Winter is an important season for Ontario farmland, especially when it comes to soil health.

Here are a few reasons why:

1. Winter helps to improve soil structure. When the ground is frozen, it allows the soil to settle and compact, which can help to improve its structure and make it more fertile. This is especially important for crops like wheat, which need well-structured soil in order to grow and thrive.
2. Winter provides a break from farming activities. During the winter months, farmers can take a break from the busy planting and harvesting seasons, which allows them to rest and recharge. This is important for maintaining their mental and physical health, as well as the health of their crops.
3. Winter helps to control pests and diseases. Many pests and diseases that can harm crops are less active during the colder months, which can help to reduce their impact on the farmland. This is especially important for wheat, which is prone to infestations of pests and diseases.
4. Winter helps to conserve moisture in the soil. Snow and freezing temperatures can help to conserve moisture in the soil, which is important for ensuring that crops have enough water to grow. This is particularly important for wheat, which needs a consistent supply of moisture in order to produce a good yield.

Overall, winter is an important season for Ontario farmland, and plays a vital role in supporting the health of crops like wheat. By taking advantage of the unique conditions that winter offers, farmers can help to ensure that their crops are healthy and productive.

We have been keeping a little secret at our farm. Last year we started our journey in apiculture! We had a harsh winter and lost our hives to the varroa mite. This spring, we started over with two different types of bees, hoping the genetic diversity would improve our overwintering numbers.

Each weekend we check our hives for freshly laid eggs, swarm cells ( baby queens cells) and general health. Not only is it exhilarating to work with the bees it also makes you slow down and become very deliberate with each action. It is brain training with sting therapy. 😉

Another first for us was using a flow hive! We love it. The honey it produced was so clear and delicious. The children loved getting involved, especially with the harvest. I think there was more honey on fingers than in jars! Next year we hope to expand our colonies little by little and maybe one day have enough honey to accompany our grains and flours.

During fall, we often cover up with warm sweaters and blankets to shelter from the elements. While our fields deserve to be cozy over the winter as well and so farmers are planting cover crops now that their primary crops have been harvested. Cover crops have been used for centuries in agriculture, but their benefit to topsoil health has only recently been studied in depth. All cover crops can aid in increasing the organic matter in the soil and are often referred to as “Green Manure”. Many times the cover crops grow over the fall and the following spring the crops are tilled under without being harvested. This increases organic content and soil fertility. Along with the benefit of soil health, the carbon that is drawn from the atmosphere is in the form of carbon dioxide which we know is a greenhouse gas contributing to global warming.

Different cover crops serve different purposes.  Cover crops of grasses are used when soil erosion is a concern. Typical grass cover crops include rye, oats, barley and wheat. The fast growing root system traps and holds soil in place preventing it from being eroded through wind or water typically caused by the spring thaw.

Legume cover crops such as clover and alfalfa capture nitrogen in the air and sequester it in the soil. This can offset chemical fertilizer in conventional farming and gives a boost to organic farmers where nitrogen is often a macro nutrient lacking in their fertilizer plan. The deep root structure of some legumes breaks up subsoil compaction which also helps crops like corn in subsequent years.