Mexican poppy (flowering thistle, Argemone mexicana) is tolerant of drought. It is now thriving when many other plants are dying.
Hey good people, in case you missed this detail in our last post or at the distribution Saturday – we are curtailing Wednesday distributions for the time being. Things are hot, we are in a drought, the lettuce has slowed its growth and we are jumping on some infrastructure projects with funding from USDA’s NRCS and World Central Kitchen to build more resilience against climate change.
We will post on FRIDAY for SATURDAY distribution only this week and for the next few weeks. Pick your grooviest dance playlist or mix tape and do a raindance for us!!
Loaded with ARTfarm farmshares and add-ons, a Moravian basket is a beautiful, traditional Crucian marketing basket.
ETA: This farmshare pre-order signup is now closed. If you’re new, you should still read through this information to find out more about the process and the types of produce we currently have. New farmshare pre-order signups appear here and via farm email subscription, usually on Fridays around 10-11am. Stay safe, stay cool, see you soon!
Salad greens and tomatoes. With the drought encroaching we are downsizing our distributions a little early this season. There will be fewer farmshares available for the next few months (unless the weather shifts dramatically) and we may shift to pop-up stands for any remaining bursts of produce in a few more weeks. Wednesday distributions are curtailed for now.
The VI Department of Agriculture has declared what we’ve felt for several weeks: that we are officially in a drought. We’ll slow down to conserve water for longterm orchard crops and livestock, and to work on our WCK farm resilience grant project. The increased effort and resource use needed for production of fresh produce in drought conditions has diminishing returns.
Finding farm email subscriptions or pre-orders confusing? Check out our help page for some DIY tips, or contact local techie teen Wyatt B., to help you troubleshoot any email or ordering issues. You got this!!
Still not open for retail. If you’re new to ARTfarm or haven’t been to see us since before the COVID-19 pandemic began, please read on to familiarize yourself with our new socially distanced pre-order arrangements. We are not holding regular retail farmstands at this time.
Masks are STILL mandatory. Please help us protect our at-risk family members and customers!
New to ARTfarm pandemic procedures? Welcome. Here are the details:
It’s not the usual farmstands at ARTfarm since the 2020 pandemic. By popular demand, we’ve stuck with ‘pandemic’ pre-reserved pickup times in the busy season. We are only accepting pre-sized pre-orders called ‘farmshares,’ plus add-on items, with pre-reserved pickup time slots for a minimum of waiting or mingling in these COVID-19 times. (We know you’d prefer to set your own schedule and shop for just one or two items, and we’re sorry for the inconvenience. This system is to prevent our typical long tightly packed customer lines and to protect you and us, the farmers and our family, from exposure, while maximizing distribution of healthy food to the community.)
ARTfarm pandemic RULES FOR CUSTOMERS (updated, click here):
During the COVID pandemic, CUSTOMERS are required to:
READ and follow our rules and procedures. Most all questions about getting farmshare produce are already answered on this website, we are SO busy, please try to find the answer before contacting us!
be kind, be patient with us and each other, no drama please
meet an order minimum of one farmshare size
commit to a pickup time. Set a reminder for yourself. If you can’t make it, have a backup plan with a friend or neighbor. We cannot field requests for time adjustments. Three missed pickups (or two in a row) means this is not a good partnership, and we will ask that you find a farm with more flexible hours!
arrive ON TIME for your group, not early, and wait for your name to be called (we’ll generally call you in order of orders placed within your group)!! Do NOT jump your timeslot or ask to cut the line please. If you’re going to be super late or arrive after the last group starts, please send us a text at (340) 514-4873
if you or someone in your contact circle/household are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms or have recently tested positive, DO NOT attend pickup. Surviving COVID (or getting the vaccine) is not yet clinically proven to infer permanent immunity, prevent asymptomatic spread or otherwise make you “safe”. We have at-risk family members and customers. Please follow CDC guidelines if you are an ARTfarm customer. We believe in building a healthy immune system, but we don’t have a magic farm immunity bubble.
consistently maintain 10-15 feet of distance between all individuals
wear masks to keep each other safe
sanitize hands before you exit your vehicle
bring exact change or a check and pen
restrain pets near or in your vehicle, please don’t approach our pickup table with a pet or allow them to roam free in our parking lot
bring your own boxes, bags, baskets to pack up your order
wait to bag produce until we have completely assembled and totaled your order on the table
* * * Everyone goofs up once in a while, even us, and we accommodate that. But please be aware of our three strikes policy for the pre-order system. Customers who REPEATEDLY:
request a lot of help from us with the ordering and email system
contact us with questions answered on this website
interrupt our workflow before or during distributions to ask for special accommodations
ask us to ‘flex’ them in ahead of others when there is a parking lot full of people waiting patiently (who also have busy lives)
have repeated lapses, no-shows or emergencies, leaving us with unsold farmshares
bring drama, stress or bad energy
…will be asked not to order again, and instead find an alternative local producer who can better accommodate their needs.
Wait for the new order form to post, around 10-11am the day before the scheduled pickup – usually posts on Tuesdays for Wednesday afternoon pickups, and Fridays for Saturday morning pickups, but may shift for major holiday weekends
Visit artfarmllc.com or check your farm email subscription for the fresh-from-the-field weekly signup page (subscribe here). The current signup page will have a pickup date IN THE FUTURE, not already past. Check the date for freshness! If you missed the farmshare distribution posted, see step 2.
Sign up with our current online form (a unique link appearing as a button at the bottom of the weekly signup post/email)
Using the current online order form, choose a minimum of one farmshare size of pre-selected, pre-priced ARTfarm produce (contents listed below, typically small or large – in high demand times 1 share may be set as the maximum)
Commit to a pick-up time slot. This is a firm commitment!
Choose any add-on items (limited supplies of reservable things). There is also a list of ‘extras’ which are available first-come, first-served on request at pickup.
Add a comment for special requests, extras, preferences, to answer our question-of-the-day, or whatever’s on your mind
Check your email for a confirmation! (the email you used on the order form is the one you should check – it is an automated response and is sent out immediately, and may be hiding in your spam or ‘all mail’ folder. For more tips, see the troubleshooting section in yellow below)
Arrive promptly but NOT EARLY for your pickup appointment in the ARTfarm parking lot on the specified date in your confirmation email. If early, wait inside your vehicle and decide what herbs you want! Sanitize your hands when getting out of your vehicle. Please maintain plenty of space between customers, and between us and you when you approach the pickup table for your appointed pickup time. We’ll be wearing masks and require you do the same.
