Greetings from 12 Seasons Farm,
While the heat is starting to increase and take its toll on certain crops, we
still have great diversity and production. Strawberry production remains good
along with tomatoes and many other warm season crops like zucchini and
eggplant. The root crops are still solid especially onions and radishes. Kale
and broccolini are really good as well.
We have stopped offering celery because the heat has made it too bitter. If you
still want celery you can request in the customer notes and we can harvest the
very young stems. Peas will be ending soon and cauliflower will be limited
until the next planting begins to bear.
We continue to have 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 SW FL, we have Thursday farm pick up, Thursday home deliveries
and Saturday market pick up. Please place your order by 8 pm Tuesday for
Thursday options; 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)
- Collard greens
- Arugula
- Summercrisp lettuce
- 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 (limited)
- Broccolini
- Cauliflower (limited)
- Cabbage
- Cucumbers
- Zucchini
- Eggplant
- Sweet Peppers
- Cilantro
- Flat Parsley
- Curled Parsley
- Dill
- Mint
- Chocolate Mint (very limited)
- Rosemary
- Turmeric
- Papaya
- Grapefruit
- Zipper skin Tangerines (Limited!)
- Bananas (very limited)
- Starfruit
- Sunflowers
- Saw palmetto honey
- Wildflower honey
- Sea of Cortez salt
- Mango, Monkey, and Strawberry Butter
Early Saturday morning ready for market to begin.
We have two new greenhouses that are just beginning to have ready fruit and
they are enormous! The tomatoes we plant just after the new year tend to bear
really well. They are timed well with increasing daylength and warm days with
still moderately cool nights. The results are large fruits with a higher
sweetness compared to those that ripen in the fall and winter.
We are experimenting with two different trellis systems for cherry tomatoes
this spring. The above one is what we are calling the “drop weave.” As the
vines hit highest point of the trellis poles, the lower parallel strings are
cut and the entire hedge of vines squish down to accommodate their very tall
growth. This is done usually once a week.
The goal is to manage the aggressive growth of cherry tomatoes. The vines will
keep squishing down as the lower strings are cut and the upper strings slide
down the poles.
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The other method we are trialing is shown above. Here the cherry tomato vines
are individually trained and trellised on a vertical “drop” system. We prune
each plant to two individual vines and prune all side shoots off. As the vines
grow vertically they are continuously pruned and wrapped in a counter-clockwise
pattern around a vertical string. When the vines hit the top cable, they vines
are lowered with a release of the brake that let’s another 8 inches or so of
string unroll from the spool at the top of the cable. This is called the “lower
and lean” method. The spool gets moved down the cable as the string is unwound
causing the plants to drop or lower and then lean in one direction. This is the
other way to manage the aggressive growth of cherry tomatoes without having the
vines crease and weaken. We keep removing the lower older leaves and this
maintains a healthy canopy with good air flow, less disease pressure, and
reduced habitat for harboring whitefly.
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This method increases the fruit size as the energy is directed into a smaller
number of fruit clusters as there are fewer vines with this method since all
side shoots are removed. You can see the pruned shoot above the leaf with
developing large cherry tomatoes. This method is great but takes a lot of hand
labor to prune and wrap and then lower and lean the vines on the vertical
strings. The reward is great though.
Both methods are in contrast to the traditional basket weave or Florida weave
where parallel, horizontal strings are placed every 6-9 inches and all the vine
growth is pressed between those strings. The problem with our traditional
method is that the vines eventually exceed the height of the trellis poles. The
vines then fold over and become creased. The excessive vine growth begins to
shade itself and other vines, the fruit will get fairly small, and diseased
leaves and insects begin to increase.
Our neighbor Gerry harvested a very large radish!
We have plentiful onions this season!
Who needs a ladder when you have Josiah. Here he is picking a very large
papaya!
The kids traveled with me to see my parents and brothers and their families in
California over a long weekend while Vicki stays back with the team. We went
for a hike in some redwood forest in the Oakland hills.
We are having a good visit with family. Here is my brother Tim and me. Tim is
the Director of Seed Certification Operations for the state of California. We
both work in farming on opposite sides of the country!
My older brother, Jon, a teacher from Kennewick, Wa, is in the foreground with
his wife Traci across from him; my brother Tim and his wife Sue (back left) and
daughter Elizabeth. My wonderful parents, and myself and the 4 kids. It is a
quick trip to California to reconnect with family. We are thankful for a great
team back home to keep the farm running.
The Small Family has been with us 7 consecutive seasons. They headed out last
Friday and this may end up being their last full season here at 12 Seasons as
they bought their own homestead in Maine. We will miss them immensely. They
have invested greatly in our farm and us as a family. Corey has increased our
infrastructure by leaps and bounds. Jeanna has washed hundreds of cases of
lettuce and with cheer and excellence. It has been a great pleasure and honor
to work with this family over these past 7 years.
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Many of you may know several of the the Small children– Jack from the
Promenade market and Myrah and Meredith at the Captiva market. These kids have
been great workers at the farm. We are proud of them and grateful for their
amazing contributions. These kids have had their hands in the planting, care,
and harvesting of so many crops that we all have benefited from. The world is a
better place because of children like these. May God continue to bless them
richly as they begin their own farm and homestead in Maine.
We hope you are continuing to enjoy the produce from 12 Seasons Farm and hope
to see you at the markets or through a delivery or at the farm.
Danny, Vicki, the kids, and the 12 Seasons Team
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