Vegetable Storage Crops Workshop

December 4, 2009, Hudson, WI
December 11, 2009, Madison, WI

Both workshops will run from 9:30 AM - 3:00 PM

While hoophouses and related tools and techniques get most of the attention from those wanting to extend their growing season, what about extending your marketing season by growing storage crops? The local foods market is hungry year�\round and there are tremendous opportunities to supply stores, restaurants, CSA members, and institutions with local produce throughout the winter months. In addition, winter farmers�� markets are becoming more and more popular many in communities.

Selling winter storage crops--carrots, beets, winter squash, cabbage, potatoes, onions, garlic and more--helps improve cash flow during the winter months and enables you to maintain relationships with customers throughout most or all of the year.

Join us for this timely workshop on how to take advantage of storage crops to improve your farm��s bottom line. Topics will include best varieties, storage conditions and structures, and the labor demands and economics of winter sales.

Speakers will include experienced growers and University faculty and staff. The workshop will be held in two locations. Cost: $35.

You can register by using this registration form.

10 Things to Re-Think As You Build a Greenhouse and Grow

WHEN:Monday, Dec. 7, 2009, 12:30-3 p.m.

WHAT: An on-farm workshop to visit a new winter production house using geothermal and passive ventilation for temperature control & MORE.

SPEAKERS: Hosts Sandy and Lonny Dietz, commercial vegetable growers for 13 yrs; Rock Springs Farmer Chris Blanchard on GET-REAL DECISIONS; and Laurie Timm of Fairview Farm.

The Dietzes have grown vegetables, seedlings, and herbs for farmers’ markets in Winona and Rochester for 13 years on their ridge-top farm near Whitewater State Park. They are currently building a two-bay gutter connect greenhouse to allow vegetable production year-round.

The production and packing/storage sections will be heated and cooled with the use of a geothermal system and passive ventilation. Participants will be able to tour the nearly-completed structures and learn about innovations that will allow, for example, a 32-degree storage room. The Dietzes grow vegetables on eight to 10 acres of their 136-acre farm. They operate two other high tunnel facilities for season extension and starter production.

Blanchard owns and operates Rock Spring Farm near Spring Grove, Minn., where he grows vegetables and herbs outside and in portable greenhouses. He will help participants think through some of the less technical aspects of greenhouse production, such as when to take a break, scale of operation, markets, and other quality-of-life considerations.

Timm farms with her husband and two sons near Plainview, Minn. She will address some of the “growing pains” they experienced during their first year of season extension via a greenhouse they built last spring. They primarily grow vegetables outdoors with the help of two starter greenhouses, although it is worth noting that they continue to harvest tomatoes from their new greenhouse.

WHERE: Sandy and Lonny Dietz's Whitewater Gardens near Elba, Minn. (H74 toward Whitewater State Park to west on CR 39 just so. of Elba, then ~3/4 mi. to no. on Calico Hill Rd., to the top. Watch for Land Stewardship Project signs).

Soup and bread included ~ Freewill donation appreciated.

TO RSVP: Please call the Land Stewardship Project, 507-523-3366 or caroline@landstewardshipproject.org.