Bring exact change or a check to drop in the bucket – we are not handling any money. Bring your own pen for a check.
There may be extra items available to add to your box at pickup time, so you may wish to bring some extra small bills or wait to fill in your check amount. Please bring your own pen.
Bring your own bags or box to put your produce into. We’ll place your items on the sanitized table, some things will be pre-bagged, you’ll pack your own bags or box for the rest. Wait to bag until we do a final count of your items to make sure we don’t forget anything. We are trying to reduce the number of shopping bags we distribute, so please bring an extra bag, box or basket to your pickups this season.
No substitutions or price adjustments. To maintain sanitation and keep things moving, we are not swapping items, handling payments or making change. (As always we’ll be flexible where we can within reason.)
YOU ARE AWESOME for supporting our small family farm and accommodating our needs for COVID safety.
A: We are a small seasonal farm growing small amounts of over 45 different crops. Not everything is available every week, or for every distribution. We post the reservation form as soon as we have harvested all the salad greens and know how many families we can possibly serve in that distribution, and can accurately estimate the number and contents of the farmshares, add-on item quantities and extras that will be available. That way you know exactly what you are getting with only slight variations.
Q: When is the next order form going to be posted?
A: We typically post farmshare pre-order posts on Tuesday and Friday mornings between 10-11am.
Q: What do you have?
A: This question is frequently asked and makes the ARTfarmers grouchy: because it’s a long and ever-changing list, and it’s disruptive to our workflow and focus to have to stop and try to recite it over the phone, when we have a perfectly good website with this information.
The most recent signup page will have a complete list of our current offerings. You’ll find it on our homepage at artfarmllc.com. If it’s expired, it will be a close approximation of what will be available next time with seasonal changes.
Planning an event or visit to St. Croix and want to know what we’ll have on some future date? We can’t predict the future, but you can research easily on our website: Check out our “What We Grow” page.
Q: Where is the ARTfarm located?
A: To check our current farmstand hours, get directions to the farm, and other information about visiting us, read the Visit Our Farmstand page and check out the Google Map posted on every page of this website. (During the pandemic, we are CLOSED to the public and running a socially distanced pre-order system.)
Q: Can you send me a price list?
A: We do not publish price lists the way wholesalers do. Our produce is hyper-seasonal; a price list would have to change every week. We are a staff of two. Our prices are fairly consistent but certain salad greens and heirloom tomatoes may fluctuate slightly depending on availability and growing conditions. The weekly post on our homepage lists prices and availability.
Food service professionals can ask to speak with us about bulk needs, and we do sell to chefs, farms, restaurants and value added producers, but not everything we grow is available at all times or always in industrial quantities (unless planned in advance).
We can’t predict the future, but you can research easily on our website: The search box, posts archives, and tag cloud features on our website are great resources for finding out what crops we have and when: you can look at past seasons to see what we typically grow; search “winter”, “spring”,”summer” or “fall”, use our “Musty Old Posts” menu to search by month, or use our tag cloud to browse by crop.
Q: I can’t find the order link.
A: The order form link is in the post. “The post” is typically the first article you see on the Farm Blog page of our website, and will have a recent publishing date and will have the pickup date, and “signups” or “pickups” or “farmshares,” in the title. If you’re subscribed to farm emails, the post will arrive in your inbox about three seconds after we send it out.
The link to the pre-order form is always a large, bold button, at the very bottom of the current/active post/email, AFTER all the stuff you need to read before ordering, like descriptions of what is in the farmshares and information on participating in the farmshare system, and BEFORE a handy troubleshooting guide full of tips to help if you have trouble with using the order form or locating your confirmation email.
If the link says it’s expired, that is because you clicked on an old post or old email that has been closed out. New posts are published Tuesdays and Fridays. Either look for a more current post, or wait for the next one.
Q: I didn’t get my confirmation email. Can you check my order for me?
A: Sadly, no. Checking individual orders has been a huge timesuck for us and we are painfully busy this season. We just can’t anymore. Literally all customers find their confirmation email or otherwise locate and solve the issue, after asking us for a solution multiple times and finally just reading and following the troubleshooting guide provided on this site. You CAN solve this yourself.
Hopping on the computer all day long twice a week to provide IT support isn’t effective, or working for us. Besides, all the advice we have to give on the topic is below, so you’re better off saving time by just following these steps:
double check the date on the form/link you are attempting to use
confirm that you are monitoring the same email account that you typed into the form
if the automated confirmation email is not immediately found, check your spam folder AND the ‘all mail’ folder
search for an email from ‘noreply@jotform.com’
set up a filter in your email program to catch ARTfarm emails, and set it to check all your mail including the old stuff – if you don’t know how, ask a techy friend or Google it
revisit the form and make sure all required fields are filled/selected
make sure your email was typed in twice (CORRECTLY!) on the form
just try again
use a cellular device (smartphone or tablet) that isn’t using WiFi internet
restart your browser/device
clear your cache and cookies in your browser/device
reboot your router (unplug it for a minute and plug in again)
ask a friend or neighbor or computer-savvy IT person to help you
we say this gently, but if you can’t get our system to work for you, please consider supporting another one of the great local farms or markets on our island with less technical requirements. Our pandemic system isn’t for everyone.
Q: I can’t get the form to work. Can you take my order over the phone/text/email for me?
A: No. Sorry. We know it’s frustrating and the pre-COVID days were better. But we can’t do pre-orders outside of the order form. 45 orders x 10 minutes is 7.5 hours that we couldn’t spend farming or packing orders etc. etc. Please carefully re-read the instructions above, and also follow the workaround advice listed in the previous question and right above the order link, and seriously try the suggestions – especially asking a techie friend to help you out. Most customers can manage this, you can too!! 😉
Q: I’d like to change my timeslot.
A: Short answer, no.
We don’t have a dedicated receptionist, so moving people around on the schedule is time consuming and throws off our workflow.
This is a pandemic, and you are one of maybe forty to sixty custom orders per distribution.
