growing your own...

It all depends where you live on the island. The east end of STX has little rain and the northern part gets a lost of salt which make those areas less than perfect for growing crops. We bought a lot where we know we will be able to garden. Our realtor was great in helping us. All the neighbors around us have bananas which need a lot of water, bread fruit, mango and sauer oranges. He was a local. Our lot is just above his and I am sure we will be ok growing quite a selection of things. I am a bit surprised that there is not more farming on STX. STX is large enough to grow crops to support the people on the island. Yet it does seem most comes from off the island. In the stores I visited produce looked less than perfect.

Iris

Hello Angelia,

Dogs and cats are not quarantined. There is no limit, but the airlines do have limits on flying with them - you'd need to contact the various airlines for that information. Visit our home page and then click on Shipping Pets and you will find the details you need on what is necessary, how to do it.

There is a farmers market on St. Croix. And there are some local farmers in the USVI that grow locally, organically. Growing your own veges, and caring for your cows, chickens, pigs to be self sufficient requires time and the economy in the Virgin Islands no long requires families to have their own veges and animals as was the case in the past. Today people work in offices 9-5 for the most part and it is just easier to drop by the grocery store and grab some groceries rather then killing a chicken, milking the cow and gathering eggs from the chicken coop so its not really done anymore on an individual family basis. There are some farmers though that farm as a livelihood by selling their produce.

Fruit trees around homes like Iris mentioned are completely common here, folks plant lime, mango, coconut, banana around the house as part of the landscaping effort and not necessarily to create self sufficiency for fruits, although the intent is of course to eat the fruit. Other common fruit trees planted around homes are sugar apple, sour sop, bay rum trees (not a fruit tree, but used for medicinal purposes in teas and baths), mespel, pomegranate, guava, guava berry, avocado, pigeon peas... these trees once rooted don't take much or any maintenance - except extra watering during droughts/dry seasons. Other things grown by those that have more time to maintain them are yams, potatoes, water melon, pumpkin, peanuts, lettuce, okra, thyme, rosemary, basil... among others.

Here is some information:

St. Croix has more agricultural pursuits then any of the three other USVI islands... and there is experimenting with hydroponics, fruit trees, vegetables... at the agriculture research station that is part of the University of the virgin islands St. Croix campus. http://rps.uvi.edu/AES/Aquaculture/aquaponics.html

Most of the people on St. Thomas that have small farms are older generation folks of the French community and the Rastafarians of the west end... the farming is in the soil. They sell their produce at local markets... not grocery stores although the Fruit Bowl on St. Thomas often will buy from local farmers to sell... many set up a little booth roadside and sell their fresh produce that way.

Groups:

St. Croix:
Agriculture Research Station - (340)778-1312
Farm Service Agency (340)773-9146
Local Government Agriculture Office - (340)778-0997

St. John
(340)776-6274

St. Thomas
Local Government Agriculture Office (340)774-5182
Agriculture Office (340)776-2787

Website: http://www.usvi.org/agriculture/

Document with Stats: http://www.nass.usda.gov/census/census02/usvi/usvi.pdf

The folks at Mt. Victory Campground on St. Croix have a garden, you can read about it here: http://www.mtvictorycamp.com/farm.html

A larger scale garden is Southgate Farms on St. Croix; I don't have a web site for them.

St. Croix is well known for its Senapol Cattle:
http://www.islands.vi/~pisella/cnsenepol/

There is an agriculture fair on both St. Thomas & St. Croix annually.

These are the markets for the USVI that I have, not sure if the contact information is current though:

Farmers Market Representative
Henry Schuster
Commissioner
Virgin Islands Department of Agriculture
Estate Lower Love - Kings Hill
St. Croix, Virgin Islands 00850
Phone: (809)778-0991
Fax: (340)778-3101

Christian "Shan" Hendricks Vegetable Market
Company Street
Christiansted, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
Contact: Ms. Isabelle Morton
(340) 778-0997/8, ext. 228
Fax: (340) 778-3101
OPEN-AIR/YEAR-ROUND
Saturday, 7:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.

Anne Heyliger Vegetable Market
Queen Cross Street
Frederiksted, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
Contact: Ms. Isabelle Morton
(340) 778-0997/8, ext. 228
Fax: (340) 778-3101
OPEN-AIR/YEAR-ROUND
Saturday, 7:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.

La Reine Farmers Market
Estate Body Slob
Kingshill, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
Contact: Ms. Isabelle Morton
(340) 778-0997/8, ext. 228
Fax: (340) 778-3101
OPEN-AIR/YEAR-ROUND
Saturday, 7:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.

Rothschild Francis Vegetable Market
Charlotte Amalie
St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
Contact: Mr. Elvette L. Elliott
(340) 774-5182, Fax: (340) 774-1823
OPEN-AIR/YEAR-ROUND
Saturday, 7:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.

This article you might also find interesting:
http://www.pr.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/outreach/outreachvi.htm

Hope some of this information helps.

--Islander

Thanks for the information. We just missed the agricultural fair this year. It was a week later than '04's. We didn't attend last year and thought we would get it in this year. Maybe in '06!

I understand time restraints and convience of a grocery store. Plucking a chicken is no fun.
I have seen the little places roadside selling produce...thanks for the background.

I will check out all of your references. Just wanting to learn more about what to expect and what can be done. Thanks again!
a