Tag: sheep

ARTfarm Wednesday Afternoon Farmstand: 5/27/2026, 4:30PM – 5:30PM

The 2026 summer mangoes are starting up at ARTfarm! From trees that Luca and Christina planted just after when the training pen had her first micro flock of sheep in it. The trees are producing beautifully after the 2017 hurricane set them back.

Summer’s almost here! It’s pineapple time! Dry and windy conditions persist at the farm with occasional showers. No more regular Saturdays for a bit so slide in on a WEDNESDAY to the ARTfarm farmstand. Limited quantities on salad mixes for Wednesday customers, plus papayas, a few early mangoes, hot peppers, herbs and limes!

We are continuing to grow salad and we’re trying a bed of cucumbers and watermelon with new techniques. Results are looking promising. Dragonfruit are budding again.

Pineapples are popping! Get some of these sweeties while you can!

There’s a few volunteers working on a carpentry project and Farmer Luca could use more help in the gardens.

We’ll see you Wednesday 5/27/26 from 4:30PM to 5:30PM!

First come, first served:

Sweet and spicy salad mix

Pineapples

Papaya

Hot peppers

Mangoes:

Carrie (creamy, sweet with a slight tang)

Butterball

Nam doc mai

And a few Malika

Scallions

Italian basil

Lemongrass

Kafir lime leaves

Five hair sheep pastured with electric netting at ARTfarm.
Christina’s first five hair sheep pastured with electric netting in the training pen at ARTfarm back in 2011. Now a mango orchard! Always growing, always changing.

See you Wednesday May 27th 2026, starting at 4:30PM!

ARTfarm miniFRUITY Saturday PopUp: 10/25/2025, 10:30-11:30am: Dragonfruit and Pomegranates!

After our usual hurricane season pause, a new round of dragonfruit is ready to enjoy, plus pomegranates and a few herbs! Come say hello to Farmer Luca and send your good vibes to this year’s tomato seedlings!

Interested in volunteering this season? Come talk with Luca about opportunities to learn and help out with things like garden preparation, raking, weeding and ongoing fence repairs from the fire. 

A new batch of dragonfruit is ripening on the ARTfarm vines. Our dragonfruit are sweet and juicy! Especially the ones with red and pink inner fruit!

In other farm news, in case you missed our September update: we are working on farm fire recovery, and a few lovely volunteers have continued to help us repair downed and destroyed fencing. We are purchasing new electric fencing, irrigation equipment and other replacement supplies with funds donated for fire disaster relief. We are deeply grateful to all of you who donated, and thanks to the VI Good Food Coalition for all their hard work organizing and fundraising.

Volunteers, now is the time! Swing by during the farmstand, or send us a message – we’re gearing up for season.

Plenty on Saturday Morning:

  • Dragonfruit (red and pink inside!)
  • Pomegranate
  • Thai basil
  • Lemongrass

First come first served!

Grateful for your support of our family farm! See you Saturday morning 10:30-11:30am!

Bright neon pink dragonfruits have soft spiky 'scales' that give them their name.
Beautiful late summer dragonfruits. These drought-tolerant pithayas are sweet and refreshing in the hot days of July, August and September! Sometimes all the way to Halloween!

Seaweed Salad

Sheep need certain trace minerals in their diet to thrive. You can give them minerals via a salt block purchased at a feed store, but we’re always trying to find ways to farm sustainably on St. Croix without importing things on big diesel-powered container ships.

On an online sheep forum we came across a shepherd in Maine who gives his sheep fresh seaweed from the beach. So we collected an assortment of wet and dry seaweeds from our local strand, and what do you know? The girls loved it!

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Tomatoes…and introducing our new pasture management team.

Five hair sheep in a paddock at ARTfarm
ARTfarm welcomes the newest members of our Pasture Management Team: Sleepy, Coco, Yooyoo, Nobby, and Whoopsie. These local hair sheep are Dorper, St. Croix White and Brazilian Nova mixes.

We are now at the point in the season where we put up the giant “TOMATOES” sign, and you’ll start to see our cherry tomatoes in local fine dining establishments!

Saturday morning’s stand will also include fresh microgreens, sweet mix, spicy mix, teen spicy, a plethora of varied cooking greens, herbs including some new ones for this season (sage! holy basil!) and your old favorites (delfino cilantro, italian, lemon and thai basils, thyme, caribbean oregano, lemongrass, garlic chives, and giant scallions!)…cucumbers, lettuce heads, and of course giant zinnia flowers, chocolates and a few baked treats!

Please call or let us know at the stand,  if you’d like to special order fresh local meats: chicken (half or whole), lamb or goat (leg, roast, cut for stew).

ARTfarm gift certificates are beautiful and make a thoughtful gift.

And in other exciting farm news, our Livestock Manager has acquired five experienced new employees (pictured above) who are charged with improving our pastures and keeping things nicely trimmed around the farm. Please join us in welcoming Coco, Sleepy, Yooyoo, Whoopsie and Nobby. They’re all expecting! Christina plans to bring them out to visit at the farmstand after they’ve had a chance to get accustomed to their new home and the staff.

Come visit the ARTfarm!