2025-03-17 newsletter

Greetings from 12 Seasons Farm,

The overall mild weather conditions continue to favor excellent vegetable
growth. We have been getting ample harvests of a number of crops including
cabbage. As mentioned in a bulletin I sent out a couple days ago, we decided to
offer a Sauerkraut and Fermentation Workshop this Tuesday
(March 18) afternoon, 3-5 pm. The class will be guided by Anna Klein. There are
further details explained below.

For Thursday farm pick up and home deliveries, please place your order by 8 pm
Tuesday and for Saturday market pick up, place orders by Thursday, 8 pm.

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 (very limited)
• Baby Butterhead lettuce (very limited)
• Large leaf Butterhead lettuce (very limited)
• 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
• Green Beans
• Sugar Snap Peas
• 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)
• Grapefruit
• 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

There is excellent diversity of vegetables currently available at the farm. 

We hope several of you can make it out to the farm. Please use the new farm
entrance, 14820 Old Olga Rd. (the address in the above bulletin states the old
address, but use the new one). Should be fun!

This winter has favored crops like cabbage, cauliflower, and broccolini!

We have over 4 rows of broccolini that run the middle between the orchard
trees. In this case, the above photo the broccolini is in between the avocados.
Those trees provide extra helpful shade while the broccolini’s daily watering
and enriched bed helps the avocado trees do better.

This mild winter we are having this season has strongly favored crops like the
broccolini. This is the largest broccolini harvests we have ever had.

The onions continue to get large as the daylength increases. 

We have good amounts of both the spring onions (seen above) and the large sweet
onions.

The tomatoes planted around Jan. 10 are nearly ready to start ripening in the
next 1-2 weeks. The plants are thick, healthy, and full of fruit.

This has been a good season of tomato production once we got past the early
losses from Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

We are getting good harvests of zucchini. We harvest this crop 6-7 days/week.
Harvesting this crop is not the most sought out chore on the farm. 

After setbacks with the pepper crop from the two hurricanes, we finally are
getting a steady pepper harvest. We grow the sweet Italian Bullhorn types. They
are so refreshing in a salad or fried up or dipped into hummus. I especially
like them with pimento cheese!

Benjamin enjoys them just as they are. Here he was at the end of Saturday’s
market. His job of stocking the strawberry and cherry pints was finished so he
is enjoying a job well done snack! He is one special boy!

The 3 older kids, Vicki, and Elena, one of our main seeders at the farm, danced
in the Ft. Myers St. Patrick’s Day Festival on Sunday. They had another 3
performances today. 

Together with the amazing team assembled here this season, we enjoy the
privilege to be cultivators of diverse fruits and vegetables. Thank you for
trusting us with producing safe, healthy, and delicious food.

Have a great week!

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