Explore: Winter

Mill City Grows With Gaining Ground

For the first time ever, we grew and harvested fresh produce throughout the winter, thanks to improved infrastructure and evolving farming practices. Just as the crops were ready to pick, we discovered that Mill City Grows in Lowell was in short supply of fresh, locally grown vegetables for its nutritional cooking classes. Mill City Grows […]

2017 Maple Sugaring Open House

Our March 4, Maple Sugaring Open House landed on a day with frigid temperatures. It was too windy to twirl the popular maple sugar cotton candy, but the boiling sap in the sugar shack provided steamy warmth for over 50 supporters and friends. Some sampled Gaining Ground’s syrup and honey, then compared them to store-bought […]

Winter’s Work

Don’t let anyone tell you that farmers have the winter off. Last year, we were installing our new irrigation system until the 21st of December. And for the first time, we were able to harvest greens in our new hoop house and distribute storage crops into December. Some of my favorite days as a farmer […]

Short and Sweet: Sugaring Season 2015

Because of this year’s extreme cold combined with 110 inches of record-breaking snow, maple sugaring was late to start and slow-going. For the first time, our open house was cancelled entirely. Spring finally broke through in mid-March with sap flowing irregularly. Kayleigh and Doug collected from 200 buckets in Concord, but the extreme conditions prevented […]