HOLLAND MARSH -- When it comes to farming, weather and timing are everything.
The polar vortex Mother Nature supplied has left some farmers scrambling.
"It was extremely cold for an extremely long period of time, so even the blankets didn't do that much," says Calder Murphy, Murphy's Farm Market in Alliston.
As temperatures dipped below zero, rather than harvesting, the Murphy's were forced to start over with their asparagus crop.
"The freezing temperatures just start you back at zero. Every single day... so it can grow two inches on a warm day, but if it's minus three at night, we start back again tomorrow," Murphy says.
Despite their other crops being weeks behind, Murphy says he's confident they will still have a good season.
At Eek Farms, Bill and Avia Eek are busy transplanting onions, after having halted operations for a week because of the frigid weather conditions.
"They can take minus one, but minus five, minus six, minus seven, and the snow and the cold and the wind, it was too much for them," Eek says.
Even with all the added work, the Eeks aren't sure if five acres of transplanted onions, one-third of their crop, will survive.
"We may be able to leave them in the ground, they may grow, they'll be late, but they'll still be there."
Bill Eek says if not, they will plant carrots instead, "because it'll be too late for onions."
