ARTfarm Wednesday! Pineapple Plethora! Steam the Beets!

Hope all you wonderful moms and nurturers out there had a great Mother’s Day on Sunday. We got over a quarter inch of rain on the farm, the perfect gift!

Thanks to all who came out and supported Luca’s art exhibition this past month.

Farmer Luca especially wants you to know that, when preparing our relatively small late-season beets, you may find it much easier to peel the rough skin off after steaming instead of roasting. Post-steaming, the jackets release with just a pinch of the fingers, while roasting will largely entail the use of a paring knife. So for those of you looking for efficiency in your culinary preparations, consider the steam method. Be sure to save the beautiful pink steam bath water for use in a vegetable broth. You can add a little miso to it and it is ready as a light consommé.

ARTfarm Wednesday, 3–6 p.m.: Calling Faye, come in Faye: loads of pineapples! Also fresh sweet salad mix, “macro” (large micro) greens, bunched arugula, radishes, beets, Italian basil, a few tomatoes, a few cucumbers, and local raw honey from beesteward Errol Chichester.

Continuing the rain dance…

 

Pineapples ripening at ARTfarm, just in time to ease the sorrow of tomato season coming to a close.
Pineapples ripening at ARTfarm, just in time to ease the sorrow of tomato season coming to a close.

Wednesday Bounty 3-6pm! Come Shop Local!

We've got beautiful big beets with tops ready for cooking or juicing! Yum!
We’ve got beautiful big beets with tops ready for cooking or juicing! Yum!

 

Some sweet little rain showers at night have perked up the South Shore and quickened the pace of lettuce and veggie production. We are open today from 3–6 p.m. to share with you what the rain has brought: sweet salad mix, baby arugula, teen spicy salad greens, beautiful crispy cucumbers, lots of beets, lots of cherry and slicer tomatoes, kale, escarole, endive, baby bok choy, bunched onions, scallions, Italian basil, Thai basil, holy basil, lemon basil, garlic chives, dill, cilantro, parsley, rosemary, recao, ginger, Bodhi beans, and fresh cut zinnia flowers.

The sweet salad mix in winter is especially crispy and sweet when we've had a bit of rain. Triple washed and ready for the salad bowl!
The sweet salad mix in winter is especially crispy and sweet when we’ve had a bit of rain. Triple washed and ready for the salad bowl!

 

Around New Year’s Eve we had a pair of stray feral dogs show up at the farmstand early one morning. Some of our customers may have noticed them quietly hanging around at the farmstand that weekend and the next. We posted about them on the St. Croix Lost and Found Pets Facebook page and the STX Animal Welfare Center’s Facebook page immediately, but in the bustle of the holidays we neglected to post about them here on our own blog.

Two black and white fuzzy dogs on the farm.
Two stray dogs turned up in December 2014. They’d been running loose since at least October. Anyone know who they belong to?
Unlike most feral strays which we take directly to the Animal Welfare Center, this pair was unusually well behaved. We reported them “found” at the AWC and had them checked by a vet but they had no RFID tags. They are currently still living at the farm. We’d like to post their picture in case anyone knows their history. We did learn after posting their picture online, that they had been living wild since at least October 2014 along the industrial sites of the south shore of St. Croix (Diageo and Molasses Pier). If you have any information or recognize them, please let us know.

 

islandbordercollies

ARTfarm Saturday Deluge 10am – 12 noon

Thanks, all of you who did such a heartfelt raindance. Unfortunately the quantity and velocity of the precipation over the last few days has cost us some lettuce production.

On offer for Saturday morning: Microgreens, mint, garlic chives, lemongrass, thyme, zinnias, a few cucumbers, and treats from partner farms: creamy, fiberless Nam Doc Mai mangoes from Tropical Exotics, dragonfruit from Solitude Farm, local raw honey from Errol, and beautiful avocados from Smithen the Cane Man!

All this rain makes it a sensible time of the year to plant. We have pineapple slips and various native trees for sale — also a few vegetable starts.

ARTfarm 10am Mangoes! It’s November!

Shhhh… Soft re-opening of ARTfarm 10am this morning…in the lovely drizzling rains of November…

Small but very fresh quantities of: mint, chives, recao, thyme, radishes, zinnias, passionfruit, kafir limes, baby arugula, baby spicy salad mix, sweet potato greens and young cucumbers.

Fresh frozen cuts of grass-fed lamb, please ask…

From the grow-your-own department: cherry tomato plants, pineapple slips, rare native trees. From our partners: raw local dark honey from Errol and creamy, citrusy sweet late-season Malika and Nam Doc Mai mangoes from Tropical Exotics.

We are looking forward to seeing you! Hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween!

IMG_6732.JPG

IMG_6730.JPG

IMG_6731.JPG

IMG_6734.JPG