Tag: sustainable

ARTfarm Fire Recovery Info, Saturday 30 min. Ministand… 4/5/2025, 11am – 11:30am

Farmer Lindsey Simmonds was one of many volunteers who arrived with family, firefighting equipment, and muscle to help us extinguish smoldering fencing posts and plant material.

Saturday mid-morning quick mini farmstand 11am – 11:30am, first come first served.

Huge thanks to all the volunteers and farm family who came out to help us on Sunday afternoon during the brush fire and into the dark hours, to extinguish most of the smoldering fence posts, tree stumps and embers. No words to express our deep thanks.

See the top post on our site for ways to donate to support our recovery from this massive fire that burned more than half the farm and destroyed a lot of infrastructure.

Rain showers have been helpful but crops still need to be watered. A number of our mainline water transport lines got melted in the fire. Farmer Luca is working to replace those lines to resume watering crops on the outer edges of production area.

Volunteering details

We will be meeting at the farm entrance at 4pm on Saturday and Sunday to clear fence lines of burnt treated lumber.  Please be on time. Non-smokers/non-tobacco users only please.

Response has been big for this weekend. There will be more volunteering efforts after this weekend, and if turnout is overwhelming for this weekend’s cleanup we may ask a few folks to sit this one out. We may put an online volunteer signup system in place.

We want to impress upon those thinking about helping, that the fire was only recently fully extinguished, and air quality is still poor in these pasture areas. Windy conditions continue to lift ash and blow it around. Masks are absolutely suggested. Folks with respiratory issues should not come. Also know that there will be lots of walking. If you have mobility issues, consider not coming to this session. We will have other volunteer days coming up as well.

Our main focus this weekend is going to be clearing fence lines of burned treated lumber (telephone poles), and collecting burnt plastic and other waste materials. Possibly some documentation and assessment tasks as well. Protect your skin.

Lastly, if you are a tobacco smoker or user, we really would prefer if you would not help. It is still tomato season and there’s still a chance that our crops will get tobacco mosaic virus from having you out here handling tools, supplies and gates. 

Volunteers, please bring:

  • Gloves, long sleeves
  • Dust mask or fabric mask
  • Good sturdy work shoes
  • Drinking water and snacks
  • Loppers for pruning dead branches and vines off fencing
  • Wire cutters for cutting burnt areas off electric netting
  • A wheelbarrow if you have one

MiniARTfarmstand for Saturday:

  • Sweet salad mix
  • Heirloom tomatoes 
  • Slicer tomatoes 
  • Cherry tomatoes 
  • Tomato seconds
  • Baby bok Choy 
  • Bunched arugula 
  • Scallions 
  • Baby turmeric 
  • Hot green and red peppers 
  • Basil
  • Cilantro
  • Parsley
  • Dill
  • Kaffir leaves

First come first served. Grateful for your support of our family farm. See you Saturday 11am – 11:30am

ARTfarm Wednesday PM: Fire Emergency Response, OPEN Farmstand 4/2/2025, 5 – 6 PM

Our east shed held all our fencing replacement supplies, and had two water tanks for livestock watering – and irrigating nearby fruit trees we established about five years ago that also burned.

Sunday March 30 2025 was a rough day at ARTfarm that destroyed years and years of hard work. Community turned out to help from a plea for help on social media… we smelled brushfires around 1:50pm. The fires began along the South Shore roadway bordering the ARTfarm and nearby properties, causing us devastating and extensive damage to our farm, pasture infrastructure and fencing. We are still assessing and calculating costs to replace it. 

Volunteers who want to come out and continue to assist can help: assess damage, collect burn debris into a waste bin, and clear fence lines on both Saturday and Sunday afternoon from 4pm to 6pm. No tobacco users please, and bring your own water, mask, sturdy shoes and gloves, loppers and hand saws, wheelbarrows and shovels if you have them. We have 15 donated N95 masks available.

We will have some links and information available (hopefully) this afternoon online and at the farmstand for anyone who wishes to donate in a fully tax deductible manner through a local non-profit organization who will redirect 100% of donated FARM FIRE campaign funds back to our recovery.

The effort to build these fences by hand is painstaking. They are needed to prevent feral dog attacks on livestock. Humans, being careless, cause a lot of problems in our world and farmers often feel them hardest. Seeing the fencing like this is pretty crushing.

Huge thanks to the ARTfarm volunteers, fellow farmers, former employees, customers, neighbors and friends who saw and shared our social media requests for help on Sunday afternoon, and dropped everything to join Luca, Christina and Mérïna, neighbor Francis, and members of the VI Fire Service during the initial aftermath of the blaze and help carry countless buckets of water and hand tools across more than 25 acres to extinguish the many flareups and persistent burning fence posts. Dr. Kate sent us an entire truckload of water. We could feel the love.

