Meet Mark Penna. Mark owns a statewide land business and spends his available time volunteering with Cub Scouts. While out on Pine Island, he’s helping kids find out where food comes from.
He calls it, “An opportunity for kids to get into the dirt.”
Mark created a facility on Pine Island where kids can plant food and come check on them weekly. Kids can even learn how to run farm equipment like a backhoe.
The facility is called the “Growing Grounds” and offers a lot more.
What we see in stores reflects food coloring and other visuals used to make people buy things like produce, so he also turned the property into a produce stand where he educates people about why things like tomatoes may look great, but the taste is not always a reflection of the color. An orange may have bright orange color with no blemishes, but does it taste as good as it looks?
Mark cut an orange fresh from Dundee, Florida, in half and said, “Take a bite.” Florida produces a large percentage of oranges to the nation, and I’ve had many of them, but I’ve never had an orange quite like the one Mark handed me. There’s a big difference when you know what to look for, and when it hasn’t been weeks since it was picked.
Another part of the facility is Bokeelia Seafood which varies upon seasons and includes anything from lobster to stone crab and fresh fish. There’s also a refrigerated container with more fresh produce options including a dozen fresh jumbo eggs for $4 a dozen.
I asked what people returned for the most, and it was the tomatoes. There’s several varieties and a lot of it is from the U-Pick fields right there which are expanding to 5 acres soon. Sweep peppers have been another in-demand item.
He even has firewood and makes potting soil which I bought a few bags of, and I can say that it’s nothing like the processed bags from places like Home Depot.
He has giant cooking pots where he rotates cooking Jambalaya and a Crawfish Boil and he’s setting up a “junior Kitchen” where kids can learn how to cook things like that.
If you’re up for a drive, the property is only a few minutes past N. Cape Coral on Pine Island. Take a right at the 4-way stop and you’ll see the property about a mile down on the left. Look for the flags. 11051 Stringfellow Road. Weekends are the best.
They’re on Facebook at: The Growing Grounds Bokeelia
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