Greening December

One half of the mid-December hoop house

Now that I'm getting the hang of winter gardening, we have more greens than we need -- so I have my first customer, my next door neighbor Marlaine. She emailed recently: "You grow the best greens in Tompkins County. I am totally addicted. One bite and I'm in heaven."

Packaged to share

I'm still amazed at how few farmers and homeowners are producing winter greens, but I expect a completely different scenario within the decade. As the myth that we can't produce food in the Northeast during the coldest, darkest months is eroded by the evidence that we can, I know we'll see more of this.

Solstice Spinach (Dec. 21)

In fact, I initially wondered if the high tunnel was a novel luxury (the low-tunnels we used at first cost almost nothing to erect), but as we continue to harvest more than 3 pounds of greens each week for salads and braising, it's clear that it will more than pay for itself. And that doesn't account for the incomparable sweetness of winter-grown greens, picked moments before cooking them.

Spicy mustard greens (Dec. 16)

Lunch (Dec. 13)