Saturday ARTfarm : Plenty of TS Bertha Salad Greens, Sweet Corn & More!

Our farm is open 10am – 12 noon Saturday morning: Sweet salad mix, microgreens, baby spicy salad mix, baby arugula, onions, sweet corn, cucumbers, radishes, beets, holy basil, Italian basil, Thai basil, lemon basil, thyme, recao, mint, lemongrass, passionfruit, and papaya. From our partners we have honey from Errol, bread from Tess, and coconut-based vegan ice cream from I-Sha! This morning we are waiting on deliveries of mamey sapote and avocadoes, too.

Please forgive Farmer Luca if he’s terribly sleepy at the farmstand. He’s been up at night pollinating the dragonfruit blooms!

How many of you are old enough to remember the R.E.M. song "Gardening At Night"? Dragonfruit blooms only open after 8pm, and often need to be hand pollinated in order to bear fruit. So forgive us if we're a little sleepy!
How many of you are old enough to remember the R.E.M. song “Gardening At Night”? Dragonfruit blooms only open after 8pm, and often need to be hand pollinated in order to bear fruit. So forgive us if we’re a little sleepy!

ARTfarm Closed Today: Open Saturday with Bertha Greens!

Well, with an abrupt end to our mango season, we are going to stay true to our word and remain closed this afternoon, so that we can have fun and take care of some projects around the farm.

However, the beautiful cooling winds and rain of tropical storm Bertha have given our lettuce a new lease on life! Fresh salad greens were harvested today and will be harvested again on Friday for Saturday’s farmstand. So fear not, your salad will be available in just a few more days.

Thank you, as always, for your support.

Bertha & You at ARTfarm! 10am – 12noon!

When we say rain or shine, we really mean it!

And when you say you need mamey sapote and salad greens no matter what, we take you seriously!

And whatever it was you did for a rain dance, people…? That was fabulous. Now do it one more time… With feeling.

Brave the Bertha and come out: ARTfarm microgreens, baby spicy salad mix, baby arugula, cucumbers, onions, bananas, papaya, passionfruit. Mangoes and mamey sapote from Tropical Exotics, amazing summer ice cream flavors from I-Sha.

11am update: Not many braving the weather this morning. We are packing up… If you need something stop by & call the number on the fence. We will help you out!

ARTfarm Wednesday, 3–6 p.m.: Time for a Rain Dance!

20140730-120152-43312034.jpgOur last Wednesday for the summer! Open 3–6 this afternoon and then only Saturday mornings, 10 AM – 12 noon. Today’s farm treats include: sweet corn, salad mix, baby spicy salad mix, baby arugula, microgreens, baby onions, baby beets, cucumbers, holy basil, thai basil, Italian basil, papaya, passionfruit and bananas. From our partners: mangoes and mamey sapote from Tropical Exotics, raw local honey from Errol, and vegan coconut milk-based ice-cream in tropical fruit flavors from I-Sha!

For those of you who have yet to sample a mamey sapote, it is an unusual Central American fruit that is incredibly sweet, and one of our family’s favorites. It has a sandpapery outside and a reddish-orangey inside with a seed that looks like modern art. Here’s what Wikipedia had to say about it:

The fruit is eaten raw or made into milkshakes, smoothies, ice cream and fruit bars. It can be used to produce marmalade and jelly.[3] Some consider the fruit to be an aphrodisiac.[citation needed] Some beauty products use oil pressed from the seed,[4] otherwise known as sapayul oil.[5]  The fruit is an excellent source of vitamin B6 and vitamin C, and is a good source of riboflavin, niacin, vitamin E, manganese, potassium and dietary fiber. Research has identified several new carotenoids from the ripe fruit.

20140730-111608-40568049.jpgGood news/bad news time, dear readers: Due perhaps to the extremely dry conditions we’ve had over this spring and summer, the Nam doc Mai, Julie and Malika mangoes are ending early. The harvest is finished, but the trees are flowering now, which means that they should have fruit again in a few months. So there will be a strange off-season of mangoes in fall/winter if all goes well and the trees hang onto their fruit through the storm season. We still have several more weeks of cucumbers in the gardens, some dragonfruits ripening on the vines, and we will do our best to continue some lettuce production despite the super dry conditions for a few more weeks. Everybody, please do a rain dance out there and let’s get some precipitation on St. Croix!