Greetings from 12 Seasons Farm,
The farm is an active beehive these days as the crops are peaking and the
demand for quality produce is exceedingly strong. We are grateful for such a
strong midseason after a challenging start.
We are offering leeks and peas this week as new crops. Vegetable diversity is
around its all time high right now. The SW FL late winter climate favors a
great number of crops and we schedule a lot of our plantings to produce
during this favorable time.
We offer two Tuesday options for Sanibel and Captiva residents: 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, we offer two 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
- Spring green onions
- Lg. Florida Sweet onions
-
Leeks (new!)
-
Green Beans
-
Sugar Snap Peas (new!)
- Broccolini
- Cauliflower
- Cabbage
- Cucumbers
- Zucchini
- Eggplant
- Sweet Peppers
- Celery
- Cilantro
- Flat Parsley
- Curled Parsley
- Dill
- Mint
- Chocolate Mint (very limited)
- Rosemary
- Turmeric
- Papaya (very limited)
- Passionfruit
- Lemons (online only)
- Grapefruit
- Honeybell Tangelo
- Zipper skin Tangerines (Limited!)
- Temple Tangor (Limited!)
- Bananas (very limited)
- Starfruit
- Sunflowers
- Saw palmetto honey
- Wildflower honey
- Sea of Cortez salt
- Mango, Monkey, and Strawberry Butter
|
We had another busy day at the Bonita market on Saturday. Justine does double
duty by working at both the Captiva and Bonita markets.
We have a new crop… Leeks!! They are beginning to size up and are ready to
start harvesting.
Peas are coming too! There are lots of flowers and little pods. Saturday was
the first day we offered them at the market.
Jack and Justine picking strawberries. We are getting bountiful harvests. They
are harvested 3 days a week.
Our harvest team today worked especially hard to get all crops in before the
rain today. They did a great job!
The processing deck is a beehive of activity especially on Monday, Wednesday,
and Friday. We harvest on Monday for the Captiva market, Sanibel drop, and a
smaller number of restaurants. We harvest on Wednesday for Thursday home
deliveries, farm pick ups, and the majority of the restaurants we serve. On
Friday we harvest again for the Saturday market and preorders. We strive for
ultimate freshness as quality is best right after harvest for most crops.
Justin, Mike, and Will, are apart of our team that works almost exclusively on
tomato maintenance. Tomatoes are our biggest crop and they require daily work.
We have a solid talented team that grows amazing artisan type tomatoes.
Melissa Lehman came to the farm this past week to harvest flowers for her
florist business. We are grateful to her for providing such a great service to
Sanibel residents by being a drop site each Tuesday.
Josiah in the foreground was trained last week on how to thin the flowers of
each tomato truss. We thin or prune the pea-sized fruits down to 2-3 fruits per
flower truss (or flowers clustered together on a stem). This allows for larger
fruit to develop.
Here is an example of an unpruned tomato cluster in the foreground vs. a pruned
cluster in the background. By thinning the number of flowers or newly
developing fruits down to 2 or 3, the remaining fruit size increases. This is
due to the flow of nutrients and water going into fewer fruit. It is a lot less
work to pick and handle 2 large fruit vs. 8 or 9 small fruit.
We have been getting beautiful fruit inside the bagged tangerine trees. We keep
the trees in the bags year round. To harvest the fruit we open the zipper and
reach inside. We then close the zipper where the trees are protected by the
screen from the insect that carries the bacterial disease. In unprotected
groves, the psyllid insect travels from tree to tree sucking on the sugars
created through photosynthesis. While feeding on unprotected leaves they
transfer the deadly citrus greening bacteria that lives in its gut. Thankfully,
this method of netting each tree– while challenging and expensive to sustain–
works!
The result is gorgeous great tasting fruit like what we had in former days.
Many of you remember the 12 Season Farm stand in the early days when citrus was
our main crop. I was selling fruit like this about 20 years ago at the Bonita
Farmer’s Market. It was partially the collapse of citrus from greening
disease that led us into vegetable farming.
Last week Simeon turned 13. We all had a fun day together. Vicki made her
classic breakfast coffee cake, an adaption from my mom’s coffee cake that we
had as kids. Vicki rises early to make this for each child on their birthday.
Doing life and farming together with my wonderful wife Vicki is a great gift!
We continue to thank you for your faithful support this season. Our team works
hard and with purpose to bring you fresh, safe, and delicious fruits and
vegetables.
Danny, Vicki, the kids, and the 12 Seasons Team
|
Leave a Reply