We refuse to let quality drop, so our workload is greatly increased nowadays with additional tasks.
In the wee hours of the morning of a distribution day the customer schedule has already been printed, and we are up before dawn working continuously at an extremely brisk pace to harvest and pack until the time you see us. We aren’t available to check our phones or rearrange the schedule for you.
If you can’t make it at all, text us as soon as you know. If you can’t come during your timeslot due to a legitimate emergency, notify us and send a friend to pick up. We are absolutely sometimes running 10 minutes late in the schedule in an effort to offer more items, and most customers are patient as we catch up the groups.
Our pre-order system requires cooperation and is a lot more time-intensive for us. If our system proves not to work for you, we understand. There are other farms and farmers markets operating on St. Croix who have open retail hours available and can offer more flexibility for you. We are balancing our personal safety with providing healthy food to the community. Be kind and be mindful, please. Most of our customers respect our time and appreciate what we do and we are so grateful!
Q: I never get your Facebook posts.
A: Aaaahhh, we have no control over Mark Zuckerberg’s ever changing algorithms. We recommend visiting our website directly for farm news and pre-order posts, or better yet subscribing to farm emails. And then, checking and reading your email. 😉
Q: I went to the signup page but it was over.
A: The current signup page will have a pickup date IN THE FUTURE, not already past. Check the date for freshness! Clicking on last week’s button won’t work. If you missed this farmshare distribution posted, wait for the next one in a few days. Posts go up Tuesdays and Fridays.
Q: Can you save me some (insert highly popular item here) if I can’t get there on time?
A: Man, we really do our best to accommodate people. We try to make many items reserveable in these pandemic times. We love our customers and know many of you by name and your favorite items too! But you, special you, are one of many, many customers we are trying to serve in a very limited timeframe, and even if we say we’ll try to save you this or that, we often can’t, and we’re going to feel bad. We encourage you to put your request in the comment box of the order form, and we’ll certainly try…but keep your expectations flexible beyond your actual order.
Farmshare choices for Saturday, March 13th, 2021:
We will have 10 small farmshares, 10 medium farmshares, and 8 greens farmshares available for scheduled pickup Saturday. You can also order and specify a neighbor, friend or family member to pick up your order. The minimum order is one farmshare, and you CAN order more than one size farmshare.Add-ons and extras are not currently available independently of a farmshare purchase; to minimize community contact during the pandemic.
Medium farmshare, $32, will include:
1 bag of sweet salad mix
1 bag of teen spicy salad mix or teen arugula
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 lb. mixed heirloom and slicer tomatoes
1 bag mixed ginger and Hawaiian red turmeric
Small farmshare, $13, will include:
1 bag of sweet salad mix
1 pint cherry tomatoes
Greens farmshare, $15, will include:
1 bag of sweet salad mix
1 bag of arugula or spicy salad mix
(Add this on to another share if you like!)
Additional Limited Quantity Reservable Add-Ons*
(please add to your total)
SWEET SALAD MIX: $7 1 lb. heirloom tomatoes: $5 1 lb. slicer tomatoes (some unripe): $5 3 lbs. ‘ugly’ seconds tomatoes: $10 1 pint cherry tomatoes: $6 2 heads baby BOK CHOI: $5 1 bag fresh ginger: $3.50 1 bag red Hawaiian turmeric: $3.50 1 bag white mango turmeric: $3.50 1 bunch extra garlic chives: $2 1 bunch extra Italian basil: $2 1 bag red Thai chilis: $2 1 bag cayenne peppers: $2 1 bag sweet (frying or stuffing) peppers: $3 1 bag 10 seasoning (not-hot) trini peppers: $2 1 bag 8 seasoning (mild heat) peppers: $2
*(if these are sold out on the order form – or you’d like more than one of an item – there are often additional extras available at the time of pick-up, so if you can’t reserve, leave a note in the comments, bring some extra cash or wait to write your check total. Bring a pen.)
Extra Add-Ons (no reservations)
(Must accompany farmshare purchase, these items cannot be purchased individually. No reservations on these items, they are all first come first served during your pickup slot):
assorted SALAD GREENS: as marked
large BUTTERNUT squash: $3/lb.
whole mini BUTTERNUT: $5/bag
sliced or whole THAI PUMPKIN: $3/lb. as marked
DANDELION GREENS and Swiss CHARD: $3/bunch
1-1/2 lb. bag CUCUMBERS: $5
ZUCCHINI: $4/lb.
CARROTS with juiceable tops: $3
HERBS bunch: $2
more TOMATOES of all types: as marked
Herb bunch choices for this distribution
(Available as EXTRAS, not included in farmshares this time.)
Garlic chives
Italian basil
Thai basil
Lemon basil
Cilantro
Dill
Green onions
Kaffir lime leaves
Parsley
Rosemary
Lemongrass
Please contact us immediately by text and phone at (340)514-4873 if you have reserved a farmshare and cannot pick it up. Supply is limited, demand is extremely high and someone else will gladly purchase your share, if given enough time to respond. We have limited time for distributions and they are scheduled. Our produce is harvested fresh and needs to go home with you same day. This is an honor system since we are not collecting payment until pickup. We do not have cold storage for uncollected shares.
The signup form will show you a “Thank You” page and send you a confirmation email if submitted successfully. If you don’t find it, please check your spam/junk, inbox tabs, and ‘all mail’ folders for the confirmation email, as this has been a common problem for several customers and with a little searching they typically find it. For more tips, visit our Help page.
Need help with the pre-order signup form? (Click here): Q: I can’t seem to order more than one item.
A: We have designed our order form limit any one customer from cleaning us out. Sharing is caring. If you’d like extra of something (beyond what you could reserve through our order system), put it in the comments with your order, and remind us at your pickup time: if we can supply it to you we’ll do our best. If you are in the food service industry and looking for bulk availability, please contact us; our order form is for individuals and families to place a single order for a scheduled pickup.
Q: My order isn’t going through.
if the automated confirmation email is not immediately found, check your spam folder
and the ‘all mail’ folder
make sure all required fields are filled/selected
just try again
use a cellular device (smartphone or tablet) that isn’t using WiFi internet
restart your browser/device
clear your cache and cookies in your browser/device
reboot your router (unplug it for a minute and plug in again)
Q: The form says I didn’t enter my email, but I did.