Chris from Sublett Appliance Repair and Renee from Centerline Car Rental were some of the first volunteers on the scene, helping to extinguish gate posts. Small businesses supporting each other!

This was a more devastating fire than the one set five years ago. We lost a lot of wild and planted trees, our equipment storage shed where ALL of our backup fencing supplies were stored, large water tanks and fittings, irrigation equipment, electric sheep and deer netting and equipment, and (we are still assessing how many) gates, wooden posts, steel posts and hundreds of linear feet of barbed and page wire fencing destroyed.

Blackened fright and dead all over.

As of Tuesday evening there are still hot spots to extinguish and wooden telephone pole posts that are still burning internally. Our homes and primary farm structures were spared but smoky, and our sheep and poultry survived the fire, but showed signs of severe stress. Two of our teen’s beloved turkeys died from bee stings and smoke inhalation the day after. Countless bird nests, wild animals, beneficial insects and topsoil fauna and flora were destroyed. Deer were trapped in broken fencing as they tried to flee.

Wildlife and ecosystems were heavily affected by the fire, including beneficial insects that help eliminate pests.

The farmstand will be first come first served Wednesday. No reservations. We recommend coming about halfway or later through the hour if you would like a shorter line. We really appreciate your support.

Plenty for All

  • Sweet salad mix
  • Sweet and spicy salad mix
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Slicer tomatoes
  • Heirloom tomatoes

Early Birds

  • Yams
  • Tomato seconds
  • Chinese cabbage leaves – bunched
  • Baby bok choy
  • Baby ginger and baby turmeric
  • Carrots with green tops (for juicing if you like)
  • Green and red hot peppers
  • Sweet frying peppers
  • Italian basil
  • Thai basil
  • Cilantro
  • Dill
  • Parsley
  • Scallions
  • Kaffir lime leaves and limes (fruit)

We appreciate you all! See ya Wednesday 5 – 6pm!

Pomegranate tree in an orchard area. 😦 . . .

ARTfarm Saturday AM: 30 min. Ministand… 3/29/2025, 11am – 11:30am

Gorgeous freshly harvested ginger and turmeric can be used for so many healthy treats!

Saturday mid-morning quick mini farmstand 11am – 11:30am! It will be first come first served.

In other farm news, Farmer Christina has been announced as the new Editor-In-Chief of our local culture, events and arts publication, St. Croix This Week Magazine. We congratulate her on this new exciting role in our community! Watch for Christina’s photo of ARTfarm zinnias on the May cover! And another congratulations is due to our long-time ARTfarm customer and supporter Susan Wall, who is retiring from the job after 16 years. Well done!

Magical stripy heirlooms and hyperfresh lettuces, ready to inspire your culinary skills!

Plenty for All

  • Sweet salad mix
  • Heirloom tomatoes
  • Slicer tomatoes

Early Birds

  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Baby bok Choy
  • Bunched arugula
  • Kale
  • Tomato seconds
  • Yams
  • Baby ginger and turmeric
  • Green and red hot peppers
  • Sweet frying peppers
  • Basil
  • Cilantro
  • Dill
  • Parsley
  • Kaffir leaves

First come first served! Grateful for your support of our family farm! See you Saturday 11am – 11:30am!

ARTfarm Wednesday PM: High Season Happiness, 3/26/2025, 5 – 6 PM

Ananas noire heirloom tomatoes with our spicy greens.

We have a beautiful list of amazing goodies for Wednesday. As spring flies by, come see us tomorrow afternoon, and enjoy all the peak season deliciousness.

We are STILL looking for good quality, low cost clean mulch as it gets drier in the spring.

It will be first come first served Wednesday. No reservations. We recommend coming about halfway or later through the hour if you would like a shorter line. We really appreciate your support.

Ridiculously sweet yellow watermelons are beautiful and tasty! Come and get them while the harvest lasts! Also available in classic ‘watermelon’ red!

Plenty for All

  • Sweet salad mix
  • Sweet and spicy salad mix
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Slicer tomatoes
  • Heirloom tomatoes

Early Birds

  • Teen arugula
  • Watermelon – red AND yellow!
  • Yams
  • Zucchini
  • Tomato seconds
  • Chinese cabbage leaves – bunched
  • Baby bok choy
  • Baby ginger and baby turmeric
  • Fresh breakfast radishes with green tops
  • Carrots with green tops (for juicing if you like)
  • Green and red hot peppers
  • Sweet frying peppers
  • Italian basil
  • Thai basil
  • Cilantro
  • Dill
  • Parsley
  • Scallions
  • Lemongrass
  • Kaffir lime leaves and limes (fruit)

We appreciate you all! See ya Wednesday 5 – 6pm!

Zucchini, cucumber, watermelon on paper mulch, pineapples on paper mulch. Paper mulch has been a positive addition to our garden this year. Less weeding, less soil moisture loss, and best part no plastic!