This judges at Taste of St. Croix had a dish we are sure they will remember for a long time. As they received the dish, in came all the parts: a whole pumpkin opened at the top like a jack-o-lantern, a bamboo tray with coconut shell cups containing fresh ingredients, a bamboo insulator with red-hot stones, tongs, safety glasses, and directions.

Caledonia Stone Soup by Nate & Tahirah Abu-Bakr

1) Put on safety glasses

2) Remove the pumpkin lid (which contained fresh local red snapper broth)

3) Add first 2 coconut cups containing fresh hand-sqeezed coconut milk and sliced kaffir lime, grated ginger and turmeric, and finely chopped lemongrass

4)Add red hot Caledonia stones (just pulled from the fire) from container with tongs into pumpkin until water boils, then cover and let simmer for 3 minutes

5)Remove pumpkin lid, let steam off, then add diced heirloom cherokee purple tomatoes and malabar spinach to finish

6)Serve with ladel into coconut cups, enjoy! 

We have to admit, we were surprised and elated to hear our names over the loudspeaker as first place winners, especially with such fine restaurants Savant and Tutto Bene in 2nd and 3rd place in the category! We are sure that with our farm-grown creation the judges really got a true taste of St. Croix!

Thanks to all the help -Jessica, Shelli, Patrick, and Nadja for making this laborious dish a huge success! 


SEASON II SIGN UPS UNDERWAY!

We are ready for another season starting May 30th, are you? However, we have had some website issues with the re-registration process. Many of you have been seeing a notice that you have already been enrolled in the CSA. Sorry if you are one of those having issues! Our beloved web geek Simon is on the case!

TIPS:
*Make sure you are not using the upper left hand "mailing and waiting list" sign-up. That is not for you, you are already on that list. Instead, click the radio button and follow the steps provided.

*Go ahead and make your payment, even if you are having problems with the sign-up. Payments are what secures your spot, and we can help you later make sure that you are properly entered in the web system after we have our expert see why there have been so many difficulties. If you make a payment, please let us know via email. After Sunday, we will be releasing remaining spots to the waiting list, and the following week to the general public, so please make sure if you want to stay joined that you do so this week. :)

Experience paradise...

The following excerpt is from an article written by a volunteer, a former Permaculture student and our friend. He and his buddy have experienced the farm for about 5 months last year. We invite you to enjoy this delightful article and the video taken during a Permaculture class and experience the farm through their eyes.

 
Home is Wherever Things are Green,

by Ron Valle

            I was treading water in the warm and oily pool at the Riviera in Las Vegas, nursing a hangover and a Miller Lite when my friend Corey suggested that we move to his folks’ place in the Virgin Islands. We had just broken out of college, were unemployed, and hadn’t much structure to our foreseeable future. Moving to a small chain of islands I didn’t even know belonged to the United States sounded like a great idea, as most ideas do in Vegas. I doubt I took Corey very seriously that day. But somewhere during the long, dry, sobering drive back to Southern California I committed myself to making this half-baked pool fantasy a reality. And what do you know; I did.

        I arrived on St. Croix in mid September, 2011. For the first few days the island was racked by rain storms and Corey and I were forced indoors, reading and watching TV and not doing all the things I pictured myself doing (snorkeling in glassy bays, drinking pink-colored rum drinks on sunlit beaches, dancing with pretty island girls, surfing on sea turtles - all the things you’d picture too). Once the rain had let up, Corey told me he had volunteered us at a local farm.

Now neither of us had any real farm experience and I wasn’t too keen about waking up at 6 a.m. to jump into some potentially very back breaking labor, but we had been cooped up for a very long time, and I was curious as to what an island farm might look like. So we woke up at 6 a.m. and Corey’s uncle Roy took us in his stick-shift truck from our place on the East End to the heart of the rainforest.

After a near two hour drive through morning traffic and getting aggravatingly lost on the precariously pot-holed “roads” of the Cruzan rainforest we finally arrived at the Ridge to Reef Farm. It was one of those days that can only be described as beautiful. The sky was blue, the storm clouds had abated, the ground was moist and springy, and everywhere everything was green. Not just any green though – this is not the green you use to paint the walls of your house or the green which little golf balls bounce across. It was a deep, vital green, and it seemed to shimmer like a jewel as the wind made the tall forest canopy sway and breathe. I was unprepared for this because I had never thought of a farm being, well, vivid and gorgeous and wild! All the farms I’d ever driven past Stateside seemed like landscapes out of the First World War, with their expanses of rigid, entrenched vegetable rows and the mud and dung wastelands that are cattle ranches. Ridge to Reef meets none of these descriptions, so much so that when I show friends and family pictures of the place they ask me, “Enough jungle, where’s the farm?”

