Hello, hungry stay-at-homers. Thanks to all who came out and supported us last week, we appreciate you so much. The pickups have been going amazingly smoothly and you are all to be praised! We are starting to find some equilibrium on our end with this new system. Apologies to anyone who missed an item in their box, we think one person with a large share may have missed collecting their zinnia flowers last week. Sorry about that!

Farmer Luca wants you to know that the fourth and final set of tomato plants we started for this season are starting to ripen now. Just when we thought tomato season was over, there will still be a few more to pick and share with you all soon! Wow! The unusual rains this winter have extended the season to record setting lengths for tomatoes this year.

Additionally, in deeply thrilling farm news, the first dragonfruit flower bud has appeared one of our vines; if the trend continues in another month or two there may be some beautiful dragonfruit available. Summer has not been cancelled!

And finally, just to keep you all entertained, the newest set of watermelon vines are setting handsome amounts of fruit. Some fruits are currently as small as an orange and a few are as large as ten pounds, so far. Some of the larger ones should be ready in 2-3 weeks.

Once again we will NOT BE OPEN for retail shopping on Saturday. For the foreseeable future, we are going to run socially distanced online ‘box sales’ like the last two weeks, with pre-reserved pick up shifts of 10 people max, to follow the executive orders from our territorial government and slow the spread of novel coronavirus in our island community. Plus it helps to avoid long waits, traffic issues and crowds forming.

It’s as easy as S-A-N, as in SANity!! Here’s what to do:

1.   S  is for :  Sign up with our sign-up form (link at the bottom of this here webpage).
   • Choose one pre-selected, pre-priced box of ARTfarm produce (contents listed below)
   • Choose any add-on items (limited supplies)
   • Commit to a pick-up time slot
2.   A is for :  Arrive at (or wait in your car until) your appointed time in the ARTfarm parking lot on Saturday. Too many people showing up at the same time could shut this whole thing down.
   • Bring exact change or a check to drop in the bucket – we are not handling any money.
   • Bring your own bags or box to put your produce into. We’ll place your items on the table, you’ll pack your own bags or box.
3.   N is for :  No substitutions or price adjustments. To maintain sanitation, we are not handling payments or making change.
   • We’ll do our best to give you options at pickup if we can.
   • If desired, you can refuse any unwanted items from your share and we will pass them on to another lucky customer!

We will have 16 large and 30 small ‘boxes’ of produce available (16 of those available as eight “double box” orders). You can also order and specify a neighbor, friend or family member to pick up your order, if you know another customer who is planning to order! And if you are a small family and it works for you, consider alternating between large and small from week to week to give others a shot at ordering a large box.

Box choices for Saturday, March 28th:

Small box, $15, “Just the (One or) Two Of Us”, will include:

1 bag of sweet salad mix
1 cucumber, or a radish/turnip bunch as available
1 herb bunch (random selection)
1 bag of a mix of ginger and turmeric
1 onion/scallion mini bunch

Double Small Box, $30, “Sharing is Caring But Don’t Sneeze On Me”, will include:

As listed above, but double: one for you and one for a friend. Take distribution into your own (recently washed) hands, deliver to a neighbor or loved one!

Large box, $60, “We Love Food”, will include:

2 bags of sweet salad mix
1 bag of either teen spicy salad mix or sunflower sprouts
1 bag of teen arugula
1 pint of cherry tomatoes -or- equivalent value slicer tomatoes (random selection)
1 lb. cucumbers
1 bunch of radishes
1 bunch of cooking greens
2 herb bunches (random selection)
1 sour orange
1 bag of a mix of ginger, turmeric, and seasoning peppers
4 serrano peppers and 4 Thai chili peppers
1/2 bunch of onions/scallions
3 cheerful zinnia flowers

Additional Limited Quantity Add-Ons* (please add to your total)

1 quarter chunk of watermelon: $5
1 lb. bag of slicer tomatoes: $5
1 extra bag of sweet salad mix: $6
1 bunch cooking greens (kale, collards type): $3

*we suggest bringing a few small bills to the distribution, as there may be some extras available at the last minute beyond what we predicted.

• This signup form will send you a confirmation email if submitted successfully. One order per customer, please.
• About three people reported having problems with the online signup form telling them incorrectly that they had already placed an order. A workaround one of our customers figured out (thank you!!) was to use a cellular device (smartphone or tablet) that wasn’t using WiFi internet. This worked for those who tried it.
• This signup form does NOT sign you up for a farm email subscription.
• We know a few people are going to tell us they already having ginger and turmeric left over, but mom says you should be consuming more of it to boost your immune system. You can make a ginger bug, plant some, or share it with a neighbor. Also, it freezes well. 🙂

Here’s the link to Saturday, March 28th’s SIGNUP FORM
(opens a new window).