Tag: hair sheep

ARTfarm Wednesday Afternoon Farmstand: 5/27/2026, 4:30PM – 5:30PM

The 2026 summer mangoes are starting up at ARTfarm! From trees that Luca and Christina planted just after when the training pen had her first micro flock of sheep in it. The trees are producing beautifully after the 2017 hurricane set them back.

Summer’s almost here! It’s pineapple time! Dry and windy conditions persist at the farm with occasional showers. No more regular Saturdays for a bit so slide in on a WEDNESDAY to the ARTfarm farmstand. Limited quantities on salad mixes for Wednesday customers, plus papayas, a few early mangoes, hot peppers, herbs and limes!

We are continuing to grow salad and we’re trying a bed of cucumbers and watermelon with new techniques. Results are looking promising. Dragonfruit are budding again.

Pineapples are popping! Get some of these sweeties while you can!

There’s a few volunteers working on a carpentry project and Farmer Luca could use more help in the gardens.

We’ll see you Wednesday 5/27/26 from 4:30PM to 5:30PM!

First come, first served:

Sweet and spicy salad mix

Pineapples

Papaya

Hot peppers

Mangoes:

Carrie (creamy, sweet with a slight tang)

Butterball

Nam doc mai

And a few Malika

Scallions

Italian basil

Lemongrass

Kafir lime leaves

Five hair sheep pastured with electric netting at ARTfarm.
Christina’s first five hair sheep pastured with electric netting in the training pen at ARTfarm back in 2011. Now a mango orchard! Always growing, always changing.

See you Wednesday May 27th 2026, starting at 4:30PM!

Sheep & Cowpeas at ARTfarm

Over the sleepy summer and fall break, we grew some cover crops in the gardens at ARTfarm to help improve the soil for next year’s crops. Climbing up the golden dried stalks of harvested sweet corn were some large and very happy cowpea vines (Vigna unguiculata) replete with big green bean pods.

There is almost nothing in this world that our sheep enjoy more than fresh cowpea vines and beans. Friday afternoon we removed the upper part of the cowpea plants and offered them to all three groups of ovines. OMM NOM NOM NOM!

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Cowpeas are a forage that is high in protein, helping the sheep to grow and put on weight. The roots of the cowpea plants fix nitrogen into the soil.

Your ARTfarmers are busy planning next year’s season and preparing garden areas to receive young seedlings. We have been blessed with some beautiful rainfall in September. We look forward to seeing all of you in just a few more weeks when the farmstand reopens. Watch this space!