What's Available for Thanksgiving Weekend

Posted by Barbara Williams on 11/24/2017 to Backfourty

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving with plenty of good food to eat. We had a very busy day this past Wednesday selling out of all of our greens, and root vegetables for the special day.

I know many are out and about working on your Black Friday shopping list. We are open today and we are busy receiving product for the weekend.

If you missed out on collards or are craving more, we just got in a fresh off the farm delivery from Billy Bird. We are out or turnips and mustards temporarily. The greens are not quite big enough to pick but we do anticipate having them available this coming Monday.

Working Cows Dairy tells me their production is down with the cooler weather. We are temporarily out of milk for this weekend. I will email you when I get the product back into stock. I anticipate receving the product in the middle of next week. We do have plenty of their Cheddar and Gouda cheeses in stock.

I am excited to tell you that Ricky Durden is bringing us our first delivery of kale this Saturday. His kale is a favorite here. He grows with organic practices. His kale has a nice mild flavor that complements salads and works well in smoothies. If you have never tried his product and are in the market for some superior kale come by and see us this weekend. We have added a great Kale smoothie recipe on our website under the "Diner Bell". This smoothie tastes great and it is an easy way to meet your daily requirement of fruits and vegetables.

Pecans is another item that is selling well. We just received a new delivery of pecans today from Price Pecan Farm. We also received a new delivery of Fidler Farm Jumbo Raw and Roasted Peanuts. For those who don't know, we make all of our Flora Bama Style Boiled Peanuts using Mr. Fidlers' Jumbo Raw Peanuts. It is a key part of our recipe.

Besides the product I just mentioned, we will also have available local this weekend:

Plant City Strawberries

Ruskin Tomatoes ( Green, Red, Yellow)

Crimini Mushrooms

Shitake Mushrooms

Domestic White Mushrooms

Portabello Mushrooms

Pomello

Grapefruit

Satsumas

Tangerines

Florida Navel Oranges

Hamlin Orange

Pink Eye Peas

Butter Beans

Broccoli

Cabbage

Turmeric

Ginger

Hydroponic Bibb Lettuce

Sweet Potato Red and White

Alabama Grown Black Apples

Yard Eggs

C&D Mills Grits and Corn Meal

Don't forget to come by and see us if you are in the neighborhood. We look forward to seeing you.

Barbara

Looking Forward to Thanksgiving

Posted by Barbara Williams on 11/17/2017 to Backfourty

Can you believe next Thursday is Thanksgiving? We plan to have available plenty of local collards, turnips, mustard greens, as well as peas, and a nice selection of Florida Citrus for your family feast.

Speaking of citrus, we have walktng through our door this morning, Rob Boothe, who is bringing us our first delivery of local myer lemons. We have been doing business with Rob since we opened our doors. Rob, is a neighbor and always offering a helping hand when you need one. His Meyer lemon trees produces large beautiful lemons. Very good quality. As long as his trees are producing, they will be available in limited quantities.

We also just received our first delivery of local Satsumas. Satsumas are easy to peal and sweet to eat. A highly anticipated local treat. Some are coming from Ray Flowers out of Summerdale and we also have some coming from Cherokee Farms out of Mariana, Florida. Satsumas should be available though December and into the new year.

Plant City Strawberries just made it in this morning. They taste amazing. These deep red berries are very fragrant and you know they are going to be good to eat.

Pomelo's, grapefruit, navel oranges and tangerines all Florida Grown are also in stock.

The supply on Ruskin Florida grown tomatoes is still tight as we mentioned last week. The market prices will remain up 'till mid December. The quality and flavor is good but the sizing is running smaller than normal.

Please check out under "Shop Local" on our website for a complete offering of local items. Don't forget about our line of Amish Wedding items ie... butters, jams, jellies pickles, relishes and more.

Also, I would like to remind you about our locally made stone ground grits and corn meal. Great for making special stuffing, cornbread or a nice side of grits. Dorthy and Cloyd Bruton have been grinding corn into grits and meal for over 10 years. They live in Cantonment, Florida. Flora Bama Farms is their home away from home.

We will be open 'till 5 pm Wednesday, November 22, 2017 and closed Thursday, November 23, 2017 for the Thanksgiving Holiday. We will be open regular hours starting at 9 am on Friday, November 24, 2017. We want to take this opportunity to thank our customers for all the support through the years. It has been truly gratifying. For those who are new to us, we would like to thank you for the opportunity. We hope you along with your family and friends have a blessed holiday.

Peace, Love and Collard Greens.

Barbara

Happy Veterans Day

Posted by Barbara on 11/10/2017

Tomorrow is Veteran's Day! A big THANK YOU to all the Veterans out there for your service. We are fortunate to have several veteran's on our team here at Flora Bama Farms. They are awesome folks. All veterans who come and shop with us this weekend gets a 10% discount through Sunday.

We just got in our first delivery of local pecans from Price Pecan Farms in Lillian. You can taste the difference of local pecans! They are moist and very good. We will be getting Surprise and Desirable variety mostly in this year. The Elliot's did not produce this year for Jason. Like so many other crops, the weather was not favorable for pecans. Jason Price told me he lost 3 trees this past hurricane season due to heavy winds and rain. Many of his pecans suffered from being bruised and too much rain caused some of them to rot. Prices will be up some this year due to short supply. We are lucky we have been doing business with Jason for 4 years and he assures me we will have pecans for Thanksgiving Holiday. He has upgraded his facility this year. The new upgrades will improve his production and also will help some on the yield. It is exciting to see Jason's business grow. He loves his work.