It was a Wednesday, so Nate and Shelli set us to work harvesting. (If you have not met Nate and Shelli yet, you will, and you’ll be glad.) I suppose we were technically harvesting, but it felt more like gathering, like our nomadic non-agrarian ancestors who understood the difference between receiving from the earth and taking from it. It turns out that gathering is about as back-breaking as I thought it’d be. For four hours we scampered about, hunching over beds of salad greens, stretching up to the boughs of mango trees, lopping off coconuts, and plucking chaya and dinosaur kale and a great many other things I’d never heard of. But come lunch time we were treated to an incredible meal composed of, yup, everything we’d spent the morning gathering. Sated with good food and good company, we went back and quickly finished gathering what we needed for the day’s orders, and then Roy was there with the truck, and then we were back on the Eastside, and then we were reclining in the warm waters of Miss Bea Beach, letting the good ol’ Caribbean sea bathe and nourish us in ways no casino pool could ever have.

            Corey and I returned to Ridge to Reef many times after that and lent our services as often as we could. We would always return home sweaty and beat but proud of whatever small accomplishment we may have made on the farm, be it leaving a bean patch without weeds, having dug a new bed, or having defeated a hostile invasion of cow-itch. The people we met on the farm became our friends and soon we weren’t so much working on the farm as we were hanging out, with machetes in our hands and seeds in our pocket. I guess the long and skinny of it was that I fell in love with the place. Memories of the nights spent amidst the choir of frogs, crickets, and laughter while the fireflies (or are they Jumbies?) waltz through the jungle remain among the fondest in my life. And it makes you stop and wonder, why? Just what exactly about this place inclines one to be so happy? The atmosphere, the delicious food, the pride in having raised that food, the genuine good-nature of all contributing, the funny sounds the chickens make? It is all of these and more, but all of these sprout from the central tenets of the farm – cooperation with the earth that promotes peaceful and healthy lifestyles. It is a farm that does not provide only physical but also spiritual, mental, and emotional nourishment. It promotes good living. How many farms can lay claim to that?

            Since returning to California I have taken a job teaching science programs to children in Los Angeles County. I have also been hired to help with the start up of an organic community garden which will provide a living classroom for children to learn about horticulture, permaculture, and the joy of producing your own food. It is my hope that every child who enters that garden will leave with some glimpse into what I witnessed every day on St. Croix. I will return many times in my life to the Ridge to Reef Farm, and when I do I will hear the wind breathing through the canopy, smell the rich soil, see the thriving, emerald sheen of all the living things around me, and feel a deep sensation of having returned to one of my many homes.



















VISFI: Plantin' Seeds

 by Corey London Clark.

Please watch here or in our facebook group.


Thank You, Corey and Ron!

We cannot repeat it often enough. Please visit us, stroll around, talk to us or stand side by side with our farmers and feel the soil in your own hands. We are also happy to receive comments, pictures, videos and anything you want to share with us.


From the field...

The heat has come, hot and dry, which was causing our farmes to sweat even more while they were planting 700 row feet of corn yesterday. Since the handseeder broke, they used the traditional hand-seeding technique.

Mongoose are continuing to terrorize our chickens and to eat their eggs. The farm crew is on the watchout, though and we are catching about 2 of the mongoose in our only trap daily. this makes mangoose traps our most wanted these days.

Saman trees are flowering and the first ripe mangoes fall from the trees. The goats are energetic and innovative, trying to find a different technique to get to the other side of the fence almost every day.

Our small hummingbird friend in the process area still overlooks our work while breeding its two little eggs.We are excited to see them hatch soon!

~ Nadja, former apprentice


PO Box 2903 - Frederiksted USVI 00841 - www.visfi.org - info@visfi.org - 340 220 0466
Ridge to Reef Farm @ the Virgin Islands Sustainable Farm Institute

The Week's Harvest

Cucumbers
Boc Choi
Moringa Powder
Tomatoes
Beens
Malabar Spinach
Green Bananas
Green Papayas
Radishes
Basil

Farm Recipes
Stir fry bok choy and mizuna

recommended by Ria

You need:

- 3 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce, divided
- 4 teaspoons Asian sesame oil, divided
- 3 1/2 teaspoons unseasoned rice vinegar, divided
- 1 14-to-16-ounce container extra-firm tofu, drained
- 2 tablespoons peanut oil
- 4 green onions, chopped
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped peeled fresh ginger
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 4 baby bok choy, leaves separated
- 12 cups loosely packed mizuna (about 8 ounces) 



Directions:

1. Whisk 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 teaspoons sesame oil, and 1/2 teaspoon vinegar in bowl.

2. Stack 2 paper towels on work surface. Cut tofu crosswise into 3/4-inch-thick slices; cut each slice crosswise in half; arrange tofu on paper towels and let stand 10 minutes. Pat top of tofu dry.

3. Heat peanut oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add tofu and cook, without moving until golden brown on bottom, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer tofu to paper towel to drain, then place tofu on sheet of foil and brush both sides with soy sauce mixture.

