In the winter when snow covers the ground and temperatures drop below freezing, growing crops like leafy greens and lemons may seem impossible. But like many others, farmers at Round the Bend Farm have devised a work around. Scattered across the farm's properties are four greenhouses that grow a limited variety of crops to keep the farm partially operational until the growing season picks up in the spring.
In one greenhouse, lemon trees grow under tarps that drape over their limbs and fruits. In others, fig trees, kale and spinach grow.
"Greens this time of year is pretty much all that will grow, just because of our climate," said Madigan Kay, the Manifest Love farmer and distribution manager at Round the Bend Farm. She added, "Most everything else needs more heat than what it would be getting."
Growing tomatoes this time of year, for example, is off the table as Round the Bend Farm doesn't use heated greenhouses. "It's always just a question of like, 'Okay, what can survive?' It kind of gets the extreme conditions, in some ways," Kay said.
Read more at Dartmouth Week
