Greetings from 12 Seasons Farm,
We received some much needed rain on the farm and throughout the state today.
This kind of soaking rain helps rewet the vegetable beds that are normally
irrigated through two rows of drip irrigation “tape” as it is called. During
prolonged periods of dry weather as we had just experienced, the edges of the
beds start to dry out. With such high sand content in Florida soils, the
drip tape cannot sustain uniform soil moisture. These periodic rains are
helpful for recharging the moisture throughout the entire bed and contributing
to the health and vigor of the crops. The “droughtiness” of the sandy soils
here in Florida is another reason we are committed to using lots of compost
each season to increase the overall water holding capacity of the soil. There
are many other virtues and advantages to using compost, but that is a key one;
in the absence of clay in our soils, it can act similarly holding moisture.
Overall, we are grateful for the favorable growing weather we have had this
winter– neither extreme cold, heat, or too wet. We continue to get bountiful
harvests on the tomatoes and many other crops. We have added green beans now to
the harvest list. Hopefully, we should get peas soon.
We continue to offer 2 Tuesday options for Sanibel and Captiva residents for
ordering and getting produce: 1) the Captiva Farmer’s market where preorders
can be picked up and 2) a drop site at Melissa Lehman’s home on Tuesdays
between 9 am and 3 pm. Please order by 8 pm each Sunday and remember to use a
credit card payment for the Sanibel drop site.
For the rest of SWFL, there are 2 options on Thursdays: 1) farm pickup and
2) home delivery. Please order by 8 pm each Tuesday. And finally, we have
the Bonita Farmer’s market each Saturday and you can order ahead and pick up at
market. Please order by 8 pm each Thursday for preorder market pick up.
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 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
- Red Slicing tomatoes
- Cherry tomatoes
- Carrots
- Beets
- Round radish
- Watermelon radish
- Daikon radish
-
Green Beans
(new!)
- Broccolini
- Cauliflower
- Cabbage
- Cucumbers
- Zucchini
- Eggplant
- Sweet Peppers
- Celery
- Cilantro
- Flat Parsley
- Curled Parsley
- Dill
- Mint
- Chocolate Mint (very limited)
- Rosemary
- Papaya (very limited)
- Passionfruit
- Lemons
- Grapefruit
- Honeybell Tangelo
- Zipper skin Tangerines (Limited!)
- Temple Tangor (Limited!)
- Bananas (very limited)
- Starfruit
- Avocado
- Sunflowers
- Saw palmetto honey
- Wildflower honey
- Sea of Cortez salt
- Mango, Monkey, and Strawberry Butter
Carrie ready to go at the Captiva Farmer’s Market! Thanks to all who continue
to support that market and the drop site in Sanibel!
Here are some tomato flats ready to go to area restaurants last Thursday. I put
the list in the last general newsletter of restaurants and establishments that
we serve. I will put it here again for those who might have missed it.
- D’Amicos Continental, Naples
- Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort and Spa, Bonita Springs
- Vi at Bentley Village, Naples
- Sails Restaurant, Naples
- Rebecca’s Wine Bar, Naples
- Sea Salt, Naples
- Osteria Tulia, Naples
- Harold’s, Ft. Myers
- The Syren Oyster & Cocktail Bar, Naples
- Vue at Shell Point, Ft. Myers
- The Sanctuary Golf Club, Sanibel
- Bay Colony Beach Club, Naples
- Wheelhouse Grille, Ft. Myers
- Oikos Food Buyer’s Club, N. Ft. Myers
- Rooster’s on Route 80, Ft. Myers
We are grateful to the chefs, managers, and owners of these establishments who
value buying local, fresh, delicious, and organically grown produce from 12
Seasons Farm. If you ever visit any of these places, please thank them for
sourcing produce from 12 Seasons Farm.
Annika with a giant ‘Mini Purple’ daikon. This is hardly mini. Surprisingly,
even at this size, the daikon radish can still be pleasant to eat. This
particular variety is sweet when roasted.
Sammi showing some very large Florida Sweet onions. We have a good crop of
onions available now. They are super delicious.
This Saturday we began selling green beans. We have a nice crop just
beginning of the flat Italian Romano bean.
Here is Simeon with Kate and Sammi discussing the first meaningful green bean
harvest for market. They are tender and sweet even when large.
The cherry tomato harvesting crew aboard on Carrie’s cart. Carrie is a
phenomenal worker and great friend to have on the farm these past 6 seasons.
She is family to us.
Farming is hard demanding work. Doing it together with a community of motivated
intentional individuals sure helps with the hard part of farming.
Rose and Ann working hard this morning in the wet weather! What a team!
Benjamin helping get flowers for tomorrow’s Captiva market.
We had a fun visit with Bruce and Jan on Sunday visiting them in Ocala at their
new home! They are missed.
They took us to Silver Springs State Park which is known for its beautiful
spring and for an introduced wild population of monkeys. The kids enjoyed
looking around for them, but we will need to make a return trip to find them.
We had a great time reconnecting with Bruce and Jan!
Saturday was another busy day at the Bonita Farmer’s Market. Thank you to all
who attended!
We appreciate the wonderful support from a dedicated and affirming customer
base who support us each week. Thank you for your patience on Saturday mornings
as we know there is sometimes a decent wait. We are open to suggestions as we
try to improve the flow at the market. And if you ever have issues or
disappointments with the produce please let us know. We are glad to replace
anything that is damaged, missing, etc. We do want to know where we fall
short and make it right as best we can.
We hope you have a wonderful week!
Danny, Vicki, the kids, and the 12 Seasons Team
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