Prairie Hollow Farm, The Greensted, Mill City Farmers’ Market, and the Saint Paul Farmers’ Market all featured in article about winter farming in Minnesota.
How some Minnesota farmers grow green produce in frozen winter months
“This is how we grow vegetables up here” in the winter, says one Rochester farmer.
By Christopher Vondracek Star Tribune, February 18, 2023
How some Minnesota farmers grow green produce in frozen winter months
ELGIN, MINN. – The closest a Minnesotan can get to an invincible summer might be found inside Pam Benike’s insulated hoop barn near Rochester.
Inside the barn, which stretches the length of a hockey rink, grow green vegetables — red spinach, Bok choy, radishes — while a balmy 65 degrees or more prevails. On frigid nights, the thin parallel rows are covered with white plastic tarps. The nose-tingling aroma of summer hovers as the only sound is the slow drip from an elevated drainage pipe.
“This is how we grow vegetables up here,” said Benike, who runs Prairie Hollow Farm with her family. There’s no artificial heating, just insulated plastic walls and sunshine. “The ground is a heat sink.”
Benike bent down to put her forefinger into the soil. Just outside, the temperature was subzero. A bright sun beat down. The 52-degree dirt allows her to grow cool season vegetables she sells all over Minnesota, including the Mill City Farmers Market in downtown Minneapolis.
“Take care of the soil, and it’ll always take care of you,” she said, repeating a line her grandfather used to tell her.
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