Our pre-order form requires everyone to type their email in twice, and makes sure the two match exactly. We had a lot of customers in such a rush to get their order in that they’d spell their own email incorrectly and then complain that they could not find the confirmation email. Our ‘type it in twice’ system ensures that you’ll find any email mistakes before you submit the pre-order form.
Q: I ordered before, but I’m not getting your emails.
Our pre-order form does NOT automatically sign you up for an ARTfarm email subscription. Do that HERE!
ETA: This farmshare pre-order signup is now closed. If you’re new, you should still read through this information to find out more about the process and the types of produce we currently have. New farmshare pre-order signups appear here and via farm email subscription, usually on Fridays around 10-11am. Stay safe, stay cool, see you soon!
The VI Department of Agriculture has issued a bulletin for livestock owners to stay on top of animal care in our current drought conditions. The St. Croix White sheep (and Senepol cattle) have some tolerance for grazing dry forage, but all animals (including us) need clean fresh water at all times.
The VI Department of Agriculture has declared what we’ve felt for several weeks: that we are officially in a drought. We’ll have salad greens, tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, cukes, pumpkin, and herbs etc. for several more weeks, but anticipate an earlier start to our ‘off season’ this spring to conserve water for longterm orchard crops and livestock, and to work on our WCK farm resilience grant project. The increased effort and resource use needed for production of fresh produce in drought conditions has diminishing returns.
The Fiddlewood Farm alpine dairy goats will be starting their summer maternity leave soon. Enjoy some of the last fresh goat cheese this week for a while.
Finding farm email subscriptions or pre-orders confusing? Check out our help page for some DIY tips, or contact local techie teen Wyatt B., to help you troubleshoot any email or ordering issues. You got this!!
Still not open for retail. If you’re new to ARTfarm or haven’t been to see us since before the COVID-19 pandemic began, please read on to familiarize yourself with our new socially distanced pre-order arrangements. We are not holding regular retail farmstands at this time.
Masks are STILL mandatory. Please help us protect our at-risk family members and customers!
New to ARTfarm pandemic procedures? Welcome. Here are the details:
It’s not the usual farmstands at ARTfarm since the 2020 pandemic. By popular demand, we’ve stuck with ‘pandemic’ pre-reserved pickup times in the busy season. We are only accepting pre-sized pre-orders called ‘farmshares,’ plus add-on items, with pre-reserved pickup time slots for a minimum of waiting or mingling in these COVID-19 times. (We know you’d prefer to set your own schedule and shop for just one or two items, and we’re sorry for the inconvenience. This system is to prevent our typical long tightly packed customer lines and to protect you and us, the farmers and our family, from exposure, while maximizing distribution of healthy food to the community.)
ARTfarm pandemic RULES FOR CUSTOMERS (updated, click here):
During the COVID pandemic, CUSTOMERS are required to:
READ and follow our rules and procedures. Most all questions about getting farmshare produce are already answered on this website, we are SO busy, please try to find the answer before contacting us!
be kind, be patient with us and each other, no drama please
meet an order minimum of one farmshare size
commit to a pickup time. Set a reminder for yourself. If you can’t make it, have a backup plan with a friend or neighbor. We cannot field requests for time adjustments. Three missed pickups (or two in a row) means this is not a good partnership, and we will ask that you find a farm with more flexible hours!
arrive ON TIME for your group, not early, and wait for your name to be called (we’ll generally call you in order of orders placed within your group)!! Do NOT jump your timeslot or ask to cut the line please. If you’re going to be super late or arrive after the last group starts, please send us a text at (340) 514-4873
if you or someone in your contact circle/household are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms or have recently tested positive, DO NOT attend pickup. Surviving COVID (or getting the vaccine) is not yet clinically proven to infer permanent immunity, prevent asymptomatic spread or otherwise make you “safe”. We have at-risk family members and customers. Please follow CDC guidelines if you are an ARTfarm customer. We believe in building a healthy immune system, but we don’t have a magic farm immunity bubble.
consistently maintain 10-15 feet of distance between all individuals
wear masks to keep each other safe
sanitize hands before you exit your vehicle
bring exact change or a check and pen
restrain pets near or in your vehicle, please don’t approach our pickup table with a pet or allow them to roam free in our parking lot
bring your own boxes, bags, baskets to pack up your order
wait to bag produce until we have completely assembled and totaled your order on the table
* * * Everyone goofs up once in a while, even us, and we accommodate that. But please be aware of our three strikes policy for the pre-order system. Customers who REPEATEDLY:
request a lot of help from us with the ordering and email system
contact us with questions answered on this website
interrupt our workflow before or during distributions to ask for special accommodations
ask us to ‘flex’ them in ahead of others when there is a parking lot full of people waiting patiently (who also have busy lives)
have repeated lapses, no-shows or emergencies, leaving us with unsold farmshares
bring drama, stress or bad energy
…will be asked not to order again, and instead find an alternative local producer who can better accommodate their needs.
Wait for the new order form to post, around 10-11am the day before the scheduled pickup – usually posts on Tuesdays for Wednesday afternoon pickups, and Fridays for Saturday morning pickups, but may shift for major holiday weekends
Visit artfarmllc.com or check your farm email subscription for the fresh-from-the-field weekly signup page (subscribe here). The current signup page will have a pickup date IN THE FUTURE, not already past. Check the date for freshness! If you missed the farmshare distribution posted, see step 2.
Sign up with our current online form (a unique link appearing as a button at the bottom of the weekly signup post/email)
Using the current online order form, choose a minimum of one farmshare size of pre-selected, pre-priced ARTfarm produce (contents listed below, typically small or large – in high demand times 1 share may be set as the maximum)
Commit to a pick-up time slot. This is a firm commitment!
Choose any add-on items (limited supplies of reservable things). There is also a list of ‘extras’ which are available first-come, first-served on request at pickup.
Add a comment for special requests, extras, preferences, to answer our question-of-the-day, or whatever’s on your mind
Check your email for a confirmation! (the email you used on the order form is the one you should check – it is an automated response and is sent out immediately, and may be hiding in your spam or ‘all mail’ folder. For more tips, see the troubleshooting section in yellow below)
Arrive promptly but NOT EARLY for your pickup appointment in the ARTfarm parking lot on the specified date in your confirmation email. If early, wait inside your vehicle and decide what herbs you want! Sanitize your hands when getting out of your vehicle. Please maintain plenty of space between customers, and between us and you when you approach the pickup table for your appointed pickup time. We’ll be wearing masks and require you do the same.
