Week 1, Spring ‘21
By Remi Welbel
It’s our first week back and our ambitions are climbing higher than our pea tendrils.
Before I dive into our weekly update, I want to introduce our exceptional spring cohort! We are so lucky to have such a passionate group of people who bring with them a myriad of skills and interests, and will undoubtedly contribute immensely to making Zumwalt Acres flourish.
Introducing...
Lilly Witonsky (she/her)
Lilly is from Chicago, Illinois and is taking the year off from University of California, Santa Barbara where she studies aquatic biology. Lilly spent the past year working at a scuba diving shop and volunteering at an organic farm in Santa Barbara. She loves to scuba dive, hike, craft, and nerd out about anything ocean related. Lilly is serving as the spring cohort’s community outreach coordinator and is excited to grow our organization through fostering relationships with other regenerative farms as she grows trees and veggies!
Brendan Campbell (he/him)
Originally from Missoula, Montana, Brendan is on a leave of absence from Yale, where he’s a senior studying Cognitive Science. At Yale, he sings in the choir, works on the Yale Farm, coaches the club swim team, edits for the Politic, does research into consciousness, and overall just tries to have fun! He’s excited to lead the Zumwalt grant-writing process, burn a TON of biochar, learn everything he can about the Jewish faith and community, and hang out with our sourdough starter named Drew.
Hannah Kahn Glass (she/her)
Hannah is from Portland, Oregon and attends school at McGill University. She studies cultural studies with a focus on film. She is leading the communications team and is excited to get the word out about the farm and share resources about the intersection of Judaism and environmentalism with the community. She is also psyched to plant lots of veggies, go on outdoor adventures, and share delicious shabbat dinners with the cohort. Her favorite fermented food is kimchi, in case anyone was wondering.
Sophia Ludtke (she/her)
Sophia is from Gladstone, New Jersey and is currently taking a gap year before starting school at Harvard University next fall. She is interested in the ethics of climate change and is excited to explore policy and interfaith approaches to environmentalism while at Zumwalt. In her free time, she enjoys creative writing and modern dance and loves nothing more than spending her days outdoors!
Shachar Berkowitz-Regosin (she/her)
Shachar grew up in Newton, Massachusetts and is a Junior, studying Economics and Environmental Science at Barnard College. She has worked at numerous organic farms, but is super excited to learn more about organic farming and delve into the organizational work as the finance manager! In her free time, she loves to bake, knit, and run.
Jesse Miller (he/him)
Jesse is from Pasadena, California. He is taking this year off from school, but when he returns he'll be finishing his degree at Brown University. He is interested in the intersections between farming, anarchical socialism, and Judaism. As the apprentice in agroforestry this season, he is really excited to plant an agroforest that will feed the Zumwalt community for years to come.
Tuomas Sivula (he/him)
Tuomas is from Saint Paul, Minnesota. He is about to graduate from Carleton College with a degree in Environmental Studies and Political Science. His political science research is on climate change adaptation by subsistence farmers in Myanmar, in the future he'd like to work in urban planning or community organizing. As the agroforestry policy research team lead, he is jazzed to generate creative solutions to agricultural problems in the midwest.
Now, on to our latest updates!
Last week, Gavi and I returned to the farm on Tuesday to get everything ready for our newest community members. We could barely contain our excitement! Lilly, Jesse, and Sophia arrived on Wednesday, and Brendan, Shachar, and Hannah joined us on Thursday. Tuomas will be joining us after he finishes his final exams at Carleton in a few weeks.
On Thursday, we hit the soil running! We finished moving everyone in, danced outside, seeded our asparagus, and began getting to know each other. For dinner, Hannah and Jesse made a tofu poke bowl feast.
On Friday morning, we woke up and started our day with some outdoor guided improvisational dance. It was so wonderful getting to move together and enjoy the early spring weather. When it was time to get to work, we sat around the kitchen table, and Gavi and I walked everyone through the Zumwalt Acres Work Handbook, which describes the roles and responsibilities of each of our working groups (Farm Management, Scientific Research, Funding, Policy Research, Apprenticeships, Community Outreach, Communications, Education, and Spirituality, Judaism, & Interfaith Community Building). It was so wonderful to see everyone’s enthusiasm and dedication to the work we are doing. I truly cannot wait to see what each of these folks does with their time here. After a comprehensive team meeting, we ventured outside to begin our inaugural biochar burn and start preparing for our first Shabbat dinner.
For dinner, Gavi and I made tomato, barley, bean soup, roasted radishes, sauteed collard greens, salad from the greenhouse, babaganoush, and challah. Before eating, we lit the Shabbat candles and sang Kabbalat Shabbat songs. After dinner, we enjoyed our first oneg of the season, reading fills from our fill buckets and talking late into the night.