One of the wonderful little surprises on semi-arid St. John is Coral Bay Organic Gardens.
Josephine (of Josephine's Greens local fame :) grows lovely mixed greens, local spinach, kale, bok choy, arugula, local pumpkin, tomatos, herbs and vegetables that you would not find in your everyday super market. Her prices are reasonable by island standards and it's exciting to find out what she's growing. Her greens are featured at all the local restaurants as well as our grocery stores.
Whenever we are out in Coral Bay on Thursday's for service we do a stop by Josephine's and see what's available that week. A recent visit reaped some fanciful angled beans along with some local pumpkin. There is nothing like fresh produce!!!
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Ask any long-term resident and they'll tell you many sad stories of tomatoes that never made it and other sad horticultural frustrations ( I have many!). Josephine's secret appears to be some serious composting which supplements St. John's nutrient poor soil. During the sugar cane boom which began in the 18th century farmers switched their cotton and tobacco crops to sugar cane the best money making crop of the time. With no crop rotation St. John plantation owners stripped the land of vegetation resulting in a severe loss of good topsoil. So besides a shortage of water our island is plagued with poor soil, which makes Josephine's garden's such a beautiful thing to enjoy and have here on St. John.
Not only does Josephine grow beautiful produce but she has a lovely nursery with beautiful plants and flowers.
There will come to be plenty of grain on the earth; On the top of the mountains there will be an overflow. Psalm 72:16
