Mike Garcia’s boots sank into the earth as he walked through the drowned fields of Orlando’s Everoak Farm in the wake of Hurricane Milton’s violent visit. The urban oasis on Carrington Road in the Dr. Phillips has been serving the city for five and a half years. He has been farming in the market for some time. This isn’t his first rodeo in extreme weather. But it still hurts.
The small team protected what they could from the storm, packing portable plants, nursery pots and trays into the shed, along with the young chickens that were almost ready to go out to pasture. They all survived, no problem.
“But when it comes to the stuff in the field, whatever is planted,” he says, “is what it is. At the mercy of Mother Nature.”
And Mother Nature showed little or no mercy.
“Everything out there is pretty much underwater or has suffered heavy wind damage,” he said.
Perennials, such as bananas, papayas and sugar cane, were everywhere, but this was to be expected. Garcia will prune much of it back at the base, and it will regrow.
“It’s the annuals, the things we love most – tomatoes, basil, peppers, eggplant, basil, turnips, radishes – that got hammered…beat the hell out of them.”
Articles like this have a hard time bouncing back. Garcia will wait until the field dries for a real assessment, but he knows most won’t make it.
It’s something he says all Florida farmers have to deal with. And it will set them back time, money and the ability to deliver results.
At Zellwood’s Long & Scott Farms, owner Hank Scott says 300 acres of pickle cucumbers received more than five feet of rain during Milton’s attack.
How many pickles is that?
Long & Scott not only provides locals with crispy, thin-skinned cukes, but the farm also supplies major processing companies like Claussen with the cucumbers that end up in their jars.
Scott chuckles, amused with a hint of bitterness.
“Ohhh, that’s one pile of them.”
Long & Scott’s famous 50-acre Zellwood sweet corn has been blown over. Difficult.
‘It leans a lot, but the sun usually helps keep it upright. Plus, we have the corn maze that we do every year, Tuesday through Sunday. That is also crooked.”
On Thursday, Scott was hopeful, but by Friday it was clear the family fun would be on the back burner.
“That will be a huge loss for us this weekend,” he said.
Scott’s large farm does not participate in CSA [community supported agriculture] subscriptions, but for Garcia’s Everoak and Mason Kuehn of Winter Park Urban Farm, they are a big part of the business, especially, Kuehn says, the customers who pay in advance, in full or in two installments.
It’s pricey up front — Winter Park Urban Farm CSA subscriptions run from $800 to $1,580 — but the value is there for those who can make the investment.
“It’s actually one of the cheaper ones,” Kuehn says. “[The $800 option] runs 34 weeks, so the price is about $23 per week.]”
Kuehn’s crops, much of their plots flanked by large oak trees, were destroyed by Milton.
“I get a lot of ‘downs’, twigs and stuff. You get actual cuts in the leaves of the vegetable, which is pretty much like an open wound on a human,” he says.
Other products that are flooded won’t make it.
“A lot of your roots rot, and then the soil becomes anaerobic,” he explains. “The lack of oxygen, because it is so wet, pathogenic microorganisms and various plant diseases begin to populate.”
But barring larger investments, local residents can support all three farms and others simply by going to farmers markets.
It may be a while before Long & Scott gets theirs online. The power was still out on Friday. Scott ran a generator to keep the harvested cucumber bins from spoiling.
“There was about a foot of water at the farmers market, and it’s pretty nasty,” he said. “It will cost a lot to clean up.”
But when the market is back up and running (check social media for updates), “people can come and buy some Zellwood sweet corn and okra and pickle cucumbers.” And buy tickets for the maze so that it reopens later in the season.
Everoak won’t have much on their farm stand when it opens as planned on October 19, but Garcia says gardeners will be able to see how the factory starts, part of the business they’ve grown. They also receive honey — Garcia’s bees suffered one hive fall but were otherwise unscathed during the storm — along with prepared foods such as green papaya kimchi.
Continuing CSA subscriptions, including those for their restaurant customer Kaya, is of utmost importance. He knows that once the harvest picks up again, the thinner weekly baskets (and what’s available at the a la carte stand each week) will more than make up for it.
Winter Park Urban Farm sells its wares weekly at the Winter Park Farmer’s Market (Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.) and Audubon Park Community Market (Monday evenings in front of Stardust Video & Coffee in Orlando’s Audubon Park Garden District). Kuehn will keep the community updated on Instagram (instagram.com/wpurbanfarm/), he says, but it will be at least a few weeks, possibly longer, before he harvests again.
Garcia estimates his own setback at six to eight weeks. With late-season storms becoming more common, he’s seriously considering shifting his season, planting a little later and extending it longer into early summer.
Eventually, he says, he got used to it. Hurricanes are the worst actors of all in Florida’s long list of agricultural challenges.
“I think most of us understand what happens this time of year, that early planting is a gamble.”
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