2025-02-03 newsletter

Greetings from 12 Seasons Farm,

This week we continue to have improved production and diversity on
most our crops with maybe the exception of strawberries. The strawberry
quality is great, but the production is down. The strawberries have an
early bloom time and then a bit of a rest and then enter a more
productive flowering time. Hopefully, we move into that more productive
phase soon. March is usually the best month for us, but hoping to see
production swell before then.

You should see some new crop additions like both flat and curled
parsley, sweet peppers (which took a serious hit from Helene and
Milton), celery, ‘Temple’ tangor, ‘Zipperskin’ tangerines, and finally
good production on crops like broccolini and cauliflower reflected in
higher online inventory numbers.

We have 1 more upcoming workshop!

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].

For those ordering for Sanibel drop site or Captiva market, please
order by 8 pm Sunday. Please remember credit card payment only for
Sanibel drop site.

For those ordering for Thursday farm pickup or home delivery, please
do so 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.

SATURDAY MEDICINAL COOKING CLASS WITH ANNA KLEIN:
This Saturday beginning at 10am through 1 pm we will be hosting a
medicinal cooking class led by Anna Klein. Please RSVP at [email protected]. Suggested
donation is $30-50. Light refreshments will be served. **
**

Please RSVP at [email
protected] for this workshop. We hope to see many of you there!!

If you have questions about the farm, upcoming workshops, or your
orders 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 varieties)
• 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
• Cabbage
• Cucumbers
• Zucchini
• Eggplant
• Sweet Peppers (New!)
• Celery (New!)
• Cilantro
• Flat Parsley
• Curled Parsley (New and limited!)
• Dill
• Mint
• Chocolate Mint (very limited)
• ****Rosemary
• Papaya (very limited)
• Passionfruit
• Lemons
• Pummelo
• Grapefruit
• Honeybell Tangelo
• Zipper skin Tangerines (New!)
• Temple Tangor (New!)
• Bananas (very limited)
• Starfruit
• Avocado
• Sunflowers
• Saw palmetto honey
• Wildflower honey
• Sea of Cortez salt
• Mango, Monkey, and Strawberry Butter

Here is a photo from Saturday’s market. We had a sprightly display of
fresh, delicious, organically grown produce. What a privilege to
cultivate such amazing produce. Mike did a great job of changing the
layout slightly– breaking up the colors better to make different crops
easier to identify.

We had around 15 people come for the farm tours after the salt
workshop. There were wonderful salads for people to enjoy– kale massage
salad by Vicki, a diverse farm salad (photo above) by Rose and David,
cabbage salad by Kate, sushi by Michelle, and sliced tomatoes prepared
by John– we have a great team!

We are starting to get a really great harvest of broccolini. Above,
John is preparing the bundles. This is such a marvelous tasting variety
that provides good tasting leaves, florets, and stems all in one
plant.

We have been getting some of the “spent” mushroom blocks from
Care2Grow from whom we buy the mushrooms for the Saturday market. We
have placed them under the starfruit trees to provide some extra
mushrooms for the team and family. Mary Ann and Mike found a good home
where they get frequent irrigation and shade and the residual production
they offer is a wonderful treat. The block in Mike’s hands is about to
have an abundant harvest.

Here are some oyster mushrooms ready for harvest.

We have been fortunate to have Ek working on our farm over different
weekends. He and Bianca and Mikha currently live in Miami, but visit the
farm often. We are grateful for his continued contributions to the
farm!

We have a good crop of ‘Temple’ tangors, an heirloom citrus variety
discovered in Jamaica in the late 1800s. It has a long history in
Florida as a popular dooryard variety. It fell out of favor due to its
seediness, but the juice flavor is very special. It has a tart pineapple
flavor full of aromatics. The fruit peels relatively easy and is a
delight to eat. It is a relatively short season crop during the month of
February.

The trees are having success growing in the netted bags. This keeps
the Asian citrus pysllid out which carries the devastating bacteria that
causes the disease known as citrus greening or HLB. This disease has
decimated the humid subtropical and tropical citrus industry and nearly
put an end to successful dooryard citrus production in Florida. Dry
subtropical places like California and the Mediterranean can still do
well with citrus as the vector insect prefers humid climates.

We also have a good crop of Honeybells on some older trees that I
planted back in 2006 that are not in the netted bags. The Honeybell does
a little better with the greening disease than some of the other
varieties. The above photo shows what Simeon and I harvested for
tomorrow’s orders and the Captiva market.

We took a visit to Pleyoo Microgreens to see Ileana’s wonderful
operation. She has fine-tuned the craft of growing microgreens and many
of you buy from her on Saturday mornings at the farmer’s market. It was
a real privilege to watch her at work!

This weekend the kids and Vicki and Elena also from 12 Seasons Farm
danced at the ArtFest Ft. Myers.

They danced great!

Family photo after the performance.

I have mentioned in previous newsletters that part of the reason I
chose farming is not only because I really enjoy fruit production, but
also because of the lifestyle it can offer to work together with family
and friends as agriculture requires many hands. The hope to someday be
doing it alongside my children is a vision that has come to fruition and
we are truly blessed. We thank God for these precious souls that we have
been entrusted with to nurture and guide. Many of you at the market also
bless and encourage our children when you interact with them. Thank
you!!!!!

We wish you a great week!

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