 It seems like spring is finally on the way, but the long winter has been giving local growers some additional challenges. Sarah Winkleman spoke with local growers to hear how the weather has impacted this growing season. This one was seeded about five weeks ago. Seeds come up when they want to come up, but everything in here has frosted just a little bit. Louise Johnson and husband Shane are fourth generation owners of Grandpa G's farm in Pillager, and even while living in central Minnesota, this spring is one of the latest they have ever seen. We've usually harvested once and been selling that at a co-op or some other place, so yeah, it's struggled this year. With a variety of crops already a few weeks behind schedule. We're running I'd say about five weeks light just on that one greenhouse alone. Even in the greenhouses with a heated floor, the air temperature has just been too cold for the crops. Can't take the risk to put the plant material out too quickly because of the cold mornings and cold evenings. Even though the air temperature can be a killer, a little spring snow can go a long way in actually helping the plants. They give you the ample moisture in the ground, and with it freezing and thawing like this, it's got a chance to not all run off. It kind of sits there and we'll start to soak in. Even though behind the Johnsons are optimistic, their crops will begin growing soon. If the air temperature is in the 50s, you know, consistently for a week or two, I think we can start to manage our risk a little bit and take the chance to get it in the ground. And hopefully have greens near the end of May or early June. Plants are going to catch up. A lot of the plants that we plant are day length determinant, so they're going to go by the length of the daylight. Waiting for spring can be stressful. These growers say they wouldn't change a thing. I need spring. Except for the weather, of course. The biggest thing is we're trying to feed a community that doesn't really have a lot of vegetables. The community may have to wait just a few extra weeks to get their local produce this year, but growers are expecting a full turnaround. Reporting in Pillager, Sarah Winkelman, Lakeland News. This winter, the Johnsons will be one of five farms throughout the state of Minnesota to try new deep winter greenhouses to help combat cold springs in the future.