Winter is When it Begins

Seed planning season at Mosquito Hawk Farms

There’s a quiet stretch in winter when the fields look still, but the farm is anything but idle.

This is when the planning begins.

Seed catalogs show up in stacks. Spreadsheets get opened. Old notes get pulled out. What grew well? What struggled? What did the community love? What needs more space next year?

Winter is when we map the coming season.

We think about fresh produce first. Which tomatoes are worth the trellis space. Which greens handle our weather best. What succession planting schedule makes sense. We think about flowers next — color palettes, bloom timing, how to keep bouquets changing week to week without gaps.

Then come the transplants. Strong starts don’t happen by accident. We plan varieties that thrive locally and order seeds early enough to avoid the annual “sold out” surprises that hit by mid-winter.

Seed ordering is part strategy, part optimism.

Every tiny packet represents a future harvest. It represents something that will eventually land on the stand on Main Street, ready for someone’s dinner table or garden bed.

Winter planning also means looking at the soil itself. Where did we rotate last year? Where do we need cover crops? What beds need rest? What beds are ready to produce heavily again?

The farm may look quiet in January, but on paper, it’s already alive.

When the seed trays start filling and the greenhouse begins to warm, that’s when winter shifts into motion. But the real beginning? It happens earlier — at the table, with a pen, a seed catalog, and a lot of intention.

Everything you see at the stand in summer starts here.