Malabar chestnuts! Green tops on things is over, It’s getting drier.
Wednesday pop up stand, First come first served vegetables, Five to Five Thirty.
Come on out for a brief Wednesday afternoon pop-up farmstand from 5pm – 5:30pm at ARTfarm on the South Shore. We got some lovely rain showers last night. Thanks to Chef Lisa Coates for the haiku inspo.
There are farm goodies to be had as the tomato season wanes and we get into the fruitier time of year. Try a small bag of malabar chestnuts – these hazelnut sized treats are pre-hulled for you – beautiful to handle and look at, with a delicious delicate soft nut inside the stripy outer skin (you can easily crack on a solid surface and peel with your fingers). They can be enjoyed raw or roasted or cooked or made into flour… a fun snack.
Early Birds
Small tomatoes Cherry tomatoes Bunched arugula Pink and white Radishes Turmeric Ginger Hot peppers Fennel Scallions Onions Herbs
Plenty
Carrots Baby bok choy Malabar chestnuts Sliced and whole pumpkin
Luca’s been hard at work this week finishing our new moveable chicken tractor coop – ready to put the recycled billboard roof on!
ETA: This farmshare pre-order signup is now closed. If you’re new, you should still read through this information to find out more about the process and the types of produce we currently have. New farmshare pre-order signups appear here and via farm email subscription, usually on Fridays around 10-11am. Stay safe, stay cool, see you soon!
Pineapples are starting, gorgeous salad greens, onions with green tops, papayas. It’s true, we’ve harvested and sampled the very first pineapple of the season, we’ll have some for early birds as an extra at pickup! To celebrate Earthday, our littlest farmer moved her hens into their new digs this week and they should start laying beautiful eggs in the next few weeks! Thanks to Spencer Fulkerson for welding up the frame to withstand tropical weather! We are also continuing progress with our WCK grant project. We’ve been saying it for a while, but seriously folks we’ll be winding down the big distributions in May for the summer (unless the weather shifts dramatically) and shift to pop-up stands for any remaining bursts of produce. Wednesday distributions are curtailed for now.
Finding farm email subscriptions or pre-orders confusing? Check out our help page for some DIY tips, or contact local techie teen Wyatt B., to help you troubleshoot any email or ordering issues. You got this!!
Still not open for retail. If you’re new to ARTfarm or haven’t been to see us since the COVID-19 pandemic began, please read on to familiarize yourself with our new socially distanced pre-order arrangements. We are not holding regular retail farmstands at this time.
Masks are STILL mandatory. Please help us protect our at-risk family members and customers!
New to ARTfarm pandemic procedures? Welcome. Here are the details:
It’s not the usual farmstands at ARTfarm since the 2020 pandemic. By popular demand, we’ve stuck with ‘pandemic’ pre-reserved pickup times in the busy season. We are only accepting pre-sized pre-orders called ‘farmshares,’ plus add-on items, with pre-reserved pickup time slots for a minimum of waiting or mingling in these COVID-19 times. (We know you’d prefer to set your own schedule and shop for just one or two items, and we’re sorry for the inconvenience. This system is to prevent our typical long tightly packed customer lines and to protect you and us, the farmers and our family, from exposure, while maximizing distribution of healthy food to the community.)
Pineapples are typically a spring-summer treat that appear on the harvest list as the tomatoes begin to wane in the heat!
We will have 10 small farmshares, just 5 large farmshares, and 20 greens farmshares available for scheduled pickup Saturday. You can also order and specify a neighbor, friend or family member to pick up your order. The minimum order is one farmshare, and you CAN order more than one size farmshare.Add-ons and extras are not currently available independently of a farmshare purchase; to minimize community contact during the pandemic.
Large farmshare, $25, will include:
2 bags of sweet salad mix
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 lb. mixed heirloom and slicer tomatoes (some unripe)
Small farmshare, $12, will include:
1 bag of sweet salad mix
1 lb. mixed slicer tomatoes
Greens farmshare, $14, will include:
2 bags of sweet salad mix
(Add this on to another share if you like!)
Additional Limited Quantity Reservable Add-Ons*
(please add to your total)
1 bag of sweet salad mix: $7 1 bag fresh ginger: $4 1 bag red Hawaiian turmeric: $4 1 bag white/mango turmeric: $4 1 bunch extra garlic chives: $2 1 bunch extra Italian basil: $2 1 bunch extra Thai basil: $2 1 bunch of nine bright assorted color zinnia flowers: $5
*(if these are sold out on the order form – or you’d like more than one of an item – there are often additional extras available at the time of pick-up, so if you can’t reserve, leave a note in the comments, bring some extra cash or wait to write your check total. Bring a pen.)
