2022-07-12 newsletter

Greetings,

This coming Saturday is the final farmers’ market of the season for
us! There will be no deliveries during the week– only the farmers’
market. You can preorder for the Saturday market as produce will be
limited on this final day. Preorders due by Thursday, 8 pm. Our address
is:

14820 Old Olga Rd., Ft. Myers, FL 33905.

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 is as follows: ** _
_**

Saturday: 12 Seasons Farmer’s Market at
14820 Old Olga Rd., Ft. Myers, FL 33905 (8am-noon). You may also select
a preorder option (by Thursday 8 pm) and pick up your prepared orders at
the farm market.

****We are currently harvesting:

• Heirloom/Specialty Tomatoes

• Red Beefsteak Tomatoes

• Summercrisp Lettuce (limited)

• Arugula

• Curly Kale

• Flat Kale

• Swiss Chard

• Broccoli (limited)

• Cucumbers

• Eggplant

• Sweet Peppers (limited)

• Greek Basil

• Italian Basil

• Italian Flat Parsley

• Mangos

• Orange blossom Honey

Thank you to all those who came out to market last Saturday. While
our volume is low, I am still impressed by the amount of diversity and
quality we have this late in the season.

This is the not so pleasant part of the end to the farming season. Ek
and Jedilo are removing the twine from tomato vines that we recently
removed from one of our greenhouses. We are thankful to Ek and and
Jedilo who do this mundane work with good attitudes and excellence.

Here is a photo of the Mucuna (aka velvet bean) cover crop field
experiment as of today. It is a bit slow in starting but the vines are
getting ready to take off. I am hopeful the Mucuna will suppress the
weeds enough that we can reuse our raised beds without discing them
down. Mucuna is a nitrogen-fixing plant so it converts nitrogen from the
air into useful plant available nitrogen via beneficial bacteria that
colonize its roots. So if this experiment works our soil fertility
should improve and we would be able to keep last season’s raised beds.
This would translate to savings on time and tractor fuel while
preserving the integrity of beds that have had generous additions of
compost, microbes, and organic fertilizers from the previous season.
This would be a much more sustainable option than the current action of
discing them apart to eliminate weeds and reforming them again.

This year we plan to experiment with biochar in our seedling mix. The
above photo shows a small sample of biochar from some I received this
week. Biochar is a fine-grained charcoal produced from plant biomass
that is heated under low oxygen situations. The process if done
correctly causes the biochar to strongly resist breakdown by soil
microbes and is reported to persist in soil for centuries. What makes it
so helpful in agriculture is that it serves as a habitat for beneficial
plant enhancing microbes that live in the fractures of the biochar and
its negative charge holds positively-charge nutrients that are useful to
plants. Biochar is like a large reservoir of plant nutrients that might
otherwise be leached. I am planning to do side-by-side trials in our
seedlings which we plan to start seeding soon for next season.

The kids placed the flag out for yesterday’s Independence Day
celebration to the tune of our national anthem. We only worked a half
day on the farm yesterday and then got together with good friends in the
afternoon for a festive time. Among many things, we and the children
listened to the reading of the Declaration of Independence. Life is and
always has been hard, imperfect, and challenging, but we celebrate those
virtues and principles that are enduring and offer hope to people in the
pursuit of life and liberty.

The evening ended with lots of fun fireworks. The kids had a blast
and the parents are a bit tired today!

We are thankful to be in a country that honors its farmers. I have
long given the example that if a dairy farmer is in a New York elevator
of a major business center standing alongside a financial planner or
lawyer, in most cases the NY City businessman will confer honor to the
dairy farmer. That NY City businessman may inwardly be glad he is not a
farmer, but in most cases and from my personal experience, will show
respect to the farmer. Likewise the dairy farmer will show respect to
the NY City businessman but is not at all jealous to change shoes. Again
that has been confirmed many times in our own experiences. In my
previous work with ECHO, I traveled to many lesser developed countries
to participate in agricultural related activities and trainings. Farming
in these places is often connected with poverty and a low image. Among
many things we discussed, I would share their livelihoods are apart of
something noble and worthy of respect.

We are grateful to so many of you who kindly express your
appreciation for the hard work that goes into growing healthy and
delicious food.

Thanks for the opportunity to serve you!

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