4. Wipe out any peanut oil from skillet. Add 2 teaspoons sesame oil and place skillet over medium heat. Add green onions, ginger, and garlic. Stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add remaining soy sauce and 3 teaspoons vinegar, then bok choy. Toss until bok choy wilts, 1 to 2 minutes. Add mizuna in 2 batches, tossing to wilt before adding more, 1-2 minutes per batch.

5. Season greens with salt and pepper. Add tofu to skillet. Toss gently to blend. Transfer to platter.

Read more

THANK YOU HOSTS!

Pick-up times

Polly's at the Pier Frederiksted, St. Croix 
Wed 3:30-5:30pm

Barefoot Buddha Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas 
Thurs 11:30am-1:30 pm 

Miriam's Restaurant Christiansted, St. Croix 
Sun 4 -5:30pm


M2M (member to member)

We invite you to take part in the creation of our weekly newsletters.

Share your recipes and pictures, your experiences with the R2R Farm or your thoughts on sustainable farming matters.

We then will do our best to fit it in and share it in one of our upcoming newsletters.

We look forward to your responses!


Wishlist 

Got some things laying around we can re-use in the CSA

• egg cartons
  
• shallow, sturdy plastic trays for upcoming tomato harvest
  
• milk crates
  
• coolers
  
• zip-locks
  
• popsicle sticks
  
• tarps

• any working garden tools
  
• generator, chainsaw, weed-eater
  
• carpentry
  
• sign-making
  
• massages :)
  
• your CSA bags
  
• feedback

This week is one of the most active weeks in VISFI history at Ridge to Reef Farm. This past weekend we welcomed 34 Danes to stay at the farm several weeks for an experience in personal growth while living on a working farm. Tomorrow we feature two dishes in the Taste of St. Croix, one really hot, and one really cold. Then on Saturday we have the Virgin Gourmet Premier featuring Chef Theo Gumbs and a full-out concert! Not to mention our three weekly CSA pickups and VI Locally Grown markets this week, we are truly busy bees. 

Sometimes I wonder how we get it all done, and I instantly think of the amazing crew we are lucky enough to have here. We ask a tremendous amount from them, and they deliver in a range of tasks and creative projects that most farms would never venture into. Of course we are all here because of the efforts and hearts and souls of the many people who created VISFI, many of whom still help out, such as Joe and Ben Jones, John Vining, Stewart Weiss, Mallory Jenkins, Chad Sheraw, Jay Bost, Kate Lincoln, and the list goes on. Our course our community is who sustains us -our members in VI Locally Grown and now the CSA... to you all we send a heartfelt message of gratitude!

While some areas of business locally are struggling, our line of work is becoming more and more important every day. We plan to expand -we must expand to offer the enhanced opportunities for our staff and island community need. We are glad to be increasing the size of the CSA season II and hope you continue to join us in these times of growth.

Of course, the biggest indicator is the farm. The fields are at new levels of production and some of our slower crops are coming in, like tomatoes! They are benefiting from the netting and good weather for growing, and to see their beauty come forth brings much joy to our hearts!

Please, if you see a member of our farm give them some big ups for their colossal efforts. If you don't see them, or even if you do,  pass along the notion to all the other farmers, chefs, promoters, restaurants, and everyone else in the territory working their butts off to make this a better place.

The times they are a' changing. We've been asking for this day, and now it's time to deliver.

Good medicine,

Nate

PS Tickets are on sale at Polly's, Starfish Patisserie, and Riddims for Saturday's food & music jam!

WTF (What's That Food)? 

This week's strange food item: West Indian Locust

After having hung nine months on the tree the locust finally is falling down, so you can enjoy it. 

West Indian Locust is widely spread in the Caribbean, Central and South America and due to its seed pods' appearance and smell also well-known under the name "Stinking Toe", "Old man's toe" and "stinktoe"...

Even though the smell is not the best for everyone, the pulp in the seed pod is deliciously sweet. As Nate puts it "when the crisp, pungent smell hits a stinking toe veteran's nose, it activates the salivary glands". We hope you enjoy it, it is a specialty!


How to use it:

We selected two wonderful recipes to use the Locust pulp. Chef Tahirah also suggests it as an additive in your morning cereals, milkshakes and smoothies. 

Meet the Farmer...

Nate Olive, farm director

Also known as trail name “ Tha Wookie”, Nate spent  years hiking and writing about the Appalachian, Pacific Crest, and the American West Coast Trail in the last decade when not in St. Croix helping start the programs at VISFI. He definitely had enough time to think about everything, about the past, the present and future adventures [and food]. I wonder whether at this time he had pictured himself being here on St. Croix, sharing the rainforest with his wife, a loving crew that describes him as a “charismatic visionary,” as do many animals and farm guests from all over. 
 
Nate is the soul of Ridge to Reef Farm. He is a teacher, a mentor, a friend and a caring father of our small farm family. If you believe his facebook page, what he does all day long is digging holes and praying for water. Whoever has come up to the farm and driven our roads (currently being re-surfaced), knows where he could have been digging.

