As we head into winter, Oregon's summer gardens are slowing down and going dormant. This means that the choices of locally grown fresh vegetables are greatly reduced.
Our farming partners at Red Tail Organics and Little Wings Farm, as well as Organically Grown Company will continue offering fresh vegetable options for your CSA shopping this winter from their tunnels as well as stored vegetables. All vegetables we sell through the CSA are grown in the Willamette Valley and the majority of them are grown within 40 miles of our farm.
Grazier's Garden will be mostly shutting down through the winter and coming back in the Spring of 2025. The good news is that long time Deck Family Farm friend and apprentice Robert Lehn will be taking on the reins of the Grazier's Garden management job. Robert had several years of garden management experience before coming to our farm in 2020.
David Grebner of Red Tail Organics said he will have leeks, tetsakabuto squash, yellow onions, rainbow carrots, kale mix, braising mix, bunched kale, cabbage, and beets through December. After that, he said, it becomes more dependent on the weather.
"...In January-March it will depend on how much we have left and what the weather is like," he said. We all can remember last year's ice storm and how much damage it did. In milder winters, the plants don't get killed by the frost and last longer.
As sad as it may seem when the cold descends, the winter months are important for the health of the soil.
When frost hits a plant, the cell walls break and give up the water they have been storing. This allows the plant materials to wilt and fall to the ground.
Once the plant materials wilt in the frost and are laying on the ground, microorganisms can begin breaking them down - eating them - and adding the nutrients to the soil. And the soil needs those nutrients! During the summer months, those same plants used up a lot of the soil's nutrients in the act of growing.
Humus is a key part of healthy soil, along with clay, silt and sand. It is the humus that makes the soil dark in color and which adds nutrients and retains moisture. Interestingly, humus in Latin means "soil," "earth" or "ground".
This is why it is so important in regenerative farming to put manure and compost back on the fields. That natural fertilizer will enable the soil to produce another healthy crop next year of grass, vegetables, trees, etc., without needing to add synthetic fertilizers.
In Oregon, we can grow a variety of vegetables during the winter. And garden tunnels, which trap sunlight and heat, also help extend the season. There is a trick though: to have fresh vegetables from the winter garden you must start them in late summer so that they are almost mature by December. Then, they sweeten up with the cold and wait for you to harvest them.
Crops that do well in winter (if you plan ahead!) include cole crops (broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower), root vegetables (beets, carrots, kohlrabi, radish, rutabaga, turnip), greens (collard, kale, lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard), and legumes (peas, fava beans).
Here are some articles about the benefits of winter on soil and about winter gardening: