16 days to the 50th Celebration of Mustique and I'm 'Farm Girl Thursday' again. This means taking the early morning flight off-island to St. Vincent (6 minutes) and a ten minute drive up into the hills to 'Spring Valley Farm' - Paradise on Earth!  We have important work today as we are supplying the Arugula to the Cotton House and Basil's Bar for the big 50th Gala Dinner.  I planted beds and beds of spicy greens before heading off to Europe a couple of weeks ago and I'm praying they haven't been devoured by the many pests we contend with.  We are completely organic with our approach, so no pesticides, instead we are experimenting with natural garlic, ginger, hot pepper and neem leaf.

First job - check on last months plantings and then plant up the new beds.  We should have just enough time to get baby arugula on the table for the Gala Dinner on 21st July.  Luckily everything grows so fast here, the seeds planted today will already be sprouting tomorrow!    

Above left is a picture of me (Lotty) planting mange-tout last month.  Neem leaves are scattered over the soil to try and keep away the bugs.  I had no idea if mange-tout would survive the heat and humidity so you can imagine my excitement this week as I see 3 perfect mange-tout ready to pick! and not an insect in sight!

Heading up the Valley to the orchards I went to check on the pineapples and which fruit trees are bearing at the moment.  Rich pickings today! with avocado, wax-apple, starfruit, guava and mango all in season. Meet Parris and Asha, Spring Valley Farm's Royalty, Asha is Queen of the Mountain, and Parris, King of the Garden! 

Fruits from todays foraging.

Todays pickings from the Walled Garden.  The Farm is another fabulous source of inspiration for my 'Lotty B' and 'Pink House Mustique' fabric designs.  If only I had more time to sit and sketch here -  One day!