Islanders’ Flor Da Lee Farm growing and selling local
Bill Kazokas and his wife, Benet, are joyful lettuce growers for their local Flor Da Lee Farm on Pine Island. Kazokas said the idea to farm originally came from them both having been in the agricultural business for 40 years.
“We retired from our corporate life and moved to Bokeelia about 13 years ago. We bought a small 2 ½-acre piece of land that’s zoned agricultural. We’ve developed it into a small farm,” Kazokas said.
Their primary crop, he said, is artisan lettuce, which is currently sold to a food service company and then distributed to hotels, country clubs and restaurants in the areas of Naples and Fort Myers. Last year, he explained, Benet became interested in growing ornamentals.
“She’s always been a flower grower and she wanted to start getting more involved on the island, so we’ve been doing the Garden Gala for the last 3 years,” Kazokas said.
In addition to the Garden Gala events, they have an old Dodge pickup bed he’s converted into a trailer. Benet makes planters out of plastic flamingoes with feet made of cutlery and also jewelry, he said.
“We have a lot of fun with it and that was the idea — to have fun and to start connecting more with the local market,” Kazokas said.
They have also made the decision, he said, to attend the monthly island market, where they will be selling flowers, potted herbs and mini-tomato plants, in an effort to be more of a Pine Island feature. The agricultural business brought much travel for them both, heading to such places as Brazil and Argentina and they’ve even lived in various locations, such as Mexico and Australia.
“When I was working on my Ph.D. at the University of Florida, I took a trip to Pine Island — years and years ago and I was impressed with how it was a slice of the Old Florida,” Kazokas said.
That trip cemented the idea of coming back to Pine Island, he said, describing the island as a place that always seemed to call to them. Benet, he said, was previously a vegetarian chef at a world class destination health spa.
“When she had that job, she was really really focused on the quality that went into her meals. When we decided to get into this lettuce business, she said there’s a world of lettuce out there with textures, flavors and colors,” Kazokas said.
Most people don’t realize that lettuce has very distinctive flavors, he explained, saying they’ve tested hundreds of varieties of lettuce and they now grow a blend of about 60 different varieties for roughly 7 months a year.
“We’re a little bit reclusive but we’re going to be at the island market and offer the ornamentals and also some lettuce. I want to sell some fresh product. The whole farm is just Benet and I. We do everything. Everything has to be on our scale, so we really are an artisan farm. What that means is every day we have to be productive. What we’ve discovered is that the richness in life comes from a deep appreciation of the simplest things, ” Kazokas said.
Some Flor Da Lee products are available at Barnhill Seafood Market & More in Matlacha.