Roadside farm markets have shuttered, fields are barren and the trees shed their foliage for the winter. While some folks, like birds, may fly south for warmer weather, the small farmers of Ulster County are more akin to squirrels: stashing supplies and preparing for a prosperous spring.

Agritourism, which provides recreational and educational farm fun to tens of thousands every year, has become a major driver of the Ulster County economy. But once it starts getting chilly out, we wondered: How do local farmers get by in the winter, and what do they do during those cold months?

Chris Kelder, co-owner of Kelder’s Farm with his wife Jackie, an elementary school teacher in the Kingston City School District, spends most of his winters tending to his apple trees during the icy months.

Kelder’s Farm on Route 209 in Kerhonkson offers a wealth of attractions, from a farm market and adult beverage station to farm animals, fishing, a corn maze, mini golf, pumpkin cannon, and of course, the world’s third largest garden gnome, Chomsky. (He was the world's largest when he first appeared in 2007, sculpted by local artist extraordinaire Maria Reidelbach but has since been surpassed.)

One of Kelder’s main attractions is the “U-pick” apple orchard, where folks flock in to harvest their own apples from the fulsome trees. About a month of daily, dedicated work goes into pruning the trees, since their branches grow into mangled clusters, Chris said. By trimming off the excess wood, the fruit receives more sunlight and airflow so apples can grow nice and plump. Reducing the number of buds which bloom into apples allows for more buds to be successfully pollinated and prosper, he explained.

Kelder’s wife Jackie works as a first-grade teacher in Kingston, and for the past six years, Chris served on the board of the New York Farm Bureau.

The Kelders also run their own Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program where folks pay for a stake in the produce harvested at the farm. CSA members receive a weekly bundle of fruit, vegetables, flowers and herbs, beginning with sweet spears of asparagus in May and ending with winter squash in October. But readying the CSA shares takes time — planting seedlings must begin in February, Chris said. The seedlings are housed in greenhouses, nurtured until the weather warms up in spring.

“A lot of people don’t have a lot of seasonality in their life,” Chris said. “Every day is the same in a lot of jobs, no matter what the weather is, whereas farming is very season-dependent.”

When the weather is warm, the Kingston YMCA Farm Project's "Youth Crew"— consisting of high school to early-college aged participants — learn how to plant vegetables, harvest crops and other vital farming skills on the YMCA farmland, located at 507 Broadway in Kingston. But in the winter, without fields to work, the Youth Crew's efforts mostly move indoors.

"The Kingston YMCA Farm Project, because we are a not-for-profit program of the YMCA, is an anomaly in the local farming community," said Kingston YMCA Farm Project Executive Director Susan Hereth.

The Hudson Valley Farm Hub, a Hurley-based nonprofit committed to creating resilient food chains, donates produce to the YMCA's "Winter Farm Stand." The stand is open through February, from 3:30 to 6:00 p.m., in the lobby of the YMCA building that shares the farmland address. Hereth explained that all proceeds from the stand are used to pay the young employees of the program. In the future, Hereth is hoping to host a pop-up restaurant with the Youth Crew to give them a different kind of business experience.

Additionally, she said, the Youth Crew spends much of the cold weather in a YMCA kitchen where they learn to make meals from the veggies they’ve grown. Before Covid-19, the program participants would travel to George Washington Elementary School to host cooking classes, but health concerns has put a temporary stop to that. However, the GW schoolchildren will resume field trips to the YMCA farm in the spring, Hereth said.

The Youth Crew also published a bilingual cookbook this year which you can find at the winter stand for $25 or on the program's "support" page for $30.

“[The winter] gives us a little time to enjoy some free time,” said Dan Schoonmaker, co-owner of Saunderskill Farms in Accord. “The hardest thing is hoping that everything goes well enough to be ready for spring.”

Schoonmaker pays his bills during the summer and fall, so it won’t be a headache as the year ends. If all goes well, you will find Schoonmaker basking beneath the sun on some Caribbean Island for a week or two, enjoying some much-needed rest and relaxation. But there’s much work to be done first.

A sizable chunk of Schoonmaker’s business comes from Saunderskill Farm Market & Greenhouse on Route 209 in Accord. The storefront features fresh produce grown in their own fields and many items from other local vendors and farmers. They also run a bakery, with a variety of delicious items from magic bars (our personal favorite) to pies, cookies and the seasonal classic: apple cider donuts. There’s also soups, sandwiches and coffee made fresh each morning. With his harvest season at its end, Schoonmaker only has until March of next year to be ready for business.

