August 2024 Meeting - Kevin Hook - Growing Vegetables In Florida

 Join us Monday, August 12th, 2024 at 7pm.  

Harlee Building/County Fairgrounds, 1303 17th St W, Palmetto, FL 34221

Our August Speaker - Kevin Hook 

From the Program Committee:

The Florida vegetable gardening season isn’t here yet, but it’s not too early to start planning. At our August 8 meeting, MRFC member and market gardener Kevin Hook will share his expertise in growing vegetables in Florida’s challenging conditions.

Kevin is a longtime MRFC member who grows a wide variety of tropical fruit, tropical vegetables, and temperate-climate vegetables on his 5-acre homestead in north Sarasota County. He supplies produce weekly to the Sarasota Farmer’s Market, and donates additional harvest to local food charities.

July 2024 Meeting - Dr Steve Vernon - Pineapples

Join us Monday, July 8th, 2024 at 7pm.  

Harlee Building/County Fairgrounds, 1303 17th St W, Palmetto, FL 34221

Our July Speaker - Dr Steve Vernon 

From the Program Committee:

Our July speaker will be Dr. Steve Vernon of Miami. He is a retired physician with a distinguished career including service as an attending pathologist in several Miami hospitals, as an associate medical examiner in two Florida counties, as Clinical Associate Professor of Pathology at University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and many other achievements. In 2022 he received the Florida Medical Association’s Award of Distinguished Service, its highest honor.

In the world of tropical fruit, Steve has a variety of interests, especially dragonfruit and pineapples. He is a Volunteer at the  Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden and at the Fairchild Farm in Redland. At our meeting, he will speak on pineapples. He plans to bring small plants of some exotic pineapple varieties for our raffle table, a rare opportunity for us to obtain these.