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RIDGE TO REEF FARM, ST CROIX USVI
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The Dirt on the Winter 2013 CSA

12/6/2012

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Thank you for your interest in our community supported agriculture (CSA) program. By participating in our CSA, you are investing not only in our farm, but in your own health and the health of our community, islands, and world.

We are the only certified organic farm with a CSA program in the Virgin Islands. So if you are looking for the best fresh, local, organic produce available, you can skip the store, and sign up for a share in our labor of love.

What’s in the Bag?
Each week we will harvest and deliver a variety of our organic produce to your pickup location (Frederiksted and Christiansted on St. Croix; Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas; and Gifft Hill on St. John). Each bag typically contains several pounds of produce and is enough for two people to eat well together throughout the week.

The goal is to provide value that surpasses the fair market price of your share for organic food every week. Price comparisons from prior weeks have shown our food, while better in quality, sometimes actually has a lower price than that which is found in the conventional grocery stores. 

We have put together a tentative listing of some the items you may receive below. While we cannot guarantee any one crop, this is our goal:

Month 1
Pink Beauty Radishes, Tango Minature Head Lettuce, Mizuna Greens, Geogia Collards, Arugula, Mustard Greens, Hakurei Turnips, Caribe Cilantro, Genovese Basil, Thai Basil, Bananas, Papaya, Tuscano Kale, Green Onions, Jalapeno Peppers, Romano Beans, Pac Choy, Flowering Broccoli, Chaya, Moringa greens and powder.

Month 2
Same as above, plus: Eggplants, Sweet and Hot Peppers, Beets, Suyo Long Cucumbers, Heirloom Tomatoes (Cherokee Purple, Striped German, Black Krim and more), Yellow and Red Cherry tomatoes, Butter Head Lettuce, Red Noodle Yardlong Beans, Clemson Spineless Okra, Rainbow Chard, Carrots, Edamame, Parsley, Garlic Chives.

Month 3
Same as above, plus: Winter Squash, Red Burgundy Okra, Pumpkins, Green Yardlong Beans, Sweet Potatoes, and more tomatoes!

Plus... seasonal specials such as Mango, Surinam Cherry, Passionfruit, Lemongrass, Sugar Cane, Bush Tea and Miracle Fruit! 

You can also choose to add an optional bi-weekly coffee share from Puerto Rico’s sustainable fair-trade coffee farm for $90 (limited to 10 shares) or the "smoothie special" banana share (10 lbs additional) per week for $120 (limited to 15 shares).

How to Register

We are now accepting registrations for our Winter 2013 CSA season. Our first harvest begins January 31, 2013, so we ask that you please register before December 31, 2012.

You may now register here and pay up front for the entire season, which will secure your share in our Winter 2013 CSA.  All you have to do after that is pick up your food every week at the location of your choice (see registration form for details).

How to Submit Payment

Full payment is required to secure your share. Payment deadline is December 31 and any registrations not paid by the deadline will be released to other registrants. Please let us know if your check is in the mail. 

Pay by check
You may send a check written to “Ridge to Reef Farm” to this address:

Ridge to Reef Farm
PO Box 2903
Frederiksted USVI, 00841

Pay with PayPal
Please contact us at 340.220.0466 or info@visfi.org for PayPal payment instructions.

Shares are locked in once we receive full payment. Thank you!

Please note: A CSA is a shared risk/benefit business model to secure local food production. There are no guarantees about what or how much you may receive each week. Farming is a risky business, with storms, fires, or acts of God that sometimes make farming difficult. There are always losses, but thanks to our 10 years experience of growing to the strict USDA organic standards here in the USVI, we know how to put fine, tasty food on the table year-round, and satisfied members of past CSA seasons here agree.

Also, a weekly produce delivery is just one of the many returns on your investment in Ridge to Reef Farm. We encourage you to take advantage of many of the opportunities here, such as volunteering on Saturday morning, when you can learn more about our sustainable farming practices and even get a chance to get your hands dirty and experience farming for yourself! We love when CSA members contribute their own recipes to the CSA newsletter, and in general participate in the conversation and creative process with us. We have a beautiful property, a wealth of knowledge, and a lot of heart to share with you all, so come and be a part of it!

Thanks for growing with us,

Nate, Shelli, Claudia, Francia, Danielle, Jim, Sarah, Matt, Troy, Andrew, & Dennis, and all the others past and future at Ridge to Reef Farm





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CSA Fall Season, Week 12 (Final Week!)

12/2/2012

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Christmas Winds


Never mind that October was the driest on record. Forget that November has been one of the hottest and most humid in memory. The Christmas winds are coming. In fact, they might already be here.

One of our seedling benches we've had out since May, now heavy with the bulging weight of trays and trays of new starts for the winter season CSA, lost its clear plastic roof to the increasing gusts. Even as we got a soaking rain last week, it seems dry already. This is the time to get those seedlings in the ground, and we are moving fast to do so. 

Before our farm manager Patrick leaves on Friday, he is finishing up our irrigation upgrades as we open up 4 additional acres for  winter plantings. New Managers jim and Claudia have been busy raising their new crops and before we know it we will be in the most productive cycle in Ridge to Reef or VISFI history! 

