Morning Glory Farm has carrots again.
Actually, they’ve had carrots all season long. The crop has been sitting underneath a few feet of snow, surviving freezing temperatures and some major snowstorms.
It’s called “overwintering,” and many farms on the Vineyard take a similar approach, navigating short days and cold temperatures to continue providing food to the Island.
Winter may be the most challenging time of year to grow food — the lack of light, rather than the lack of heat, is the biggest barrier — but Ryan Hassell, farm production manager at Morning Glory, said the cold months are also an important time for farming.
“Winter is a different beast,” he said. “If you have the resources, it is a great opportunity to change gears and find a new path to grow more food.”
Greenhouse growing is one of the most important pieces of season extension. But for some farms, it can be a question of financial sustainability, said Lucy Grinnan, program and outreach manager at the Agricultural Society.
“Producing during more months of the year is awesome, but it does require really heavy inputs,” said Grinnan. “I think it’s such a gift to the Island to have somewhere to buy spinach in February.”
Those inputs often include heating greenhouses, which can be costly.
Some of Morning Glory’s greenhouses sit at a comfortable 38 degrees, while Beetlebung Farm’s are set to 32 and only turn on to keep things from freezing, said Ethan Buchanan-Valenti, the farm operations manager at Beetlebung.
Thirty degree temperatures sound cold, but by trapping solar energy on sunny days it can get hot enough even in unheated greenhouses to work in a tank top, said Caroline Pam, co-executive director of Island Grown Initiative (IGI).
The organization is currently renovating its 30,000 square foot greenhouse, installing additional soil beds and radiant heat to extend their growing season further, said Ms. Pam.
“Space that had been previously used for storage, we’re converting it into productive crop growing space to meet growing food needs on the Island,” she said.
Besides direct heating, insulating can go a long way. Unheated greenhouses, called high tunnels, can increase temperatures by one zone on the USDA plant hardiness scale, said Mr. Buchanan-Valenti. Adding a row cover like Reemay, a cloth-like fabric used for farming, can increase temperatures by another zone.
“Then you’re looking like you’re growing in North Carolina,” he said. “You can grow so much more than you think you can….People should just test things out and they’d be surprised what they can get away with.”
Plants also have their own methods of self-preservation in the offseason, potentially leading to the sweetest, crunchiest produce of the year.
“Sugars have a lower freezing temperature,” said Mr. Buchanan-Valenti. “The plants know that by introducing more sugars into their composition, it takes more to get them to freeze.”
Snow itself can help produce an “igloo effect” that allows crops such as carrots to stay warm underground, especially when paired with other insulating covers like mulch and straw, said Mr. Hassell.
Mr. Buchanan-Valenti agreed.
“The snow is basically doing the same thing that our strong walls would do, or that a tarp would do, we’re just keeping the soil covered,” he said.
But there’s a trade off. Wet, heavy snow can damage greenhouses, and the Island’s farms aren’t immune to power outages either, risking crop failure if greenhouses shut down.
At Mermaid Farm and Dairy, a power outage is simply not an option. With 20 cows to milk twice a day, co-owner Allen Healy often has to get creative, cobbling together one generator or another to get the milking machine up and running during snowstorms.
Mermaid Farm is also hard at work all winter making cheese for the summer.
“Cheese is milk storage, right?” said Caitlin Jones, co-owner of the farm. In the summer the focus is on fresh cheese and yogurt. Now, it’s harder cheeses like wheels, alpine cheeses and feta, which keeps for months in a salt brine.
Some farms, however, decide the best approach to winter is to take a more hands-off approach. Once again, it’s a question of sustainability, said Grinnan.
“Farming is a really, really challenging career, and so for some farms the way for that challenging career to be sustainable is taking a step back in the winter,” Grinnan said.
Beetlebung is currently resting the soil in one of its tunnels and cover-cropping the area to add nitrogen, alleviate drainage issues and restore nutrients.
“Why is sleep important for the body?” said Mr. Buchanan-Valenti, when asked why winter is important for farms. “We can go, go, go, but we need to have that time to just rest, for the soil and for the workers.”
But as the soil rests, the mind stays active.
“There’s so much learning that happens on the farm every season,” said Ms. Pam. “This slower pace gives you an opportunity to regroup, debrief, share and ponder what worked, what you want to do differently, and come up with a new plan.”
Debriefing happens regionally, with farmers traveling to conferences across the east coast to learn about soil health, share innovative tilling techniques and go to “strawberry school” at state extension programs to learn the most efficient techniques for the coveted summer berry.
The Agricultural Society is planning its own version of strawberry school for Island farmers to learn about varieties, growing techniques and off-season care. Along with other workshops and consultations to support farmers ahead of the growing season, the organization helps farmers identify appropriate grants from the state. It also distributed a round of grants funded by Slough Farm in Edgartown to farmers this winter.
“This is our window, we can reach the farmers now,” said Grinnan. “Beyond March, people don’t necessarily have time. April and May are really packed because there is so much to get into the ground, and seasonal labor hasn’t necessarily arrived.”
With warmer temperatures arriving, thoughts of abundant fields are beginning to percolate. But the first farmers’ markets are still months away. For now, Islanders will have to be content with fresh greenhouse-grown greens. And carrots, now that the snow has melted.
This article appears in March 13, 2026.