2025-01-13 newsletter

Greetings from 12 Seasons Farm,

We are glad to have made it through the cooler temperatures without a
hard frost or freeze event. Last week we had frost on the ground but
nothing noticeable on the crops.

The farm continues to improve in diversity and production. We have
added collard greens and mustard greens to the lineup this season. They
are now producing and available. The cool season vegetables are
especially enjoying these cooler temperatures. The lettuce is doing
exceptional right now and we have all types available that we grow–
romaine, baby butterhead, large-leaf butterhead, and summercrisp.

Despite very cool weather at Captiva on Tuesday and rain in Bonita
this Saturday both markets were again excellent. Thank you to all who
came out.

Good news! We do plan to begin a Sanibel drop site starting January
21. Melissa Lehman has graciously offered her home residence as a drop
off site for each Tuesday morning. She has a screened and shaded foyer
where prepaid orders can be picked up “self-service” style. The foyer is
accessible from their driveway. Her address is 5835 Pine Tree Drive. We
will try this out and see if folks find this a helpful alternative. More
details to come next week.

For those ordering for Thursday farm pickup or home delivery please
order by 8 pm Tuesday. And for the Bonita market on Saturday by 8 pm
Thursday.

Here is our schedule for this week:

TUESDAY CAPTIVA FARMER’S MARKET: Market runs from
9am-1pm. For those wanting to preorder for the market, please do so by 8
pm on Sunday for pick-up at the Tuesday market.

THURSDAY FARM PICK-UP & HOME DELIVERY: Place an
order online before 8 pm Tuesday for Thursday all day pick-up at the
farm or to receive a home delivery. For farm pick-up, use original farm
entrance, 14840 Old Olga Rd. Order is usually split between cold produce
in walk-in cooler and the air conditioned structure just left of walk-in
cooler.

 SATURDAY BONITA SPRINGS FARMER’S
MARKET: Market runs from 8am-noon at the Promenade at Bonita
Bay in Bonita Springs. For those interested in preordering for the
market, please do so before 8 pm on Thursday for pick-up at the Saturday
market.

If you have questions about the farm or your orders or the website,
please feel free to text or call Danny at 239-229-3579.

 Place orders at
12seasonsfarm.com

This is what we are harvesting:

• Strawberries
• Swiss Chard
• Curly Kale
• Flat Kale
• Mixed Kale (a mix of multiple kale varieites)
• Mustard greens (new!)
• Collard greens (new!)
• Arugula
• Summercrisp lettuce
• Romaine lettuce
• Baby Butterhead lettuce
• Large leaf Butterhead lettuce
• Heirloom and specialty tomatoes
• Cherry tomato
• Carrots
• Beets (very limiited)
• Round radish
• Watermelon radish
• Daikon radish
• Broccolini
• Cucumbers
• Zucchini
• Eggplant
• Basil
• Cilantro
• Dill
• Mint
• Rosemary
• Papaya (very limited)
• Passionfruit
• Lemons
• Pummelo
• Grapefruit
• Honeybell Tangelo
• Bananas (very limited)
• Starfruit
• Avocado
• Sunflowers
• Saw palmetto honey
• Wildflower honey
• Sea of Cortez salt
• Mango, Monkey, and Strawberry Butter

We had a rainy day today at the market in Bonita Springs but still
had a fantastic turn out!

Kids helping carry produce. If you ever need help they are glad to
provide a helping hand!

The farm is starting to produce more and more bounty. We are grateful
to have the effects of Helene and Milton less and less obvious. It has
been an arduous effort to get back to this place, but we have an amazing
team and the crops are really doing well now.

We have been having success with growing citrus in the bags to
exclude the Asian citrus psyllid which carries the devastating HLB or
citrus greening disease. We are ready to move to the next size bag and
give the trees more room. Each bag is made of fine mesh with a weed
skirt at the base and zipper to harvest the fruit. The grapefruit crop
in the bags is excellent again 2 years in a row.

Collard greens are a new addition.

And so are mustard greens. This crop comes in response to a request
from one of our customers Nicole. If any of you ever have requests of
crops you think we should grow, please do let us know. We are open to
ideas!

This past week we worked hard to finish the construction of two new
greenhouses, get them covered, and planted all in the same week.

Kate in foreground with Sammi in background planting the next flight
of tomatoes in the beds under the newly constructed greenhouse. The
greenhouse covering keeps the rain and dew off the leaves which greatly
reduces the threat of leaf diseases.

Rose helping on the greenhouse project. She and her husband Dave are
new to the farm this year and have been welcome additions.

My dear Annika is a great helper providing the wiggle wire to help
lock in the plastic into the metal track.

Job well done!

We really do have a great team at the farm this year. They are
learning the noble life skill of farming, participating in a good
community, and bringing a source of wholesome food to people in SW FL.
We are grateful for a strong corps of talented and enthusiastic helpers
and team players.

We hope you have a great week.

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