CSA Winter 2013 Memberships are selling like johnny cakes in our first round of member renewals, as we have finally figured out all the daunting logistics of getting our food across the territory. So far, just under half of last year's 78 different members have renewed, and with additional commitments made, we hope to get at least a 75% return rate before the registration period ends Dec 31. It is time now to go to the waiting list, so if you want to renew, please do so soon, because once it's full, it's full, even if it's before the 31st:)

We have officially one more week in the Fall season, only to St. Thomas since we had two weeks canceled in the season due to boat issues. Then we will get a nice little break before launching into the winter season on Jan 31st! 

The winds bring change. They stroke the hills and lands with pure energy. They carry us through the interval between the seasons. This year, they carry us through not only an annual seasonal change, but a monumental period of celestial events surrounding the cycling of the Mayan calendar. What kind of affect will this have on our new legions of food crops? We don't know, but we are open for changes, and we surelywelcome the blessed winds!

Sincerely,


     Nate
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From the Field...

Hello CSA members!

We’ll be your farmers at Ridge to Reef Farm for the Winter 2013 Season. Our names are Jim and Claudia – we just moved to the island from Santa Cruz, California. We’ve spent the last 3 years learning how to farm. We’re excited to be in St. Croix, and have lots on our plates to prepare for a season full of delicious fruits and vegetables!

A few months ago our fields were sown with a nitrogen-rich cover crop, Sunn Hemp (Crotalaria) to provide nutrients to our soil. Now, with the yellow flowers of the Sunn Hemp in peak bloom, we’re preparing the field with a tractor to get it ready to plant our young seedlings. At the same time we’re sowing seeds like heirloom tomatoes, genovese basil and sweet pepper in trays where they’ll stay under the protection of a hoophouse until they’re old enough to be put in the ground.

We hope you continue as CSA members, and we look forward to meeting all of you!


Claudia Seixas & Jim Marzluff, R2R Farm Managers

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FARM WISH LIST


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

Last season we got egg cartons, more reusable bags, a blender, some garden hoses, a trash bin, and other great things that we use and were saved from going to the landfill or rotting in a shed. THANK YOU!


  • shallow, sturdy plastic trays
  • milk crates
  • plastic bags
  • coolers
  • zip-locks
  • popsicle sticks
  • tarps/canvas/sails/rope
  • any working garden tools
  • chainsaw, weed-eater
  • carpentry
  • sign-making, any plywood or wood we can use for signs (non -treated)
  • your CSA bags
  • egg cartons
  • feedback

M2M (Member to Member)

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

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

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

We look forward to your responses!



Ridge to Reef Farm @ the Virgin Islands Sustainable Farm Institute
PO Box 2903 - Frederiksted USVI 00841 - www.visfi.org - 340.220.0466 - info@visfi.org

This Week's Harvest

Green-leaf Lettuce

Red-leaf Lettuce

Fall salad mix

Chaya

Bananas

Bok Choy

Moringa Leaves

_________________________

FARM RECIPES

Bok Choy Stir Fry

Dennis just whipped up this deilghtful dish for us after we all returned from the beach last weekend.

Stir fry dishes are a simple and easy way to use up your leftovers and farm produce. For this meal, we used some extra veges left over from the Slow Down Dinner the night before, along with fresh bok choy and peppers. We encourage you to be creative and make it your own with what you have available!

Ingredients

Bok Choy
Seasoning peppers
Onion
Ginger, freshly grated
Soy Sauce
Olive oil


Preparation

Chop onions and saute in olive oil. Add seasoning peppers, ginger, and soy sauce. Allow flavors to meld together. Peel and wash bok choy leaves and add to stir fry. Cook until they are tender and wilted. Serve over rice and enjoy!

Want more inspiration?
Look through our recipes database compiled from over 20 weeks of CSA in 2012!

___________________________

We need your help, we need your hands: Volunteer at Ridge to Reef Farm!

Farming with a small crew trying to provide organic and local food for a big community isn't always easy. You can help us by joining our VOLUNTEER days every Saturday from 7:30 am to 11:30 am. A group cooked lunch with mostly ingredients from the farm will be the reward for hungry farmers and gives the opportunity to lean back and relax.

Bring your family, bring your friends and enjoy spending time in nature, having fun by being part of a great vision. We gladly welcome every person who finds the way up to the farm!

You'd like to come up another day of the week? Just contact us at 340.220.0644.

THANK YOU HOSTS!

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

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

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

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    About Us

    Ridge to Reef Farm serves the US Virgin Islands with certified organic produce grown with sustainable permaculture practices (and a lot of love).

    Learn more about our CSA and sign up at the top of this page (when available), or scroll down to view archives of our past CSA newsletters.

    You can also search or browse our recipes page for fresh inspiration, and share your own favorite creations in the comments, email, or Facebook.

    We love to see new visitors and volunteers at the farm :)
    Thanks for growing with us! 

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All Content Copyright 2022-2023
PO Box 2903
#1 Ridge to Reef Farm Rd, Frederiksted, St. Croix, USVI 00840
www.ridge2reef.org Contact: csa@ridge2reef.org 340.473.1557
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