2023-04-10 newsletter

Greetings from 12 Seasons Farm,

We finally are seeing the first reprieve of the heat and drought with
a good rain yesterday and decent rain chances over the next 10 days.
This heat has put an early end to strawberries on the farm. The
strawberry yield last week and this morning was dismal.

Tomatoes continue to be bountiful!

Thank you to those that pre-order and pick up your orders at the
market! This is much appreciated.

If you would like to place an order for Thursday farm pick-up
or home delivery, please do so before 8 pm Tuesday at
www.12seasonsfarm.com.

Here is our weekly schedule:

TUESDAY PICK-UP FOR SANIBEL & CAPTIVA: Place an
order online before Sunday, 8 pm, if you want to pick up an order at
McCarthy’s Marina in Captiva on Tuesday, 9-11 am. Extra produce will be
available for those who want to buy off the table. ****

 ** WEDNESDAY LAKE’S PARK FARMERS’
MARKET:** We will be at the Lakes Park Farmers’ Mkt. each
Wednesday from 9 am to 1 pm. in Ft. Myers. Parking is free during the
farmers’ market.

THURSDAY DELIVERIES & FARM PICK-UP: Please place
an order online before Tuesday, 8 pm, if you want home delivery or farm
pick-up for Thursday.

SATURDAY FARMERS’ MARKET AND PREORDER PICK-UP :
Market runs 8 am to noon. Please place an order by Thursday, 8 pm to
pick up your preorder at the Bonita market. If preordering, please pick
up preorders after 10 am.

Orders can be placed online at ** www.12seasonsfarm.com**

This is what we are harvesting:

• Strawberries

• Blueberries (from certified organic farm in Central
  Florida)

• Summercrisp Lettuce

• Baby Butterhead Lettuce

• Large Leaf Butterhead lettuce

• Cherry tomatoes

• Heirloom/Specialty tomatoes

• Red Slicing tomatoes

• Arugula

• Curly kale

• Flat kale

• Mixed kale

• Broccoli

• Broccoli greens

• Rainbow carrots

• Cucumbers

• Zucchini

• Sweet Peppers

• Eggplant

• Round radish

• Daikon radish

• Watermelon radish

• Green onions

• Large sweet onions

• Dill

• Cilantro

• Italian flat parsley

• Curled parsley

• Saw Palmetto Honey

• Nasturtium Flowers

• Sunflowers

This past weekend, we had a fun day at the Bonita Springs farmers’
market. We set up a small stand adjacent to ours and the kids gave away
a tomato to anyone that wanted one. We were happy to share the
bounty.

Here was a picture of the kids’ farm stand. They had fun going around
the market and sharing tomatoes with whoever would accept them. I think
they gave away close to 250 lbs. of tomatoes. We wanted to see them used
and appreciated, especially over the holiday weekend.

Our latest flight of tomatoes is beginning to ripen. In the photo
above is a new brandywine type of tomato we planted that is so
delicious. You should start to see this one appearing at the markets.
This so far is my favorite tomato of the season.

This yellow tomato with a beautiful interior red blush has been a
popular tomato this season. Right now, the farm is experiencing an
amazing yield in tomatoes we have never seen before. It is astounding
and huge

We have a good supply of sunflowers this week.

With the increase in tomato production we are looking for new
restaurants that might be interested in utilizing tomatoes from 12
Seasons. Can any of you recommend restaurants that might be interested?
We currently sell to Continental, Sails, Claw Bar, Osteria Tulia, Sea
Salt, Bay House, Harold’s, Vi at Bentley Village, Hyatt Regency Coconut
Point Resort And Spa, Bay Colony Beach Club, Sanctuary Clubhouse, The
Butcher, Naples Canning, and occasionally KC American Bistro. Thank you
for any suggestions.

For those of you who know Cate and Elisha, they are both planning to
return for a visit this week and to help at 12 Seasons. We are excited
to see these good friends. They plan to be at the market this Saturday
so many of you will have the opportunity to see them as well!

Here is little Levi with Susanna Hall who assisted in Levi’s birth.
Levi and the entire Mashburn Family left this weekend to Virginia where
the children will stay with extended family while Kelley and James take
Levi to a children’s hospital in Philadelphia for an operation on his
skull to unfuse the plates in the back of his head. It is a serious
operation and we are hoping and praying for a successful surgery.

Here is the Mashburn Family just before leaving. They are taking a
golf cart that was previously flooded out for its first test run since
being mostly rebuilt. This has been a fun project of James’ so they can
have their personal cart to get around the farm and do various
activities. James does a lot of our maintenance in between commercial
airline flights as a pilot. The Mashburns are a beautiful family and we
truly hope for a good outcome for little Levi.

Folks throughout much of SWFL have experienced a lot of cumbersome
and fatiguing challenges recovering from Ian. We share a bit of that
history with you as well. It is extremely encouraging to see the farm
bounce back from a destructive start of the season in September and now
bountifully yield tomatoes and other crops. Thank you for all your
support of 12 Seasons Farm and helping us experience this return to
abundance. We look forward to the rains this week helping the SW Florida
landscape return to some of its original splendor.

Have a great week!

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