ARTfarm Open Saturday! Same Time Same Place!

Yes, it is Ag Fair weekend on St. Croix. Many of us will be headed over to the fairgrounds over the holiday for some fun and shopping.

In the interests of fuel (and human) efficiency, and as our staff has shrunk over the years, we have found that it is most manageable for us to stay open at our farm, instead of moving our operation to the Department of Agriculture for the weekend. So we will be open our usual time and place on South Shore Rd. from 10 AM to 12 noon tomorrow, Saturday.

You will see us later in the weekend, blending into the holiday crowds and enjoying all the sights and sounds and smells of our wonderful Agriculture and Food Fair! We particularly enjoy: sampling the callaloo soup, listening to some of our island’s musical groups, watching the quelbe dancers, getting a horseback ride, engaging with some of our agriculture researchers and educators in their various booths, taking note of interesting fashion choices that have clearly been custom-made for the weekend, exploring the 4H displays and petting zoo, seeing what the schools have been working on for the fair, catching up with our farming colleagues, and shopping for trinkets and handmade crafts and fruit trees!

Saturday’s farmstand: sweet salad mix, spicy salad mix, baby spicy salad mix, baby arugula, teen arugula, microgreens, cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, onions, radishes, kale, broccoli, bodhi beans, eggplant, sweet bell peppers, ginger, hot chili peppers, cilantro, recao, thyme, flat leaf parsley, mint, dill, Italian basil (limited amounts), lemon basil, thai basil, holy basil, lemongrass, figs, black sapote and fresh-cut zinnia flowers. And from a friend’s orchard, we’ll have key limes, kefir limes and leaves, sour oranges and more white star apple! We will also have I-Sha’s vegan coconut-based ice cream and bread from Tess. 20140214-163153.jpg

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!