Tag: winter

posts between December 21st and March 20th

Grateful to Reopen Next Sat. Dec. 12th!

Thanks to the many customers and supporters who have called and checked in with us on our website and Facebook page, wondering when we would reopen the farmstand. We will see you all at 10 AM till noon on Saturday, December 12! We love that you love our food! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and are looking forward to this month’s festivities!

A pile of yellow summer squash, one with a blossom still on the end of the fruit.
Yellow summer squash and zucchini have been growing beautifully!

It has been quite a tumultuous year for farm planning. The severe drought that started last winter was the driest season Estate Longford has seen in nine years. (Amazingly enough, other places on St. Croix, including the East end, apparently got more rain than usual during that period.) The pastures and surrounding hills near us dried out and turned gray, and we experienced severe and intense brushfires across the east end of the ARTfarm and neighboring pastures in May, 2015, well attended by the VI Fire Service (thank you!!!).

At this time last year, all of our catchment ponds were topped off with rain. Currently, we are at less than one third of our rainwater catchment capacity.

All of this major rearrangement of weather patterns has meant that we have delayed planting in order to reserve our irrigation water, and hesitated to invest in the season.

But, we finally bit the bullet a few weeks ago and began planting for 2015-2016. We have designed a smaller amount of growing space this year, so we will have perhaps a little less on offer in terms of quantity. We are experimenting with a few new crops, and even some new growing techniques that are going to conserve even more water. We have created a few new areas of permaculture techniques, including some giant Hugel beds, and so far the productivity seems high, although insect activity is higher than we’ve ever seen it all over the farm — we and many other farmers on the island are struggling with record numbers of aphids, caterpillars and other garden pests. We are also not alone in experiencing overwhelming growth rates of noxious weeds, which survived even when more desirable grasses and forbs perished in the drought.

A pasture is full of piles of weeds, pulled up by hand.
Kiko has been painstakingly handweeding the toxic physic nut in the pastures for weeks to try to prevent further spread. There are literally thousands of these growing, and they are poisonous to livestock.

We gratefully welcome our new employee, Katie, who is fitting right in with the crew and learning quickly!

We are waiting another week and a half before opening so that we can have salad greens for your holidays. We’ll reopen Saturday, December 12, 10 AM – 12 noon, (Christmas Boat Parade Day). We’ll have herbs, veggies, salad greens and fruit! See you in ten days!

Love, ARTfarm

ARTfarm Saturday, 10 AM – 12 noon! It’s Spring!

Pray for rain, folks! The South Shore is extremely dry and we could seriously use some of those rain showers the forecaster spoke about on Friday afternoon.

Madre de Cacao trees are blooming and the honeybees are enjoying the pungent flavors of the dry season.
Madre de Cacao trees are blooming and the honeybees are enjoying the pungent flavors of the dry season.

Join us starting at 10am for sweet salad mix, microgreens, baby arugula, teen and regular spicy, a few cucumbers, onions, beets, radishes, carrots, kale, dandelion greens, cherry tomatoes, heirloom and slicing tomatoes, fresh harvested ginger root, thyme, lemon balm, sage, celery, Italian basil, Thai basil, lemon basil, holy (Tulsi) basil, dill, parsley, cilantro, garlic chives, zinnia flowers, and a few Mediterranean figs and passionfruits.

From our fellow growers and crafters: farm fresh eggs by the dozen from the Gotts family, Wanda will be on hand with her honey meads, we’ll have Nonna’s fresh-baked focaccia and panini breads and we have a few coconut-based vegan ice creams from I-Sha. Looking forward to seeing you all!

ARTfarm Wednesday: 3–6 p.m. So Many Salads To Choose From!

We grew it here, tender, crispy and moist, on the dry and arid south shore of the island, just for you! All organic growing methods and just sweet stored rain water for irrigation. You can taste it in the food! Sweet, baby, regular spicy, and baby spicy salad mixes; baby arugula, arugula, a few cucumbers, onions, beets, radishes, purple yard long beans, cilantro, dill, parsley, garlic chives, Italian basil, cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, sweet tree-ripened Mediterranean figs, and from our partner I-Sha we have all-homemade coconut-based vegan local fruit ice cream in a handful of fantastic flavors. We have spoons, or you can bring your own.

A single ivory-colored egg rests in a patch of dry grass in a pasture.
A mysterious lone guinea hen egg rests in dry grass in a pasture at ARTfarm. Guinea hens lay social nests with 40 or more eggs, so this is either the start of a nest, or a discarded mongoose snack!

Monday Farmstand Lineup: 3–6 p.m., Rain or Shine

IMG_8550.JPGWe still have tomatoes! Also today, from 3–6 p.m. rain or shine: Sweet salad mix, microgreens, spicy salad mix, arugula, cucumbers, heirloom and cherry tomatoes, radishes, a bunch of beets, cooking greens, Italian basil, cilantro, garlic chives, onions with gorgeous big green edible tops, and loads of sweet Mediterranean figs!

Yes, that does say “a bunch of beets”. When asked for clarification, Farmer Luca explained it like this: “Yes. It’s only one bunch. But it’s a really beautiful bunch. And they were just calling out to me. I had to harvest them.”

Raw local honey from Errol Chichester, and beautiful coconut-based vegan ice cream from I-Sha!IMG_8559.JPG