Consistent, Clean, Chemically Free Baby Greens- The Ultimate Priority of a Longtime Farmer

As I walked through the greenhouses on David Pinney’s property at Maple Knoll Farm, I thought about how a rabbit would have a field day in there.  The soil floor was a vision of mixed green and plum leafy colors growing in wide and long strips from one end of the greenhouse to the other. To see this tapestry of edible goodness on a cold, yet bright winter’s day in early March, was beyond inspiring.  And learning of the history and process was not only educational but eye-opening.

David Pinney, owner of Maple Knoll Farm, is a 10th generation farmer, and Aidan Pinney, his youngest son, works alongside him as a business partner.  Before they ventured into producing healthy and organic baby salad greens for local farmers’ markets, from kale to spinach included, the farm was used for other wholesale bedding and flowering plant ventures.  But today, all the old but recently refurbished greenhouses are filled with baby and young greens growing from the ground rather than in trays on benches as with plants of the years past.

As the sun warmed the interior through the plastic coverings of the greenhouse and the smell of farm freshness filled the air, I listened to David respond to my list of questions, but instead of learning about how the greens are grown during the colder parts of the seasons, I gained an understanding of what is of the utmost importance to David and his generation of family farmers – and that is to achieve a consistent, uniform product every time.

Pinney admits much can be accomplished with simple plastic covered greenhouses to extend your growing seasons in spring or fall, but his bigger goal is delivering a reliable, quality product in a consistent manner every week, and also preparing the harvest at the right stage of growth in a clean and well-managed way.  It is his ultimate priority – and the goal of Maple Knoll Farm located in Somersville, Connecticut.

When I asked David about the challenges he faces from the growing perspective, he replied with, “There are many, but I will start with three.”

All of the greens sold by Maple Knoll Farm are grown directly in the soil under large wooden framed greenhouses covered in plastic.  Before the greenhouses were used to grow baby greens, they were used by prior generations to grow wholesale bedding plants in artificial media.

Plants like poinsettias were grown in the winter months for the holiday season, typical annuals were grown in the summer, and there was even a period of time where the greenhouses were used by his brother to grow hot-house tomatoes.

For a period of 10 years, their farm grew plants for the local wholesale trade but, as David explained, “a large scale wholesale production required lots of capital.  Additionally, competition for a smaller production such as mine was challenging.  Basically, it was get big or get out.”

They closed down the wholesale aspect in 1988, and eventually decided to focus on growing organic fresh baby greens for local farmers markets and small restaurants.  Besides the goals noted above, they wanted to return to their roots and start growing greens organically to support the desire to have locally fresh grown crops for current and future generations.

As they began their new year-round operation of growing baby greens, their first order of business was to enhance the native soil below the formerly used benches in the greenhouses to prepare them for seed.  For the first time, they would be growing their plants directly in the ground under low-tunnels and large old greenhouses.  The greenhouses required some refurbishing but still stand strong today.

“We needed to develop good growing soil for our baby greens – so we removed the existing gravel and old subsoil.  The top layer was scraped off and we began amending the native soil by incorporating local compost from Collins Compost of Enfield, CT.  Over time, we added our own compost as we rotated crops, and also supplemented with processed manure,” explained Pinney.

With several large tunnel style greenhouses on their eighteen acre property, you can imagine how much work this involved, especially because most of their labor is done by hand on the farm.  Besides a couple of small mechanical seeders, machinery is not used to prepare the soil areas or harvest the baby greens on their farm.

Another apparent aspect of Maple Knoll Farm’s business priorities is to produce baby greens with a minimal carbon footprint.  For example, in the winter months, they grow spinach without supplemental heating in low tunnels.  Only the sun warms the crops.  So while quality is number one, it is closely followed by tightly managing costs and expenses.  Pinney also mentioned using roll-up sides to ventilate the greenhouses instead of running fans requiring electricity.  Every effort is made to reduce expenses while maintaining quality.

Because all of the greens grown on Maple Knoll Farm are handpicked on a regular schedule at the baby stage, timing is an important aspect of how they have to manage their harvests.  David said they are always on a tight schedule to make sure they have a supply on a weekly basis for the farmers markets and local restaurants.

The plants are not sitting idle until they reach a maturity stage, and the general ongoing maintenance must be coordinated at the same time with successive seeding routines and soil amending or turnover activities.  They cannot let things go unwatched.  I guess you could say, growing baby greens involves some babysitting.

In addition to hand-picking them at the right baby stage to ensure a constant supply, each harvest must be processed in their in-house packaging station in a timely fashion to achieve the uniform results.  Everything must be cleaned and packaged in a way to deliver fresh to their customers. 

David Pinney said, “Baby salad greens have a pretty good shelf life, and can maintain a good quality for a week or more easily, but the key is preparing and cleaning the greens at the right stage of growth so we can move whatever we pick by the next day.”

And seeing how David, and his son, Aidan, perform the cleaning process was a lesson in the old adage, “Necessity is the mother of invention.”  Several modifications to some common household appliances were designed and implemented by Pinney and his son to perfect their preparation stages to ensure just the right balance of moisture and air in their packages is achieved.

