Tag: volunteer-opportunities

ARTfarm Holiday Gratitude

A post-Thanksgiving leftovers ARTfarm update for our supporters, direct from Farmer Luca!

It’s been a long summer of learning, researching and planning and we wanted to share some of those things with you as season approaches.

Here’s the update:

The weather has brought our water storage levels nice and high!

Cover crops have been mowed and turned back into the the soil – along with the lobster compost we’ve made with big thanks to Duggan’s Restaurant.

Sorghum (an old world grain) has been interplanted with sun hemp (sorry, not CBD hemp), sword bean and cow peas — they are almost ready to be harvested for our chickens.

Lots of tomato seedlings are in the ground and are already over a foot tall! They’re starting to flower and are looking a lot stronger than the tomato seedlings did at this time last year.

Our lettuces, radishes, Italian & Thai basils are all growing nicely. We’ve planted lots of flowers that attract beneficial insects and hopefully we’ll have many bunches of carrots of different varieties and shapes this year too!

Our papaya patch is looking wonderful and putting on fruit now, and our pomegranates have started and are putting on more fruit regularly.

Our limes have nice dark leaves and are loaded both the crucian Keylime and the kafir lime.

Our longan trees are loaded with blossoms right now and they are setting their little sweet fruits.

Pineapples are looking very strong – even the ones that got burned in the fire.

Soon our cucumbers, watermelon and zucchini will get transplanted.

Our family and volunteers have been enjoying the Shangri-La mulberries which are out of this world and are still going.

We’ve been busy for the last few months researching regenerative agriculture practices and various products/ techniques to improve the farm further.  We’ve always practiced many regenerative ways, but there’s so much more to learn as new discoveries are made and as our climate changes.

Sheep! We’ve upped our sheep numbers to help with all the extra grass that is on the farm now. The Department of Agriculture came through and helped out in a huge way with mowing, bringing some ease to our pasture management and making it easier with fencing repairs post fire. Hopefully it helps with grasshopper management too.

There’s been a lot of research and purchasing of replacement materials that were lost in the fire. The beautiful thing about disasters is that they offer a chance to rebuild better and stronger. I’ve been taking the time to improve things where I can. We are all very appreciative of all the donations that people have made to help in that regard. VI Good Food Coalition, American Farmland Trust, Christina and Alyssa have all been very helpful in raising funds.

Thank you to all our volunteers since the fire – you’ve been incredible. The family and I still look back and we all feel very moved thinking of everyone that took time to help during and after the fire.

Moving forward, the farm can still use your help. If folks are interested in volunteering, please get in touch. At this stage in the season it is very important that any volunteer is a non-tobacco user and doesn’t live in a house with tobacco use. The tobacco mosaic virus can keep us up at night and can wreak havoc on the current and future fate of the tomatoes we’ve grown to love so much. Some of the current volunteer tasks are weeding, raking, pruning, setting out drip tape, topping off water bowls for mongoose so they don’t chew on our drip tape (old large metal pots or metal dog bowls are welcome for donation) We’re a farm so there’s countless other tasks as well but these are great beginner tasks.

You say you want to do more on the farm than volunteer? We have part time employment opportunities for volunteers.

Wrapping up, the farm is a beautiful example of hope right now and we are incredibly grateful for these blessings:

  • Christina and Marina
  • my parents
  • all our friends
  • our volunteers
  • our farmstand customers
  • our restaurant/chef partner a
  • a farmer’s gift of wood chips
  • our incredibly kind Post Office staff
  • Maddy at the USDA
  • our accountant
  • Louis Hewlett and Fernandez Plumbers
  • Mechanics Thomas Ledezma and Chiba
  • Mike Bruno with Hybrid Power System
  • John Stoll – compost volunteer and construction mentor
  • the DoAg for their support
  • Stewart and everyone at Quality Foods
  • A Better Copy
  • Dr. Amy Dreves and Dr. Larken Root at UVI
  • Roneal Honeyman
  • S&D feed
  • Phil at smilinggardener.com
  • Giovanni of Mil Agro
  • American Farmland Trust
  • VI Good Food farm advocates
  • new Vieques and Puerto Rico farm friends
  • Arte-suelo-ser soil advocates
  • and lastly Slinky the Cat, Ginger & Spice the collies …and all the other cool creatures and plants both domesticated and not that are with me every day here at the farm that I’m slowly understanding and growing together with.

Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. We will update you soon when we have food or other farm news to share!

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!

ARTfarm Wednesday: OPEN Farmstand 4/16/2025, 5 – 6 PM, Volunteers Welcome on Sat-Sun, no Saturday farmstand

The farmstand will be first come first served Wednesday, 5-6pm. Tomatoes, salad greens, veggies, herbs. Full list below. No reservations. We recommend coming about halfway or later through the hour if you would like a shorter line. We really appreciate your support. We’re gonna stop doing Saturdays for a bit here. Thank you.

Links and information on the fire recovery are available HERE.

Huge thanks to the ARTfarm volunteers, fellow farmers, former employees, customers, neighbors and friends who helped fight the brushfire on March 30th that burned 80% of the farm. Kind people dropped off meals, picked up our grocery tab, and performed other kindnesses in the following days.

Superhero ARTfarm volunteers heading out at sunset after an afternoon helping

The fire destroyed a lot of pasture fencing, irrigation pipe and plastic water tanks, some crops and fruit trees, a few livestock, and a storage shed. Volunteers who want to come out and continue to assist can help: assess damage, repair and clear fence lines this weekend again 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, chainsaws, pole saws if you have them. The air quality is good now. You can text us if you think you’re going to attend. It has been a small and steady group of helpers.

Plenty for All

  • Sweet salad mix
  • Tomatoes – slicers, heirlooms and cherries
  • Yams

Early Birds

  • Cucumbers
  • Pumpkin
  • Bunched arugula
  • French breakfast radishes with green tops
  • Chinese cabbage
  • Kale
  • Baby bok choy
  • 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

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

Getting to the end of the season, but these beauties are still sweet and delicious. Come and get ‘em!

ARTfarm Wednesday PM: Debris cleanups, OPEN Farmstand 4/9/2025, 5 – 6 PM

Awesome ARTfarm volunteers and neighbors came out this past weekend to help assess damage and clear debris.

We had a bad brushfire on March 30th that destroyed a lot of pasture fencing, irrigation pipe and tanks, some crops and fruit trees, a few livestock, and a storage shed. 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 this weekend again 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, chainsaws, pole saws, wheelbarrows and shovels if you have them. The air quality is improving. We have N95 masks available.

Links and information are available HERE and at the farmstand, for anyone who wishes to donate to our recovery directly OR in a fully tax deductible manner through the VI Good Food Coalition, a local non-profit farm advocacy organization who will redirect 100% of donated FARM FIRE campaign funds back to our recovery.

Incredibly, the guinea grass is resprouting after a few days of showers. The trees are showing fewer if any signs of recovery so far.

Huge thanks to the ARTfarm volunteers, fellow farmers, former employees, customers, neighbors and friends who dropped everything to join our family and members of the VI Fire Service during the initial aftermath of the blaze and dropping off meals and other kindnesses in the following days.

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

In case you missed the information: 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.

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.

The fire took about seven hours for the VIFS to extinguish and another several days of spot-treating flareups and embers, and smoldering gate posts. Two of our teen’s beloved turkeys died from bee stings and smoke inhalation the day after the fire. 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.

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

Early Birds

  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Slicer tomatoes
  • Heirloom tomatoes
  • Teen arugula
  • Yams
  • Tomato seconds
  • Chinese cabbage
  • Baby bok choy
  • 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

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

Our beautiful heirloom and slicer tomatoes are still available! Season is coming to an end… Come and get ‘em!