Even though the outdoor section of the farm has slowed down almost to a halt with the onset of winter, the heated greenhouse is bursting with delicious veggies. The salad greens are thriving, the herbs are making slow but steady progress, the tomatoes are thinking about ripening, and the eggplants are making their last stand. The eggplants have been producing for over a month now, and they’re getting tired; after our last collection we’ll get to enjoy one more eggplanty meal until next summer.

As it is, this is far later than you’d usually find a fresh, local eggplant around here: they don’t do well with frost or short days, and only the artificial environment of the greenhouse lets them keep producing into the winter. Of course, there’s a tradeoff involved: we use lots of energy to keep the greenhouse warm and lit. We have yet to decide whether we’re going to repeat this particular kind of season extension next year, or if we’ll instead focus on cold-weather crops that could stay outside or in an unheated greenhouse.