2022-11-07 newsletter

Greetings,

The farm continues to bounce back from Hurricane Ian. We are steadily
getting more plantings in the ground and we are starting to see the
first fruits on a number of crops as they are ready for harvest.

We have enough produce to have a farm pick up this week for those who
are interested.

The online farm store is now open again and if interested you can
place an order by Thursday, 8 pm for a Saturday farm pick up between 9
am and Noon. If this time frame does not work, you are welcome to
contact Danny for alternate plans. Orders can be placed online at
www.12seasonsfarm.com

This is what we expect to have available for this coming
Saturday:

• Summercrisp Lettuce

• Arugula

• Curly kale

• Flat kale

• Cucumbers

• Zucchini

• Round radish

• Daikon radish

• Cilantro

• Navel Oranges

• Saw Palmetto Honey

The address for picking up orders is 14820 Old Olga Rd. You all can
come anytime to the farm between 8 am and 1 pm on Saturday, Nov.12.

This is one of the fastest crops of cucumbers we have ever had. We
planted cucumber transplants the week after the storm and began
harvesting them 4 weeks later! We had already ordered them from a
vegetable nursery during the summer and the timing worked out very
well.

In spite of the crazy destruction, thanks to friends, we re-laid the
tangled drip tape and recovered the beds and began planting lettuce 3
days after the storm. The lettuce has grown very well and while we don’t
have huge amounts, we have some gorgeous and very tasty lettuce.

We have been very busy pressure washing, bleaching, and cleaning our
processing deck, packing sheds, cooler, and harvest bins. We are ready
for a fresh start!

Today we got 2 more shipments of beautiful compost. We purchase
compost from Life Soils out of Lithia. It is certified organic compost,
that comes from recycled food waste in the Tampa area. While the cost is
extremely high, I have tested compost from multiple sites and this has
been the most superior. The kids enjoy watching when we get these
deliveries. The compost is inoculated with a very diverse population of
beneficial bacteria to help enhance plant growth.

Each season we top dress our vegetable beds with generous amounts of
compost. Last Friday, Luke and TJ applied compost in one of our
greenhouses.

The strawberries are leafing out well. We are hoping to have a final
stand of around 14,000 plants.

Last week we had a group of 4 young men from the Mennonite Disaster
Service come for 1 day. They are part of a larger group of about 50 who
came down from up north to help with debris clean-up after Hurricane
Ian. Apparently, over a two month period, a new group of young adults
cycles in each week. It is awesome to see these young, highly skilled
adults donate their time and talents. They really helped clean up some
areas of the farm we still hadn’t gotten to.

Thanks to so many of you, we were able to purchase a very gently used
5th wheel for a remarkable price of $9,000. This allows us to put up to
2 workers in here while we try to repair one of the flooded trailers.
The housing situation is getting better. We plan to be moving back into
our house in the next 7-10 days which will free up another trailer. We
are grateful for your financial support which has made purchases like
this possible along with all the other repairs from the hurricane. It
has been such a blessing to know we are not carrying the immediate
weight of these expenses. Thank you!

We are getting ready to build 2 new greenhouses. A friend came over
yesterday to help level the area for the new houses. These new houses
will be a big help to make up for some of the loss of houses that were
completely destroyed. We already had planned to build them and now their
significance is even greater.

We have made a lot of trips to Home Depot, Lowes, and Ace Hardware.
Good progress is happening all over the farm. What a pleasure to work
with a great team. Thank you for those who have supported us through the
Give, Send, Go site.

It has been an enormous help. https://givesendgo.com/12seasonsfarm

We hope to honor your kindness and generosity with excellent produce
this season. We hope to see some of you at the farm this Saturday.

All the best.

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