Tag: mangoes

ARTfarm Mango & Greens Pop-up 9/24/22 Saturday 11:30am!

Nam doc Mai mangoes from Tropical Exotics orchard on St. Croix are fiberless, buttery smooth and sweet.

Water water everywhere! Thanks to Tropical Storm Fiona and other weather events passing through the area, we have been blessed with over six inches of rain and the catchment ponds are finally refilling!

Saturday 9/24/22 Pop-up at the ARTfarm 11:30am — 12 noon: Sweet salad mix and Thai mangoes! Lots of Nam Doc Mai mangoes from Alex at Tropical Exotics orchard — wisely picked right before TS Fiona so fruits wouldn’t get bruised from falling — ready/ripe in the next three days, priced as marked.

We’ll also have sweet salad mix, sweet onions with delicious green tops. Early birds will also choose from sweet potatoes, garlic chives, lemongrass, mango/white turmeric, kafir leaves, and zinnia flowers. Also, pineapple slips for down-the-road DIY piña coladas.

Tropical Storm Fiona dropped over 6 inches of rain on the ARTfarm over several days. Our largest lined pond is approaching capacity.
If the soil has some moisture in it from previous rains, it takes a minimum of 4 inches of rain over less than a week, to get the guts running to fill the unlined dam (pond) on the east end of the ARTfarm pastures. Tropical Storm Fiona was able to fill it 3/4 full! This will help to recharge the water tables on the South Shore.

First come first serve. No reservation required!

Farmer Luca and family wants to take a moment to encourage everyone to support local farmers. If you can’t make it to our farmstand, Sejah Farm is a wonderful farm/market that sells their own produce plus lots of produce from all over St. Croix. They have a wide selection and are open more hours and days than we are.

There is also the Saturday farmers market at the Department of Agriculture grounds where you can buy directly from farmers.

Remember the best way to support agriculture in the US Virgin Islands is to buy produce directly from farmers.

Hop down to the South Shore and see Farmer Luca!

ARTfarm Saturday Mango Pop-Up 11-11:30am, 7/23/2021

Saturday’s ARTfarm Summer Pop-up is a mango mashup. We will have Mallika mangoes from our good friend Alex with Tropical Exotics Farm.

Mallika mango.

Mallika mangoes are one of Farmer Luca‘s favorite mangoes. They are green to yellow medium to large mangoes, with no fibers to get stuck in your teeth. Very nice, warm flavor with citrus scent.

Also ARTfarm grown mangoes including Nam doc mai, and Haitian kidney! Not very many of our own mangoes because this drought is ongoing. For flavor descriptions, enjoy our Mango Flavor Guide.

Other items: A few sweet summer papayas, and literally just a couple dragonfruit for the earliest early birds. We will also have three types of turmeric, garlic chives, kefir lime leaves, lemongrass (aka “fever grass” – makes a cooling bush tea drink), and at long last – a few dozen fresh eggs from our littlest farmer’s own flock of chickens. She is working on a gorgeous label for her packaging.

Unpeeled ARTfarm pineapple slips are priced according to size. From four dollars for the very largest down to one dollar for the smallest slips. These slips, unpeeled, can be stored for several weeks before planting. They are quite tough and hardy. These shown are $3, $2 and $1 each. Check out our grower’s guide on this website!

Pineapple slips (baby plants) have been flying out the door at ARTfarm lately. These drought resistant plants are great to plant on a hillside or in a large pot. We’ll have a couple dozen slips for sale at the pop-up, the same Sugarloaf variety we grow and sell. Our easy Pineapple Grower’s Guide with helpful video tutorial can help you get started with your own mini pineapple farm.

We look forward to seeing you Saturday, 11 to 11:30. We won’t have any salad mix available, sorry folks. Please mask up and social distance!

Love, ARTfarm

ARTfarm Saturday Slaw-Breakers

Summertime is time to make slaw. Here is our list for Saturday’s stand, recipe follows! 

10 AM to 12 noon: Bunched sweet potato greens, red and yellow seasoning peppers, garlic chives, recao, basil, rosemary, loads of sweet potatoes in all sizes, sweet red pumpkin. Julie mangoes, Haitian Kidney mangoes, Viequen Butterball mangoes, plus lots of dragonfruit and sweet papaya, a few pineapples and passionfruit. Bethany’s amazing goat cheese, super fresh!

A sweet and sour raw Asian slaw salad of refreshing green fruits cools and delights the palate and is a great complementary foil for barbecued or grilled meats or other salty foods. 

Here’s Christina’s all-ARTfarm recipe:

Law-Breakin’ Slaw

2 green mangoes, peeled

3-4 large green papayas, peeled and seeds removed

1 lb. raw sweet pumpkin (yes, Yvette Browne!)

2–3 small red onions

Quarter cup or so of fresh raw peanuts, chopped and dry roasted with salt (yes, we have been experimenting with peanuts!)

Dressing:

Three small limes, juiced into a bowl

2 Tablespoons honey. Dissolve in lime juice

Few drops of potent pepper sauce or half a fresh chili pepper, diced

DIRECTIONS:

Grate the mango, papaya and pumpkin on a box grater (great upper arm workout) or using a food processor. Slice the red onions thin. Toss all together in a large bowl.

Mix together the dressing. Pour over and toss. Refrigerate. 

Roast the peanuts and sprinkle over top or reserve on side for garnish. 

Can also add blanched green beans, cucumber slices, a few cherry tomatoes. Or, in season right now, a bit of cubed mango or other sweet ripe fruits. 

Look for Luca at Mango Melee on Sunday! In the new farmer section!

ARTfarm Saturday morning! 10am-12noon

A bit of fresh sweet salad mix, kangkong (Asian water spinach – a cooking green), garlic chives, and fresh mint. From our partners: Solitude Farms dragonfruit, Haitian kidney mangoes from Tropical Exotics orchard, and vegan coconut ice cream from I-Sha.

A showy hot pink bud of a dragonfruit plant looks like a plant extra from a sci-fi movie or Little Shop Of Horrors.
Zamorano (Hylocereus polyrhizus) has one of the flashiest dragonfruit flowers. Luca pollinated two of these flowers tonight. If all goes well each flower will produce a ripe fruit in approximately 3-4 weeks.

We will not have salad mix next week, nor for the next several weeks. We will still have some dragonfruit and mangoes, if you would like to purchase those over the next couple of weeks feel free to call the farm and we’ll do our best to accommodate you off-hours.