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[Bruce Moden]

Farming can be cold off the tractor too!
 
A little different type of farming, but for many years we grew tulips, hyacinths & daffodils for many retail, wholesale outlets & markets in western NY.  We planted such a large quantity (over 10,000) that we couldn't use bulb cellars or temperature controlled barns.  For anyone that has never done this, you plant the bulbs in pots of 4 to 12 bulbs in the fall, about Columbus Day.  We prepare a field and strip about 4 to 6 inches of soil off, place the pots in rows & cover them with about 4 inches of soil.
That's the easy stuff!!
You keep them watered until the ground freezes or the snow covers them, they grow into the soil above them (plants grow to about 3 to 4 inches).  "Harvest" comes 4 to 8 weeks before Easter, that translates into February or March.  You are lucky if there is snow, because the ground doesn't freeze under the snow.  You begin by clearing about 2 feet of snow off the end of the field & dig a trench in front of the 1st row, then you dig beneath the 1st row & drop the plants out of the soil they are buried in, so as to not break off the young plant (the bud is in the center of the leaves & is fragile).  you transport them by wheel barrow into the greenhouses, wash of the remaining dirt from the leaves, place them on the green house shelves to begin their growth.
I remind you this is being done in 20-30 degree weather, by hand, in the mud!  If there is no snow you cut 3 foot by 3 foot squares of frozen dirt, pots & all, move them into a heated area to thaw, separate them there wash them, etc.  & repeat the process 1,000 times.  You are wet, your gloves are frozen to  your hands & did I mention we heated with wood so while you "rested" you cut wood & stoked the boiler! 
This was the old "Dutch" method of growing bulb stock- cold & hard, but the end product was the best.
The being cold didn't stop until Easter, because you would spend the week before at the market, sitting on the tailgate selling the over stock, in Buffalo it snows Easter Week!
 
(we also walked 2 miles to school is the snow, uphill both ways!)
 
Pharmer Bruce