However, from our point of view his job description cannot be reduced to digging and praying. Nate takes on the challenges of management and at the same time helps out in the fields wherever and whenever he has the chance to do so, putting in administration and "dirt" time every day. As if this is not enough, he is currently also putting energy in writing his doctoral thesis on sustainable geotourism development in insular areas called "Islands without Pyramids".

When he is not working for the farm, there is a good chance that you'll find him playing banjo, singing his song "Paradise is never easy" or taking awesome pictures of the world around him. If you are a lucky snorkeler, you might be able to discover his red hair blinking under water amidst colorful fishes and sea turtles from time to time. If not, have a look on the beach Volleyball field next to his wife Shelli. Still not lucky? I guess, then the "Wookie" doesn't want you to find him.

Nate, wherever you are, we definitely are thankful for you as a supporting friend and the work that you do for your family, the farm and the world.

From the field...

This week we welcome 64 additional helping hands on the field. Claus Marquart Jorgensen, director of the danish folk school "HÖJSKOLENDK", arrived on the farm with with 32 students in the age of 18 to 30 for the second time this year. They are here for personal growth and at Ridge to Reef Farm learn about sutainability through voluntary services like making compost, gathering mulch and harvesting.

Beside this exciting arrival last Saturday, the farm crew is still competing with the brids on who keeps the tomatoes.The netting is becoming more and more.

Gaia garden is now full, so that we started to further expand there and in the swales.

Passion fruits can be found in various stages at the moment. In the form of a flower, green little fruits and the first ones are even starting to fall.

Mango trees are doing funny things, only approximately half of our trees are fruiting. So we only expext a small flush of mangos pretty soon and hopefully a bigger later in the season.

Isn't spring time a wonderful time?.

~ Nadja, former apprentice, staff


PO Box 2903 - Frederiksted USVI 00841 - www.visfi.org - info@visfi.org - 340 220 0466
Ridge to Reef Farm @ the Virgin Islands Sustainable Farm Institute

The Week's Harvest

Chaya
Mizuna
Cucumbers
Pole Beans or Okra
West Indian Locust
Carrots
Tomatoes
Radish
Basil
Cilantro

Farm Recipes

West Indian Locust Parfait
by Chef Tahirah Abu-Bakr

You need:
2 ½ tablespoons flour
2/3 cup cane/ natural sugar
1/3 cup locust Powder
2 ½ cups coconut milk
2 egg yolks – beat – (set egg whites aside)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract
 
Directions:
Combine flour, sugar, locust powder and milk – stir – add and cook custard over double boiler – over boiling water – stir constantly – add beaten egg yolk – continue to cook until it thickens – now whip egg white – add salt and then fold together into the mix – set to cook. – put in freezer trays or bowl until frozen – serve in tall glosses.
Topper: whip cream, grinded chocolate, or fresh fruit.


West Indian Locust Juice 

You need:
3* West Indian Locust (unshelled)
1 cup brown sugar
1tbs nutmeg
1 gallon water

Directions:
Blend stinking toes with one gallon water. Add nutmeg and brown sugar. Serve with ice.

Source: www.jamaicans.com

THANK YOU HOSTS!

Pick-up times

Polly's at the Pier Frederiksted, St. Croix 
Wed 3:30-5:30pm

Barefoot Buddha Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas 
Thurs 11:30am-1:30 pm 

Miriam's Restaurant Christiansted, St. Croix 
Sun 4 -5:30pm


M2M (member to member)

We invite you to take part in the creation of our weekly newsletters.

Share your recipes and pictures, your experiences with the R2R Farm or your thoughts on sustainable farming matters.

We then will do our best to fit it in and share it in one of our upcoming newsletters.

We look forward to your responses!


Wishlist 

Got some things laying around we can re-use in the CSA

• egg cartons
  
• shallow, sturdy plastic trays for upcoming tomato harvest
  
• milk crates
  
• coolers
  
• zip-locks
  
• popsicle sticks
  
• tarps

• any working garden tools
  
• generator, chainsaw, weed-eater
  
• carpentry
  
• sign-making
  
• massages :)
  
• your CSA bags
  
• feedback

VERONICA ALWAYS BRINGS HER OWN CLAY POT to Bush Chef, which she sets over her "three stone" and pushes in the logs as they turn from red hot to white ash in the center. She cooks in homemade coconut milk instead of water, with a mix of farm vegetables, roots, wild plants, and herbs to make a masterful vegetarian ital. All the while she smiles and tells stories, and listens to others' as well as she tells her own.

She has already taken us across the farm's property and told us the uses of many plants. Even the weeds have uses. In less than a quarter mile, we saw about every cure needed to open a health clinic, a grocery store, and pharmacy. Now we are all taking in the aroma of her cooking, along with the other participants in the 2012 Bush Chef.  

