Hey farm supporters. It is SO nice to be back in touch! We got some great rain this fall, finally, and things are green and happy on the South Shore. Luca and Christina and family are hard at work on some farm improvement projects, Kiko is weeding, mowing and weedwacking nonstop, Bob is rocking out at ARTfarm a few days a week, and we are planting food like crazy! So crazy in fact that we seeded too many heirloom tomato plants, and will be selling young tomato plants on Saturday! Plus early watermelon and beautiful sweet pumpkin in new varieties for Saturday!

Thanks to everyone’s amazingly careful participation last season, we were able to manage pre-orders for our customers with a minimum of waiting. We’ll be doing the same “new normal” this season:

ARTfarm will:

• NOT be open for retail walk-in shopping
• run pre-reserved online ‘box sales’
• offer socially distanced pick up shifts of 10 people max – you make your appointment online
• avoid creating long waits, lines, crowds, traffic jams
• wear masks, sanitizing hands and surfaces even more than usual
• not handle cash or make change – you drop in the bucket

CUSTOMERS are required to:

• meet an order minimum of one box size
  consistently maintain 10-15 feet of distance between all individuals
• wear masks to keep each other safe
• sanitize hands before you exit your vehicle
• bring exact change or a check and pen
• be patient with us and each other during pickups
• bring your own boxes, bags, baskets to pack up your order
• wait to bag produce until we have completely assembled and totaled your order on the table

We are going to keep running food distribution socially distanced, as we’ve done from the beginning of the pandemic. It’s more work but your safety and ours is paramount. As more COVID surges emerge globally and travel increases in and out of the territory, we thank you for continuing to stay the course in this marathon to protect the less immune-robust members of our community!

We require everyone picking up a box to wear a mask and please sanitize your hands before arriving at the distribution table, and we will do the same.

Here’s how to get a box of ARTfarm produce:

1.    Sign up with our online form (a link at the bottom of the weekly signup page is posted on Fridays, usually by 10am).
   • Using the current online order form, choose one box of pre-selected, pre-priced ARTfarm produce (contents listed below, either small or large)
   • Commit to a pick-up time slot
   • Choose any add-on items (limited supplies)
   • Add a comment for special requests
   • Check your email for a confirmation!
2.   Arrive promptly for your pickup appointment on Saturday in the ARTfarm parking lot on Saturday. If early, wait in your vehicle and decide what herbs you want! Sanitize your hands when getting out of your vehicle. Please maintain plenty of space between customers, and between us and you when you approach the pickup table for your appointed pickup time. We’ll be wearing masks and ask that you do the same.
   • Bring exact change or a check to drop in the bucket – we are not handling any money.
   • There may be unadvertised extra items available to add to your box at pickup time, so you may wish to bring some extra small bills or wait to fill in your check amount. Please bring your own pen.
   • Bring your own bags or box to put your produce into. We’ll place your items on the sanitized table, some things will be pre-bagged, you’ll pack your own bags or box for the rest. Wait to bag until we do a final count of your items to make sure we don’t forget anything. We are trying to reduce the number of shopping bags we distribute, so please bring an extra bag, box or basket to your pickups this season.
   • No substitutions or price adjustments. To maintain sanitation and keep things moving, we are not swapping items, handling payments or making change. (As always we’ll be flexible where we can within reason.)

We will have 16 large and 20 small ‘farmshares’ of produce available for Saturday (a few of those available as “double small” orders). You can also order and specify a neighbor, friend or family member to pick up your order. The minimum order is one box. Add-ons and extras are not currently available independently of a box purchase; to minimize community contact during the pandemic.

Please contact us immediately by text and phone at (340)514-4873 if you have reserved a farmshare and cannot pick it up. Supply is limited, demand is extremely high and someone else will gladly purchase your share, if given enough time to respond. We have limited time for distributions and they are scheduled. We will hold your box for you and we expect to hear from you. We understand life happens, but please do not leave us hanging, waiting for you, with your food! Our produce is harvested fresh and needs to go home with you same day. This is an honor system since we are not collecting payment until pickup. We do not have cold storage for uncollected shares.

Box choices for Saturday, December 5th 2020:  SOLD OUT  😦

Small farm share, $17, will include:

1 bag of sweet salad mix
1 lb. cucumbers
1 lb. zucchini
2 herb bunches (random selection)

Double Small farm share, $34, will include:

As listed above, but double: one for you and one for a friend. Take distribution into your own (recently washed) hands, deliver to a neighbor or loved one!

Large farm share, $50, will include:

2 bags of sweet salad mix
1 bag of baby spicy salad mix
1 bag of baby arugula
1 lb. cucumbers
1 lb. zucchini
2 herb bunches (random selection)
1 bag of mixed chili peppers (from mild to hot)

Additional Limited Quantity Reserved Add-Ons*

(please add to your total)
1 bag fresh Mediterranean figs: $5
1 bag ‘Strawberry Tree’ fruit (like a tiny seedless guava the size of a blueberry): $6
1 bunch extra garlic chives: $2
1 bunch extra Italian basil: $2
1 bunch extra lemon basil: $2
1 bunch of nine bright assorted color zinnia flowers: $5

Heirloom tomato plants (potted): $4 each:
Black Plum tomato
Great White tomato
Persimmon tomato
Cherokee Green tomato
Big Beef tomato
Paul Robeson tomato

Saman tree: $20
Sandbox tree: $10

*(there are often additional extras available at the time of pick-up, so if you can’t reserve, bring some extra cash or wait to write your check total. Bring a pen.)

Extra Add-Ons (must purchase box share)

(first come first served during your box pickup):

• WATERMELON!!! lots of approx 2 lb. watermelon quarter: $2/lb. (around $4)
• PUMPKIN!!! lots of approx 2 lb. pumpkin quarter: $3/lb. (around $6)
• dragonfruit – $8/lb.
• perhaps cooking greens – $3/bunch
• radishes – $1.50/bunch
• maybe extra cukes and zucchini – $3/lb.
• loose zinnias – $0.50/ea

Herb bunch options

(Large share = 2 herb selections, Small share = 2 herb selections. Choose from what’s available at pickup, or we’ll pick some for you, but these are the basic options we should have, you can start mulling it over 🙂

• Garlic chives
• Italian basil
• Lemon basil
• Thai basil
• Dill
• Rosemary
• Lemongrass
• Kaffir lime leaves

• This signup form will show you a Thank You page and send you a confirmation email if submitted successfully. One order per customer, please.
• Three people reported having problems with the online signup form telling them incorrectly that they had already placed an order. It’s an overzealous security feature to prevent multiple orders from the same customer. Workarounds our customers figured out (thank you!!) were to
  • just try again
    
  • use a cellular device (smartphone or tablet) that isn’t using WiFi internet
  • clear your cache and cookies in your browser/device
  • reboot your router (unplug it for a minute and plug in again)
• We are asking that people ration, by designing our order form not to allow any one customer to purchase all of one extra. Sharing is caring. If we have extra, we’ll do our best to let you know. If you’d like extra of something, put it in the comments with your order.
• This pre-order signup form does NOT sign you up for an ARTfarm email subscription.

Here’s the link to Saturday December 5th’s SIGNUP FORM
(opens a new window).