Farm and Nursery at Chianina Microtopia

09/04/2026

Tomorrow we load the truck. 🚚

Find us at the McIntosh Preserve Green Market in Plant City, Saturday, September 5, from 9 AM to 2 PM. The address is 775 E Knights Griffin Rd, Plant City, FL 33565.

We are bringing pollinator perennials, Florida-friendly plants, and the four-inch and six-inch pots that go fast. If there is something you have been meaning to ask about, come find the booth and ask.

It is a good market. There is a young entrepreneurs section too, so bring the kids and let them spend a dollar with somebody their own age.

One important note: the farm gate here in Wesley Chapel is closed Saturday. We are all at the market. Please do not drive out to Chianina Dr — come see us in Plant City instead.

We are open as usual today, 8 AM to 2 PM, and back to normal hours Monday.

Regenerate. Sustain. Empower.

09/03/2026

Behind the scenes today: I am sitting in a class at the Wesley Chapel Library this morning, on mosquitoes. 📚

Heads up: the farm will be closed roughly 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM Thursday while I am out. We are open 8 AM to 2 PM otherwise. Please do not make the drive during that window.

I have a master's in Regenerative Organic Agriculture and I served as a Florida State Apiary Inspector in 2025. None of that means I am finished learning.

Mosquitoes are worth an hour of anyone's September in Florida. We are deep in the wet season, and standing water is the whole story. A saucer under a pot holds enough. So does a folded tarp, a wheelbarrow, a clogged gutter, a forgotten bucket.

The fix is unglamorous and it works. Walk your property once a week and tip out anything holding water. That single habit does more than any spray, and it does not cost your pollinators a thing.

Every class I sit in ends up back in your pots eventually. That is sort of the point.

Wesley Chapel, FL · Open Mon – Sat, 8 AM – 2 PM

Regenerate. Sustain. Empower.

09/02/2026

🌿 GREEN MARKET VENUE CHANGE! 🌿

Rain isn’t going to stop the McIntosh Green Market! ☔🌱

Due to the expected rain and soggy parking conditions at McIntosh Preserve, we’re moving this Saturday’s market indoors so everyone can still come out and enjoy the day!

📍 NEW LOCATION:
Sadye Gibbs Martin Community Center
302 S Maryland Ave.
Plant City, FL 33563

📅 Saturday, September 5
⏰ 9 AM – 2 PM

Same Green Market, new location! Come shop local plants, handmade goods, food, and more — just with a roof over our heads this time. 🌿🛍️

Please help us spread the word and share the new location!

09/02/2026

Pollinator plant of the week: purple passionflower, Passiflora incarnata. 🦋

There is nothing else in a Florida garden that looks like this. That fringed purple crown is doing real work, and it is not just about nectar.

Passionflower is a host plant. Gulf fritillary, zebra longwing, and variegated fritillary butterflies all lay their eggs on this vine, and their caterpillars eat the leaves. That is the deal you are making when you plant one.

So here is the part people are not ready for. The caterpillars will chew it to sticks. That is not damage, that is the entire point. The vine comes roaring back every time.

If you want butterflies and not just butterfly photos, you have to grow the thing they eat. Nectar feeds the adults. Host plants make more butterflies.

The zebra longwing is our state butterfly, and it cannot exist without this vine. Give it a fence to climb and stand back.

Wesley Chapel, FL · Open Mon – Sat, 8 AM – 2 PM

Regenerate. Sustain. Empower.

09/01/2026

September is Organic Harvest Month, and the pomegranates did not wait for the calendar. 🌱

They are still hard and green, with just a blush starting on the sunny side. Another six or eight weeks and they will be ready. Not a day sooner.

That is the honest pace of fruit. A pomegranate picked early never sweetens up on the counter. It only ripens on the tree, drinking from roots we spent years feeding.

Which is really the whole idea behind Organic Harvest Month. Nothing gets rushed. We feed the soil, the soil feeds the plant, and the plant decides when it is ready.

