Wednesday Bounty 3-6pm! Come Shop Local!

We've got beautiful big beets with tops ready for cooking or juicing! Yum!
We’ve got beautiful big beets with tops ready for cooking or juicing! Yum!

 

Some sweet little rain showers at night have perked up the South Shore and quickened the pace of lettuce and veggie production. We are open today from 3–6 p.m. to share with you what the rain has brought: sweet salad mix, baby arugula, teen spicy salad greens, beautiful crispy cucumbers, lots of beets, lots of cherry and slicer tomatoes, kale, escarole, endive, baby bok choy, bunched onions, scallions, Italian basil, Thai basil, holy basil, lemon basil, garlic chives, dill, cilantro, parsley, rosemary, recao, ginger, Bodhi beans, and fresh cut zinnia flowers.

The sweet salad mix in winter is especially crispy and sweet when we've had a bit of rain. Triple washed and ready for the salad bowl!
The sweet salad mix in winter is especially crispy and sweet when we’ve had a bit of rain. Triple washed and ready for the salad bowl!

 

Around New Year’s Eve we had a pair of stray feral dogs show up at the farmstand early one morning. Some of our customers may have noticed them quietly hanging around at the farmstand that weekend and the next. We posted about them on the St. Croix Lost and Found Pets Facebook page and the STX Animal Welfare Center’s Facebook page immediately, but in the bustle of the holidays we neglected to post about them here on our own blog.

Two black and white fuzzy dogs on the farm.
Two stray dogs turned up in December 2014. They’d been running loose since at least October. Anyone know who they belong to?
Unlike most feral strays which we take directly to the Animal Welfare Center, this pair was unusually well behaved. We reported them “found” at the AWC and had them checked by a vet but they had no RFID tags. They are currently still living at the farm. We’d like to post their picture in case anyone knows their history. We did learn after posting their picture online, that they had been living wild since at least October 2014 along the industrial sites of the south shore of St. Croix (Diageo and Molasses Pier). If you have any information or recognize them, please let us know.

 

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Monday ARTfarm 3-6pm Today

Come down to the South Shore on this beautiful Monday afternoon and pick up some fresh produce for your table this week! Sweet, spicy and baby spicy salad mixes, baby and teen arugula, bagged young kale leaves for salad, loads of cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, Italian basil, cilantro, dill, mint, garlic chives, dandelion greens, assorted chili peppers, small mangoes, a few fresh Mediterranean figs, passionfruit, and zinnia flowers. IMG_8299.JPGIMG_8329.JPGIMG_8326.JPG

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!