2022-11-29 newsletter

Greetings from the farm,

We hope you had a good and restful Thanksgiving holiday.

This week we plan to return to the farmers’ market! You should find
us in our typical location with the green tents at the Promenade in
Bonita Springs. We are grateful to be back!

This week’s schedule:

THURSDAY DELIVERIES : Please place an order online
before Tuesday, 8 pm, if you want home delivery for Thursday.

SATURDAY FARMERS’ MARKET AND PREORDER PICK UP :
Market runs 8 am to noon. Please place an order by Thursday, 8 pm to
pick up your preorder at the Bonita market. If preordering, please pick
up preorders after 10 am.

If coming on Thursday to the farm, the address for picking up orders
is the old farm entrance at 14840 Old Olga Rd. Farm pick up can be from
9 am to 5 pm. Contact Danny at 239-229-3579 for any questions.

Orders can be placed online at www.12seasonsfarm.com

This is what we are harvesting:

• Summercrisp Lettuce

• Baby Butterhead Lettuce (new!)

• Arugula

• Curly kale

• Flat kale

• Broccoli (new!)

• Green beans (new, limited)

• Cucumbers

• Zucchini

• Eggplant (new!)

• Round radish

• Daikon radish

• Dill

• Cilantro

• Pummelo

• Grapefruit

• Navel Oranges

• Saw Palmetto Honey

The diversity is growing each week in what we can offer. Green beans
are just starting and the carrots in the foreground are getting closer.
Every other week we sow a carrot plot. We will sow carrots around 13-14
times/season.

Broccoli is also now ready for harvest! We are growing the sprouted
type which has a central crown and then throws a lot of side shoots
which are so tender and delicious. It is like 3 vegetables in 1– the
florets (flowers), tender stems, and leaves. I call the broccoli stems
‘Florida asparagus.’

We have been busy planting onions on the farm. We hope to plant over
25,000 this season. The kids are doing a good job of learning the skill
of planting them. The photo is of Simeon, Atlas, and Jack.

We also started harvesting eggplant. Here is the first harvest of the
season. We pick them young before the seeds develop and while they have
a tender skin and creamy flesh.

They kids enjoy helping with cutting sunflowers.

Bruce Zylstra (and his wife Jan) have been our longest-serving farm
volunteers. Bruce is a retired college football coach from Eastern
Michigan University. He and his wife Jan are like family to us and the
kids. He has been doing the farm mowing for a decade among many other
remodeling, construction, and farming tasks. Bruce and Jan helped us get
through the early, very lean years when starting to have kids and having
the farm as our fulltime income. We are so blessed by them and grateful
for them.

We had a splendid day of Thanksgiving with 47 of us gathered to give
thanks, enjoy an awesome feast, and have a day off from our labors.
Aside from 4 extended family members present, the rest of the group are
part of this year’s 12 Seasons Team. We are once again blessed with an
amazing and large team this season!

Each week we see tangible improvements on the farm and
infrastructure. We are grateful for such a supportive and generous
customer base and farm team. Thank you for helping us be in a better
position after the storm. We hope to see many of you face to face
soon.

With gratitude for you all,

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