Bring exact change or a check to drop in the bucket – we are not handling any money. Bring your own pen for a check.
There may be extra items available to add to your box at pickup time, so you may wish to bring some extra small bills or wait to fill in your check amount. Please bring your own pen.
Bring your own bags or box to put your produce into. We’ll place your items on the sanitized table, some things will be pre-bagged, you’ll pack your own bags or box for the rest. Wait to bag until we do a final count of your items to make sure we don’t forget anything. We are trying to reduce the number of shopping bags we distribute, so please bring an extra bag, box or basket to your pickups this season.
No substitutions or price adjustments. To maintain sanitation and keep things moving, we are not swapping items, handling payments or making change. (As always we’ll be flexible where we can within reason.)
YOU ARE AWESOME for supporting our small family farm and accommodating our needs for COVID safety.
A: We are a small seasonal farm growing small amounts of over 45 different crops. Not everything is available every week, or for every distribution. We post the reservation form as soon as we have harvested all the salad greens and know how many families we can possibly serve in that distribution, and can accurately estimate the number and contents of the farmshares, add-on item quantities and extras that will be available. That way you know exactly what you are getting with only slight variations.
Q: When is the next order form going to be posted?
A: We typically post farmshare pre-order posts on Tuesday and Friday mornings between 10-11am.
Q: What do you have?
A: This question is frequently asked and makes the ARTfarmers grouchy: because it’s a long and ever-changing list, and it’s disruptive to our workflow and focus to have to stop and try to recite it over the phone, when we have a perfectly good website with this information.
The most recent signup page will have a complete list of our current offerings. You’ll find it on our homepage at artfarmllc.com. If it’s expired, it will be a close approximation of what will be available next time with seasonal changes.
Planning an event or visit to St. Croix and want to know what we’ll have on some future date? We can’t predict the future, but you can research easily on our website: Check out our “What We Grow” page.
Q: Where is the ARTfarm located?
A: To check our current farmstand hours, get directions to the farm, and other information about visiting us, read the Visit Our Farmstand page and check out the Google Map posted on every page of this website. (During the pandemic, we are CLOSED to the public and running a socially distanced pre-order system.)
Q: Can you send me a price list?
A: We do not publish price lists the way wholesalers do. Our produce is hyper-seasonal; a price list would have to change every week. We are a staff of two. Our prices are fairly consistent but certain salad greens and heirloom tomatoes may fluctuate slightly depending on availability and growing conditions. The weekly post on our homepage lists prices and availability.
Food service professionals can ask to speak with us about bulk needs, and we do sell to chefs, farms, restaurants and value added producers, but not everything we grow is available at all times or always in industrial quantities (unless planned in advance).
We can’t predict the future, but you can research easily on our website: The search box, posts archives, and tag cloud features on our website are great resources for finding out what crops we have and when: you can look at past seasons to see what we typically grow; search “winter”, “spring”,”summer” or “fall”, use our “Musty Old Posts” menu to search by month, or use our tag cloud to browse by crop.
Q: I can’t find the order link.
A: The order form link is in the post. “The post” is typically the first article you see on the Farm Blog page of our website, and will have a recent publishing date and will have the pickup date, and “signups” or “pickups” or “farmshares,” in the title. If you’re subscribed to farm emails, the post will arrive in your inbox about three seconds after we send it out.
The link to the pre-order form is always a large, bold button, at the very bottom of the current/active post/email, AFTER all the stuff you need to read before ordering, like descriptions of what is in the farmshares and information on participating in the farmshare system, and BEFORE a handy troubleshooting guide full of tips to help if you have trouble with using the order form or locating your confirmation email.
If the link says it’s expired, that is because you clicked on an old post or old email that has been closed out. New posts are published Tuesdays and Fridays. Either look for a more current post, or wait for the next one.
Q: I didn’t get my confirmation email. Can you check my order for me?
A: Sadly, no. Checking individual orders has been a huge timesuck for us and we are painfully busy this season. We just can’t anymore. Literally all customers find their confirmation email or otherwise locate and solve the issue, after asking us for a solution multiple times and finally just reading and following the troubleshooting guide provided on this site. You CAN solve this yourself.
Hopping on the computer all day long twice a week to provide IT support isn’t effective, or working for us. Besides, all the advice we have to give on the topic is below, so you’re better off saving time by just following these steps:
double check the date on the form/link you are attempting to use
confirm that you are monitoring the same email account that you typed into the form
if the automated confirmation email is not immediately found, check your spam folder AND the ‘all mail’ folder
search for an email from ‘noreply@jotform.com’
set up a filter in your email program to catch ARTfarm emails, and set it to check all your mail including the old stuff – if you don’t know how, ask a techy friend or Google it
revisit the form and make sure all required fields are filled/selected
make sure your email was typed in twice (CORRECTLY!) on the form
just try again
use a cellular device (smartphone or tablet) that isn’t using WiFi internet
restart your browser/device
clear your cache and cookies in your browser/device
reboot your router (unplug it for a minute and plug in again)
ask a friend or neighbor or computer-savvy IT person to help you
we say this gently, but if you can’t get our system to work for you, please consider supporting another one of the great local farms or markets on our island with less technical requirements. Our pandemic system isn’t for everyone.
Q: I can’t get the form to work. Can you take my order over the phone/text/email for me?
A: No. Sorry. We know it’s frustrating and the pre-COVID days were better. But we can’t do pre-orders outside of the order form. 45 orders x 10 minutes is 7.5 hours that we couldn’t spend farming or packing orders etc. etc. Please carefully re-read the instructions above, and also follow the workaround advice listed in the previous question and right above the order link, and seriously try the suggestions – especially asking a techie friend to help you out. Most customers can manage this, you can too!! 😉
Q: I’d like to change my timeslot.
A: Short answer, no.
We don’t have a dedicated receptionist, so moving people around on the schedule is time consuming and throws off our workflow.
This is a pandemic, and you are one of maybe forty to sixty custom orders per distribution.