Everything on our benches is grown the same way. Slower, and worth it.

Wesley Chapel, FL · Open Mon – Sat, 8 AM – 2 PM

Regenerate. Sustain. Empower.

08/31/2026

Today is National Diatomaceous Earth Day, and DE genuinely earns a spot in an organic grower's shed. 🌿

It is fossilized algae, ground fine. Under a microscope the edges are like broken glass. Soft-bodied pests crawl through it, lose moisture, and that is that. No synthetic residue, no waiting period on your harvest.

Here is the part most posts leave out. DE cannot tell a squash bug from a honey bee. Anything with an exoskeleton is fair game, and that includes every pollinator working your garden.

So we use it carefully. Dust at dusk when the bees have gone home. Keep it off open blooms entirely. Aim for the soil line and the stems, not the flowers. And skip it right before rain, because wet DE does nothing at all.

Used that way it is a precise tool. Used carelessly it is a broadcast insecticide that happens to be organic.

Come talk pests with us this week. We are always happy to look at a leaf you are worried about.

Wesley Chapel, FL · Open Mon – Sat, 8 AM – 2 PM

Regenerate. Sustain. Empower.

08/30/2026

One week out! 🌿🐝

We’ll be at the McIntosh Green Market in Plant City — Saturday, September 5, 9 AM–2 PM at McIntosh Preserve, 775 E. Knights Griffin Road.

We’re bringing a truckload from the farm: Florida natives and pollinator plants, edibles and fruit trees, houseplants in character pots, plus our hand-poured candles, soap, and bee butter lotion bars.

Free entry, free parking, food trucks, artisans, and a kids’ market. Come make a morning of it — and bring a wagon if you’ve got one, because things move fast.

Questions? Message us or call 813-907-0295.

The Farm and Nursery at Chianina Microtopia
FDACS Nursery Reg. No. 48031505
Regenerate. Sustain. Empower.

08/26/2026

Mark your calendar. 🌿

We'll be vendoring at the 10th Annual Gardening 365 Festival & Plant Sale — Saturday, October 3, 9 AM to 4 PM at Wesley Chapel District Park.

Ten years of this thing, and it's still the biggest gardening day in Pasco County. We'll be bringing natives, pollinator plants, edibles and fruit trees straight off the farm here in Wesley Chapel.

More on what we're loading up over the next few weeks. Save the date.

The Farm and Nursery at Chianina Microtopia
FDACS Nursery Reg. No. 48031505

08/20/2026

🌿 Two places to find us now! 🌿

The Farm & Nursery at Chianina Microtopia has always been the place to come get your hands dirty — specialty plants, Florida natives, pollinator favorites, edibles, and fruit trees, all grown right here in Wesley Chapel in our own house-made living soil.

And now you can find us in Dade City, too! 🏡

Come see our display at the Antique Mall, right off US-301 — Booth S37. We've got houseplants tucked into the most charming character pots you've ever seen (the little skunk and the sleepy bear are already crowd favorites), plus our hand-poured candles, small-batch teas, and bee butter lotion bars. Every plant grown by us, every pot picked out by us. No two shelves look the same twice, because things move fast. 😄

And while you're there — stay a while and wander! The Antique Mall is full of wonderful vendors, every booth a little world of its own. Antiques, handmade goods, home décor, treasures you didn't know you were looking for. It's the kind of place where "just running in for a minute" turns into an hour, and you leave happy.

📍 The Antique Mall — right off US-301, Dade City · Booth S37 🕙 Open 10 AM – 6 PM, seven days a week 📍 The Farm & Nursery at Chianina Microtopia — Wesley Chapel 📞 813-907-0295

Come see our plants — and say hello to all the good folks under that roof with us. 🌱

FDACS Nursery Reg. No. 48031505

08/19/2026

Did I say soil is important? Attached is a file for different types of herbs requiring different types of soil as well as seed versus propagation.

Send a message to learn more