THE PERSEPHONE SEASON

Michael Marrapese,
January 2010

In Greek mythology, beautiful Persephone, daughter of Zeus and Demeter, was kidnapped by Hades and taken to the underworld. Demeter, goddess of the harvest, was despondent. Zeus demanded their daughter’s release, but because Persephone had eaten a pomegranate given to her by Hades, she was bound to return to the underworld for a part of each year. During that time Demeter refused to let anything grow. The concept of winter began.

Today, in defiance of the myth, many backyard gardeners and commercial farmers are pushing their harvests into the winter months. At West Coast Seeds, Mark Macdonald reports a burgeoning interest in winter gardening. This last summer he’s seen seed sales continue right through to the fall. “Usually, we are done by mid-June,” he notes. “People were really interested in seeing what they can do—even growing small amounts of food.” Customers are keen on winter varieties of greens, squashes, carrots and onions. “There’s a lot of interest in the Asian vegetables which don’t need a lot of light—pac choy, mustards, mizuna, komatsuna. Generally the Brassica rapa varieties do well in the winter. Spinach and lettuce can be harvested all winter if under a cloche.”

One of the gurus of winter vegetable production is Eliot Coleman, who runs Four Season Farm in Harborside, Maine. Coleman has researched techniques that date back to Europe in the 1800s, when the bulk of a city’s food came from the surrounding farms. By adapting old-world techniques to contemporary farming methods, and experimenting extensively, he has created a successful, year-round organic farm. Coleman coined the phrase “the Persephone Season,” referring more specifically to those days that, depending on your latitude, offer less than ten hours of daylight. During this time plant growth is dramatically reduced.

For a productive winter harvest, plants need protection from cold winds. There is, however, a predominant misconception that in order to grow crops in the winter, greenhouses must be heated. Coleman uses unheated cool houses—alternatively called hoop houses, polyhuts or tunnels. This works in Maine, where the winters are much colder and longer than here in the Lower Mainland. In addition to cool houses, many growers use cloches (movable plastic-covered tunnels supported by a series of hoops about 24″ to 30″ high), which are probably the best choice for the home gardener. There are also a variety of cold frame systems that will cover small areas. These systems provide considerable protection for cold-hardy plants and allow growers to start plants much earlier and continue harvesting for longer. They can be combined for better results.

Donna Stokoe of Glorious Organic* recently attended one of Coleman’s workshops. She’s beginning to experiment with four-season production of market vegetables. “If you have two layers of plastic—like row covers inside a polyhut—it’s equivalent to moving another 500 miles south, or roughly a full growing zone,” she says. Cold-weather crops are also a better product. “At the market everyone wants fresh greens in August when the plants are stressed from the heat—they tend to be bitter and fragile. All these crops sweeten up in cooler weather. Leeks and carrots are incredible in the winter. Celeriac is great—it’s one of my favourites.”

The third part of Coleman’s method is intensive succession planting. Dale Ziech of Little Creek Gardens in the Okanagan has been following Coleman’s methods for many years. He strongly agrees with the view that heated greenhouses are an unnecessary expense. “You’ve got to minimize your inputs,” he says. “You can put in heaters, lights, fans, vents, etc., but it’ll increase your capital and energy costs. Minimize, minimize, minimize.” Ziech grows a variety of winter crops, but also aggressively plants summer crops like tomatoes in his unheated cool houses. “I picked a salad crop in March and a bean crop in June. Tomatoes go in six weeks earlier than outdoors, so they’re producing earlier and longer. After the tomatoes are done I put in another bean crop. I’m beginning to pick my second salad crop of the year in November. This year I’m also going to try an early potato crop.”

Certainly, the interest in local food is generating interest in winter produce. Todd Hodgins, chef/owner of Pair Bistro, has committed to an all-BC menu. He’s been sourcing ingredients from across the province to create unique menus that are fun and ever-changing. He thinks it’s essential. “Embracing winter food is a necessity. We have to re-evaluate our eating habits and start sourcing much closer to home, rather than moving food across the planet. We physically can’t do that anymore. The planet won’t support it. We have to address where our food is coming from, and learn how to grow our food locally as best as we can.” Hodgins thinks his customers are ready for the change. “Right now, we’re getting chard, kale, Brussels sprouts—some of those traditional foods, things we didn’t want to eat as kids. We’re finding that there is a new appreciation for them. I think people want to rediscover them, that there is a comfort in these traditional foods.”

If you’d like to try out some winter growing for yourself get a copy of Eliot Coleman’s recent book, The Winter Harvest Handbook, published by Chelsea Green Publishing in Vermont. West Coast Seeds is also a great resource; they have seeds and a variety of row covers, cloches, and hoop houses that will help make your winter garden successful.

Michael Marrapese, based in the Fraser Valley, works with Farm-Folk/CityFolk to cultivate a local, sustainable food system.

EDIBLE VANCOUVER DEEP WINTER 2010