Yankees like to complain about there “not being seasons” in Florida.

This is stupid. But what else would you expect from Yankees?

Florida has a uniquely mild climate that allows for some amazing year-round gardening. However, our climate isn’t perfect. A perfect climate would have adequate rainfall, temperatures that hovered between 75 and 85 degrees year round and regular breezes. Just add in good soil and that’s gardening paradise.

Two weeks ago I had a chance to visit just such a place. Thanks to the hospitality of Jean and her husband at Pilgrim’s Farm, Rachel and I spent a week on a small island in the Caribbean, trying a vast variety of fruits and spices and seeing a lot of tropical gardening up close.

See that? Right in the middle there is a cacao tree with delicious chocolate pods growing right out of its trunk. Around the base… there are cabbages.

There’s almost no place in the world where you could successfully grow a Northern European staple like cabbage right next to a totally tropical crop like cocoa. You can’t pull that off in Florida; the summer is too hot for cabbages, and the winter is too cold for cocoa.

Over the next week I’ll post more pictures of our trip and explain to you why the tropics are simply unbeatable for food production.

Stay tuned.