Here in southwestern PA, we are no strangers to snowfall and cold temperatures. From December to early March, snow and cold is a given. That being said, winters here aren’t quite like a scene from the movie Fargo. We tend to have periods of freeze and thaw, where a snowfall will melt in a few days, we’ll have some weather above freezing, and the cycle repeats.
January has been different thus far. We’ve been well below freezing since new year’s day, and we’ve had steady periods of snow such that now, in the middle of the month, we have several inches of snow cover and very cold temperatures. Naturally, we’re reflecting on what this type of weather means for the farm and for us.
Snow: The Great Insulator
From a soil health and farm health standpoint, the relatively deep snow cover means that our farm is more insulated than it typically might be this time of year. Normally, snow melts off before it accumulates deeply. This means that when bitter cold temperatures in the teens and single digits hit the area, there’s not much between the air and the ground, and we have very hard, frozen ground.
A few inches of snow, however, actually acts as excellent insulation, moderating the soil temperature. Now, this doesn’t mean that the soil doesn’t freeze, but the rate of freezing is slower, and the minimum temperatures are higher. Generally speaking, this is better for the health of the soil microbiology than a hard, fast freeze.
In this way, snow is similar to some of our other strategies to protect our soil in the winter, namely cover crops and hay mulch. In fact, the combination of a few inches of hay mulch (on our garlic plot) and the snow means that the soil below isn’t frozen at all, despite lows in the single digits overnight and highs in the 20s.
The snow that slides off our high tunnels also piles up and insulates the tunnels from intruding cold air from below. This definitely helps our overwintering crops inside.
Fun Driving
Our farm is situated atop a hill up a relatively long, steep driveway. Unfortunately, this is a private lane we share with our neighbors, and doesn’t receive road treatment from our township. This has made getting our non-four-wheel-drive vehicles up and down a bit, shall we say, exciting!
On multiple occasions the past week or two, I have had to leave the minivan at the bottom of the hill and walk up our driveway to the house. On most other occasions, I am slipping and sliding up the hill to make it home.
Remember that normally, we have quite a bit more thawing in between snows, that would allow our driveway to clear out. An extended stretch with no snow melting also means a long stretch without much traction for our vehicles! This definitely has us considering alternatives to our existing vehicles, but for me, its mostly a fun challenge when I’m driving home!
Winter’s Beauty
I’m a huge fan of our 4 seasons here in Western PA, and this January has been much like a Norman Rockwell depiction of winter. Cold, quiet days and nights, the smell of wood burning in our neighbors’ stoves, animal tracks in the snow, and a general sense of nature at peace, patiently waiting for the sun to return in spring.
With some below-zero temperatures a possibility for next week, we will see if this January will have any effect on our tunnel crops. Other than that though, this stretch of cold weather is probably doing a lot of good for the farm in keeping up Earth’s cycle of the seasons.