Extra Add-Ons (no reservations)
(Must accompany farmshare purchase, these items cannot be purchased individually. No reservations on these items, they are all first come first served during your pickup slot):
the first PINEAPPLES of this season: $3/lb. as marked
bunched mature ARUGULA: $3
sweet SALAD GREENS: $7
lots of extra ONIONS fresh harvested with green tops: $5/bunch
sweetest you ever tried PAPAYA: $3/lb. as marked
assorted WINTER SQUASH: $3/lb. as marked
KOHLRABI, a healthy cabbage-like vegetable: $3-4
BOK CHOI and Swiss CHARD: $3/bunch
extra sweet late season CARROTS: $3
HERBS bunch: $2
extra TOMATOES of all types: prebagged, as marked
Herb bunch choices for this distribution
(Available as EXTRAS, not included in farmshares this time.)
Garlic chives
Italian basil
Thai basil
Kaffir lime leaves
Rosemary
Lemongrass
Please contact us immediately by text and phone at (340)514-4873 if you have reserved a farmshare and cannot pick it up. Supply is limited, demand is extremely high and someone else will gladly purchase your share, if given enough time to respond. We have limited time for distributions and they are scheduled. Our produce is harvested fresh and needs to go home with you same day. This is an honor system since we are not collecting payment until pickup. We do not have cold storage for uncollected shares.
The signup form will show you a “Thank You” page and send you a confirmation email if submitted successfully. If you don’t find it, please check your spam/junk, inbox tabs, and ‘all mail’ folders for the confirmation email, as this has been a common problem for several customers and with a little searching they typically find it. For more tips, visit our Help page.
Need help with the pre-order signup form? (Click here): Q: I can’t seem to order more than one item.
A: We have designed our order form limit any one customer from cleaning us out. Sharing is caring. If you’d like extra of something (beyond what you could reserve through our order system), put it in the comments with your order, and remind us at your pickup time: if we can supply it to you we’ll do our best. If you are in the food service industry and looking for bulk availability, please contact us; our order form is for individuals and families to place a single order for a scheduled pickup.
Q: My order isn’t going through.
if the automated confirmation email is not immediately found, check your spam folder
and the ‘all mail’ folder
make sure all required fields are filled/selected
just try again
use a cellular device (smartphone or tablet) that isn’t using WiFi internet
restart your browser/device
clear your cache and cookies in your browser/device
reboot your router (unplug it for a minute and plug in again)
Q: The form says I didn’t enter my email, but I did.
Our pre-order form requires everyone to type their email in twice, and makes sure the two match exactly. We had a lot of customers in such a rush to get their order in that they’d spell their own email incorrectly and then complain that they could not find the confirmation email. Our ‘type it in twice’ system ensures that you’ll find any email mistakes before you submit the pre-order form.
Q: I ordered before, but I’m not getting your emails.
Our pre-order form does NOT automatically sign you up for an ARTfarm email subscription. Do that HERE!
Being a season of viruses, we’ve definitely been cooking up some antiviral recipes lately that can be prepared with or without meat. Late spring is sort of the beginning of the winding down of our veggie season at ARTfarm, but ingredients can be sourced from other local farms or your own backyard Victory Garden. The recipe ingredients list seems long here, but in these days of social distancing we thought it best to give people lots of options and substitutions. It’s mostly a lot of chopping and preps quickly.
Our ginger and turmeric have such tender skins they don’t need peeling. Just wash, chop and go!
We will be presenting a series of articles on starting a small home garden for those of you who have been asking us what to plant and when. Stay tuned on our website, we’ll be offering some information and also soon put up a signup sheet if you’d like to attend a Zoom videoconference class with local experts from UVI’s Cooperative Extension Service to answer more of your questions on starting a home garden.
Tom Khing Michi-Gai Phak*
(Ginger Not-Chicken Coconut Soup)
Feeds about 3 hungry people who really love soup. We usually double it. 10 minutes prep time, 40 minutes cook/simmer time.