We are promoting Florida Citrus on this weeks local fruit selection. We have Florida Tangerines which I recommend. They are sweet and easy to peel. We also have Florida Grapefruit just landed. They are medium in size, a nice ruby color and good flavor. Florida Navel Oranges and Hamlin Juice Oranges are also in stock. The Hamlin Oranges are small and a bit on the green side but they taste very good. We have several restaurants that use them to make fresh juice because the flavor is there. Lastly we received Florida Pomelo's. Pomelo is the largest variety of citrus in the world. Pomelos look and taste like a grapefruit but without the bitterness or sourness. People seek them out for their eating pleasure. We are expecting Satsuma's this coming Monday from Ray Flowers out of Summerdale, Alabama.

We do still have Arkansas Black Apples grown in Alabama . They are featured on this weeks local selection. From Mountain View Farms, North of Birmingham.

Pink Eye Peas will be available this week. Ed Frank proved us with a delivery for this weekend. Steve's Farm will also be making a delivery to us this coming week.

Along with Peas we are getting plenty of Collards. The ones which came in today out of Elberta from Billie BIrd were beautiful. Nice full green bunches. Steve's Farm will be dropping off Mustard Greens to us in the morning along with white turnips w/ith the green tops. Cark Stewart will also be bringing us some amazing greens tomorrow. We will be getting broccoli, collards and kale.

Florida Tomatoes have been tight this past week. The market price is up on tomatoes due to short supply. Grape tomatoes in particular are very difficult to get. We did get a delivery yesterday on Florida Tomatoes. Quality is good, sizing is running smaller than normal. The market is expected to be tight until mid- December.

Okra is dwindling, This will likely be the last weekend for local okra.

Winter Squashes are available grown out of Slocomb Alabama. We have good inventory on acorn, butternut, and spaghetti squash.

Sweet potatoes from Alabama are delayed till next week. Many of the farmers in Baldwin County had to replant due to all the rain we received a couple months ago. Joy Davis and her family will be supplying us sweet potatoes but it looks like it will be early this coming week. We do have plenty of Mississippi in the meantime from Grant Kings Farm.

We will be picking up Meme's eggs tomorrow for the market. Along with eggs don't forget the milk and cheese. We have Working Cows Dairy Milk and Cheeses in house. We also have Amish Cheeses available.

I just want to congratulate, Sandy Vielleux our food geek (and partner) here at Flora Bama Farms. She, Lisha Griff and Mathew Brown were contenders at the World Food Championship in Orange Beach. Wish I could have been there to watch. There food looked amazing. Flora Bama Farmx is a proud sponsors of the Culinary Cartel.

Hope everyone enjoys this Veterans Day Weekend.

Have a good week.

Barbara

Welcome to November

Posted by Barbara Williams on 11/3/2017 to Backfourty

It’s already November and before you know it Thanksgiving is going to be here. We are starting to get in some delicious new items to help you get ready for the occasion.

This week we received our first delivery of Broccoli for the season. Carl Stewart out of Bay Minette uses organic practices on all the items he grows. He uses no chemical pesticides or fertilizers on any of his greens. Along with broccoli we also are getting some of our collards, turnips, radishes, and beets though Carl. Soon his swiss chard will be available as well.

George Miller and his wife Rachel grow hydroponic lettuces here in Pensacola. You can often find them at the Palafox Market on Saturdays. We like to get their Hydroponic Bibb when it is available. The Miller Family was the first hydroponic grower we had the pleasure to work with when we first opened Flora Bama Farms. They tell me their Bibb Lettuce production is to the point where they can share some with us. We will be offering their Hydroponic Bibb lettuce this week.

We are now getting Florida Ruskin Palmetto Vine Ripe Tomatoes here at the market. Since this is a new crop the sizing is running on the small side. We won’t have many jumbo tomatoes for this coming week, but we will have some large enough to cover a sandwich. The flavor is excellent.

We are also starting to get in more Florida Citrus. Navel oranges, juice oranges, and tangerines are available now. Next week we will start bringing in Florida Grapefruit.

Arkansas Black Apples grown in Alabama should be available tomorrow at our market. I had a hard time getting these apples and this will likely be the only delivery I will be able to get. These apples are widely grown in Arkansas but also grown in Alabama and the variety does well in warmer climates. They are related to Winesap apples, and have a sweet-tart flavor. Their skin color gets extremely dark in storage. I missed getting them in time for Halloween but better late than never.

We also received a new delivery of Mississippi Sweet Potatoes this week through Grant King. Grant has started to bring us some #2 sweet potatoes which we sell in 20# bags for $8.00. We got our first delivery yesterday and they look good.

We will also be bringing in some Alabama Sweet Potatoes this coming week. We have customers who are fans of both. Stay tuned for the details next week regarding our first delivery of Alabama Sweet Potatoes.

Coming soon… kale from Mr. Ricki Durden out of Summerdale, Alabama. Ricki is also growing baby bok choy and Napa Cabbage this year. We are very excited. He also uses only organic practices.

FYI –green peanut season is over. But we do still have plenty of raw, roasted and our own Flora Bama Style boiled Peanuts. All our Jumbo Peanuts come from Fidler Farms. We are also going to have shelled peanuts available for all who like to make their own peanut brittle for the holidays.

We are out of big pumpkins. We do still have plenty of pie pumpkins available for your holiday projects. We also have plenty of winter squashes available. Butternut, sweet dumpling, spaghetti, acorn and buttercup. All Alabama grown from Graves Farm around Birmingham.

Let's make it a good weekend. The weather is going to be great. I hope you can make a little time to come and visit us at the Farm.

Barbara