ARTfarm Saturday Excitement!

ARTfarm is open this morning on the South Shore from 10 AM – 12 noon. We still have a broad range of items at this cool time of year, so come out and get your fresh greens and produce for the week ahead! Today we have tons of cherry tomatoes, lots of heirloom and slicer tomatoes, sweet salad mix, microgreens, teen and baby spicy salad mix, teen arugula, a few young cucumbers, kale, dandelion greens, yard long beans, beets, onions, scallions, carrots, cilantro, dill, chives, mint, Italian basil, lemon basil, holy basil, Thai basil, parsley, thyme, rosemary, Mediterranean figs, freshly harvested ginger root, passionfruit, mangoes, and fresh-cut zinnia flowers.

From our partners: Wanda of the Wright Apiary will be on hand today for the sampling and sale of handmade honey meads in a range of amazing fruit infusions. She also has a fantastic honey mustard dressing/marinade in different configurations to suit your taste. Personally we love the “zesty” version with lots of garlic in it! Bees are a huge part of our success in the gardens, honey products are just the icing on the cake.

We also have a fresh batch of I-Sha’s homemade vegan coconut-based ice creams coming in today in local fruit flavors, ready to enjoy in a perfect little one scoop size. Bring a little cooler and some ice and take home a few for a great ending to a locally sourced meal! The coconuts are locally harvested and processed for the ice cream, not from a can! A serious labor of love!

Speaking of love, we love you guys and appreciate your continued encouragement of our efforts to grow organically and sustainably. Thanks for being a part of what we do, we could not continue without our wonderful and supportive customers.

Don’t forget about the 44th Annual Orchid Show open at the Great Hall at UVI today!

A pair of lavender, purple-spotted orchid flowers spread their roots across the bark of a plum tree.
Farmer Luca’s mom, Valeria, is a talented cultivator of tree orchids. Visitors who stay at her vacation rental at the ARTfarm (LongfordHideaway.com) enjoy discovering all the orchids in the trees around the property!

Presidential Farmstand, 3-6pm Today

“It will not be doubted that with reference either to individual or national welfare, agriculture is of primary importance.” – President George Washington

“Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most wedded to its liberty and interests, by the most lasting bonds.” – President Thomas Jefferson

“The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.” – President Franklin D. Roosevelt from the Letter to all State Governors on a Uniform Soil Conservation Law (February 26, 1937)

ARTfarm is open today at our regular Monday 3-6 time and place on South Shore Road: Sweet salad mix, spicy salad mix, arugula, microgreens, sweet corn, loads of cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, chili peppers, sweet peppers, Italian basil, holy basil, garlic chives, cilantro, fresh ginger root, loads of Julie mangoes, and loads of sweet Mediterranean figs!

From our partner we have I-Sha’s vegan coconut cream ice cream in local fruit flavors!
IMG_8276.JPGWe hope everyone has spent some enjoyable time at the Ag Fair this weekend! The fair is still open today if you haven’t had a chance to get your local-flavor-farm-groove on yet! Go, ride the rides, eat yummy local foods, enjoy the great wares and crafts of artists and vendors, look at all the school projects, get your groove on with some great local bands, ride the soul train, pet baby animals, smell the pigs, and check out all the plants and produce!

Happy Valentine’s Day from ARTfarm, 10-12 Saturday. You Look RADISHING My Dear!

Red onions are red,
The skies are blue,
If you seek a special Valentine treat,
We’ve got a lot of figs for you!

Mediterranean figs grown at ARTfarm! A romantic treat for yourself or a loved one!
Mediterranean figs grown at ARTfarm! A romantic treat for yourself or a loved one!

We have a lot of beautiful RED and PINK things from the farm to make a special Valentine meal or gift for yourself or someone else that you love dearly. What could be a more meaningful and romantic way to say “I love you (and want you to be healthy and live a long time)” than to offer lovingly grown, freshly harvested farm food?

Brilliant red radicchio, perfect for a valentine's day salad.
Brilliant red radicchio, perfect for dressing up a Valentine’s Day salad.

Mediterranean figs are nature’s bonbons. When ripe they are so tender and delicate that the velvety, paper thin skin needs to be handled with kid gloves. Inside you’ll find pastel shades of pink, or gold, or even a deep ruby red, depending on the variety. They are fragrant and flavorful in a contemplative way, so they are best enjoyed out of hand when on the beach at sunrise, in a candlelit bath, or over the pages of a slow burn, sensuous novel or some poetry.

Today’s Valentines to you, our BELOVED customers: Sweet salad mix with RED leaf lettuce, teen spicy salad mix with PURPLE mustard greens, baby spicy salad mix with RED mustard greens, teen arugula, baby arugula, microgreens with RED amaranth, sweet sweet SWEETHEART corn, RED beets, carrots, RED and white bulb onions, RED radishes, scallions, PURPLE yard long beans, sweet bell peppers, RED HOT chili peppers, kale, dandelion greens with RED stems, Italian basil, holy (Tulsi) and Thai basil with PURPLE flowers, lemon basil, cilantro, parsley, garlic chives, dill, mint, thyme, fresh harvested SPICY ginger, escarole, RED radicchio, PASSIONfruit, mangoes, ripe black sapote (CHOCOLATE pudding fruit) and fresh SWEET Mediterranean figs. Of course, on this day of all days, we will have fresh-cut zinnia flowers in many shades of PINK and RED for sale from the fields and gardens.

And from our partner I-Sha, perfect little LOVE cups of vegan ice cream including everyone’s favorite, HOT PINK beet-ginger flavor!!

Don’t forget, an ARTfarm gift certificate can also be a great way to show someone you care.

ARTfarm Figs and Micro Headed Over to Chef Sean at Duggan’s Reef

Check out these yummy ingredients headed over to Chef Sean and his crew out at Duggan’s Reef Restaurant on the east end. We don’t know exactly what Sean’s going to do with our microgreens and figs, and he’s still creating some flavors in his mind… But you can be sure it’s going to be fresh and fantastic! Book a table for tomorrow night, and find out how this cliffhanger turns out!

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