ARTfarm Presidential Opening! 3–6 p.m.…

Happy holiday Monday! We know you guys already blew most of your Lincolns, Washingtons, Jacksons and Benjamins at the AgriFest this weekend, and bought other people’s tomatoes, but we just can’t think of anything else to do this afternoon, so ARTfarm is open today for our regular Monday afternoon farmstand. 3–6 p.m. And we take personal checks! Give us your John Hancock!

Today’s healthy, wealthy, wise haul, harvested early this morning: sweet salad mix, spicy salad mix, microgreens, teen arugula, garlic chives, bunched arugula, cherry tomatoes, slicer tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, lots and lots of beautiful carrots with juice-able tops for you health nuts out there, and fresh juicy ginger root. Come out and shop with us on a Monday. There’s lots of bipartisan, across-the-aisle feel-good fellowship on the floor. Shake hands with your neighbors and kiss a baby! It’s President’s Day!

20140217-120454.jpgpictured above: Tricky Dickie carrots!

ARTfarm Open Saturday! Same Time Same Place!

Yes, it is Ag Fair weekend on St. Croix. Many of us will be headed over to the fairgrounds over the holiday for some fun and shopping.

In the interests of fuel (and human) efficiency, and as our staff has shrunk over the years, we have found that it is most manageable for us to stay open at our farm, instead of moving our operation to the Department of Agriculture for the weekend. So we will be open our usual time and place on South Shore Rd. from 10 AM to 12 noon tomorrow, Saturday.

You will see us later in the weekend, blending into the holiday crowds and enjoying all the sights and sounds and smells of our wonderful Agriculture and Food Fair! We particularly enjoy: sampling the callaloo soup, listening to some of our island’s musical groups, watching the quelbe dancers, getting a horseback ride, engaging with some of our agriculture researchers and educators in their various booths, taking note of interesting fashion choices that have clearly been custom-made for the weekend, exploring the 4H displays and petting zoo, seeing what the schools have been working on for the fair, catching up with our farming colleagues, and shopping for trinkets and handmade crafts and fruit trees!

Saturday’s farmstand: sweet salad mix, spicy salad mix, baby spicy salad mix, baby arugula, teen arugula, microgreens, cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, onions, radishes, kale, broccoli, bodhi beans, eggplant, sweet bell peppers, ginger, hot chili peppers, cilantro, recao, thyme, flat leaf parsley, mint, dill, Italian basil (limited amounts), lemon basil, thai basil, holy basil, lemongrass, figs, black sapote and fresh-cut zinnia flowers. And from a friend’s orchard, we’ll have key limes, kefir limes and leaves, sour oranges and more white star apple! We will also have I-Sha’s vegan coconut-based ice cream and bread from Tess. 20140214-163153.jpg

heARTfarm Fresh Flowers for Valentine’s Day! Open today 3–6 p.m.

20140212-115447.jpgTreat your sweet to colorful things that are healthy to eat. Also, we have a wonderful Valentine’s special on our fresh-cut Zinnia flowers: five for a dollar. We picked a ton of them, they are cheerful, bright and locally grown, and the flowers contain seeds in the head, so you can plant them in your garden when you’ve finished enjoying them, and they may sprout new zinnia plants for you! Now THAT’S a romantic gesture of your commitment!

Sweet salad mix, spicy salad mix, arugula, microgreens, carrots, kale, broccoli, garlic chives, dill, recao, cilantro, an early bird quantity of Italian basil, cherry tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, slicer tomatoes!

Open 3–6 p.m. today down the South Shore. Spread love!

ARTfarm Q & A Monday with Farmer Luca

Q: Why have you planted so many trees around your farm?

A: To attract bird watchers.

More on that in a moment: today’s Monday 3-6pm farmstand includes: sweet salad mix, teen spicy mix, teen arugula, baby arugula, cherry tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, slicer tomatoes, recao, garlic chives, lemongrass, onions and carrots.

On January 27, we heard a strange noise in a densely shaded area of the farm. It sounded like this: We also heard tell-tale hammering on a tree trunk.

Christina called local birdwatcher Carol Burke of SEA, and biologist Claudia Lombard of US Fish and Wildlife, to try to identify the bird, who clearly was indicating to us that he or she was some kind of woodpecker — not something you typically encounter in the Virgin Islands. Soon, the farm started looking like this: treeholes
And then this: birdwatchers

The bird was indeed a woodpecker! It has been identified as a young female yellow bellied sap sucker. Female yellow bellied sap suckers spend summers in the northern regions of North America, and do venture south to Central America and parts of the Caribbean for the winter, but not often in the USVI. According to ebird.org, this is the first recorded sighting of one in the territory since 1999. Here’s a couple of Lisa Yntema’s shots! YBSapsucker_5Feb2014_Longford_LDY-7sm
YBSapsucker_5Feb2014_Longford_LDY-sm

Our little red headed lady has peppered the neem tree with tiny holes, which drip sap that she likes to drink. The sweet, sticky sap also attracts bugs, which attract lizards. It’s pretty interesting how one little bird can shift an entire ecosystem around herself. She’s so industrious, we might have to call her “Martha”.