Vegetable Tubs in the Heated Hoophouse

These two pictures were taken in our small (13x32) heated hoophouse. We had a very late start in planting for the winter because our first fall CSA (19 members) kept us busy in the field covering crops and preparing for the winter. But now we are seeding every day but are still two weeks behind where we want to be.

We are attending a winter market on Saturday mornings at Inglenook Pantry in downtown Geneva. It's a small market in its second year, has five vendors, and a group of loyal customers who come to shop every week. Best of all, it's inside the restaurant and Connie and Mark Weaver make breakfast for the vendors. What a treat!

For now we are growing a few greens in pots for the market and the first picture shows some pots of radishes that were planted in December. They are growing very slowly but they ARE getting bigger! If they reach maturity, we should get about three bunches from each pot. Each week we start the quantity we think we can sell at the Saturday market. In about three weeks, as the temperatures start creeping higher we will begin moving the most cold-hardy pots to an unheated hoophouse.

The next picture shows some nice greens but, unfortunately, the farmer-in-charge forgot to put the tag in so we are not sure what they are. They taste good, though! Admittedly, it's a pretty small operation at this point but we need to go for quality and consistency before we try to expand production.

In addition to growing market vegetables we are starting herb pots, vegetables to be transplanted into the unheated houses and a few container peppers and tomatoes to sell at the spring market.

Yesterday we added a layer of hot compost to the big pile on the north side of the house and hope to finish it today when the snow stops coming down. We buried a hose inside the pile and plan to get hot water into the house and create a "hot zone" for tomatoes and pepper plants. Pictures should be posted in a day or two.