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Frozen Greens

Remember a couple of weeks ago when the temperature did not go above freezing for a handful of days–and we were all miserable? Well, our greens were miserable, too. We had two hoop houses full of beautiful arugula, lettuce, bok choi, and kale. Our hoop houses should offer just enough protection to keep greens alive. But apparently not when the overnight low is -10 degrees. All of those beautiful greens turned to slimy mush. Boo.

Red Lettuce
Beautiful Red Lettuce Before the Cold
Frozen Red Lettuce
Slimy Red Lettuce After the Cold
Frozen Bok Choi
Mushy Bok Choi

We also had a few thousand pounds of winter squash stored away. We tried to use heaters to keep the squash from freezing, but it was in a shed and the heaters just couldn’t keep up with the sub-zero temperatures and the squash all froze solid.

We had root vegetables like carrots and turnips stored in coolers inside our walk-in refrigerator. We put heaters inside the refrigerator and that paid off. Hooray! At least we were able to save the roots.

This is a reminder to us of why we don’t try to produce a lot of vegetables for the winter months. It can be done, but it isn’t easy.

Comments

One response to “Frozen Greens”

  1. mo Avatar
    mo

    the lettuce looks like it is praying. it was delicious while it lasted.

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