2024-03-11 newsletter

Greetings from 12 Seasons Farm,

It is encouraging to see so many crops producing bountifully at the
moment. We have generous crops now of strawberry, zucchini, cucumbers,
broccolini, onions, tomatoes, cauliflower and more.

We have a good diversity for the Tuesday Captiva and St. John’s
Naples Farmers mkts. Both markets run 9am-1pm.

The Captiva Market runs through April and the Naples market runs
through the first 2 Tuesdays in April. It was great to have both markets
bustling last week. Thank you to those who came out!

The Promenade market in Bonita Springs is scheduled to run through
May. We had a very busy day there last Saturday. Even with 4 sellers it
is hard to keep up. Thank you for your patience. Remember if you place
an order, you can skip the line and head to the back of the Ford Transit
where Annika will be glad to serve you.

Our schedule remains much the same this week:

TUESDAY CAPTIVA MARKET : Tuesday, 9am-1pm at South
Seas Island Resort , Captiva. Buy directly from the
stand or place a preorder online by Sunday, 8 pm and
pick it up at the market.

TUESDAY NAPLES ST. JOHN’S FARMERS MARKET (NEW!) :
Tuesday 9am-1pm at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Naples. The St. John’s
Farmers Market is located at 500 Park Shore Dr., Naples, FL 34103, just
south of Pine Ridge Rd. Due to vehicle space and staff limitations we
currently don’t plan to do preorders for this market.

THURSDAY FARM PICK-UP & HOME DELIVERY FOR SW FL (NOT
INCLUDING SANIBEL AND CAPTIVA): Please place an order online
before TUESDAY, 8 pm. For farm pick-up on Thursday, please come to 14840
Old Olga Rd., Ft. Myers, FL 33905.

SATURDAY BONITA FARMERS MARKET **** ****: Saturday,
8am-noon at the Promenade Shops at Bonita Bay. Buy directly from the
stand or place a preorder online by Thursday, 8 pm. If
possible, please pick up after 10:30 for pre-orders as
this will reduce the long line that often forms early in the morning.
When picking up, you are welcome to skip the line and go down the south
side of the tent to the back of our van where Annika will help you get
your order and grab any add-ons you might want.

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

This is what we are harvesting:

• Strawberries
• Summercrisp Lettuce
• Baby Butterhead Lettuce
• Large Leaf Butterhead Lettuce
• Romaine Lettuce (starting to get limited in the heat)
• Arugula
• Curly Kale
• Flat Kale
• Mixed Kale (multiple varieties)
• Swiss Chard
• Green Beans
• Zucchini
• Cucumbers
• Eggplant
• Sweet Italian Bull’s Horn Peppers
• Broccolini
• Cabbage
• Cauliflower
• Carrots
• Green onions
• Large onions (pre-order only)
• Celery
• Cherry tomatoes
• Campari tomatoes
• Heirloom/Specialty tomatoes
• Red Slicing tomatoes
• Round radish
• Daikon radish
• Cilantro
• Dill
• Curled Parsley
• Flat Parsley
• Lemongrass
• Turmeric (by pre-order only)
• Pummelo
• Temple Tangor
• Ray Ruby Grapefruit
• Papaya
• Starfruit (just about over)
• Banana
• Sunflowers
• SW FL Saw Palmetto Honey
• SW FL Wildflower Honey
• Strawberry Butter

Justine at the Captiva market showcasing the broccolini she picked
and bundled! We have had great broccolini as of late.

Enoch helping me harvest green beans from a trial I am doing
involving 9 different varieties.

Here is a closer up photo of the beans that include the bicolor
Dragon’s tongue bean.

We had a spring break work group come out for an afternoon from
Hellenic College in the Boston area. One of our workers Anthony
Linderman is a graduate from that college and helped arrange the group
to visit 12 Seasons Farm for the afternoon.

We are harvesting beautiful tomatoes at the moment!

The children last week helped me make a delivery to Rooster’s Produce
on Rt. 80. They have been selling our tomatoes at their produce stand in
Alva, Fl.

After the Saturday market and cooking class at the farm, Vicki and
the two older kids did Irish step dance at the Lee County Ag Expo.
Simeon is on far left with Vicki 4th on left and Annika 5th from right.
Elena Watkins, one of the dance school’s lead dancers also works for 12
Seasons Farm and is 7th from right in red sash. From what I hear, the
cooking class went well. We received a lot of positive feedback from
people who attended. Thank you to Anna Klein who led the workshop. She
is a great gift to this SW FL area and to our family and farm team!

We hope you have been enjoying the tomatoes from 12 Seasons Farm this
season. The team works hard to bring you vine-ripened tomatoes that are
growing in healthy soil along with a host of other fruits and
vegetables.

Last night we had the joy of seeing Cate and Elisha again. Elisha is
visiting Cate and helping her on her farm in Orlando. They came south to
our farm and picked up a bunch of tomatoes so she could have them at her
farmers market in Winter Park that happens on Monday evenings.

We strive for bringing you the best. Whenever we fall short and you
have a disappointment, please do let us know. We want to make it right.
Thanks for your kindness to us. It is a hard, demanding, and good life;
your affirmation, gratitude, and kindness makes the hard side more
pleasurable!

All the best to you this week!

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