We refuse to let quality drop, so our workload is greatly increased nowadays with additional tasks.
In the wee hours of the morning of a distribution day the customer schedule has already been printed, and we are up before dawn working continuously at an extremely brisk pace to harvest and pack until the time you see us. We aren’t available to check our phones or rearrange the schedule for you.
If you can’t make it at all, text us as soon as you know. If you can’t come during your timeslot due to a legitimate emergency, notify us and send a friend to pick up. We are absolutely sometimes running 10 minutes late in the schedule in an effort to offer more items, and most customers are patient as we catch up the groups.
Our pre-order system requires cooperation and is a lot more time-intensive for us. If our system proves not to work for you, we understand. There are other farms and farmers markets operating on St. Croix who have open retail hours available and can offer more flexibility for you. We are balancing our personal safety with providing healthy food to the community. Be kind and be mindful, please. Most of our customers respect our time and appreciate what we do and we are so grateful!
Q: I never get your Facebook posts.
A: Aaaahhh, we have no control over Mark Zuckerberg’s ever changing algorithms. We recommend visiting our website directly for farm news and pre-order posts, or better yet subscribing to farm emails. And then, checking and reading your email. 😉
Q: I went to the signup page but it was over.
A: The current signup page will have a pickup date IN THE FUTURE, not already past. Check the date for freshness! Clicking on last week’s button won’t work. If you missed this farmshare distribution posted, wait for the next one in a few days. Posts go up Tuesdays and Fridays.
Q: Can you save me some (insert highly popular item here) if I can’t get there on time?
A: Man, we really do our best to accommodate people. We try to make many items reserveable in these pandemic times. We love our customers and know many of you by name and your favorite items too! But you, special you, are one of many, many customers we are trying to serve in a very limited timeframe, and even if we say we’ll try to save you this or that, we often can’t, and we’re going to feel bad. We encourage you to put your request in the comment box of the order form, and we’ll certainly try…but keep your expectations flexible beyond your actual order.
Farmshare choices for Wednesday, March 10th, 2021:
We will have 15 small farmshares, 10 medium farmshares, and 10 greens farmshares available for scheduled pickup Wednesday. You can also order and specify a neighbor, friend or family member to pick up your order. The minimum order is one farmshare, and you CAN order more than one size farmshare.Add-ons and extras are not currently available independently of a farmshare purchase; to minimize community contact during the pandemic.
Medium farmshare, $28, will include:
1 bag of sweet salad mix
1 bag of teen spicy salad mix or teen arugula
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 lb. mixed heirloom and slicer tomatoes
Small farmshare, $13, will include:
1 bag of sweet salad mix
1 pint cherry tomatoes
Greens farmshare, $15, will include:
1 bag of sweet salad mix
1 bag of arugula or spicy salad mix
(Add this on to another share if you like!)
Additional Limited Quantity Reservable Add-Ons*
(please add to your total)
SWEET SALAD MIX: $7 Fiddlewood Farms FRESH LOCAL GOAT CHEESE: $9 1 lb. heirloom tomatoes: $5 1 lb. slicer tomatoes: $5 3 lbs. ‘ugly’ seconds tomatoes: $10 1 pint cherry tomatoes: $6 2 heads baby BOK CHOI: $5 1 bag fresh ginger: $3.50 1 bag red Hawaiian turmeric: $3.50 1 bag white mango turmeric: $3.50 1 bunch extra garlic chives: $2 1 bunch extra Italian basil: $2 1 bag red Thai chilis: $2 1 bag ancho (smoky) peppers: $3 1 bag sweet (frying or stuffing) peppers: $3 1 bag 10 seasoning (not-hot) trini peppers: $2 1 bag 8 seasoning (mild heat) peppers: $2
*(if these are sold out on the order form – or you’d like more than one of an item – there are often additional extras available at the time of pick-up, so if you can’t reserve, leave a note in the comments, bring some extra cash or wait to write your check total. Bring a pen.)
Extra Add-Ons (no reservations)
(Must accompany farmshare purchase, these items cannot be purchased individually. No reservations on these items, they are all first come first served during your pickup slot):
assorted SALAD GREENS: as marked
RADICCHIO: $3-4 per head as marked
large BUTTERNUT squash: $3/lb.
whole mini BUTTERNUT: $5/bag
sliced or whole THAI PUMPKIN: $3/lb. as marked
DANDELION GREENS and Swiss CHARD: $3/bunch
1-1/2 lb. bag CUCUMBERS: $5
ZUCCHINI: $4/lb.
CARROTS with juiceable tops: $3
HERBS bunch: $2
more TOMATOES of all types: as marked
Herb bunch choices for this distribution
(Available as EXTRAS, not included in farmshares this time.)
Garlic chives
Italian basil
Thai basil
Lemon basil
Cilantro
Dill
Green onions
Kaffir lime leaves
Parsley
Rosemary
Lemongrass
Please contact us immediately by text and phone at (340)514-4873 if you have reserved a farmshare and cannot pick it up. Supply is limited, demand is extremely high and someone else will gladly purchase your share, if given enough time to respond. We have limited time for distributions and they are scheduled. Our produce is harvested fresh and needs to go home with you same day. This is an honor system since we are not collecting payment until pickup. We do not have cold storage for uncollected shares.
The signup form will show you a “Thank You” page and send you a confirmation email if submitted successfully. If you don’t find it, please check your spam/junk, inbox tabs, and ‘all mail’ folders for the confirmation email, as this has been a common problem for several customers and with a little searching they typically find it. For more tips, visit our Help page.
Need help with the pre-order signup form? (Click here): Q: I can’t seem to order more than one item.
A: We have designed our order form limit any one customer from cleaning us out. Sharing is caring. If you’d like extra of something (beyond what you could reserve through our order system), put it in the comments with your order, and remind us at your pickup time: if we can supply it to you we’ll do our best. If you are in the food service industry and looking for bulk availability, please contact us; our order form is for individuals and families to place a single order for a scheduled pickup.
Q: My order isn’t going through.
if the automated confirmation email is not immediately found, check your spam folder
and the ‘all mail’ folder
make sure all required fields are filled/selected
just try again
use a cellular device (smartphone or tablet) that isn’t using WiFi internet
restart your browser/device
clear your cache and cookies in your browser/device
reboot your router (unplug it for a minute and plug in again)
Q: The form says I didn’t enter my email, but I did.
