Abby's Organic Community Farm

11/15/2024

11/12/2024

DID YOU KNOW?
At its peak in 1943, over two-thirds of U.S. households planted fruit and vegetable gardens, producing over 80 billion pounds of food, or 40% of the fresh produce eaten by U.S. residents that year.

11/12/2024

Doesn’t have to be that way!

11/09/2024

Think about it! Our little farm in Lutz grows roughly 40,000 lbs of food feeding our 100+ volunteer families! While having a blast, getting dirty, working hard and making lifelong friends!

11/01/2024

FOMO………(fear of missing out😎). Hey we’ve all been there! We see other families doing stuff really fun and healthy for their families and think……..I need to do that. Abby’s Farm is the epicenter of fun, health and adventure for folks simply trying to do better for themselves and their precious little ones. Equally important, we are doing our part in protecting our environment and preserving our natural resources. Many families that join say “my parents did this or my grandparents did this and I’d like to get back to my roots”!
Our society has moved away from this important tradition of being outdoors; growing your own healthy organic food; and making lifelong memories doing something meaningful with our kids.
The farm is currently at capacity with over 100 volunteer families! Please go to abbysfarm.org and complete the two page volunteer application and send to [email protected] and you will be on the waitlist for our spring gardens. No more FOMO!

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10/27/2024

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY WITH OUR FALL/WINTER GARDENS! It’s a little known fact that the fall/winter gardens in Florida are by far the BEST! Overwhelmingly, people that visit or join the farm have never heard that. Primarily because this is not true for virtually every other state other than California. In Florida, we enjoy our longest growing season at this time, coupled with the fact that most veggies we love………love the weather. Generally when I start my garden in October, I’m eating from my garden from late October through February. Most years I’m pulling out producing plants in February to prepare for spring 😎. In fact, our winters are typically so mild, several varieties can stay in my garden from one season to the next still producing beautiful organic food like: kale, Swiss chard, collards, eggplant and some varieties of tomatoes.
Many of our families and neighbors have been adversely affected by the recent storms and it’s been heartwarming to see the outpouring of love and support to our community. While the farm suffered damage, we were largely spared the destruction we’ve heard about and seen in so many communities. Our farm family has rallied and are now busy putting in our precious winter gardens and being reminded that “for everything there is a season”.

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10/19/2024

Wow, what an incredible couple weeks! The farm withstood the storm(s) barely! While our hearts go out to all those affected by recent hurricanes, we know like all things…..this too will pass😎. Our farm family (100+ volunteer families) have been busy clearing out and rebuilding our lovely farm. Honestly, all things considered we were extremely fortunate. We had flooding in some growing areas and lost a huge (100+ yr old) oak that fell on farmhouse. Miraculously the trees huge branches dug into the ground and kept it from crushing our iconic landmark Lutz farmhouse. So…….the show must go on and we had the privilege of hosting about 35 students for a wonderful Nature Lab today that included a “nature walk” through our nearby woods identifying plants, bugs and animals. Kids love everything about the farm and being outdoors 😎.

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09/26/2024

This event is being rescheduled due to logistics related to the storms. Stay tuned😎

Thank you for supporting Abby Sayler’s dream and vision of creating our lovely farm in Lutz. Celebrating 10 years this year, we have had so many milestones……from accepting our very first volunteer (from Venezuela) in 2015 to accepting our 100th volunteer family in 2024. That’s right, we currently serve over a hundred families learning how to grow their own healthy, organic food and over 1200 students annually for field trips, Nature Labs and honeybee experiences.
We are proud to announce our first ever community-wide fundraising event which will be an annual 5k run called the Abby’s Holiday Run. The run will benefit our capital improvements at the farm assuring our continued excellence, that has received notice and recognition globally. In 2015, Abby’s Health and Nutrition received the Sustany Foundation Award (accepted by Abby Sayler and Victor Karydis) for their commitment to sustainable, environmentally responsible practices…..including the creation of Abby’s Organic Community Farm.
Additionally our fund raising event will benefit the TrudyKFoundation which was birthed this year in order to help individuals going through cancer by providing them the possibility to incorporate natural supplements and or treatments that they otherwise could not afford on their own.
Please join me in supporting this event by signing up today at the link or QR code shown. We would love to discuss sponsoring the event and that information is also shown and we look forward to hearing from you.

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09/20/2024

From The Farside Comic!

09/12/2024

While it’s true that kids and young families are the cornerstone of the farm (next generation)………..the “backbone” of the farm is certainly our retired and semi-retired folks that LOVE our farm.
Interestingly, many are former business owners, retired military, teachers, medical professionals or captains of industry in their prior life😎 and add incredible skills and talent to our ranks. One of our original members Nancy Niemann, was a celebrated and award winning teacher for 35+ years. When she retired she became our Education Director and has developed our education outreach to serve over 1,000 students annually. The main secret sauce for them is simply availability. Since many retired people are just enjoying this season “on their own terms”, they can spend more time and commit to the farm when others cannot. The dynamic of being mentors or “elders” comes naturally in the farm setting, with many of our young families adopting members as a grandparent that they may not have here. It’s wonderful to watch and is a perfect picture of what “community” should look like. Our farm is ideal for them to be outdoors, staying active and busy, doing something healthy, while reaping the benefits of taking home healthy, organic food.

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09/06/2024

To damage the earth is to damage your children.
—WENDELL BERRY, FARMER AND POET

09/03/2024

08/30/2024

THANK YOU FOR OVERWELMING RESPONSE! Orientation is full and not accepting applications for the fall season.

Very exciting news from Abby’s Farm! We will be having our fall farm orientation for new members on Saturday, September 7, at 10:00 (till 11:30) We have several openings and we are creating some new beds for members. Our leadership team will be there to answer questions and tour the farm. Membership has become so coveted (with a waiting list) that our leadership team will be voting on members acceptance. We are only interested in folks that are very interested and committed to joining and feel like they fit in to our culture. We have a tribe of close to a hundred families that LOVE our farm and are committed to promoting and improving our farm for the next generation.
If that’s you…………..rsvp by return mail or text me at 813.393.6039 to reserve your spot at the orientation. Please go to abbysfarm.org and fill out the volunteer application (if you haven’t done so already) ………….please take a pic and email or text to me prior to the event. We will have coffee, water and a snack and children are always welcome.
UPDATE…….WE CURRENTLY HAVE CLOSE TO 20 families already coming and will accept another 5 so get your name in soon. Once limit is reached, we will have waitlist for the next season.

08/25/2024

Six years ago………….This week in 2018 we lost our benefactor Abby Sayler. She dedicated her life to health consulting and working with people that had the most dire diagnoses. While yes, she created a very successful enterprise with Abby’s Health and Nutrition in Carrollwood…….her passion was people’s health. I personally interviewed lots of people that overcame a terminal report from doctors, as a result of her health advice.
Today, Abby’s Organic Community Farm is the living legacy of her life’s work. In 2014, I had the pleasure of driving around with her looking for the perfect place for her legacy to be built. Needless to say, nine years later her dream and vision is alive and well at our lovely farm in Lutz. The farm has become a Lutz landmark serving hundreds of families and over a thousand students annually. Abby would be thrilled at the progress, but would always be looking to improve, because that’s who she was.

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