Schoonmaker’s first winter task is to harvest the remaining soybeans and grain corn (used to feed livestock) with a “corn picker” that’s able to strip the seeds from their stalks. The seeds are then stored in towering silos to be held in a climate-controlled environment. The key to storing the seeds for so long is to remove any moisture. Schoonmaker explained that a large fan at the bottom of the silo covered by a mesh gate provides continuous airflow and keeps the seeds dry.

A well-preserved kernel of grain corn can last two to three years under the right conditions.

The next order of business is buying rich fertilizer to nourish next year’s crop: 40 tons of it to be exact. Schoonmaker got lucky, he said, spending only 20 percent more for fertilizer than he did last year. Some of his peers saw the price per tonnage increase threefold, he said.

He also needs to buy plant pots, seeds, dirt and produce packaging to be ready for retail. The key to cost-saving with such purchases is to buy early, he said. Some distributors offer discounts for early purchases and with nationwide supply chain complications, inflation and scarcity of supplies affecting almost every industry, buying early helps.

You can’t leave the farm fields as they lay post-harvest and expect them to prosper next year. Schoonmaker spends time cutting excess brush and covering his strawberry plants with hay to ward off frost. He also tends to his one-acre plot of apple trees, where he recently replaced 150 of them to make more room for the most popular varieties like Honeycrisp.

Greenhouses and Hives

Bob Fade, co-owner of Fiddlehead Farm, is a self-made master of the greenhouse craft, owning six high tunnels at 715 Route 213 in Rosendale. Four of the greenhouses grow produce year-round, providing for their own 52-member winter CSA, with shares distributed every two weeks. Another greenhouse is used to propagate seedlings. Fade also hosts a summer CSA and sells flowers, honey and maple syrup as well.

To create the ideal environment in his greenhouses, Fade lays long strips of agricultural fabric to keep the plants warm at night. He adds another layer of the fabric on top of the greenhouses each time the air temperature drops 10 degrees below freezing. For each 10-degree drop in temperature another layer is needed, but Fade said he’s never had to use more than three at once. During the day, the sheets are taken off and the seedlings reunited with the sun.

“It's just very cool to be able to not use heat. We're not using any more energy to grow the vegetables, it's really just the sun and putting fabric on top of stuff,” Fade said. “It's kind of amazing, in this climate, to be able to do that.”

The winter months’ diminished sunlight is more harmful to plant growth than the cold, Fade explained. Fade makes sure to harvest his kale, char and lettuce (which need the most sunlight) by Nov. 10, because of this issue.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, Keith Duarte, co-owner of Damn Good Honey, located on Old Queens Highway in Kerhonkson, spends the winter keeping his 75 bee colonies alive. Most of this preparation begins in the fall. Each colony needs to be stocked with at least 70 pounds of honey to feed the hive through the winter. A healthy colony can host between 60,000 and 80,000 bees, Duarte said, but the hive population is often shaved down to 50,000 during the unforgiving season. When needed, he helps restock their food supply by giving dry sugar to the hungry bees.

Mouse guards are another safety measure installed in the hives. While mice aren’t after the bees or honey, they tend to burrow in the colony and create moisture with their urine and feces. Weakened by the cold air, the bees are incapable of defending their home. Duarte must also make sure to properly ventilate each hive to make sure no moisture remains, which could cause the hive to freeze. Despite his efforts, Duarte loses an average of 15 to 20 percent of his hives each year, he said.

Aside from the beekeeping, Duarte and his wife Jennifer run a market where she makes a variety of bee-based goods like soap, skin care products and candles. Of course, they’re still selling honey in the winter, setting aside at least 5,000 pounds to meet demand. Compared to larger honey operations, these 5,000 pounds are just a drop in the bucket, Duarte said.

The two also raise pasture-fed chicken and laying hens to bolster their selection at the market. Additionally, Duarte has been the athletic trainer for the Rondout Valley Central School District for just under a year.

“I think one of the common themes that you'll see, especially when it comes to small farming, is that this is really the time of year where expenses can be the highest and income is the lowest,” Duarte said. “Anything that locals can do to support small farms in this area, whether it's signing up now for their CSAs or shopping in their markets, is important … I think that's something that a lot of the public doesn't really realize.”