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May 1st, 2014  |  Published in Community, Today's Special

The Greenmarket Chronicles: Life After the Polar Vortex

Farmers at the Union Square Greenmarket talk about how they survived the harsh winter, and about what comes next.

Patrice Demay, 56, owner, Chateau Renaissance Wine Cellars, Bath, N.Y.

Patrice Demay. Photo: Amanda Burrill.
Patrice Demay. Photo: Amanda Burrill.

Asked about the bad weather, Demay said: “It affects the grapes. Some varieties, especially the European varieties, we’re probably looking at 60, 70, up to 90 percent kill in the vineyards. I know for some vineyards, they’ve already declared a disaster in New York state.”

“You can’t raise prices, because if you do, then you put yourself out of business,” he said. “You have to resort to finding another source of juice. The good part about it is we had an awful lot of extra juice last year, so we might have a very thin year, but with the surplus we had last year that might make up the difference. Nevertheless, a bad year is a bad year.”

Wines from Chateau Renaissance. Photo: Amanda Burrill.

Wines from Chateau Renaissance. Photo: Amanda Burrill.

“The Native American grapes, such as Concord and Niagara, did better. The European varieties – Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, especially Pinot Gris, Riesling – it takes a toll. A real heavy toll,” Demay said.

“But, you know, we went through [a bad harvest] six years ago,” he added. “So it’s not a novelty — it’s something that as farmers you have to deal with, and such is life.”

Nevia No, 53, owner, Bodhitree Farm, Pemberton, N.J.

Nevia No. Photo: Amanda Burrill.

Nevia No. Photo: Amanda Burrill.

Bodhitree farm grows more than 150 types of vegetables, many of them unique or heirloom varieties.

“The weather is delaying our season, almost a whole month, because of the coldness and the wetness as well,” No said.

Lettuce from Bodhitree Farm. Amanda Burrill.

Lettuce from Bodhitree Farm. Amanda Burrill.

“It’s so wet and there are puddles everywhere,” she said. “The tractors cannot get onto the field. If you can’t get out to the fields, nothing can be grown.”

“You have less spring crops now, because the spring and summer are going to overlap,” she said. “Luckily we have many greenhouses — a lot of the vegetables we’re selling are from protected environments.”

Phyllis Underwood, 57, owner, Shushan Valley Hydro Farm, Salem, N.Y.

Phyllis Underwood. Photo: Amanda Burrill.

Phyllis Underwood. Photo: Amanda Burrill.

Shushan Valley sells small quantities of fresh, local, vine-ripened tomatoes, basil, sage, cilantro and other herbs. All of it is grown inside greenhouses without soil, using only water.

“This winter was very snowy, and our production was off,” Underwood said. “It cost us more money in heating the greenhouse, and it takes around 60 to 90 days for the plants to become vine-ripened tomatoes.”

These hydroponic tomatoes are $4.50 a pound. Photo: U-Jin Lee.

These hydroponic tomatoes are $4.50 a pound. Photo: U-Jin Lee.

Due to the extended winter, the company ended up spending more money on heating for the greenhouse, so their profits were lower than expected.

“The sun is the tomato plant’s friend,” she said.

Giovanni Saldarriaga, 28, associate producer, Hawthorne Valley Farm, Harlemville, N.Y.

Giovanni Saldarriaga greets a customer at the Hawthorne Valley Farm Stand. Photo: Amber Jamieson.

Giovanni Saldarriaga greets a customer at the Hawthorne Valley Farm Stand. Photo: Amber Jamieson.

Hawthorne Valley is a biodynamic farm that grows a variety of greens, including spinach, mustard leaves and assorted Asian greens.

Saldarriaga said it wasn’t too affected by winter. “The affected are really people who work farm stands,” he said, referring to city-based workers who run the market stands and don’t get paid if the market isn’t held.

Still, sales were slow, and Saldarriaga said the market was canceled twice this winter because of bad weather.

Kellie Quarton, 25, farm manager, Mountain Sweet Berry Farm, Roscoe, N.Y.

Kellie Quarton, farm manager at Mountain Sweet Berry Farm. Photo: Amber Jamieson.
Kellie Quarton. Photo: Amber Jamieson.

