2025-01-20 newsletter

Greetings from 12 Seasons Farm,

The farm is producing very well these days. The weather has been
mostly favorable and the crops are maturing nicely. It is a pleasure to
see the farm. So much hard work has gone into this season and now the
fruits of that labor is wonderfully evident. We are super thankful!

We have 2 upcoming workshops!

On Saturday, Feb. 1, we plan to have an open house with free farm
tours. There will be a salt workshop at 10 am led by Don Slinger for
those interested in learning about the Sea of Cortez salt and its many
benefits. There will be ongoing farm tours led by our staff and an array
of delicious foods prepared from farm produce for you to enjoy. The open
house runs from 10 am to 1 pm.

On Saturday, Feb. 8, Anna Klein will be giving a medicinal cooking
class from 10 am to 1 pm. There is a suggested donation of $30-50 for
the medicinal cooking class. Anna has led a number of workshops over the
years and the feedback we receive is overwhelmingly positive.

To rsvp or for more information, email [email protected]. Please
indicate which workshop(s) you are interested in.

There are now 2 options for Sanibel and Captiva customers. You can
preorder and pick up either at the Captiva market or at the new Sanibel
drop site. One of our customers Melissa Lehman has kindly offered her
home to be a drop site. Her address and phone # are listed in the
shipping options and should be in your confirmation email. This will be
a self-serve option with pick up times between 9 am to 3 pm. We hope
this new location provides people with more flexibility and shorter
commute times. THANK YOU MELISSA!

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.

TUESDAY SANIBEL DROP SITE: A free drop site in
Sanibel each Tuesday from 9 am to 3 pm. This site is hosted by Melissa
Lehman. Her address and phone # should be on your order confirmation
email. This will be a self-serve option. Pick up at their home in their
screened foyer which is easily accessible from their driveway. Produce
will be on shelves. There should be 1 spot open their driveway for a
quick pick up. Order online and please pay by credit card (no cash or
checks please) ** .** If you see Melissa, please thank
her for providing this option. Order by 8 pm Sunday for this option.

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
• Collard greens
• Arugula
• Summercrisp lettuce
• Romaine lettuce
• Baby Butterhead lettuce
• Large leaf Butterhead lettuce
• Heirloom and specialty tomatoes
• Cherry tomato
• Carrots
• Beets
• Round radish
• Watermelon radish
• Daikon radish
• Broccolini
• Cauliflower– NEW!!
• Cabbage
• Cucumbers
• Zucchini
• Eggplant
• Basil
• Cilantro
• Dill
• Mint
• Chocolate Mint– NEW and limited
• ****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

Simeon and Mike at Saturday’s Bonita Farmer’s Market. Many of you
have seen Justine at the Captiva market and/or at the Bonita market.
Mike and Justine have their own farm near Ottawa, Canada and are in
their 2nd season with us. They are tremendous additions to 12 Seasons
Farm.

Here is the photo from today’s stand which shows some good
cauliflower, cabbage, spring onions, beets, and rainbow carrots.

We are at that time of the season where the consistently cool nights
favor certain crops like cauliflower. The fire ants set us back on a
number of the early transplants we put in but we now have a good crop
coming on.

Meredith has been a great helper this seaoson. She does a wonderful
job harvesting, cleaning, and bundling the spring onions. This variety
in the photo is ‘Southern Belle’, a very tasty mildly sweet green onion.
It grows into a very large sweet purple onion.

We are adding chocolate mint. There is a hint of chocolate flavor
with this tiny mint. We don’t have a lot but we will start to offer some
now.

We are getting a good harvest on the various heirloom-type tomatoes
we grow. We have reds too but in much smaller quantities. They should be
increasing soon and we have lots more planted that have yet to bear.

The strawberry production continues to improve steadily. The above
photo shows the classic intercrop we do on our farm with strawberries
and onions planted together on the same bed. Their architectures work
well together minimizing competition for air, space, water and light
between the 2 crops. They seem to cooperate well together and even in
the above photo the onion is helping support the ripening berry.

The students from the Heart Institute in Lake Wales visited with a
January term course. Most of the students were from Taylor University.
They just came for one day where they toured the farm and then
participated in various farm tasks. Our crop manager Kate is sharing
with the students. She is a former Taylor alumni and had a fun reunion
with several of her former classmates.

They were a fun and enthusiastic group.

Last week one of our customers whose husband works for the
Everblades, kindly gifted us tickets to one of the hockey games. Annika
was asked to be the “kid of the game” and she did a great job as she
fearlessly yelled out “Let’s play hockey”.

We have lots of beautiful sunflowers coming into production. We hope
you get to enjoy a touch of sunshine in your home.

Stay warm and healthy this cool week.

All the best,

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