Producer

Winter Moon Roots is a certified organic root vegetable farm in Hadley, MA. We grow root vegetables for winter markets - carrots, beets, parsnips, radishes, turnips, and rutabaga available November through March. The farm was started in 2010 by Michael Docter, in order to fill the gap of local produce availability in winter months. I, Rosendo Santizo, started working for Michael, harvesting, washing, and packing roots very part-time, and slowly over the years took on more responsibility and was lucky enough to purchase the farm from Michael in 2022. I run the farm the same way as Michael - with a strong focus on the quality and flavor of our root vegetables, and caring for our land and environment. We harvest all of our crops in November, after they've had the chance to be exposed to cold fall weather, which makes them accumulate sugars and become super super sweet. We store them in ideal storage conditions and wash them up to order three days a week, so they stay fresh and maintain amazing flavor all winter long. Our storage barn uses a unique system that cools the roots using cold outside air whenever possible, so it is highly energy efficient--the barn also has solar panels on the roof that provide all the electricity that we need!