Looking out at the snow today, my mind raced back to the winter of 2017. It was not a particularly historic winter overall, but for COSS it was a significant one.
A series of heavy storms moved through, bringing snow. Not just snow, but wet, heavy snow. The Cheys have three greenhouses at Sunny Meadow. The third is a smaller greenhouse with a slightly different pitch compared to the others. That difference matters.
Greenhouses can take a lot of wind, and normally snow will slide off the roof. However, they have a weak point. The sides cannot take much weight. When snow builds up along the sides, the pressure begins to bend the struts, which causes the roof to bow. Once that happens, snow can no longer slide off. The weight keeps building, the roof bows more, and eventually the entire greenhouse collapses.
That is exactly what happened in 2017.
It was a huge loss for the farmer. Once a strut is bent, it cannot be fixed. It has to be replaced, and that is not cheap. By 2021, the farmer had finally been able to set aside enough money to purchase replacement struts. Clearing the collapsed greenhouse and salvaging usable pipe was a major task. Rebuilding it was even more work.
This became a joint effort between the farmer, COSS, and Venture Scouts. Farmers made very little money back then, and even less now. If we want to keep farms in our community, we have to be willing to help from time to time. Preserving farming is a core value of COSS, and Scouts helping the community is exactly what Scouting is about. This is also a town owned site.
It took a number of weekends, but with people from across the community pitching in, the greenhouse was rebuilt. I often think back to the days when towns held barn raisings. This felt like a modern version of that tradition.
Here we are in 2025, and the greenhouse is still in use. Even now, they are working inside it and will continue through January. They will take a short break during January, then return in late February.
The collapse of that greenhouse is something we never want to see again. After 2017, we began using snow blowers to clear snow along the sides of the greenhouses to reduce snow load. From 2017 through 2025, no greenhouse has failed.
We can no longer keep snow blowers on site, but we are actively working with the farmer to find solutions. Snow load has to be moved, and if the farmer has the equipment, we will be there after every storm to make sure this never happens again. In severe storms, it may mean being there during the storm itself.
Farmers are key to our heritage and our traditions. We have a commitment to keeping farming alive in Chelmsford.