Tag: zinnia flowers

ARTfarm Saturday: Smoke Flavor!

We’re open today, 10am – 12 noon with salad and lots of tomatoes! Here’s this morning’s list of fresh: Sweet salad mix, teen spicy salad mix, teen arugula, heirloom/slicer/cherry tomatoes, beets, red and white bulb onions with green tops, purple Bodhi beans, a few cucumbers, radishes with delicious green tops, dandelion greens for cooking or juicing, fresh ginger root, scallions, Italian basil, Thai basil, dill, parsley, cilantro, and zinnia flowers. We also have a fresh batch of vegan ice cream from I-Sha in a rainbow of flavors including jojo, mango, papaya/ginger, passionfruit, beet ginger, banana…

Big beautiful beets at ARTfarm. The tops are great in your green juice, as a cooked green, wilted over eggs... chopped into your salad... don't neglect the beet greens!
Big beautiful beets at ARTfarm. The tops are great in your green juice, as a cooked green, wilted over eggs… chopped into your salad… don’t neglect the beet greens!

Our thanks go out again to the VI Fire Service shifts C and D out of Richmond/Christiansted, with trucks from Grove and East End, and VIPD for coming back to Longford a third time this week. Tuesday evening’s fire flared up again on Wednesday afternoon, sending out a new fire crew headed by Captain Henry Joseph; it continued on its previous trajectory toward the beach and burned over a hundred acres of pasture and fencing belonging to our neighbors and killed another cow on Wednesday. A second blaze was set in ARTfarm pastures about 3/4 of a mile away from the initial fires just before 8pm Wednesday night at a curve in the road where the streetlight is out. We had a number of people offer help again and had a crew of employees, customers and fellow farmers on hand to move sheep, manage gates and direct the fire trucks. It was dark and smoky, and we were too busy to take pictures, but it was an incredible scene. After the Captain Joseph and his VIFS team departed for a second time with the trucks, Luca and a neighbor we’ll call “Water Mike” were out containing and extinguishing smaller fires until 2am Thursday morning.

Our neighbor who took these pictures acted as our fire tower during the fires and helped us locate problem areas from a higher vantage point. Wednesday afternoon.
Our neighbor who took these pictures acted as our fire tower during the fires and helped us locate problem areas from a higher vantage point. Wednesday afternoon.
This image captures Wednesday night's situation; the rekindled original fire headed south to the beach, and in the foreground the second fire started a mile away up on South Shore Road on ARTfarm pasture.
This image captures Wednesday night’s situation; the rekindled original fire headed south to the beach, and in the foreground the second fire started a mile away up on South Shore Road on ARTfarm pasture.
By Wednesday afternoon, the original fire had rekindled and burned south throughout the day across the pastures toward the beach, killing one cow. It burned eastward along the beach through Thursday morning, when the Fire Service came back and extinguished the spread.
By Wednesday afternoon, the original fire had rekindled and burned south throughout the day across the pastures toward the beach, killing one cow. It burned eastward along the beach through Thursday morning, when the Fire Service came back and extinguished the spread.
VIFS pumper trucks from Richmond C shift, East End and Grove Fire Stations helped us out Wednesday afternoon, and came back Wednesday night to assist with the new roadside fire.
VIFS pumper trucks from Richmond C shift, East End and Grove Fire Stations helped us out Wednesday afternoon, and came back Wednesday night to assist with the new roadside fire.

We’d appreciate brushfire awareness from all of our customers. Please never throw cigarettes or other burning material from a vehicle; do not allow chains on trailers to drag on the ground; and keep a neighborhood watch. If you see someone stopped on the side of the road, slow down and offer assistance; if suspicious, snap a picture of the vehicle and license plate. And share this information with others in the dry season. We thank you!

Monday Q and A, open 3–6 p.m.!

Fight the Monday doldrums with great piles of gorgeous greens and crunchy veggies! Today’s 3 – 6 PM farmstand: loads of sweet salad mix, teen arugula, spicy salad mix, Italian basil, cilantro, a tower of multiple big tubs full of heirloom tomatoes, slicing tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, Bodhi beans, garlic chives, fresh ginger root, beets with big leafy edible tops, beautiful chili peppers, dandelion greens, scallions, passionfruit, Mediterranean figs, and freshly harvested zinnia flowers.

From our partner I-Sha we have locally crafted vegan ice cream!

How many heirloom tomatoes can YOU eat? Please, HELP US!!
How many heirloom tomatoes can YOU eat? Please, HELP US!!