In spring, Mountain Sweet Berry Farm grows peas, fava beans, spring onions, lettuces, arugula and strawberries. Potatoes are its only product in winter.

The farm started its planting two weeks later than normal this year, on March 24, and greenhouse heating costs have been the biggest issue.

“We talked to the bank yesterday, and they said a lot of people are going under because of heating, because it’s too much,” Quarton said. “They’re finding out that if they weren’t doing well before, they’re not making it through the winter.”

In order to combat the heating costs, Mountain Sweet Berry Farm began attending another farmers market, on 77th Street and Columbus Avenue, in January.

The Mountain Sweet Berry Farm stand at the Union Square Farmers Market. Photo: Ellen Park.

The Mountain Sweet Berry Farm stand at the Union Square Farmers Market. Photo: Ellen Park.

The farm delayed its shipment of summer strawberries — the plants are shipped from Indiana — because the ground is frozen.

“Fields are clear but still frozen,” Quarton said. “We won’t miss anything, but everything will be delayed.”

Ramps, small spring onions, are one of the strongest indicators of spring. The farm planted them on April 12, the latest date ever, and they have just begun to hit the market.

Wilhelmine Hellmann, employee, Lower East Side Ecology Center, New York, N.Y.

Wilhelmine Hellmann shares her extensive knowledge about compost with customers.  Photo: Marie-Jose Daoud

Wilhelmine Hellmann shares her extensive knowledge about compost with customers. Photo: Marie-Jose Daoud.

Hellmann sells bags of compost, potting soil, worms and compost cranks, which are used to aerate compost in compost bins.A small bag of either potting soil or compost sells for $1.50, and a pound of worms sells for $22. “The farmers put [the compost] out in February or March, when the soil hits 55 to 160 degrees, which is the standard range in which decomposition starts,” Hellmann said.

Bags of soil and compost for sale. Photo: Marie-Jose Daoud

Bags of soil and compost for sale. Photo: Marie-Jose Daoud.

“We had a hard winter,” said Ryan Green, another employee. “Our compost piles have frozen over and it’s hard to operate machinery.”

Norm Cote, 70, and Andrew Cote, 41, owners, Andrew’s Honey, various locations

Norm Cote selling honey. Photo: Marie-Jose Daoud.

Norm Cote selling honey. Photo: Marie-Jose Daoud.

Andrew’s Honey maintains hundreds of beehives in New York City, Westchester, N.Y., and Fairfield County, Conn. Whipped honey, or honey butter, is their biggest seller. They also sell raw honey and honeycombs.They lost 20 percent of their hives during winter 2012 due to tracheal mites and bees dying of starvation, as well as a few bears. When they lose honey, they work with what they’ve gathered and supplement the business by teaching classes.

Honey for sale. Photo: Marie-Jose Daoud.

Honey for sale. Photo: Marie-Jose Daoud.

Every March, they can anticipate their yield based on the weather, which can’t be “too hot, too cold, or too rainy,” Norm Cote said. They are currently in the process of inspecting this past winter’s hives to see how much honey they will be able to harvest.

Stewart Borowsky, 46, owner, Greener Pastures, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Union Square Grass Man Stewart Borowsky stands in front of his converted school bus. Photo: Ellen Park.

Union Square Grass Man Stewart Borowsky stands in front of his converted school bus. Photo: Ellen Park.

Borowsky, also known as the “Union Square Grass Man,” grows wheatgrass, pea shoots, buckwheat sprouts, sunflower sprouts and radish sprouts. As all of the farm’s products are grown in rooms that are artificially heated and lit, the winter conditions had little impact on the plants. But they did affect market sales.

“We skipped certain days because it was too cold to put the product in the truck,” said Borowsky. On most days there were fewer customers – and on the occasional rare busy day, he was unable to fully meet the demand because the farm had been growing less to minimize waste.

Everyone experienced the same reduced sales because customers stayed inside, said Borowsky, noting that deli owners and hardware store owners were also affected by the weather.

“No one did great,” he said, “apart from snowplow guys and gas delivery guys.”

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