Farmers Prep for Winter

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Created on Wednesday, 12 November 2014 18:38

Written by Ryan Rutledge

NORTHEAST KINGDOM- Harvest season is officially winding down leaving many local farmers to start preparing for the winter months, which entails more work than one would think.

Leading into the end of November, famers will begin to harvest the final crops of the season to keep in storage for the winter.

Local farmer and owner of Chandler Pond Farm, Rob Martin, said that "As far as the vegetables are concerned, usually it's all about harvesting them. And anything we want to store we have to bring into... we have a cold cellar for storage crops like potatoes and carrots that need it cool and moist," he said, "We also have a dry storage for crops like onion and squash that need it to be cool and dry and then all the animals they all have to come into the barn by the end of this month... so there is a lot to do, quite a lot to do actually."

Among just harvesting and storing those vegetables, the animals on the farm are moved to the barn for the winter where they are taken care of and tended to naturally. This isn't just a one man job though, preparing for the winter on the farm is a family affair.

Grace Martin, Rob's daughter, lends a helping hand with the animals for some duties.

"It's fun at milking time, sometimes I get to brush them and I can lean against them. It's really fun," she said.
Once everything has been taken care of the farm finally gets to take their rest.

"In the middle of January we're planting our greenhouse tomatoes again," said Martin, "So I basically have from this end of this month until the middle of January to feed the animals twice a day, stoke the fire, plow the driveway, and it's kind of our time to rest. We ski a lot so it's really a good time to ski."

Given all the work that farming takes, some R&R for the winter is a much needed reward for such a demanding profession.