ARTfarm Open today 5/14/2025 Wednesday 5 to 6 PM, plenty of all the good things

Hey folks, despite the wetness and rain Farmer Luca will be open 5 to 6 this afternoon with lots of goodies, veggies and watermelon. Enjoy!

Red radishes with green tops
Ravishing Radishes – They grow faster than the bugs can keep up with! The crunchy bottoms can be eaten raw (peppery) or used as a root vegetable cooked (mild). The tops are more nutritious than the root, and can be used as salad or cooking greens. Some folks make smoothies with them! Don’t waste an inch of this mighty veggie! We love them sliced thin in oil and vinegar with a pinch of salt.

Plenty

  • Sweet mix
  • Cucumbers
  • French breakfast radishes
  • Long pink radishes with nice tops

Early birds

  • Watermelon
  • Papaya
  • Bunched arugula
  • Hot green and red peppers
  • Sweet frying peppers
  • Carrots with green tops
  • Scallions
  • Kale
  • Baby turmeric
  • Basil
  • Thai basil
  • Cilantro
  • Parsley
  • Dill
  • Kaffir leaves

First come first serve.

ARTfarm Wednesday: OPEN Farmstand 4/16/2025, 5 – 6 PM, Volunteers Welcome on Sat-Sun, no Saturday farmstand

The farmstand will be first come first served Wednesday, 5-6pm. Tomatoes, salad greens, veggies, herbs. Full list below. No reservations. We recommend coming about halfway or later through the hour if you would like a shorter line. We really appreciate your support. We’re gonna stop doing Saturdays for a bit here. Thank you.

Links and information on the fire recovery are available HERE.

Huge thanks to the ARTfarm volunteers, fellow farmers, former employees, customers, neighbors and friends who helped fight the brushfire on March 30th that burned 80% of the farm. Kind people dropped off meals, picked up our grocery tab, and performed other kindnesses in the following days.

Superhero ARTfarm volunteers heading out at sunset after an afternoon helping

The fire destroyed a lot of pasture fencing, irrigation pipe and plastic water tanks, some crops and fruit trees, a few livestock, and a storage shed. Volunteers who want to come out and continue to assist can help: assess damage, repair and clear fence lines this weekend again 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, chainsaws, pole saws if you have them. The air quality is good now. You can text us if you think you’re going to attend. It has been a small and steady group of helpers.

Plenty for All

  • Sweet salad mix
  • Tomatoes – slicers, heirlooms and cherries
  • Yams

Early Birds

  • Cucumbers
  • Pumpkin
  • Bunched arugula
  • French breakfast radishes with green tops
  • Chinese cabbage
  • Kale
  • Baby bok choy
  • Baby turmeric
  • Carrots with green tops (for juicing if you like)
  • Green and red hot peppers
  • Sweet frying peppers
  • Italian basil
  • Thai basil
  • Cilantro
  • Dill
  • Parsley
  • Scallions
  • Kaffir lime leaves

We appreciate you all! See ya Wednesday 5 – 6pm!

Getting to the end of the season, but these beauties are still sweet and delicious. Come and get ‘em!

ARTfarm Wednesday PM: Debris cleanups, OPEN Farmstand 4/9/2025, 5 – 6 PM

Awesome ARTfarm volunteers and neighbors came out this past weekend to help assess damage and clear debris.

We had a bad brushfire on March 30th that destroyed a lot of pasture fencing, irrigation pipe and tanks, some crops and fruit trees, a few livestock, and a storage shed. 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 this weekend again 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, chainsaws, pole saws, wheelbarrows and shovels if you have them. The air quality is improving. We have N95 masks available.

Links and information are available HERE and at the farmstand, for anyone who wishes to donate to our recovery directly OR in a fully tax deductible manner through the VI Good Food Coalition, a local non-profit farm advocacy organization who will redirect 100% of donated FARM FIRE campaign funds back to our recovery.

Incredibly, the guinea grass is resprouting after a few days of showers. The trees are showing fewer if any signs of recovery so far.

Huge thanks to the ARTfarm volunteers, fellow farmers, former employees, customers, neighbors and friends who dropped everything to join our family and members of the VI Fire Service during the initial aftermath of the blaze and dropping off meals and other kindnesses in the following days.

Wildlife and ecosystems were heavily affected by the fire, including beneficial insects that help eliminate pests.

In case you missed the information: 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.

Farmer Lindsey Simmonds was one of many volunteers who arrived with family, firefighting equipment, and muscle to help us extinguish smoldering fencing posts and plant material.

The fire took about seven hours for the VIFS to extinguish and another several days of spot-treating flareups and embers, and smoldering gate posts. Two of our teen’s beloved turkeys died from bee stings and smoke inhalation the day after the fire. 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.

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.

Plenty for All

  • Sweet salad mix
  • Sweet and spicy salad mix

Early Birds

  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Slicer tomatoes
  • Heirloom tomatoes
  • Teen arugula
  • Yams
  • Tomato seconds
  • Chinese cabbage
  • Baby bok choy
  • Baby turmeric
  • Carrots with green tops (for juicing if you like)
  • Green and red hot peppers
  • Sweet frying peppers
  • Italian basil
  • Thai basil
  • Cilantro
  • Dill
  • Parsley
  • Scallions
  • Kaffir lime leaves

We appreciate you all! See ya Wednesday 5 – 6pm!

Our beautiful heirloom and slicer tomatoes are still available! Season is coming to an end… Come and get ‘em!

ARTfarm Wednesday PM: Fire Emergency Response, OPEN Farmstand 4/2/2025, 5 – 6 PM

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.

Plenty for All

  • Sweet salad mix
  • Sweet and spicy salad mix
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Slicer tomatoes
  • Heirloom tomatoes

Early Birds

  • Yams
  • Tomato seconds
  • Chinese cabbage leaves – bunched
  • Baby bok choy
  • Baby ginger and baby turmeric
  • Carrots with green tops (for juicing if you like)
  • Green and red hot peppers
  • Sweet frying peppers
  • Italian basil
  • Thai basil
  • Cilantro
  • Dill
  • Parsley
  • Scallions
  • Kaffir lime leaves and limes (fruit)

We appreciate you all! See ya Wednesday 5 – 6pm!

Pomegranate tree in an orchard area. 😦 . . .