Tag: tomatoes

Wednesday ARTfarm 3-6pm + ART

With the notable exception of bread from Tess, it’s like a Saturday on Wednesday at ARTfarm today. Luca has harvested all kinds of special fresh crunchy goodness for you: sweet salad mix, teen spicy salad mix, teen arugula, baby arugula, baby spicy salad mix, lettuce heads including some beautiful Romaine, onions, carrots, early bird beets, cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, kale, Chinese cabbage, collard greens, dandelion greens, sweet potato greens, fennel, Mediterranean figs
and Bacuba bananas from a friend’s garden. Come and get it on the South Shore, 3–6 p.m.!

Here is your art moment, reflecting the intense drought conditions that are currently enveloping the South Shore area. Watercolor, “Three to Drink”, 9″ x 12.25″, (C)2014, Luca Gasperi. Private collection. 20140319-140617.jpg

St. Patrick’s Day! ARTfarm Open, 3–6 Today

Hope Saturday’s parade put a big green banana smile on your face! Join us today for more of that smiling Irish color at ARTfarm!

Sweet salad mix, baby spicy salad mix, baby arugula, microgreens, regular arugula, early bird cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, tomatoes, cooking greens, lots of collards, basil, garlic chives, dill, parsley, chili peppers, Mediterranean figs, lettuce heads, onions, and raw local honey!20140317-142129.jpg

ARTfarm Q&A Monday with Farmer Luca! Open 3–6, Rain or Shine!

Q: Are Jack Spaniards (aka yellowjackets, paper wasps) good?

A: They are. They eat caterpillars off of our tomato and lettuce plants. So we consider them a “beneficial” insect, along with praying mantises, honeybees, ladybugs and lacewings. Jacks do deliver a nasty sting, but only when their nest is disturbed. As long as their nest is not in a high-traffic area, we let them stay. These beneficials do the work of insecticides, so that we don’t need to spray chemicals on our plants and soil.

Monday’s harvest: Sweet salad mix, spicy salad mix, microgreens, cooking greens, cilantro, carrots, radishes, lots of tomatoes in a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes by the pound, cherry tomatoes by the pint, vegan ice cream. 20140310-135845.jpg

ARTfarm “Know Your Farmer” Monday…and Introducing New Tomato!

Lots of goodies today, including a new kind of tomato; but first, your Q and A:

Q: Farmer Luca, why do you have so many sizes of lettuce? There’s micro, baby, teen and regular. What gives?

A: We harvest our greens at different ages, several times a week. The youngest greens, micro and baby, are only a couple of weeks old with tiny leaves, and are tender and mild in flavor (some customers say with concentrated nutritional value). They take up more garden space than mature lettuce for the amount harvested, and require more gentle handling in harvesting and processing. Microgreens can only be cut once, but baby greens can be harvested a few times from the same planting.

Teen greens are at a growth stage between baby and mature size, so they are priced in the middle. Teen greens, like baby, can be cut more than one time per planting.

Mature lettuces require the most weeding and watering, and they also produce the most harvestable material per foot of garden bed. Like the microgreens, they can only be harvested once. Harvested at about six weeks old, the flavor of mature lettuce can shift on a continuum from sweet to bitter through the season as weather conditions change in the garden.

We offer all these different sizes because it’s fun to have choices. One size does not fit all! Variety is a delight to the eye and to all the senses.

And that is probably more than you ever wanted to know about the sizes of ARTfarm salad greens. 20140303-131928.jpg

Today’s ARTfarm Monday, 3–6 p.m.: Sweet salad mix, baby arugula, baby spicy salad mix, cooking greens, sweet bell peppers, lots of fresh award-winning carrots, cherry tomatoes, large tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, ***NEW!!!*** BI-COLOR TOMATOES***, cilantro, parsley, chili peppers, fresh Mediterranean figs, ice cream from I-Sha!
20140303-132959.jpg