Tag: radishes

Updates from ARTfarm, early December 2024…

Rainy gray days on the farm are slowing growth of crops. Youngest ARTfarmer must carry our one eyed cat around to keep the paws dry.

St. Croix was deluged with heavy rains in October and November of 2024. This is good, and bad.

Bad news first: the rain has been a little much for some of our crops. Persistent and continuous weekly flooding caused the topsoils at ARTfarm to be excessively waterlogged. When the tiny aerated gaps in the topsoil fill with rainwater, it causes plant roots to suffer from a lack of oxygen. Various crops are dying because of this condition. Papayas in particular are suffering and we’ve lost about a third of them. We have had to re-seed and re-plant crop successions multiple times in the hopes that conditions will improve. The cloudy conditions have also had an effect on the ability of leafy greens to grow properly. Wahhh-wah.

Season’s starry greetings. Our papaya harvest will be greatly diminished by the rains. Those that were salvaged were pretty sweet. Hopefully we’ll have more to share later in the season.
After a lot of years of intense drought, it’s quite a change to be wearing boots every day on the farm.

The great news is that we have more stored rainwater than we’ve ever had at this point in the season. Our ginger, turmeric, yams, established fruit trees and coconuts are looking great. We are also experimenting with cover crops planted near our food crops, and those beds are performing better in these overly wet conditions. Farmer Luca is experimenting with organic biodegradable paper mulch on our watermelon beds, with pretty good results so far.

Coconuts in the Hugel bed are getting more water than they probably ever have in the past.
Our fruit trees are looking pretty happy after all of the heavy rains. Some of the row crops, not so much.

ARTfarm is not giving up and will continue experimenting and learning from these epic and relentless conditions, which may be the new normal.

As usual at this time of year, we have some great new volunteers and are always looking for more helpers. Tell a friend if you know someone who might be interested in learning more about sustainable, regenerative gardening practices — we would always love and appreciate some help in the gardens and with a few other tasks as well.

Trying different mulching methods after heavy rains to protect the young plants

Stay tuned for information on when we’ll finally open for the season, and thanks to all our loyal customers who have been checking in!

The great reward for those elite few of you who have read this entire email is that we will have a salad mix pop-up on Wednesday December 11th with sweet salad greens, radishes with green tops and garlic chives. 4:30 PM to 5 PM. Regular farm stands will hopefully start at the end of December. Ho-ho-ho!

Love, ARTfarmers

ARTfarm Wednesday fruitynutty SALAD Pop-Up! 4/17/2024 – 5:30pm – 6:30pm

Pomegranate fruits!
Sweet, tart, juicy and healthy
Crunch the little seeds.

Wednesday pop up stand,
Sweet yellow watermelon,
Freak out your taste buds.

malabar chestnuts
Malabar chestnuts, or saba nuts, can be cooked or eaten raw. Yum!

All kinds of fruit are delicious on salads (and maybe, some malabar chestnuts too!). We have so much salad! The perfect little rain showers and cooler days have made it possible. Come on out for a one hour Wednesday afternoon pop-up farmstand from 5:30pm – 6:30pm at ARTfarm on the South Shore. Thanks again to Chef Lisa Coates for the haiku inspo.

As last week, 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

Pomegranates
Cherry tomatoes
Small tomatoes
Malabar chestnuts
Baby bok Choy
French breakfast radishes
Eggs, pastured, from Mongoose&Zinnia
Carrots
Fennel
Dill
Parsley
Italian basil

Plenty

YELLOW WATERMELON, peeps!
Baby arugula
Sweet salad mixed with spicy
Sweet salad mix
Purple sweet potato
Orange sweet potato
Sliced pumpkin
Ginger
Turmeric
Lemongrass
Crabapples
Seriously is anyone reading this
Kafir leaves
Scallions

ARTfarm Haiku Wednesday 4/10/2024 – short and succinct

malabar chestnuts

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

Saturday ARTfarm Pop-Up 11am – 11:30am! Short and Vegetative!

No reservations or minimums, just shop! First come first serve 11-11:30am.

We tried a new variety of cherry tomato in the mix this season at ARTfarm! Gorgeous color!

Early birds:

  • Tomatoes
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Tomato seconds
  • Salad greens
  • Radishes
  • White yam
  • Turmeric
  • Hot peppers
  • Fennel
  • Scallions
  • Onions
  • Herbs

Plenty

  • Sliced pumpkin and whole pumpkin
Four pale orange, white spotted pumpkins sit on a stainless tabletop, with pale blue early morning light on the trees and pastures in the distance.
Winter pumpkins grown at ARTfarm on St. Croix. They have a deliciously rich, dry flesh.