Theme: freeze

News from the Farm | January 19, 2026

January 19, 2026

We’re used to temperature shifts of 30-40 degrees during the course of a day, but I usually associate that with summer, not winter. But that was our weather last week: lows in the low 30s with highs in the mid-60s, even breaking 70 on Saturday! This requires some masterful layering to be comfortable throughout the day, and depending on how low the temperature goes, some adjustments to our normal routine. If it’s below freezing at the start of the day, we have to wait to harvest most crops until it warms up.

Note: all the photos here were taken after it had warmed up! 

Usually we get our first frost around the second week of November. This year it came seven weeks later, after New Year’s day. We appreciate the cold weather. This frost kills off our summer crops (peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes) that otherwise will slowly keep producing. We still had some peppers and eggplant on Thanksgiving! While the plants weren’t dead, we mowed them and planted cover crops in those fields before our break and the rain. Cold weather makes our root vegetables and leafy greens much sweeter; you can really taste it in the carrots. The frost also kills pests, both insects and summer weeds.

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Weather Report – January 20, 2013

January 20, 2013

Given how significant this recent period of freezing temperatures has been, we feel very fortunate that we have so far made it through with relatively little damage. While we might not have seen the LOWEST temperatures ever, the recent cold snap may be unmatched in its length — dipping down consistently into the mid-20’s, staying there for many hours of the night, and doing the same thing repeatedly, night after night.

Everything that we have growing right now likes a frost, but not a freeze. Even the frost-hardy crops start to have problems when the temperatures dip to the mid 20’s, especially when the cold lasts for awhile. Cell walls get stressed and sometimes burst when the water inside starts to freeze.

Citrus grows well here, but this is the limit of its zone of comfort in terms of winter cold. Full Belly has three orchards, each with a different micro-climate, spanning a 6- or 7-degree difference in the cold that is experienced. We have never turned on the sprinklers so many times to protect the citrus from freezing temperatures as we have this winter — probably a dozen times since mid-December. We jump out of bed and turn on the water because the ice acts like an insulating blanket, protecting the trees from the colder than freezing temperatures. As the water freezes on the leaves, it also gives off heat, protecting the tree. Our final strategy is to pick some of the fruit when the temperature is predicted to drop. This year we have picked about a quarter of our crop in order to protect it.