Why the fuss about cover crops? Bear with me, I'm going to nerd out: Cover crops, as opposed to cash crops, are plants that are grown exclusively for the benefit of the soil, and which are not harvested for sale. On our farm, most of our cover cropping happens over the winter (though we're making an effort to increase our summertime cover crops as well). This means that we're using plants that are well adapted to survive the cold, namely, wheat, clover, and winter peas. The clover and winter...

The end of the year rolled in with cold winds and snow, and on some days 60 degrees. We batten down, reflect, and dig in to planning, laying the warp through which we will weave the fibers of the coming season. This week we received a letter from the Randolph County Soil and Water Conservation District informing us that Christopher Farm has been chosen as the county's conservation farm of the year. We're grateful for the recognition (especially considering that we didn't know we were in the...

Even though the winter solstice is a few days away, the farm is fully in winter. We awoke to -4 degrees and 6 inches of snow Sunday morning - it's lovely! Adrian and I took turns removing snow from the plastic of a hoophouse with a pushbroom Saturday night as the accumulation built up. The plastic on that particular hoophouse was scheduled to be changed this season. However we didn't find the time to do it, and it was definitely showing strain with the added weight. The greens within were...