Tag: sustainable methods

ARTfarm Saturday Slaw-Breakers

Summertime is time to make slaw. Here is our list for Saturday’s stand, recipe follows! 

10 AM to 12 noon: Bunched sweet potato greens, red and yellow seasoning peppers, garlic chives, recao, basil, rosemary, loads of sweet potatoes in all sizes, sweet red pumpkin. Julie mangoes, Haitian Kidney mangoes, Viequen Butterball mangoes, plus lots of dragonfruit and sweet papaya, a few pineapples and passionfruit. Bethany’s amazing goat cheese, super fresh!

A sweet and sour raw Asian slaw salad of refreshing green fruits cools and delights the palate and is a great complementary foil for barbecued or grilled meats or other salty foods. 

Here’s Christina’s all-ARTfarm recipe:

Law-Breakin’ Slaw

2 green mangoes, peeled

3-4 large green papayas, peeled and seeds removed

1 lb. raw sweet pumpkin (yes, Yvette Browne!)

2–3 small red onions

Quarter cup or so of fresh raw peanuts, chopped and dry roasted with salt (yes, we have been experimenting with peanuts!)

Dressing:

Three small limes, juiced into a bowl

2 Tablespoons honey. Dissolve in lime juice

Few drops of potent pepper sauce or half a fresh chili pepper, diced

DIRECTIONS:

Grate the mango, papaya and pumpkin on a box grater (great upper arm workout) or using a food processor. Slice the red onions thin. Toss all together in a large bowl.

Mix together the dressing. Pour over and toss. Refrigerate. 

Roast the peanuts and sprinkle over top or reserve on side for garnish. 

Can also add blanched green beans, cucumber slices, a few cherry tomatoes. Or, in season right now, a bit of cubed mango or other sweet ripe fruits. 

Look for Luca at Mango Melee on Sunday! In the new farmer section!

Sheep & Cowpeas at ARTfarm

Over the sleepy summer and fall break, we grew some cover crops in the gardens at ARTfarm to help improve the soil for next year’s crops. Climbing up the golden dried stalks of harvested sweet corn were some large and very happy cowpea vines (Vigna unguiculata) replete with big green bean pods.

There is almost nothing in this world that our sheep enjoy more than fresh cowpea vines and beans. Friday afternoon we removed the upper part of the cowpea plants and offered them to all three groups of ovines. OMM NOM NOM NOM!

IMG_6398.JPG
Cowpeas are a forage that is high in protein, helping the sheep to grow and put on weight. The roots of the cowpea plants fix nitrogen into the soil.

Your ARTfarmers are busy planning next year’s season and preparing garden areas to receive young seedlings. We have been blessed with some beautiful rainfall in September. We look forward to seeing all of you in just a few more weeks when the farmstand reopens. Watch this space!

Love is in the Air… Dragonfruit in Love

20140705-071646-26206945.jpg
Here is your Dragonfruit horoscope for today: Sometimes a juicy dragonfruit will split open right on the vine, giving the appearance of a smiling dragon head. This delicious, juicy wonderment elicits a deep passion within many people. If you happen to be a dragonfruit, look out for the affection of others… It can be all-consuming.

We have a huge box of locally grown dragonfruit (pitaya) for your holiday weekend today! Like revenge, they are a dish best served cold, so grab some and put them in the fridge to chill! (Yes, that is Farmer Luca singing in the video, and Christina on human beat box. Sweet!)

Saturday summer farm stand at ARTfarm, 10 AM – 12 noon: salad mix, microgreens, cucumbers; beets, radishes and onions with their beautiful edible green tops; Italian basil, recao, mint, thyme, papaya, passionfruit, pineapple, and Julie and kidney mangoes from ARTfarm. From our partners: Dragonfruit from Solitude Farm, fresh bread from Tess, raw local honey from Errol!

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!

20120121-182907.jpg