Chef Theo Gumbs was another featured chef who showed he was no slouch in the bush at all. Working over the fire and with his team of helpers, he offered up brilliant displays of farm food and mahi, combined with his brand of seasonings and lemongrass oil. My favorite, which went VERY fast, was the bamboo pressure cooked mahi with our farm's coconut, thyme, rosemary, and hot pepper, combined with his pan sear seasoning. 

Other highlights were a below-ground steam-pit cooker with veggie wraps, a pumpkin soup boiled in it's own shell with hot rocks, and the biggest sneaker hit of them all -BBG mongoose. That's right. Free-range chicken-egg-fed organic local mongoose. Thank you Chris Fletcher for the daring dish, which was undeniably incredible to the few of us who tried it. Believe it or not, even one vegetarian crossed over not to miss the rare opportunity.  The crossover was NOT Veronica! No worries, you won't be getting any mongoose in your bags any time soon. But you will get eggs. Put it on your calendar for next year, Bush Chef is the first weekend in March!

The farm is now bursting with food, so please enjoy the greater than usual harvest you are getting this week. By working with chefs, farmers, conscious eateries like Barefoot Buddha and Polly's at the Pier, we can succeed in the goal of making organic local food a part of everyday life in the USVI for those who want it.

~ Nate

CSA SEASON 2 DATES AND REGISTRATION !!

The summer season will start on May 30th and run for another 3 months. We are adding 15 spots to the CSA, but they should go fast with our deep waiting list.

-CSA members have first option to partake in the summer season.

-Registration will be open this week on Sunday April 15 and all members will have one week to sign up before the registration is open to non-members. 

-The contents of the CSA will be similar to the winter, although some varieties will be changed and fruit will be added, like grafted mangoes, & passion fruit.

COMING UP

April 21 - Virgin Gourmet Premier Release Party & concert. The television series presents its first syndicated show that will air on TEMPO, featuring the star Chef Theo Gumbs & R2R Farm. Advance tickets $35 at Riddims, Starfish, and Polly's at the Pier.

April 28 - Pig Roast and acoustic music with Big Guns Rock at R2R Farm. Local food and music combine again for a seasonal outdoor feast, with local food sourced from the farm and other producers from St. Croix.

May 25-38 - Organic Yoga Retreat - Yoga and Slow Food combined. CSA members including Yogi Marshan Sam and community organizer Sarah Haynes bring you our first ever Yoga retreat on the peaceful farm.

And don't forget, there is a standing invitation for you to take a farm stay and/or volunteer with us. Come out and visit YOUR farm. 

WTF (What's That Food)? 

Heirloom GREEN Tomatoes 

Green tomatoes, (Solanum lycopersicum) are not the strangest thing in the world, but here a lot about tomatoes that most people did not know, much less, unripe. Let's start with the basics:

Q: Is a tomato a vegetable or a fruit?


A: Well, as history shows us, it depends on who you ask. For instance, the US Supreme court ruled once they were vegetables. However, to be botanically correct, they are indeed fruits.  In fact, they are berries, because one's pericarp (the flesh you eat) is all produced by single ovule per fruiting body. [Ed. note -Proving government knows less about our food than we do]

Q: Tomatoes are European in origin, right? 

A: Actually, evidence clearly shows they are from South America, probably peru. They were a mainstay in the Caribbean before they travelled east. So, one might say, they were more Crucian than Italian. However, literature suggests the diversity of heir-loom tomatoes that we offer, such as Cherokee Purple, Brandywine, and German Striped, were bred to greater extent in cooler climates outside of the tropics. As we have seen, organic tomatoes are loved by ALL, including birds, viruses, and thieves. Hence the Crucian farmer saying I've heard more than once, "Ya go always plant tree! One fa' you, one fa da worm, an' one mo fa da tief!" 


Q: Are Green Tomatoes poisonious? 

A: We suggest not to eat them raw when green, unless pickled. However, there is little evidence that they would do anything bad to you. In fact, some research on animals (unfortunate, yet revealing) showed that the active of 2 present glycoalkoloids, tomatine, was not absorbed by the animals. In fact, they had the curious effect of removing bad cholesterol from the bloodstream. I don't know if that would counterbalance the effects of frying them! Cooking with them is safe and very common across the southern US, so please check out one the recipes.

On a final note, the imported tomatoes in markets are usually harvested green and then gassed to induce artificial ripening. That is why imports taste, as one customer put it, "like cardboard."  Michael Pollan called the genetically modified tomatoes "a notion of a tomato." Our REAL, green tomatoes are to be used as green tomatoes. They will not ripen off the vine. But soon, they will be ripening ON the vine, especially that we have (most of) our BIRD NETS up! So, we are giving you a product that priceless -you can't buy what we have to share it in any import store in the USVI. We hope you will savor them as we do, green and ripe. 

Solanum lycopersicum


How to use it: Fried, baked, pickled, souped, relished -there is along list so here are  21 green tomato recipes.

Meet the Farmer...