Q: Farmer Luca, why do you look so sleepy in this photo of you with a giant tower of tomatoes?

A: I’m glad you asked. In fact, I have been up late for the last few nights. After putting excessive numbers of tomatoes to bed, I’ve been grooving to golden age hip-hop and working on paintings for a new art exhibit I will be having with Mike Walsh at the Walsh Metal Works Gallery, opening April 10th!

So, dear customers, when reaching for a bag today for your purchases, be careful not to mistakenly grab one of those under Luca’s eyes.

Wednesday Bounty 3-6pm! Come Shop Local!

We've got beautiful big beets with tops ready for cooking or juicing! Yum!
We’ve got beautiful big beets with tops ready for cooking or juicing! Yum!

 

Some sweet little rain showers at night have perked up the South Shore and quickened the pace of lettuce and veggie production. We are open today from 3–6 p.m. to share with you what the rain has brought: sweet salad mix, baby arugula, teen spicy salad greens, beautiful crispy cucumbers, lots of beets, lots of cherry and slicer tomatoes, kale, escarole, endive, baby bok choy, bunched onions, scallions, Italian basil, Thai basil, holy basil, lemon basil, garlic chives, dill, cilantro, parsley, rosemary, recao, ginger, Bodhi beans, and fresh cut zinnia flowers.

The sweet salad mix in winter is especially crispy and sweet when we've had a bit of rain. Triple washed and ready for the salad bowl!
The sweet salad mix in winter is especially crispy and sweet when we’ve had a bit of rain. Triple washed and ready for the salad bowl!

 

Around New Year’s Eve we had a pair of stray feral dogs show up at the farmstand early one morning. Some of our customers may have noticed them quietly hanging around at the farmstand that weekend and the next. We posted about them on the St. Croix Lost and Found Pets Facebook page and the STX Animal Welfare Center’s Facebook page immediately, but in the bustle of the holidays we neglected to post about them here on our own blog.

Two black and white fuzzy dogs on the farm.
Two stray dogs turned up in December 2014. They’d been running loose since at least October. Anyone know who they belong to?
Unlike most feral strays which we take directly to the Animal Welfare Center, this pair was unusually well behaved. We reported them “found” at the AWC and had them checked by a vet but they had no RFID tags. They are currently still living at the farm. We’d like to post their picture in case anyone knows their history. We did learn after posting their picture online, that they had been living wild since at least October 2014 along the industrial sites of the south shore of St. Croix (Diageo and Molasses Pier). If you have any information or recognize them, please let us know.

 

islandbordercollies

ARTfarm Saturday Excitement!

ARTfarm is open this morning on the South Shore from 10 AM – 12 noon. We still have a broad range of items at this cool time of year, so come out and get your fresh greens and produce for the week ahead! Today we have tons of cherry tomatoes, lots of heirloom and slicer tomatoes, sweet salad mix, microgreens, teen and baby spicy salad mix, teen arugula, a few young cucumbers, kale, dandelion greens, yard long beans, beets, onions, scallions, carrots, cilantro, dill, chives, mint, Italian basil, lemon basil, holy basil, Thai basil, parsley, thyme, rosemary, Mediterranean figs, freshly harvested ginger root, passionfruit, mangoes, and fresh-cut zinnia flowers.

From our partners: Wanda of the Wright Apiary will be on hand today for the sampling and sale of handmade honey meads in a range of amazing fruit infusions. She also has a fantastic honey mustard dressing/marinade in different configurations to suit your taste. Personally we love the “zesty” version with lots of garlic in it! Bees are a huge part of our success in the gardens, honey products are just the icing on the cake.

We also have a fresh batch of I-Sha’s homemade vegan coconut-based ice creams coming in today in local fruit flavors, ready to enjoy in a perfect little one scoop size. Bring a little cooler and some ice and take home a few for a great ending to a locally sourced meal! The coconuts are locally harvested and processed for the ice cream, not from a can! A serious labor of love!

Speaking of love, we love you guys and appreciate your continued encouragement of our efforts to grow organically and sustainably. Thanks for being a part of what we do, we could not continue without our wonderful and supportive customers.

Don’t forget about the 44th Annual Orchid Show open at the Great Hall at UVI today!

A pair of lavender, purple-spotted orchid flowers spread their roots across the bark of a plum tree.
Farmer Luca’s mom, Valeria, is a talented cultivator of tree orchids. Visitors who stay at her vacation rental at the ARTfarm (LongfordHideaway.com) enjoy discovering all the orchids in the trees around the property!