Our pre-order form requires everyone to type their email in twice, and makes sure the two match exactly. We had a lot of customers in such a rush to get their order in that they’d spell their own email incorrectly and then complain that they could not find the confirmation email. Our ‘type it in twice’ system ensures that you’ll find any email mistakes before you submit the pre-order form.
Q: I ordered before, but I’m not getting your emails.
Our pre-order form does NOT automatically sign you up for an ARTfarm email subscription. Do that HERE!
It’s time for an ARTfarm update! Lots of people have been asking when we’ll reopen, and we’ve been busy as bees since we last posted on June 1st.
Long story short: We are aiming to open early November 2018 and hope to see you at our farmstand. Thanks for your patience.
The farm is currently under an unprecedented siege of army worm caterpillars, who are eating many of our vegetable and fruit vine seedlings to below the soil level, which may delay our opening unpredictably. Yikes! So more updates, and a firm farm opening date, soon come!
Short story long, for the ARTfarm news junkies: Read on below for the summer/fall “recap” all in one newsy post. With photos!
We were all depleted after Hurricane Maria.
By the end of the 2017-2018 farming season, which started relentlessly after Hurricane Maria and continued unabatedly active for nine months, we were VI Strong but also exhausted and stressed, like many islanders in the post-storm recovery process. We were demoralized by the lack of disaster resources and by the growing evidence in the scientific community confirming what we’ve been feeling on the backs of our necks: the looming spectre of climate change accelerating.
With our fruitless applications for disaster relief denied, a powerful drought killing off the post-storm vegetation boom, and the loss of most of the fruit trees in ours and our friends’ orchards that would have provided the usual mangoes and avocados for us to sell over the summer, we decided to close early for the season in late spring of 2018, and work on storm recovery and our health.
Luca reflecting on one of his older paintings on display at CMCA in May 2018 – the Senepol show. Christina also had works in this show.
In May, art lifted us a bit. Luca and Christina both participated in group art shows, primarily using previous works from our own and private collections.
One of our new layer chicks being socialized by our poultry wrangler.
And we picked up seven baby chicks at the Ag Fair to replenish our layer hen population on the farm.
Visiting friend Duvan lifted our spirits and got us to the beach!
We also had a farm volunteer (our old friend Duvan from art school days) come and stay with us for over a month in May and June. He completely rebuilt our rickety blue farm cart that was on the brink of oblivion, painted things that needed painting, cleaned up and organized post-storm disaster areas of the farm (like piles of mashed-up stuff around tool sheds), repaired a gaping hole in the farmstand, constructed a new rat-proof chicken coop for the new baby chicks, and many other useful helpful things. He reminded us to do yoga and breathe and hit the beach and celebrate life and eat good things and make a little art every day. Thank you, Duvan, for helping us start to get our joy back!
Farmer Luca with lots and lots of ginger! Big end-of-season harvest for seed stock and making drinks!
We had a bit of good news in June, when despite the dry conditions, some of our dragonfruit vines began to recover from storm damage and produce a few fruits. We weren’t sure they would produce again after being knocked down and righted, but they did!
Also in June, Farmer Luca harvested over a hundred pounds of organically grown ginger, which he mostly sold to restaurants, in particular Chef Isumyah at Vegetarian Creation in Barron Spot Mall (she and her family make a ginger-tumeric elixir tonic that is incredible!). We participated in more group art shows.
Opheeeeeeeeee-liaaa! The curious peahen.
And a very friendly peahen we christened “Ophelia” showed up one day, and adopted us and our new baby chicks as her own.
Brushfire on the West side of Great Pond Bay near the Boy Scout Camp. VIFS suspected this was set by an individual. It quickly hopped the road and burned rapidly to the west.
Hot ash, lit cinders and smoke filled the air over the farm for two days as the fire continued to advance toward us.
But, the drought continued. We had some major brushfires on the South Shore in early June, started by humans at Great Pond Bay.
Big props to Faye Williams, our NRCS rep from USDA, who came out and inspected our newly erected EQIP fencing, and “Cheech” Thomas who brought heavy machinery and helped cut emergency firebreaks, in the early evening of June 8th as the flames, live cinders, ashes and thick smoke upwind of us threatened the farm and clouded the air. VI Fire Service came through for us again, helped by miraculous last minute rain showers.
July was spent completing the restoration of fences that were destroyed by utility poles that fell in Hurricane Maria, and finishing more pasture division fencing for NRCS. Huge thanks to superARTfarmer Bob Boyan who did an incredible amount of work on that project. It’s beautiful.
Dividing pastures supports soil conservation, and prevents soil erosion, by aiding the farmer to keep livestock OFF of most of the grass, most of the time, so the sward can recover quickly from grazing, instead of getting eaten down to the bare soil. This rotational grazing also helps foil livestock-killing predators, gives the livestock a more varied diet, and greatly aids in keeping them free from parasites, so much less veterinary treatment is needed to keep them healthy. (Brush fires can destroy this expensive and labor intensive fencing.)
Our layer hens were all killed by unusually aggressive mongoose attacks over the summer. RIP girls.
Throughout June, July and August, despite our prevention efforts, we lost all of our layer chickens who survived the direct hit of Hurricane Maria – one by one – to mongoose predation. Farmer Luca said, “I’m pretty sure there was something different about this summer for that to happen, because we’ve been raising chickens the same way for 15 years, and this is the first time we’ve had such intense attacks from mongoose on adult birds.” We believe the mongoose were extra desperate this summer for any kind of food during the drought conditions that started in March. It is possible that the omnivorous introduced predator’s population exploded post-Maria, with all the available food that grew from the lush post-storm vegetation growth, later putting intense pressure on our poultry when the drought began killing off the boom in the mongoose’s natural food sources.
Our young “Viequen Butterball” mango that survived Maria fruited for the second time, and gave us about five fruits. A few pineapples came ripe, but not enough to open the farmstand with. We made salad mix a few more times for the tail end of the last lettuce still growing, just for the family.
Famer Luca and Farmer Dennis Nash discuss the construction of water-conserving Hugel beds at ARTfarm.