This is a garden veggie heavy/homemade sort of homage to one of ARTfarm family’s all time favorite Asian soups: Galangal Chef Kenneth Biggs’ Tom Kha Gai soup. We are substituting ginger and turmeric for Chef’s galangal root and adding more veggies.
The coconut is nourishing and anti-viral, the turmeric color is cheerful, the gingery warmth of the rich smooth broth and onions and chili peppers (if desired) help open the sinuses without acidity, the customizable, whatever-you’ve-got-available veggies make it hearty; it’s just soothing and lovely. The citrus tang and floating cherry tomatoes added at the end offer little pops of sweet vitamin blasts and the cilantro is cleansing to the body.
This recipe is verrry adjustable. You can make it with some, or all, or substitutions for, the various chopped vegetables and herbs in this recipe. Tiny white Japanese enoki or bonapi mushrooms are a fun texture in this if you can get them, but any (or no) mushrooms will do. (Mushrooms may have anti-viral qualities!) This is traditionally a chicken recipe and we’ve suggested tofu or a light milder fish like mahi or wahoo to substitute, but you can make it without – it still has such a rich broth and holds up well if you add other veg.
Ingredients
2 stalks fresh lemongrass, tough outer layers removed
1 one inch piece (a man thumb) baby ARTfarm ginger, grated, no peeling necessary
1 one inch piece (a man thumb) baby ARTfarm turmeric, grated, no peeling necessary
3 large kaffir lime leaves
1 – 2 sprigs Thai basil
1 sour orange or other large citrus: all the juice and a tiny bit of the skin oil or zest
6 cups broth – veggie or whatever you’ve got
1 lb. your favorite protein: a pack of firm tofu, cut into 1” or smaller pieces
– or – chicken (boneless breast or thigh), sliced into thin strips
– or – mahi or wahoo, cubed
1 large onion, sliced thin into crescent moons
8 oz. mushrooms (Japanese or whatever you’ve got)
1 13.5-oz. can coconut milk well shaken**
– or – make fresh coconut milk!!! (Crucian Contessa’s recipe)
2 Tbsp. fish sauce (such as nam pla or nuoc nam)
– or – a slurry of 2 Tbspn. miso paste dissolved in some of the broth
– or – 2 Tbsp. Bragg’s Aminos to taste
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes
1-4 finely chopped Thai chili peppers to taste
1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro leaves with tender stems
a few sour orange or lime wedges (for garnish, if you’re feeling fancy)
——–optional add-ins (we do all of them!!)——-
* 1 cup pumpkin, sliced thin then cubed into chunks
* 1/2 bunch cooking greens (radish tops, kale, chicory etc.), remove hard center ribs, cut leaves into 1″ pieces or julienned
* 4-5 seasoning peppers, seeded and sliced
* 1 bunch radishes or turnips, washed, root sliced into coins, use the tops as greens
* 2 medium bell peppers, seeded and thinly sliced
How to make it
Using the back of a knife, lightly smash lemongrass; fold and bundle it up to about 4-5″ long, to fit in a large sauce pan. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until flavors are melded, 8–10 minutes. Pull out the lemongrass with tongs and discard, and add microplaned/grated ginger and turmeric to the hot broth.
Add tofu and your big pile of chopped onions, pumpkin, greens, (and seasoning pepper if desired), and return to a boil. Reduce heat, add mushrooms and citrus juice, and simmer, skimming occasionally, until cooked through and onions and pumpkin are soft, 20–25 minutes.
For the last five minutes, turn the heat to low and add radish coins, bell peppers, (chicken/fish if applicable). Simmer until the protein is cooked through, about 3-5 minutes. Ladle some of the hot broth into a teacup and add your miso, stirring until liquified.
Mix in coconut milk, your brown flavor sauce option (fish sauce/miso slurry/aminos), tiny leaves of Thai basil, and kaffir lime leaves. Heat through.
Divide soup among bowls. Serve with garnishes: cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced pieces of thai chili peppers, cilantro, and citrus wedges. OMG it’s so good. If you have any hint of a cold this nutritious soup will blast it out of you!!
*thanks Google Translate. Apologies to Thai people. Hopefully we haven’t said something rude.
** Chef Ken’s coconut tip: if you purchase canned coconut milk, check the fat content (in grams per can, not the percentage). Look for something in the 10+ grams range. Less than that, it can come out too thin – and sometimes canned coconut milk contains emulsifiers that can give it a weird mouth feel.
ARTfarm on St. Croix, USVI 