Shelli Brin-Olive, Tourism & hospitality, farm co-owner

Shelli Brin-Olive has found her passion in more ways than one at Ridge to Reef Farm. A third generation "Frenchie" from Hull Bay, Shelli takes full advantage of the opportuity to explore, live out, and share her agricultural heritage as a native Virgin Islander. 

As the farm's Tourism & Hospitality manager, Shelli is often that bright smiling face that visitors first see when they come for a tour, farm stay, or educational program. Housing our staff and visitors is quite a task, and in between her compelling presentations she is often seen trucking around the farm, tending to the needs of those who visit her farm -a truly dedicated hostess!

Her Grandfather instilled a contagious good-nature in her father, and was often already making his way over the spine of St. Thomas with his donkey cart loaded with produce by the time the morning horn would blow from arriving cruise ships. He also instilled dedication to his crops, exemplified by his habit of sleeping with his mattress on top of harvested pumpkins to keep them safe from critters. 

Today, using her B.A. in tourism, Shelli speaks passionately about nature and agriculture and how people can help preserve the unique qualities of her home islands while improving their own health. But perhaps most of all, she likes to laugh and have fun, enjoying the fruits of her childhood and remembering one of most important lessons -to share. A lot!

Shelli also makes her own line of bamboo earrings, candle holders, and more. Many of these are now on display at the Ridge to Reef Community Center. She also offers taste tours for groups of all sizes, including cruise ship visitors, groups visiting St. Croix, and locals wanting to reconnect with nature and agriculture.

Thank you Shelli for all the hard work you put in for the honor of yesterday, benefit of today, and promise for tomorrow!

From the Fields

Recent rains again have saturated the soil and resulted in a grass explosion, keeping the valley lush and us on the weedwacker, mower, hoes, and hand pulling plants in the place (AKA weeds). The good part is all of our plantings have been taking off, as you can see in the huge lettuce heads this week and the tomatoes, which look ready to burst into ripeness. 

We are also seeing the first passion fruit of the season dropping from the forest canopy. We have planted so many more this season, it should be an amazing passion fruit season. We have three varieties varying in sour and sweetness. Some perfectly yellow, others splattered with purple and red hues. 

The mongoose have been on full attack, and at a time where our only trap was run over by a car. Our chickens are defending themselves well, but we are losing around 20 eggs, or 15% of our optimal daily production. We should have our new cages in soon, until then we have fortified our movable chicken tractors although the mongoose are very hard to keep out. The eggs are precious!

We re really excited about all the plantings for our next CSA season starting May 30th, expanding our plantings every day! I mowed around some old sugar cane plantings, which we are planning on expanding for more consistent sugar production.

"Working" in this valley is an amazing experience! It's hard work, but as they say, if you do what you love, you never have to work a day in your life.

-Nate


PO Box 2903 - Frederiksted USVI 00841 - www.visfi.org - info@visfi.org - 340 220 0466
Ridge to Reef Farm @ the Virgin Islands Sustainable Farm Institute

The Week's Harvest

Arugula
Cucumbers
Papaya
Tatsoi
Mizuna
Basil
Bananas 
Pole Beans
Heirloom Green Tomatoes

Farm Recipes


Southern Fried Green Tomatoes
-Erin's Award Winning 2006 Bush Chef Recipe

You need:
1-2 Sliced Heirloom Green Tomatoes
3/4 cup Buttermilk
Corn Meal (look for non-gmo)
1/4 cup Flour
Salt & pepper to taste
Other dried & cropped seasonings
Vegetable oil, deep or light fry

Directions:
Basically its a mixture of corn meal and flour or panko (a little more corn meal than flour), salt, pepper, whatever fresh herbs you have.

Dip seasoned tomato slice in buttermilk (if you have, much better than milk...add a little hot sauce in there if you want), then dip in cornmeal/flour or panko mixture, then set on a rack until you fry in vegetable oil.

Also good if you dip in cornmeal mixture, then buttermilk, then cornmeal again. after you fry them, set them in a warm oven until you serve. 

The aioli we made was a mixture of stuff that we kept adding to until we liked it....but basically its just mayo with a bunch of herbs.....yummy!!

Serves 4

Preparation time: 20 min. 

THANK YOU HOSTS!

Pick-up times

Polly's at the Pier Frederiksted, St. Croix 
Wed 3:30-5:30pm

Barefoot Buddha Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas 
Thurs 11:30am-1:30 pm 

Miriam's Restaurant Christiansted, St. Croix 
Sun 4 -5:30pm


M2M (member to member)

We invite you to take part in the creation of our weekly newsletters.

Share your recipes and pictures, your experiences with the R2R Farm or your thoughts on sustainable farming matters.

We then will do our best to fit it in and share it in one of our upcoming newsletters.

We look forward to your responses!


