2022-04-26 newsletter

Greetings,

Today was the final day at the Captiva Farmers’ market. We are
grateful for another good season there at Sanibel and Captiva. We will
continue to do home and restaurant deliveries. One of the restaurants we
serve is Sweet Melissa’s Cafe in Sanibel. I remember the first time I
brought a sample flat of heirloom tomatoes for Chef Melissa to see. I
hadn’t met her yet, but when I walked in the back door, she exclaimed at
the sight of the tomatoes, “Sign me up!” Chef Melissa has now been with
us for many years and orders a lot of tomatoes from us. We are grateful
to her! Sanctuary Golf Club also orders from us but recently finished
for the season.

As for farm news, we have lots of tomatoes still and cucumber
production is picking up. Strawberry season is rapidly coming to a
close. We still have beautiful Summercrisp lettuce and lots of peppers,
eggplant, kale, and swiss chard. There will be the final bit of
cauliflower at market from a late planting and reduced numbers of
broccoli but should still havefor several more weeks. Radishes and
onions are still strong and carrot production is decent. To sustain this
kind of diverse production over a long season requires a series of
plantings (we call them “flights”) that occur weekly or bi-weekly
depending on the crop, or every 5 weeks as we do with cherry tomatoes.
As a small but diversified farm, we plant frequently but in smaller
amounts. For example, we will plant anywhere from 60-220 bed feet of
lettuce/week (3 rows across a raised bed), but we do this 40 weeks in a
row. We plant the lower amounts of bed feet at the start and end of
season (e.g. 60 feet long) and more raised bed length of lettuce
Jan-March (e.g. 220 feet long) when demand is highest. But the key is to
do it weekly. It also allows us to adjust and overcome production
problems to pests or other challenges more quickly and sustains a very
consistent supply of fresh produce.

We hope to see a number of you still at the Bonita market on
Saturdays. After that we plan to open a market at the farm like we did
last season. We will continue home deliveries for a while still. Thank
you to all who order and receive those home deliveries on a weekly
basis!

If you order online, please remember to put your requests in the
customer notes if something is out-of-stock.

Place orders at 12seasonsfarm.com

Our schedule remains the same:

** ** ** ** ** Thursday** : Please order by
8 pm tonight (Tuesday), April 26, for Thursday, April 28, farm pick up
or delivery to Bonita Springs, Naples, Ft. Myers Beach, Ft. Myers, N.
Ft. Myers, and Cape Coral.

Saturday: Bonita Springs Farmers’ Market at
Promenade Shops (8am- noon). BONITA MARKET
EXTENDED THROUGH MAY. You may also select a preorder
option each week (by Thursday 8 pm) and pick up your prepared orders at
the Saturday market, preferably after 10:30 am.

Tuesday : Sanibel/Captiva home deliveries
on Tuesdays. CAPTIVA MKT. CLOSED FOR SEASON Place order
by Sunday, 8 pm.

****We are currently harvesting:

• Cherry Tomatoes

• Campari Tomatoes

• Heirloom/Specialty Tomatoes

• Red Beefsteak Tomatoes

• Summercrisp Lettuce

• Arugula (limited)

• Curly kale

• Flat kale

• Mixed kale

• Broccoli

• Cucumbers

• Zucchini

• Eggplant

• Sweet Peppers

• Round radish

• Daikon radish

• Sweet onions

• Italian Basil

• Italian Flat Parsley

• Curly Parsley

• Grapefruit (add to customer notes)

• Papaya

• Strawberries (limited)

• Blueberries (certified organic from farm in Central
  Florida)

• Bananas

• Sunflowers

• Orange blossom Honey

This was the last week for the Captiva Market on Tuesdays. While our
customer base on Captiva and Sanibel is relatively small, they are a
faithful bunch and we have really appreciated the support from those
customers there. Thank you!

In the photo is Myrah at the market this morning. As I mentioned in
the newsletter last week, we are proud of Myrah, who is 15 years old and
has really become a significant part of the 12 Seasons Team.

Once again, there was an all ladies team for the Captiva crew. They
took a quick swim along the Sanibel causeway on the way home– a great
way to celebrate a good season at the Captiva mkt. In the photo is Cate,
their fearless leader, with Myrah, Annika, and Meredith (Myrah’s younger
sister).

Mango season is coming soon, perhaps the first fruits in 3 or so
weeks. We won’t have as large of a crop this season due to the freeze in
January but we still have a crop thanks to the heroic efforts of friends
and staff back then.

We had a great visit with former staff, Will and Launa Caswell along
with their daughter, Talia. Will and Launa worked here in 2020, shortly
after they married. They were here a few weeks ago visiting and helping
for the afternoon on the farm. They now live in Tanzania at a children’s
home helping train young people in valuable life skills like farming.
They are pictured here with Ek and Mikha.

Jane Saunders led a natural indigo dye workshop for our team. The
staff had a lot of fun learning the process and making some creative
cloths and apparel.

Here you can see a sampling of their creations! We hope Jane and
Keith come back next season and perhaps she can do a workshop at the
farm open to you all on how to produce and use a natural dye from indigo
leaves.

Last week I got to be home with my mom and dad. My mother got out of
the hospital while I was there and she is doing somewhat better now. We
are hoping her breathing continues to improve. As you can see in the
photo, we got to play scrabble together, something we did in past times
together. And yes, just like in old times, she won! Love you, mom!

As this season winds down, we remain grateful to all you who have
made this season a success. If not for you continued support, we would
be obviously doing something different. There are so many folks who work
incredibly hard behind the scenes and have truly wanted to bring you a
taste of goodness combined with their best efforts. We are grateful for
a dedicated team and for you who have given us your trust to grow safe,
healthy, and delicious food.

Have a great week!

Danny, Vicki, the kids, and the 12 Seasons Team