Tag: local fruit

Pineapples! Happy ARTfarm Saturday! 10am – 12 noon

Summer is the season for pineapples at ARTfarm! Sweet sweet sweet!
Summer is the season for pineapples at ARTfarm! Sweet sweet sweet!

Sweet salad mix, microgreens, macrogreens, lots of sweet ARTfarm south shore pineapples, passionfruit, a few cucumbers, a few tomatoes, Italian basil, beets, radishes, scallions, sage, delicious serrano chili peppers, zinnia flowers, and local honey from Errol.

We have a few bunches of Ethiopian kale today. It is a tender cooking or juicing green with a pungent, sweet flavor that resembles a mild mustard green.

Ethiopian kale! This flavorful cooking green is mild enough to eat raw. It has a mustard-like flavor but will not make your eyes water like true mustard greens.
Ethiopian kale! This flavorful cooking green is mild enough to eat raw. It has a mustard-like flavor but will not make your eyes water like true mustard greens.

We have tickets available at the farmstand today for the annual Caribbean Dance performance that is coming up on May 29 and 30th (Friday and Saturday evenings). Each ticket is also a raffle entry to win round trip plane tickets, a Buccaneer vacation and more!

Tickets are $15 each and will also be available at the door on the nights of the performance. The show takes place in the air conditioned theater at the Educational Complex and curtain time is 7:30 PM.

The Caribbean Dance School celebrates their 39th anniversary on the stage this year. Performers range in age from preschooler to adult, and include students and members of the Company. Disciplines range widely from ballet en pointe to contemporary, jazz, hip-hop tap and Afro-Caribbean calypso this year. It is a completely family-friendly show! (Costumes and choreography are all in good taste and G-rated.) Even if you cannot attend, your purchase of a ticket enters you in the raffle and helps to support this great nonprofit cultural institution.

Thanks for supporting the arts on St. Croix!

Saturday ARTfarm Stand 10 AM – 12 noon!

Happy Saturday everyone! We are open regular hours today, 10 AM – 12 noon. Today’s harvest: Lots of salad greens! Sweet salad mix, lots of microgreens, arugula, teen arugula, spicy salad mix, cucumbers, onions, beets, carrots, watermelon radishes, the beginning of the end of the cherry tomatoes, medium sized tomatoes, a few pounds of baby sweet potatoes, radicchio, escarole, dandelion greens, sweet potato greens, ginger, Serrano chili peppers, Italian basil, Thai basil, cilantro, parsley, thyme,  zinnia flowers, and from our partners:  limes and sour oranges from Spring Gut Gardens, and I-Sha’s vegan fruit ice creams to cool you down during these hot, dry days before the rainy season.

"South Shore Dragon", 9 x 12" watercolor (c)2015 Luca Gasperi
“South Shore Dragon”, 9 x 12″ watercolor (c)2015 Luca Gasperi

Last night was the opening reception for “Men Of Industry”, a new art collection from Mike Walsh and Luca Gasperi at Walsh Metal Works Gallery here in St. Croix. So many of our wonderful farmstand customers and fellow artists came out to support Luca and Mike’s creative efforts, and we appreciate all of you who were able to make it last night! It was really packed!

If you missed it, or you’d like to go back and enjoy it without quite so many people there, the exhibition will run through May 9, 2015. Call the numbers listed below for exhibition open hours, or to make an appointment. For those of you off island who cannot attend in person you may view each piece through the link below! And if so inspired, purchase artwork by phone. The link is through the WalshMetalWorksVI.com website. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the information about the art exhibition and pieces for sale.

http://www.walshmetalworksvi.com/#!art

The phone numbers to call are:
Office: 340-773-8169
Barbara: 340-332-2504
Mike: 340-332-2682

Please note, all credit card purchases will have a 4% service fee added to the price listed with the work. Shipping arrangements can also be made with The Walsh Metal Works Gallery.

The muse for the painting. An outlier early-season dragonfruit ripens on the vine at ARTfarm.
The muse for the painting. An outlier early-season dragonfruit ripens on the vine at ARTfarm.

 

ARTfarm Last Monday, Open 1 Hr 3–4 p.m. Today

Greetings ARTfarm supporters!

After many months of green abundance and tomatoes galore, the season is naturally starting to slow down. We have experienced extreme dryness and drought conditions this spring, which are bringing the “summer” season to us a few weeks sooner than usual, perhaps.

We have a limited range of items today in a small quantity, due both to weather conditions and because Farmer Luca is feverishly preparing for his art show which opens on Friday. (Please come and enjoy his new paintings of the farm and island, and new works from Mike Walsh, from 5–8 p.m. at the Walsh Metal Works Gallery in Peters Rest this Friday evening!)

So, this will be our last Monday farmstand for this season. We will only be open for an hour this afternoon, from 3-4pm. (We will be open regular hours Wednesdays and Saturdays for another month or two, then just Saturdays through the summer!) We have small amounts of salad greens, tomatoes, basil, garlic chives, onions, and giant zinnias today. And from our partner I-Sha we will have vegan ice cream in a virtual rainbow of different local fruit flavors!

Thank you as always for your support of local farmers and producers, and local artists!

Farmer Luca harvesting herbs. The zinnias have gotten to a pretty ginormous size this week! Treat yourself to a few happy blooms for spring!
Farmer Luca harvesting herbs. The zinnias have gotten to a pretty ginormous size this week! Treat yourself to a few happy blooms for spring!

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!