First are the sink areas where all of the greens are washed in three large sinks located in a processing room adjacent to their master greenhouse.  Pretty straight forward.  The harvested greens are hand washed in three sinks soon after picking, but after the greens are washed, the excess moisture must be removed to eliminate any potential for rot in the packages.

So here comes the “mother of invention” part – they use a standard laundry washing machine to spin the greens after they are triple washed in the sinks.  And the washer has an additional invented outside component, a heating unit used to warm the spinner after it is used in the winter months.

This made sense to me, I thought.  Wash and spin, just like a salad spinner – but with an additional component added to prevent the inside cylinder from freezing or locking up during the colder seasons of the year.  And I have to admit, it reminded me of my own father, also a farmer.  He was always creating a tool to enhance a farming practice or making a device to improve an existing piece of equipment.

The next phase of the packaging process is air drying the greens after they have been spun in the washing machine cylinder.  The greens are placed in large fabric bags, similar to those used to do laundry with holes to allow circulation of air or water, and placed in an air drying unit.  The greens are blown dry with a blower device modified by Pinney.  It is run at just the right temperature and for a precise amount of time so just enough moisture is retained for the greens.

After all three preparation steps are complete: wash, spin, dry – the beautiful, fresh baby greens are packaged in clear, biodegradable cellophane bags and labeled with a “harvest date.”  They are placed in refrigerators in the packaging station room for only a short time because the turnaround is usually within the same day or next day for delivery to the markets for sale.  Their goal is to get it to the customers as soon as possible so customers can enjoy their fresh and well-packaged harvests.

Next on my list was asking David if he offers any classes, as I imagined people ask about how he grows his greens because so many people today want to grow their own vegetables.  However, Pinney explained he hasn’t encountered folks displaying an interest in growing but that he is commonly asked what is used on the baby greens he grows at Maple Knoll Farm.

“People don’t ask me about how I grow my greens, but they ask what is “on” my greens.  They are concerned with chemicals and don’t want them on their produce,” he explained. “And although it is a challenge to cover expenses of doing everything on the farm mostly by hand without chemicals added, people are willing to pay a bit more for an organically grown and fresh product.”

A popular item on the Maple Knoll Farm’s list is their mix greens packages. They offer a couple different mixes regularly in addition to their spinach, arugula, kale, and other greens which are also sold separately.  Some of their mixes are built around Asian greens.  As Pinney said, “An instant healthy salad is popular with our farmers’ market customers.”

When asking if there are any new greens being added on their list for the upcoming season, the answer was they are still new at the process itself.  This will be their third summer at the Ellington Farmers Market in 2014.  Because they are working to perfect every step to achieve consistent results, and focusing efforts on a growing regimen which delivers a uniform crop weekly, they are not offering any particular new varieties of greens at this time.  Besides, from what I saw during my visit at their farm, there are plenty of varieties already being grown by the Pinney family, and one I didn’t recognized, called, Claytonia. It is a type of green they grow during the winter because it can thrive at colder temperatures and adds a nice texture and flavor to their salad mixes.

Although farming and growing has been in the Pinney family for generations, and is literally in their roots – David Pinney certainly has the horticultural knowledge which he obtained at the University of Connecticut when he took agricultural courses, and he completed a Forestry degree years ago.  When he came back to the farm, he possessed not only a history of experience about growing plants from his prior family teachers, and his father, but an understanding of soil and plants from his college agricultural studies.  And this knowledge and experience is being carried down to his youngest son, Aidan.

On the personal side, David Pinney is very active in his community.  “I’m a life time member,” as he put it.  He is the chairman of a local housing authority and they recently completed a renovation and substantial expansion of a housing complex for low-income elderly and disabled citizens.  He is involved in his church, and formerly was first selectman in Somers.  At one time, they were working on the mill complex right down the road from his farm, but the prospect to return the mill complex to being an asset for the community were lost when the complex was destroyed by a massive fire in June of 2012.

His wife, Pat, is their creative consultant and shares new ways or recipes suggested by customers.  Lastly, their family pet, an Alaskan malamute by the name of Dakota, was my quiet greeter when I arrived into the greenhouse, and he watched me drive away from their farmhouse without a bark as I waved goodbye.

The location of the Maple Knoll Farm is beautiful, facing horse pastures and expansive fields.  It reminded me of visiting my relatives’ farms in Canada, and left me with the feeling of a total appreciation of the efforts by all farmers ingrained in this earth.

Don’t forget to check out Maple Knoll Farm’s produce at the Ellington Farmers’ Market year-round.  As David Pinney said, “We are at the market any time they are open.”

Written by Cathy Testa

About the author:

Cathy Testa is a plant blogger and container garden designer located in Broad Brook, CT.  She contributes some of her time to writing for the Ellington Farmers Market Blog as a freelance writer.

Contact Information:

mapleknollfarm@hotmail.com
860-394-9871
www.mapleknollfarmct.com
Located in Somersville, Connecticut