The March 8 event at Trillium Hill Farm in Hinesburg was billed as a farm ski tour and bonfire until — in a situation all too familiar to farmers — weather forced a change of plans. After a warm spell melted much of the snow, temperatures plummeted and froze the ground. Forecasted strong winds made a fire ill-advised.
Undeterred, farmer James Donegan and his wife, Sara Armstrong Donegan, shifted gears to a farm walk, replacing Nordic skis with ice-gripping boot spikes. An intrepid foursome plus a reporter joined the chilly afternoon tour. Happily, there was respite from the cold in Trillium Hill’s hoop houses, where Donegan, 44, tends a variety of soil-grown organic greens through the winter.
Even without extra heat, the farm’s 10 main plastic-sheathed, earth-floored structures hold enough warmth to protect hardy greens such as peppery upland cress, lemon-tart sorrel and juicy claytonia. During extra-cold stretches, Donegan tucks them under layers of row-cover fabric.
The farmer also raises other vegetables on a total of two acres of the 130-acre multigenerational family farm, half of which he and his wife own. But over Trillium Hill’s 20 years under his watch, Donegan has shifted more effort to year-round salad greens. Nestled in the heart of Hinesburg — between Lantman’s Market, condominiums and affordable senior housing — Trillium Hill is both a vestige of Vermont’s agricultural past and a glimpse into its future, where a relatively low-tech practice can soften the extremes of Mother Nature.
For the past several winters, Trillium Hill’s one-third acre of covered land yielded fresh salad for all but a couple of weeks. This winter, the greens went dormant during the deep cold of early January, waking at the end of February like sleeping beauties kissed by increasing light and warmth.
Trillium Hill greens sell especially briskly during the colder seasons at local stores, to restaurants and other wholesale accounts, and to about 90 community-supported agriculture members. “There’s a market for them, and they’re profitable to do on a small scale,” Donegan said.
Among his customers is electric aircraft company Beta Technologies, where lunch is provided daily for 500 employees in South Burlington and Williston. The company prioritizes local sourcing, which can be tough for fresh vegetables in winter, according to corporate chef Tim Peters.
“We kind of force everybody to eat salad every day,” Peters, 50, said with a chuckle.
Last year, the chef was able to get Trillium Hill greens almost every week. This year, he was happy to see them return in late February. For a recent plated lunch, the Beta kitchen team served Vermont Salumi rosemary ham over local sweet potato with a lightly dressed salad of Trillium Hill greens topped with a medley of Vermont root vegetables.
Peters said he’s driven past the Hinesburg farm for years but had not understood its full scope until he started buying Donegan’s produce for Beta.
“It just kind of blew my mind how much they can do on an old hill farm,” the chef said.
The small March 8 group was similarly wowed as it toured hoop houses filled with more than a dozen varieties of greens. After a walk through the woods to a second set of the structures, Donegan pulled back a row cover to reveal slender onion tops and tiny tufts of carrots, which will be ready to harvest in mid-May.
“They’re just waiting for spring like the rest of us,” Armstrong Donegan, 40, quipped.
Her husband explained that the hoop houses are planted almost year-round with a range of crops. In summer, they help heat-loving plants such as tomatoes and peppers ripen more quickly. No matter the season, Donegan said, “It’s a huge benefit for crop health and productivity.”
The farmer later said he has been able to invest in hoop houses — each of which runs about $18,000 including installation — with the support of a decade-old U.S. Department of Agriculture cost-share program. Donegan planned to apply again this season, but it’s unclear whether the program will survive cuts to USDA personnel and funding by President Donald Trump’s administration.
“It’s amazing that all of this is growing here in the winter.” Megan Knight
Two of the tour participants, Megan Knight, 29, and Ryan Joseph, 26, live across Route 116 from the farm and said they often hike the 1.5-mile public trail around the property. The couple belong to the Trillium Hill CSA and credit it with expanding their vegetable horizons. They also frequent the seasonal farmstand, which will open on April 1 stocked with farm vegetables, maple syrup tapped and boiled on-site by the extended Donegan family, and local foods from dozens of farmers and producers.
The pair said they were impressed by the behind-the-scenes tour. “It’s amazing that all of this is growing here in the winter,” Knight said.
The original print version of this article was headlined “Salad Days | At Hinesburg’s Trillium Hill Farm, unheated hoop houses give cozy cover to nearly year-round greens”
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This article appears in Mar 19-25, 2025.
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