The March 8 event at Trillium Hill Farm in Hinesburg was billed as a farm ski tour and bonfire until — in a situation all too familiar to farmers — weather forced a change of plans. After a warm spell melted much of the snow, temperatures plummeted and froze the ground. Forecasted strong winds made a fire ill-advised.
Undeterred, farmer James Donegan and his wife, Sara Armstrong Donegan, shifted gears to a farm walk, replacing Nordic skis with ice-gripping boot spikes. An intrepid foursome plus a reporter joined the chilly afternoon tour. Happily, there was respite from the cold in Trillium Hill's hoop houses, where Donegan, 44, tends a variety of soil-grown organic greens through the winter.
Even without extra heat, the farm's 10 main plastic-sheathed, earth-floored structures hold enough warmth to protect hardy greens such as peppery upland cress, lemon-tart sorrel and juicy claytonia. During extra-cold stretches, Donegan tucks them under layers of row-cover fabric.
The farmer also raises other vegetables on a total of two acres of the 130-acre multigenerational family farm, half of which he and his wife own. But over Trillium Hill's 20 years under his watch, Donegan has shifted more effort to year-round salad greens. Nestled in the heart of Hinesburg — between Lantman's Market, condominiums and affordable senior housing — Trillium Hill is both a vestige of Vermont's agricultural past and a glimpse into its future, where a relatively low-tech practice can soften the extremes of Mother Nature.
Read more at Seven Days Vermont