After the December Frost at Terry's Berries

“I’m a bit of a perfectionist,” says Terry Carkner. When asked what she would be doing if she wasn’t a farmer she replied after a small pause, “Oh gosh. I would probably be an accountant.”

Which apparently she was, for a good 20 years, before dedicating herself to full time farming.

“I worked for a CPA firm,” she says, a job that also allowed her to do seasonal farm work. “But then it would get to be spring time and I’d think I would rather be outside.”

Terry and Dick Carkner began farming their 20 acres in the Puyallup Valley 26 years ago, after Dick got a job at the Washington State University Extension. Originally they only grew raspberries, but when they became organic they started growing vegetables out of necessity as well.

“The whole philosophy behind organic is diversifying. We began growing vegetables so we could rotate the crops in the beds,” Terry says.

Crop rotation allows the soil to be replenished after each season since mineral and nutrient requirements differ from crop to crop. Such practices restore and retain soil nutrients, which allow farmers to use the same land for year after year without chemicals.

This conversion to organic led to the development of Terry's CSA program, and throughout the years Terry has watched it grow along with the interest in eating local and supporting small farmers. Her greatest challenges now seem to be keeping up with the growing consumer demand and rolling with the punches of each season. This December’s frost has taken a toll on small farms all across western Washington as many, including Terry, watched their winter harvest freeze over.

“Things don’t grow in the winter cold and dark,” says Terry. “We have to plant ahead of time for our winter produce.”

So while most of us may think about the impact that the extreme weather has on our holiday travels or shopping, small farmers must consider the impact on their production and sales all the way into next spring.

Walking through the farm store, the iconic bright red barn that can be seen from River Road, this is hard to imagine: there is an abundance of colors on the shelves, in stark contrast to the grey weather outside. Kale, cabbages, carrots, beets, brussel sprouts, leeks, and winter squashes are all vegetables that can be obtained locally here in the winter, as well as apples and pears from the Yakima Valley.

We can be grateful for the mild seasons that allow this bounty, but mild just doesn't describe the winter so far and so our small farmers must find ways to cope. However, Terry holds a pragmatic view of the situation. “It’ll come back,” she says. “But it just won’t come back right away.”

Really, it is just another day in the life of a small farmer. “This isn’t a job for people who like all their ducks in a row,” Terry laughs. “Mother nature leads the dance.”

Find out more about Terry’s Berries on the website. http://www.terrysberries.com


And while Mother Nature may lead the dance, as she does inevitably with us all, there are ways to lessen the element's effects for our small farmers. CSA subscriptions help small farmers recover from such unforeseen events so that we can all have more reliable access to local fruits and vegetables. When you subscribe to a CSA, you gather not only a box of produce that is fresher and healthier than you can find at the store, but also a relationship with your food producer and the knowledge of what it takes to keep us all healthy and well fed.