FARM AID TAMPA BAY – SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23
Enjoy a full day of music and fun starting at noon to benefit Sweetwater Organic Community Farm, a 501 (c)(3) educational non-profit. The lineup includes 12 great music acts including: Joe Milligan, Urban Gypsies, Vagabond Tweed, Swallowtail Cousin, Farmers Ransom, Noan Partly, Laura Lonero, Mark Zitweir, Frankie Ray, Justin Rice, and Passerine. $10 in Advance/ $15 @ the Door, link for advance tickets: Buy Tickets Here!
ROSELLE FESTIVAL – SATURDAY, OCT 28
Experience the farm at our 2nd annual Roselle Festival, Saturday, Oct 28 from 2pm-6pm. Sponsored by Visit Gainesville, the event will feature roselle u-pick, live music, farm tours, crop mazes, workshops & food trucks! This event is free and open to the public but does require reservations. Click here to add your name to the guestlist!
FARM-TO-TABLE BENEFIT – SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 18
Join us at Frog Song Farm for a Farm-to-Table Dinner to support the Giving Garden, prepared by head chef & team of Afternoon Restaurant. This event takes place Saturday, November 18 from 5-8pm. A limited number of tickets are on sale now. BUY TICKETS HERE!
DECEMBER AND JANUARY DATES COMING SOON! Cane Boil, Farm Stand, & “Meet your Meat” Tour at Frog Song Organics
Observe how sugarcane syrup is made, stock up on fresh veggies, and “Meet your Meat” on a guided walking tour!
PAST EVENTS
Thank you, Strawberry and Sunflower U-Pickers!
Saturday, May 13 from 2-5pm
Saturday May 20 from 2-5pm
Join us at the farm for two special weekends. Our luscious, certified organic berries are $5 per pound. What makes them extra special is that they are grown without plastic mulch. We have worked on improving our system for over a decade using only hay mulch in our fields. The natural fertility of our soil and amendments help create one of the most flavorful berries you have experienced.
We’ll also have Tulsi iced tea and strawberry lemonade from our farm, along with a few other goodies available for purchase. We accept SNAP for eligible foods including frozen meats, fresh produce, packaged jam, coffee and tea.
If you registered for the event in April and didn’t get a chance to pick, we’d love to see you!
2023 SPRING FESTIVAL
Click here for our 2023 Spring Festival Highlights
We are so excited to welcome everyone to our farm on Saturday, April 15! Read below for our field report on strawberries and see the complete U-Pick lineup: calendula flowers, sunflowers, sweet onions, snow peas, and potatoes!
This event is free and open to the public, and we ask attendees to RSVP in order to receive fest day updates. Click here for details and RSVP.
Music Lineup sponsored by PPM Solar
1:30pm-3pm: Ruckus
3pm-4:30pm: Patchwork Duo
4:30pm-6pm: Ambient Benevolence
Culinary Lineup
Berry Land 352: Kombucha, Lemonade, Sparkling Apple Cider, Coffee, Chai Tea
Frog Song Organics Pastured-Pork Hot Dogs (Smoked or Salt Link)
Strawberry Short Cake
House made beverages available for sale and local beer by donation
Shop our farm stand for locally grown organic veggies and goods
Special Events and Education
1:30pm-2pm Farm Walking Tour with Amy Van Scoik. An educational stroll with Farmer Amy. Learn about our practices, explore the farm, and meet the animals during this interactive, guided tour. Bring your questions and walking shoes!
2:30pm-4pm Mindful Nature Walk and Tea with Candace Jones. A wellness experience led by certified nature therapy guide Candace. Participants will explore the farm using smell, sight, taste, and touch, followed by an informal tea ceremony. Sun protection, comfortable shoes, a journal and pen are recommended for this slow paced, sensory walk.
3:30pm-4:30pm Ask a Farmer! Q&A with Farmer John. Farmer John is passionate about sharing his knowledge to grow more organic farmers and gardeners. Join him for an hour of education, information sharing, and community during this interactive Q&A session.
All Day:
Organic Strawberry U-Pick ($5.00/lb.)
Sweet Onion U-Pick ($1.50/each)
Snow Pea U-Pick ($4.00/lb.)
Calendula U-Pick ($7/cup)
Sunflower U-Pick ($2/each)
Potato U-Pick ($1.50/lb.)
Full Farmer’s Market Stand
Kid’s Games and Activities -Corn Crib, Hay Bales, and prizes!
Merchandise and Shopping
Special Edition Spring Festival Shirt (pictured)
Hats & Totes – rep your favorite organic farm!
“Farm Box” in Individual ($40) & Family Size ($65). Can be purchased online & picked up at the Festival for convenience. Try a CSA box without the commitment. An easy way to try the best of what this season has to offer, along with being a good value. Includes seven to nine different items.
Strawberry Jam – Amy’s homemade jam, made with love and our delicious organic strawberries
Full selection of pasture raised pork
Cane syrup (samples available)
Helpful Tips & Info
- This is a rain or shine event!
- Parking is limited, please plan to carpool. RSVP to help us be prepared, and stay in touch in case of any event changes. Donations are welcome to help us cover the cost of the hosting the event, and to raise money for our future commercial kitchen and restroom structure.
- This is a 100% outdoor event. Handwashing stations will be available and we hope everyone will use them!
- Good items to bring: picnic blanket, camping chairs, hat, closed-toed shoes or mud boots, refillable water bottle or cup, reuseable shopping bag, umbrella or rain coat.
- Cash, credit cards and SNAP accepted on site for farmers market items.
- Please leave pets at home!
Strawberry Field Report
*Strawberries, unfortunately, will not be one of the abundant u-pick items. We are experiencing our most challenging strawberry crop in a decade. We attribute this mainly to the freeze that we had at the end of December, where we used water to save our citrus trees. The days of running sprinklers saved our trees, but it reduced the fertility in the soil. We traded off a strawberry crop for 2023 for the potential of citrus over the next decade. We also experienced pest pressure which caused cosmetic damage to the fruit that did grow. Our yields are the lowest we have ever seen, and those who have visited our U-Pick before will recall that previous years were much more abundant. We’ve been watching field conditions carefully, but the abundant yield has not appeared yet. Knowing there were just a few sweet and delicious gems out in the field, we set up a reservation system for strawberries. We’ve now closed reservations to the field.
Normally this time of year we are swimming in strawberries, sometimes picking over two hundred pounds at a time. This year is a bit different but we will make the best of it. As farmers we are at the mercy of the weather and natural cycles, and in control of very little beyond how we interact with our soil and crops. We are still making a limited amount of jam with the berries that we are harvesting, so make sure to pick up a jar while it lasts. We’ll enjoy this sweet treat and look forward to a more abundant strawberry crop next year!