Wishlist 

Got some things laying around we can re-use in the CSA

• egg cartons
  
• shallow, sturdy plastic trays for upcoming tomato harvest
  
• milk crates
  
• coolers
  
• zip-locks
  
• popsicle sticks
  
• tarps

• any working garden tools
  
• generator, chainsaw, weed-eater
  
• carpentry
  
• sign-making
  
• massages :)
  
• your CSA bags
  
• feedback

THE BIRDS ARE LINING UP for tomato season, which is oh so near. While mowing around the CSA production fields I gathered a hat-full of the first ripe tomatoes. They are not yet ready in amount for the CSA, but the pearly-eyed thrashers (trushees) are all over it. We are about to erect taller trellis superstructure to offer more protection and more room for the plants, who have vegetating very nicely.

The smell in the rows is intoxicating, and this time of year always reminds me of the first garden I ever remembered as a child, in our neighbor's backyard. We could use some help this weekend maintaining them if you want to offer some volunteer time on the farm to help us start filling these bags in the coming weeks with a lot more of the red color spectrum! Contact info@visfi.org if you can come this week, from 8:30am-12 Monday Tuesday or Wednesday.

CSA = People x Gastronomy x Visiting the Farm

Each week you have been introduced to an R2R farmer here, yet there are others as well who are an integral part of this CSA. This past week we were honored to have come stay at our farm the lovely Sandra and Israel Gonzalez, of Sandra's Farm in mountainous Adjuntas, Puerto Rico.

Those of you who are in our coffee share have been getting the closest organically grown and mindfully processed beans around. They took a farmstay vacation here in the Hawk's Nest, and brought with them 20lbs of beans picked and roasted only days ago! We suggest taking a tour of their farm and impressive roasting process if you are ever in their area (soon offering farm stays). You can even help them pick beans on their farm, as we did for our Honeymoon (although we ate most of what we picked!).

We are working on perfecting our coffee packaging and delivery, and thanks to the farmers and your suggestions we are excited about this fresh new batch for the CSA! One tip Sandra and Irsael offered for our members is to use glass jars with rubber seals to ensure maximum freshness, and store in a dark cool place. The also suggested to use a french press and to always warm milk before adding, so it blends well with the brew.

Once roasted in Aduntas, Sandra and Israel immediately vacuum seal their coffee in large bags with a specialized air vent you see on other coffee roasting bags. The vent keeps out oxygen but lets out gasses that slowly exude from freshly roasted beans (the amazing smell released when squeezed). We keep the beans vacuum sealed or in a glass jar until delivery, to uphold the integrity of our local coffee. They are only one island over, working for the VI CSA and their employees every week. As Israel observed, "[Coffee] Farmers learn quickly that their bean pickers don't work for them. It's the farmers who work for the pickers!"

~Nate Olive, Farm Director

COMING UP

April 21 - Virgin Gourmet Premier Release Party & concert. The television series presents its first syndicated show that will air on TEMPO, featuring the star Chef Theo Gumbs and R2R Farm. 

April 28 - Pig Roast and acoustic music with Big Guns Rock at R2R Farm. Local food and music combine again for a seasonal outdoor feast, with local food sourced from the farm and other producers from St. Croix.

May 25-38 - Organic Yoga Retreat - Yoga and Slow Food combined. CSA members including Yogi Marshan Sam and community organizer Sarah Haynes bring you our first ever Yoga retreat on the peaceful farm.

And don't forget, there is a standing invitation for you to take a farm stay and/or volunteer with us. Come out and visit YOUR farm. 

WTF (What's That Food)? 

NOT this week's strange food item, but worth talking about for other weeks since this week is so "normal": Chayote 

Few fruits get stranger looks from than Sechium edule. "Is that a deformed mango?" "A small papaya?" or.... "OH my God! You have chayote!" Those who know it, often love it, so please allow us to introduce you.

Also known locally as christophene, chayote does not need to be replanted each year, as it is a perennial vine in the cucurbitaceae family, along with squash. In fact, chayote can be cooked in most situations as you would cook a squash. However, squash needs an annual replanting, which requires labor and soil disruption. Chayote, for this reason, is an especially sustainable plant for the tropics. Also, because it seems invincible to bugs and diseases here, requires no special effort or pesticides. Yes, even organic farms sometimes use "organic" pesticides, like neem oil, which actually can kill many beneficial insects, so we like anything e don't have to spray.

Because the plants are not fully adapted to domestication, their seeds can sprout while the fruit is on the vine. It has both male and female reproductive organs, but it needs the help of a wild bee or wasp usually to make the necessary connections. They can be planted by burying the entire fruit!


How to use it:

First of all, PLEASE USE GLOVES when handling peeled skin, as a sap can be slippery and then create an elmer's glue -type sticky substance on your hands that can last for some hours. Some do not even peel the skin it at all, but we do.

Imagine a squash, but reduce cooking times drastically as chayote cooks quickly and one of he nicest things about it is the crispy texture is retains when cooked. It has incredible flavor-soaking properties, so be imaginative with your seasoning as otherwise it is bland. You can also make shavings of the raw fruit like a papaya salad. Let us know what you come up with.

