ARTfarm on St. Croix, USVI

ARTfarm’s last Saturday of 2019, 10am – 12 noon. We will have a nice bounty thanks to the little showers we’ve been getting. (We will be open again for the last time this year on Monday, December 30th from 3 to 4:30pm.)

Saturday harvest plan: Beautiful sweet salad mix, macro arugula, teen arugula, teen spicy salad mix, loads of beautiful cucumbers of various varieties, more slicing and heirloom tomatoes, more cherry tomatoes, scallions, two types of kale, two types of baby bok choi, dandelion greens, baby carrots, wonderful radishes, red noodle beans, assorted ripe and green chili peppers, Italian basil, Thai basil, lemon basil, holy basil, garlic chives, cilantro, dill, rosemary, recao, kafir lime leaves, summer savory, mint, lemongrass, fresh ginger and turmeric (both are young and tender), new set of brighter zinnia flowers, and fresh Mediterranean figs!

We’ll be closed Wednesdays for the next two weeks of holidays (December 25th and January 1st), so opening on Monday afternoon this week and next. The farmstand tomorrow will be somewhat limited in quantities – due to some challenges and lack of rainfall 4-6 weeks ago we are currently feeling the effects in the harvest amounts. So we suggest you arrive on time if you need a wide variety of items!

Fresh tomorrow at 3pm: sweet salad mix, teen spicy salad mix, teen arugula, assorted cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, lots of baby bok choy, dandelion greens, zinnia flowers, red noodle beans, Italian basil, Thai basil, lemon basil, holy basil, garlic chives, dill, mint, baby ginger, baby turmeric, baby shark doo-doo-dee-doo-doo-doo*, assorted chili peppers.

Sorry for this dip in production, folks. On the bright side, the slicing and heirloom tomatoes are starting to ripen so we will have more to come, and there is more watermelon on the horizon! Yummy yums for 2020! And Happy Solstice, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Xmas, winter break and all other holiday Holidays to you!

*timesucking nonsense from the internet that all the young people know about, (1), (2)

The holiday season is upon us! Season’s greetings to all our friends near and far, we hope you are feeling the spirit of the season in whatever flavor you choose to celebrate. We’ve got lots of delicious flavors for you at the ARTfarm, so come on over and pick out some things for yourself and some things for a friend, give the gift of health!

Sweet salad mix, teen arugula, teen spicy salad mix, lots of cucumbers three types, assorted chili peppers, cherry tomatoes, turmeric, red noodle long beans, hopefully a few bags of watermelon, lots of baby bok choy with green and white stems, a few bags of figs, dandelion greens, kale, a few bunches of cilantro, Italian basil, Thai basil, lemon basil, holy basil, mint, lemongrass, beautiful pink radishes, butternut squash, and zinnia flowers. lots of native trees, plus fig trees!

Holiday gifts galore from our friends: Goat cheese from Fiddlewood Farm! and avocados from a generous tree in the neighborhood!

Housekeeping: due to the major holidays of Christmas day and New Year’s falling on Wednesdays for the next few weeks, we will plan to be open on Monday afternoons instead for the next couple weeks. Check the Facebook page or website or your email box, for verification of the  farmstand schedule changes.

Also, for our regulars and earlybirds: we have lots of visitors, new customers and new residents on island visiting the farm at this time of year, so if you feel your inner ambassador shining, be sure to give a warm island welcome, introduce yourself to your neighbors in line and share your insider tips about our wonderful St. Croix with our friends and visitors!

Happy holidays, everyone!

Love, ARTfarm

Wednesday afternoon 3pm–5pm farmstand at the ARTfarm! Packed with product, but not yet with people, so come and enjoy the selection and the meditative atmosphere. If you need the hours extended a few minutes so you can come after work, call us and we will keep the gate open for you.

We will have: loads of sweet salad mix, teen spicy salad mix, teen arugula, fresh figs, a few more cherry tomatoes, two types of red watermelon, lots of beautiful cucumbers, butternut squash, white stem and green stem baby bok choy, Italian basil, Thai basil, lemon basil, mint, garlic chives, young turmeric root, young mango turmeric root, green assorted chili peppers, and zinnia flowers.

We’ve been having short rain showers that are helping to alleviate the drought conditions. We have an assortment of young attractive trees that survive and thrive in our increasingly dry climate like kapok, lignum vitae, pigeonberry, fiddlewood, and pink pouhy. We also have food producing non-native trees for sale: tamarind seedlings, grapefruit seedlings and kefir lime seedlings, avocado seedlings, and of course fig trees.

It seems that there have been frequent discussions at the last few farmstands about turmeric and its uses. Turmeric is a fresh root spice, a cousin to ginger. It can be used similarly to ginger, either raw or in cooked dishes, grated or chopped or minced. Both can be used to make cold or hot drinks. Turmeric contains curcumin, which is particularly noted in some literature for its anti-inflammatory properties. Turmeric’s bright orange “curry” color can be used as a fabric dye, and belies its more earthy, subdued flavor.