ARTfarmers prepping drip irrigation on a heavily mulched Hugel bed for watermelon and coconut. Fall 2018.
Farmer Luca made six large new half-buried Hugelkultur beds in July with downed tree debris, which he is getting more and more excited about. He successfully grew watermelons all summer long in an older Hugel bed, and the same watermelon plants survived more than three times as long as they normally do. (Vines that were planted in March – at the beginning of the drought period – have continuously produced melons since May – through October and beyond! This is unheard of!) These permaculture beds require less watering than regular garden beds, as the rotting wood at their center holds water like a sponge, creates positive rhizomal activity, and sinks carbon by naturally composting large masses of storm brush piles.
An interesting side-effect of composting for Farmer Luca is painting from the visuals of the colorful contents of the bins. An appreciation for the contribution of these lifeforms.
We have spent the summer, particularly in August, composting wood chips (from hurricane debris) and brewer’s grain waste product from Leatherback Brewing Co., along with composting lots of fish and lobster carcasses from local restaurants, and fish scales and fish guts from the La Reine fish and farmers’ market.
Just through the bacterial activity (aided by the farmer’s tinkering to get the perfect air and moisture conditions), we’ve been able to get our compost pile temperatures up to a blazing 160°F! The more of this composting we do, the more we can eliminate the purchase and shipping of ANY organic soil amendments or fertilizers. This means LESS carbon footprint. Our goal on the farm is always to eliminate fossil fuel intensive shipping, and close the nutrient loop.
PBS film crew with host LaVaughn Belle in the ARTbarn, interviewing Farmer/Artist Luca about his inspiration.
Luca had one last hurrah in the storm-halved ARTbarn gallery, when local artist LaVaughn Belle came out to interview him with a film crew for a new program she is hosting for our local PBS station about local St. Croix artists and their inspirations. We’re looking forward to the announcement of the title and air date of the show, and will post it to our website!
August is also that time of year when we normally prepare soil and start lots of vegetable seedlings for the season. It has been another extreme and unusual drought this spring and summer of 2018. Rainfall at ARTfarm has been way below average, we’ve lost a few more trees, and the radiant heat coming out of the hard-baked soil has been intense, making the brushfire risk high. So we hesitated to start the season at the usual start date.
In late August it was finally often raining heavily. But… Unfortunately the rain was consistently falling about two miles northwest of the farm, while missing us entirely. So, we contracted the VI Department of Agriculture to bring some of that rain back east to us in a pair of ‘portable rainclouds’: shiny tanker trucks. The 9,000 gallons they delivered will last us about nine days in season when we are irrigating row crops twice daily, possibly less if weather conditions of extreme heat and dryness cause more evaporation and transpiration. So we are working on even more ways to conserve our water use than the highly efficient drip irrigation we’ve been using for years.
Farm irrigation water delivery to ARTfarm with a new tanker truck, some familiar faces and some new employees.
Thanks to the operators at VIDAg, who also expertly managed this second gigantic tanker truck on our busy road.
Thank you to the awesome VI Department of Agriculture, for sending trucks out quickly! Their administrative buildings are still completely without a roof. Please ask your favorite candidates in the upcoming election how they plan to support agriculture in the Virgin Islands.
…and then it was gone. ARTbarn preventatively demolished during the height of the storm season.
September graced the Caribbean with more much needed rain, but plenty of PTSD: multiple massive hurricanes looming on the satellites. Sadly, it was time to fully demolish the unstable ARTbarn gallery building that was mostly destroyed in Hurricane Maria. (We are continuing to raise funds to rebuild our ARTbarn gallery as well as our destroyed seedling house to better shelter, steward and serve our customers and our seedlings!)
In the end, the 2018 hurricane season brought us no direct damaging hits, but a number of good soaking rains totaling close to 3 inches. But still not enough major rain events to fill our pond reservoirs. So we are behind on rainfall collection for this coming season.
A mostly empty water catchment pond with a flush of water hyacinth blooming.
Our pond storage system can hold an estimated half a million gallons and is normally replenished by spring and fall rains to at least 80% capacity at the start of the dry winter season. As of the end of September we had an estimated 175,000 gallons, or roughly 35% of capacity.
We also nurtured our ginger and turmeric plants and our badly storm-injured papaya grove, also spent time caring for our mango fruit trees and of course our dragonfruit. We also successfully grew onions all year long which was one of Luca’s goals.
ARTfarmers collecting sargassum seaweed on the south shore for various farm uses.
Ruminants need salt added to their diet to thrive. Sargassum seaweed is rich in salt and minerals and our sheep take to it quickly.
The end of summer into fall saw tons of sargassum seaweed washing up on the shores of St. Croix. It is a great soil amendment. We like to harvest it fresh out of the sea with baskets to avoid excess sand. Then we pick through it and remove all plastics. Finally, the seaweed can be fed directly to our sheep for mineral supplementation, or composted, or placed in Hugel beds, or used as mulch in the bottom of pots for young saplings.
Farmer Luca is also a surfcasting fisherman. A young permit he caught and released.
And of course, going to the beach brings Luca all kinds of inspiration.
Farmer Christina really doesn’t care for heights. But it is kind of peaceful up there on the greenhouse roof, sweating away in the blazing sun.
Lots of odd rainbows this fall with blessed rain showers passing with greater frequency. Luca and friends reassembling the roof of the greenhouse.
In early October with the bulk of the storm season behind us, we decided to replace the plastic sheeting on the greenhouse roof to enable more rain catchment.
We’ve been seeding and planting like crazy, but stymied by the intense pressure from caterpillars. We’re noticing a lack of the typical predator insects on the farm like Jack Spaniard wasps to control the army worms and other crop-destroying insects. There is a loss of equilibrium, and we are patiently waiting for it to return to balance.
Farmer Luca concludes: “We’ve been selling to a few restaurants and a few chefs over the summer, but for the most part we have been growing for ourselves while we organize and prepare for the future. We struggled with the drought this summer and that made us quite nervous about growing this coming season, but we are now at 30% rainwater storage capacity (normally we’d be at around 80% at this time of year). Which is not good but at least we can start the season with the water we have. And hopefully we’ll get more rain. Do a rain dance for us! See everybody soon!”
ARTfarm on St. Croix, USVI 