
• Compile recipes for CSA members
• Brainstorm some newsletter/blog article ideas

And the growing season gets underway sooner than you might think. By mid-February, Leber and her mother, Sheila, start planting the spring crops under indoor grow lights.

“We already have some seeds planted – mostly spinach and stuff that’ll grow in cool weather,” she said. “Onions, leeks, shallots and parsley should be starting right now.”

And in about two weeks Leber plans to dust off the plow and start preparing the fields.

"Winter is still very busy, but it’s a different kind of busy. It’s not sweaty work outside in the sun. It’s a lot of thinking, not so much doing.”