2024-06-17 newsletter

Greetings from 12 Seasons Farm,

We are grateful for the recent rain that helped recharge the soil
moisture back to optimal levels. We got around 9 1/2 inches over 3 days
last week. While it would have been ideal to have that spread over a
longer time, the trees on the farm are doing much better after weeks of
scorching heat and mostly dry weather. Overall, the farm did great with
all the rain!

There is still a modest amount of lychee on the trees and lots of
mangos now beginning to ripen.

The vegetables continue to slow down, but the cooler weather this
past week from all the clouds and rain, helped crops like kale and
broccolini.

Tomorrow will be our last scheduled pick-up at MacIntosh Books +
Paper. Next week will likely be the last delivery on the islands of the
season.

We will continue to have a Saturday market at the farm 8 am to noon
for two more weeks during the month of June. We also are planning for
two more home deliveries and farm pick-ups on the next two
Thursdays.

Here is our schedule for this week:

TUESDAY MACINTOSH BOOKS + PAPER PRODUCE PICK-UP AND HOME
DELIVERY FOR SANIBEL AND CAPTIVA RESIDENTS : There is a free
produce pick-up of your online order at 12 Seasons Farm at MacIntosh
Books + Paper between 11 am and 2 pm on Tuesday. We also have Tuesday
home deliveries on the islands. Place a preorder online by
Sunday, 8 pm.

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 12 SEASONS FARM MARKET : Saturday, 8am-noon
at our own farm for the month of June. Buy directly from our own produce
stand and/or place a preorder online by Thursday, 8 pm.
Use the farm entrance at ******14820 Old Olga Rd. Ft. Myers, FL
33905
**

Orders can be placed online at 12seasonsfarm.com

If you ever need assistance while picking up an order, directions to
the farm, or have questions, please feel free to text or call Danny at
239-229-3579.

This is what we are harvesting:

Curly Kale
Flat Kale
Mixed Kale (multiple varieties)
Swiss Chard
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Sweet Italian Bull’s Horn Peppers
Broccolini
Carrots
Cherry tomatoes
Heirloom/Specialty tomatoes
Red Slicing tomatoes
Daikon radish
Cilantro
Curled Parsley
Flat Parsley
Italian Basil
Lemongrass (preorder only)
Lychee
Papaya
Banana
Mango
Roselle
Sunflowers
SW FL Wildflower Honey
Strawberry Butter

With her 3 brothers and mother feeling a bit under the weather on
Saturday, Annika helped set up and run the market. She did a great job.
I am so proud of this girl!

One of our customers, Jennifer Stevens, graciously brought us a large
loaf of very delicious and still warm bread on Saturday. And Paula and
Wendy Fairfield brought us peaches and a key lime pie for Father’s Day!
We are blessed by amazingly generous and supportive customers. Thank
you!

While we don’t have a lot of production, we still are harvesting
tomatoes 3 days/week. This is a portion of Friday’s harvest. The
tomatoes do not set fruit well in the high heat and humidity but most
commmecial vegetable farming is done in South Florida so we are pleased
to be still offering vegetables.

Benjamin and I were checking out the jackfruit tree last week to see
if any are close to ready. There are now about 24 fruits on this tree
and some are enormous, like the size of watermelons.

It is the time of year we prune the lychee trees. Roman, a student
visiting from France, is helping prune and the kids are helping gather
the pruned branches. There is a small mite insect that causes the leaves
to be deformed and so we burn the leaves in barrels to rid the insect
and then plan to spread the ashes back as fertilizer.

Here is an example of a pruned tree on left with unpruned on right.
We do this each season after the lychees are mostly harvested.

Last week we had more good-byes. Joe, holding a box of mangos, left
Friday after volunteering at the farm for 6 months. We are so thankful
he found a home here at 12 Seasons. He really worked hard to lighten the
load of others– very special character of wanting to serve others. He
enjoyed learning about organic farming after working in accounting for
many years. He enjoyed being a part of a team and community that is
bringing healthy food to people. He will be missed. We are grateful he
plans to return in the fall or early winter.

The photo was taken during our weekly break on Fridays when we gather
for coffee, tea, and lunch together. During the break, we shared with
Joe our heartfelt thanks and appreciation for him and sent him off with
a box of mangos, as he really enjoys all kinds of fruits.

On Saturday we said our good-byes also to Susanna and Eric Hall. They
are in their 3rd season of helping us here at the farm.

This year Eric converted an old school bus into an RV that they plan
to live in while traveling around to see and stay with their 7 children
and 30+ grandchildren. The conversion process is still underway. They
have done an amazing job from stripping it clean, to raising the roof,
and completely remodeling the inside into a beautiful home.

On the farm, Susanna this season prepared much of the lettuce for
markets, home orders, and the restaurant cases and Eric participated in
various maintenance and construction projects. They are a tremendous
gift to us as they encourage and mentor so many of us at the farm. They
hope to be back next season!

I was proud to watch Simeon plant a tree by himself this weekend! I
had done some pruning of a large Gumbo Limbo in the yard and had several
large branches which can root. Vicki wanted a Gumbo Limbo at the front
of the farm so Simeon undertook the project mostly by himself and
planted this large trunk.