Tag: fall

posts between September 22nd and December 20th

ARTfarm Saturday Stand – De-stress!

A close up photo shows a flower spike on a clump of green tulsi leaves, or holy basil.
Bees love the nectar from the purple flower spikes that grow from holy basil. The plant is purported to have anti-stress medicinal qualities, and makes a refreshing ‘bush’ or herbal tea. We grow holy basil organically at ARTfarm and cut it fresh for the farmstand.

Happy ARTfarm Saturday! This morning starting at 10am we’ll have: sweet salad mix, spicy salad mix, arugula greens, mAcro greens, beets, radishes, tender young cucumbers, dandelion greens, escarole, red mustard greens, garlic chives, sage, thyme, fresh cut zinnias; Italian, Thai, lemon and holy basil, lemongrass, and local honey from Wanda and Patricia. Come out to St. Croix’s South shore this morning and enjoy the cool breeze!

Refreshing, de-stressing drink recipe:

Steep a bunch of fresh cut holy (tulsi, pictured above) basil with a bunch of lemongrass in a couple of gallons of freshly boiled water. Pull out the herbs after 10 minutes and add some local honey to taste. Enjoy hot or cold! Sip, be refreshed, be de-stressed, enjoy a local beverage! Costs pennies per serving!

Rain or shine – ARTfarm opens tomorrow (Saturday)!!

For true! ARTfarm is opening for the season tomorrow (Saturday, October 13) at 10 AM! It’s supposed to be raining buckets in the morning! We love rain! We love moisture! Come and play in some puddles with us!

Tomorrow morning’s farmstand, rain or shine, will feature iron-rich green leafy vegetables that can help build up your reserves; as Halloween is coming, is it not? We’ll have: microgreens, micro/lettuce mix (weather permitting), bunched arugula, young dandelion greens, radishes, Nam doc mai mangoes, limes, lemongrass, garlic chives, holy, italian and thai basil, local dark honey from Wanda’s friend Patricia Cabral, and zinnias.

We ate steamed radish tops with lime juice last night and they were AMAZING. And today, we were full of ENERGY…

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Soon come!

We will be open (finally!) in two weeks, Saturday, October 12th! We’ll be welcoming everyone back with lettuce greens, microgreens, basil and garlic chives, and local honey, with cucumbers, beets and arugula soon to follow.

It has been so hot this fall that we just decided to delay planting of some things so that the plants would be stronger. Like a turnaround after a long recession, the summer fallow is starting to show signs of life!

20120927-120724.jpg Things are growing quickly now that we’ve gotten a nice soaking. Summer thunderstorms have blessed us nightly with just enough rain to make the plants happy.

Tomatoes…and introducing our new pasture management team.

Five hair sheep in a paddock at ARTfarm
ARTfarm welcomes the newest members of our Pasture Management Team: Sleepy, Coco, Yooyoo, Nobby, and Whoopsie. These local hair sheep are Dorper, St. Croix White and Brazilian Nova mixes.

We are now at the point in the season where we put up the giant “TOMATOES” sign, and you’ll start to see our cherry tomatoes in local fine dining establishments!

Saturday morning’s stand will also include fresh microgreens, sweet mix, spicy mix, teen spicy, a plethora of varied cooking greens, herbs including some new ones for this season (sage! holy basil!) and your old favorites (delfino cilantro, italian, lemon and thai basils, thyme, caribbean oregano, lemongrass, garlic chives, and giant scallions!)…cucumbers, lettuce heads, and of course giant zinnia flowers, chocolates and a few baked treats!

Please call or let us know at the stand,  if you’d like to special order fresh local meats: chicken (half or whole), lamb or goat (leg, roast, cut for stew).

ARTfarm gift certificates are beautiful and make a thoughtful gift.

And in other exciting farm news, our Livestock Manager has acquired five experienced new employees (pictured above) who are charged with improving our pastures and keeping things nicely trimmed around the farm. Please join us in welcoming Coco, Sleepy, Yooyoo, Whoopsie and Nobby. They’re all expecting! Christina plans to bring them out to visit at the farmstand after they’ve had a chance to get accustomed to their new home and the staff.

Come visit the ARTfarm!