Regions: Florida

This beautiful tropical fruit grove and botanical garden has quite the history in the Florida Keys. Adolf Grimal built Grimal Grove on Big Pine Key in the 1950s, planting a vast assortment of tropical fruit trees and other plants inspired by his travels around the world. Now the grove is under the care of host farmer Patrick Garvey, who’s worked tirelessly to restore the land and reclaim its spirit after years of abandonment. In 2017, the farm was nearly destroyed by Hurricane Irma’s 160mph winds. We put on a benefit to help them recover in 2018, so we are excited to catch up with Patrick and see how things are going. Our guest chef is Shane La Beet of Pepper Pot Island Cafe. Shane is a classically trained chef who works alongside his wife Amy La Beet. Together they infuse their passion for food into the Authentic Caribbean restaurant they own and operate. Bringing all the traditional flavors of Trinidad and other islands to Key West and beyond. We can’t wait to see the menu he dreams up using Grimal Grove’s assortments of tropical fruits, vegetables, and honey.

This family-run permaculture farm outside West Palm Beach is home to 15 acres of organically grown salad greens, vegetables, tropical fruits and a flock of pastured hens. Farmers Marty and Liza Holman care deeply about both their soil and their crops, and focus on growing food without synthetic herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizers for local residents and restaurants. Guest chef Jason Weiner is a bit of an OITF celebrity — and quite the chef to boot. He’s cooked up hearty, seasonal feasts at more than ten events over the years. Two years ago, Jason opened an outpost of his beloved New York restaurant Almond in Palm Beach. It’s about time we welcome him to the beach.

A fragrant orange grove, a couple of charming farmers, and a friendly flock of egg-laying fowl. All that plus a meal from guest chefs Albert DeSue and Mike Camacho of Mockingbird to the field kitchen. Mockingbird is known for its progressive and eclectic tasting menus featuring hyperlocal ingredients and inventive takes on Florida cuisine. Think crab salad, Gulf coast oysters, and a smattering of Florida-grown fruits and vegetables — from star fruit to okra to avocados to amaranth. This is bound to be a fun one.

Lush beds of organically grown vegetables, tropical fruit trees heavy with ripe winter fruit, a flock of free-running pastured hens. That’s about as good as it gets. Holman’s Harvest is an inspiring place to spend an afternoon, especially when feasting on a meal sourced with ingredients growing right behind your seat. After a stroll around the farm, we’ll take a seat at the long table set somewhere between their thriving garden beds (or perhaps in the coconut grove?) for a meal showcasing the best of what the farm has to offer from guest chef Niven Patel. Patel was inducted into Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs Class of 2020 for his passion for locally sourced ingredients which serves as the cornerstone of his cooking philosophy at Orno, his latest venture in Miami. 

Sweetwater Organic Community Farm is a six-acre parcel of overflowing goodness in the suburbs of Tampa. Here, along Sweetwater Creek, farmer Chris Kenrick and his crew grow organic vegetables and herbs, sharing the harvest with hundreds of Tampa Bay residents through the area’s oldest-running CSA program and farmers’ market. Farmer Chris, who also founded the St. Pete EcoVillage, is a true champion of local foodsheds and sustainable agriculture and believes in building community from the ground up. We’ll toast a glass to that community when we sit down for dinner from award-winning chef Ferrell Alvarez of Rooster & The Till. The Tampa Bay Times named Rooster & The Till the best restaurant in Tampa for two years in a row — and Ferrell has a James Beard nomination under his belt. He’ll cook up quite the feast among Sweetwater’s flourishing fields.