Meet the Farmer...
Jessica Irwin, farm apprentice

Smell fresh-baked banana bread on your trip to the farm? There's a 90% chance that it's the handiwork of the apprentice extraordinaire, Jess!

Jessica "Jess" Irwin is from Missouri who worked as a landscaper for Columbia's Parks and Recreation Department. She now has relocated to St. Croix to gain organic farming experience. She chose Ridge to Reef Farm as her place to trade her work for education on growing organic food crops from a list of places around North America.

What Jessica likes most is learning about tropical plants and seeing all the unfamiliar fruits and plants found in the region. Every day she is learning new things and applying them with her strong contributions to the Virgin Islands CSA! 

Another favorite thing is to harvest your basil. "Yes, definitely, it smells fresh and wonderful", she says. In fact, Jess had been behind all the basil harvest this season. 

In addition to harvest, she takes care of seedlings, watering and harvesting and weeding when needed. She is an incredibly fast and thorough weeder, actually one of the best this farm has ever seen. 

One of her other best talents is culinary. She is a leader in the kitchen, fusing foods into creative baked goods and has a gift for making sure our local produce and meats are not wasted. Much of the "B" grade produce gets used as she helps keep the staff fueled with her creative and sensitive cooking style that we ALL appreciate! imagine, for a moment, her crispy thin basil-infused pizza crust with roasted malabar nut basil pesto, sprinkled with mozzarella and topped with the first tomatoes of the season! 

Looking to the future, Jess says she hope the CSA can expand in membership in the near future.  She may get her wish. Season II starts May 30th and there will be 15 additional spaces available in addition to the current level.

Jess is committed to finishing this season through autumn and hopefully longer. Thank you Jessica for your kind, consistent, and delicious work! 

From the Fields

Irrigation has arrived!

We have been on standby to plant additionally in the swales for some time now.  While awaiting a massive shipment of drip line and fittings from California we have focused much of our time and energy in our Gaia garden.  However, finally the shipment has arrived and this past week has had a major focus on opening up large beds in the swales past our tomatoes,  peppers, and eggplants.

Also, in a reaction to last week’s heavy rainfall much effort has gone to beating back the bush with weed whacking and mowing.  This has worked out perfectly in supplying us with the mulch we needed for the new beds.  It seems daily that more and more food is going into the ground and after yesterday’s pollarding of the fruit tree lines and banana grove the farm is looking great.  There is certainly plenty of excited energy here with our vision of production appearing closer each day.

-Matt Johnson, Staff



PO Box 2903 - Frederiksted USVI 00841 - www.visfi.org - info@visfi.org - 340 220 0466
Ridge to Reef Farm @ the Virgin Islands Sustainable Farm Institute

The Week's Harvest

Lettuce heads
Bok Choy
Mizuna
Kale
Green onions
Basil
Papaya
Bananas
Eggs

Farm Recipes
Curried Coconut Papaya Chayote
~ Shelli, Inspired by Angletta Pascal

You need:
1 1/2 cups fresh coconut milk
2 cups diced green papaya
1 cups diced chayote (WEAR GLOVES WHEN HANDLING TO PREVENT SLIGHT CAUSTIC AFFECT)
2 tablespoons curry power
1 teaspoon minced tumeric
salt & pepper to taste
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup chopped green onions
1 tablespoon coconut oil

Directions:
Saute onions & green papaya until papaya gets soft. The add chayote & other seasons, mix to cover chunks with seasoning. Both chayote and papaya really soak up the seasoning! 

Once soft, add coconut milk and let simmer for 5 minutes. Add some whole hot peppers before this step for optional extra seasoning. Do not overcook, or chunks can lose firmness.

Serve hot, but let cool slightly first, as papaya and chayote can really retain temperature heat even when the rest of dish is only warm.

Serves 4

Preparation time: 25 min. 

THANK YOU HOSTS!

Pick-up times

Polly's at the Pier Frederiksted, St. Croix 
Wed 3:30-5:30pm

Barefoot Buddha Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas 
Thurs 11:30am-1:30 pm 

Miriam's Restaurant Christiansted, St. Croix 
Sun 4 -5:30pm


M2M (member to member)

We invite you to take part in the creation of our weekly newsletters.

Share your recipes and pictures, your experiences with the R2R Farm or your thoughts on sustainable farming matters.

We then will do our best to fit it in and share it in one of our upcoming newsletters.

We look forward to your responses!


Wishlist 

Got some things laying around we can re-use in the CSA

• egg cartons
  
• shallow, sturdy plastic trays for upcoming tomato harvest
  
• milk crates
  
• coolers
  
• zip-locks
  
• popsicle sticks
  
• tarps
  
• any working garden tools
  
• generator, chainsaw, weed-eater
  
• carpentry
  
• sign-making
  
• massages :)
  
• your CSA bags
  
• feedback