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
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.
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.
This Friday, 5–8 p.m., please come to the Walsh Metal Works Gallery in Peters Rest for an exhibition of Farmer Luca and Metalworker Mike’s interior lives, expressed in watercolor and steel. The art exhibition will run through May 9, but the fun and festivity is to be had on the opening night!
Today’s haul for the farmstand, 3–6 p.m.: Sweet salad mix with a touch of colorful radicchio, teen arugula, teen spicy salad mix, kale, onions, carrots, long beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, Italian basil, cilantro, dill, beets, zinnia flowers, dandelion greens, a few dozen eggs from ARTfarm pastured hens, and from our partner I-Sha amazing handmade vegan ice cream in a varied selection of local fruit flavors.
Luca and Mike are both local artists and Men Of Industry on St. Croix. Please come to their exhibition of new works on Friday, April 10th, 2015, 5-8pm!Original watercolor (c)2015 by Luca Gasperi.
Original watercolor (c)2015 by Luca Gasperi. Exhibition opens Friday, April 10th 2015 5-8pm at Walsh Metal Works Gallery in Peters Rest, St. Croix USVI!
Basil, dill, cilantro with coriander seeds, radicchio, radishes, escarole, long beans…
Beautiful heads of radicchio to enliven any dish with color and panache!
We’re open today, 10am – 12 noon with salad and lots of tomatoes! Here’s this morning’s list of fresh: Sweet salad mix, teen spicy salad mix, teen arugula, heirloom/slicer/cherry tomatoes, beets, red and white bulb onions with green tops, purple Bodhi beans, a few cucumbers, radishes with delicious green tops, dandelion greens for cooking or juicing, fresh ginger root, scallions, Italian basil, Thai basil, dill, parsley, cilantro, and zinnia flowers. We also have a fresh batch of vegan ice cream from I-Sha in a rainbow of flavors including jojo, mango, papaya/ginger, passionfruit, beet ginger, banana…
Big beautiful beets at ARTfarm. The tops are great in your green juice, as a cooked green, wilted over eggs… chopped into your salad… don’t neglect the beet greens!
Our thanks go out again to the VI Fire Service shifts C and D out of Richmond/Christiansted, with trucks from Grove and East End, and VIPD for coming back to Longford a third time this week. Tuesday evening’s fire flared up again on Wednesday afternoon, sending out a new fire crew headed by Captain Henry Joseph; it continued on its previous trajectory toward the beach and burned over a hundred acres of pasture and fencing belonging to our neighbors and killed another cow on Wednesday. A second blaze was set in ARTfarm pastures about 3/4 of a mile away from the initial fires just before 8pm Wednesday night at a curve in the road where the streetlight is out. We had a number of people offer help again and had a crew of employees, customers and fellow farmers on hand to move sheep, manage gates and direct the fire trucks. It was dark and smoky, and we were too busy to take pictures, but it was an incredible scene. After the Captain Joseph and his VIFS team departed for a second time with the trucks, Luca and a neighbor we’ll call “Water Mike” were out containing and extinguishing smaller fires until 2am Thursday morning.
Our neighbor who took these pictures acted as our fire tower during the fires and helped us locate problem areas from a higher vantage point. Wednesday afternoon.This image captures Wednesday night’s situation; the rekindled original fire headed south to the beach, and in the foreground the second fire started a mile away up on South Shore Road on ARTfarm pasture.By Wednesday afternoon, the original fire had rekindled and burned south throughout the day across the pastures toward the beach, killing one cow. It burned eastward along the beach through Thursday morning, when the Fire Service came back and extinguished the spread.VIFS pumper trucks from Richmond C shift, East End and Grove Fire Stations helped us out Wednesday afternoon, and came back Wednesday night to assist with the new roadside fire.
We’d appreciate brushfire awareness from all of our customers. Please never throw cigarettes or other burning material from a vehicle; do not allow chains on trailers to drag on the ground; and keep a neighborhood watch. If you see someone stopped on the side of the road, slow down and offer assistance; if suspicious, snap a picture of the vehicle and license plate. And share this information with others in the dry season. We thank you!
We are open 3–6 p.m.! Today we have sweet salad mix, spicy salad mix, a few cucumbers, Bodhi beans, onions, beets, Italian basil, Thai basil, lemon basil, cilantro, cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, and a few more fresh figs.
Beautiful ARTfarm salad greens for the sweet mix!
Farming is certainly a round-the-clock exercise. Last night around 9 PM we smelled smoke and saw flames shooting up into the sky on the east end of the farm. Luckily we had fair warning as Luca was out watering late and noticed it quickly, shortly after hearing the sound of voices along the east roadside. Neighbors in the area also alerted us to the brushfire and offered help via text, calls and Facebook. We quickly moved our child to grandma’s, suited up in protective clothing, grabbed our fire flappers and other firefighting equipment and went to move sheep and equipment out of harm’s way and help the neighbors wherever possible.
A view of the brush fire last night from the top of Spring Gut Road looking south, via a neighbor. The fire moved across the pasture from east to west. The large yellow lights along the center of the photo below the fire are streetlights on South Shore Road. The red light on the right side is a VIFS truck. The small squarish light near the center right of the photo is us in our truck in roughly the center of ARTfarm. From our angle in the pasture it appeared that the fire was advancing rapidly toward us and a small group of young cattle.
Luckily there was not a strong wind last night, and conditions coupled with a rigorous effort by the VI Fire Service on all sides contained the fire and prevented it from destroying hundreds of acres of pasture in use, as well as cattle and sheep, wildlife, farm infrastructure and the homes of farmers including us!
Another shot of the fire as it continued to spread and head south. Our truck is the tiny pinpoint of light close to the west end (right) of the fire line. Above us and closer to the fire is a VIFS truck.
As I stated to a friend, “this is what amounts to a ‘romantic date night’ for a farmer and his wife. A fireside chat and home by midnight.”
We spoke with Captain Charles Gilbert, Fire Service officer out of Richmond/Christiansted’s C shift, who was in charge of the operation last night. They had a total of six VIFS trucks on the scene, but it felt like a lot more to us, as they continued to contain the fire from 9pm to 1am. These included trucks from the East End, Richmond, and Grove stations. The only casualty of the evening was a young calf that got onto the road (due to gates left open to allow emergency access) and was struck by a passing vehicle. Some fencing was damaged and will need to be replaced.
Fence damage. This wood post will have to be replaced. The steel t-posts, woven wire and barbed wire materials have a much shorter life and rust much faster after being burned in a brush fire as it tends to remove their protective coatings of paint or zinc and weaken the metal.
VI Fire Service Chief Larry Johnson noted that the burning of trash, the use of campfires and the disposal of lit cigarettes out of car windows should be curtailed during these dry conditions. “Most brush fires that start after dark are lit deliberately,” he said during our conversation. “It is a felony.”
We are extremely grateful for the prompt and thorough response from the VI Fire Service last night. We plan to drop off some tomatoes to Captain Gilbert and his C company team, and we’d love it if you’d thank them on our behalf, too!
Looking south along the fence near the east end of the farm. Evening brush fires are most likely deliberately set, according to officials at the VIFS.The fire started near the roadside, then jumped across a ten-foot swath of grass and headed west southwest through the pastures. Left unchecked, this could have been disastrous for us!Looking south near the east end of the farm. The VI Fire Service was able to contain and control this brushfire, in part because winds were not strong.
ARTfarm on St. Croix, USVI 