We are still assessing the damage and our comprehensive fundraising needs, and will share progress and goals as we go, but for now we have some info on donating in several ways plus some volunteering opportunities.
Our east pond water catchment shed held all our fencing replacement supplies and had two water tanks for livestock watering and irrigating nearby fruit trees established about five years ago.
1️⃣ You can make a donation directly to ARTfarm. It is not tax deductible. Do this at the farmstand with the usual payment methods.
2️⃣ You can donate through the federally recognized non-profit 501(c)3 organization VIGFC (Virgin Islands Good Food Coalition)’s Emergency Response Fund tagged “Fire” and your donation will be tax deductible.
• You can make a donation online with a credit card through VI Good Food’s PayPal @goodfoodvi specifying “Emergency Support – Drought/Fire” in the pulldown menu. You’ll get a tax receipt. Please ALWAYS double check that the link is legitimate before making payments online!! Scams are out there to take advantage of disasters.
• You can also write a tax-deductible check to “Virgin Islands Good Food Coalition” with “Emergency Fund – Fire” in the memo, and snail mail to: Virgin Islands Good Food Coalition, Inc., PO Box 2902, Kingshill, VI 00851
VI Good Food is a non-profit farm advocacy organization helping us and other local farmers with disaster relief and other programs.
3️⃣ For volunteering info, check out our most recent farmstand post below for details. We’ll mostly plan these events (cleanups, assessments, rebuilding efforts) on weekends when people have more available time to help. We may post some online signups in the future.
Our east shed held all our fencing replacement supplies, and had two water tanks for livestock watering – and irrigating nearby fruit trees we established about five years ago that also burned.
Sunday March 30 2025 was a rough day at ARTfarm that destroyed years and years of hard work. Community turned out to help from a plea for help on social media… we smelled brushfires around 1:50pm. The fires began along the South Shore roadway bordering the ARTfarm and nearby properties, causing us devastating and extensive damage to our farm, pasture infrastructure and fencing. We are still assessing and calculating costs to replace it.
Volunteers who want to come out and continue to assist can help: assess damage, collect burn debris into a waste bin, and clear fence lines on both Saturday and Sunday afternoon from 4pm to 6pm. No tobacco users please, and bring your own water, mask, sturdy shoes and gloves, loppers and hand saws, wheelbarrows and shovels if you have them. We have 15 donated N95 masks available.
We will have some links and information available (hopefully) this afternoon online and at the farmstand for anyone who wishes to donate in a fully tax deductible manner through a local non-profit organization who will redirect 100% of donated FARM FIRE campaign funds back to our recovery.
The effort to build these fences by hand is painstaking. They are needed to prevent feral dog attacks on livestock. Humans, being careless, cause a lot of problems in our world and farmers often feel them hardest. Seeing the fencing like this is pretty crushing.
Huge thanks to the ARTfarm volunteers, fellow farmers, former employees, customers, neighbors and friends who saw and shared our social media requests for help on Sunday afternoon, and dropped everything to join Luca, Christina and Mérïna, neighbor Francis, and members of the VI Fire Service during the initial aftermath of the blaze and help carry countless buckets of water and hand tools across more than 25 acres to extinguish the many flareups and persistent burning fence posts. Dr. Kate sent us an entire truckload of water. We could feel the love.
Chris from Sublett Appliance Repair and Renee from Centerline Car Rental were some of the first volunteers on the scene, helping to extinguish gate posts. Small businesses supporting each other!
This was a more devastating fire than the one set five years ago. We lost a lot of wild and planted trees, our equipment storage shed where ALL of our backup fencing supplies were stored, large water tanks and fittings, irrigation equipment, electric sheep and deer netting and equipment, and (we are still assessing how many) gates, wooden posts, steel posts and hundreds of linear feet of barbed and page wire fencing destroyed.
Blackened fright and dead all over.
As of Tuesday evening there are still hot spots to extinguish and wooden telephone pole posts that are still burning internally. Our homes and primary farm structures were spared but smoky, and our sheep and poultry survived the fire, but showed signs of severe stress. Two of our teen’s beloved turkeys died from bee stings and smoke inhalation the day after. Countless bird nests, wild animals, beneficial insects and topsoil fauna and flora were destroyed. Deer were trapped in broken fencing as they tried to flee.
Wildlife and ecosystems were heavily affected by the fire, including beneficial insects that help eliminate pests.
The farmstand will be first come first served Wednesday. No reservations. We recommend coming about halfway or later through the hour if you would like a shorter line. We really appreciate your support.
Gorgeous freshly harvested ginger and turmeric can be used for so many healthy treats!
Saturday mid-morning quick mini farmstand 11am – 11:30am! It will be first come first served.
In other farm news, Farmer Christina has been announced as the new Editor-In-Chief of our local culture, events and arts publication, St. Croix This Week Magazine. We congratulate her on this new exciting role in our community! Watch for Christina’s photo of ARTfarm zinnias on the May cover! And another congratulations is due to our long-time ARTfarm customer and supporter Susan Wall, who is retiring from the job after 16 years. Well done!
Magical stripy heirlooms and hyperfresh lettuces, ready to inspire your culinary skills!
Plenty for All
Sweet salad mix
Heirloom tomatoes
Slicer tomatoes
Early Birds
Cherry tomatoes
Baby bok Choy
Bunched arugula
Kale
Tomato seconds
Yams
Baby ginger and turmeric
Green and red hot peppers
Sweet frying peppers
Basil
Cilantro
Dill
Parsley
Kaffir leaves
First come first served! Grateful for your support of our family farm! See you Saturday 11am – 11:30am!
ARTfarm on St. Croix, USVI 