Week 2, Fall 2022
Hello all, and welcome to the Fall 2022 installment of the ZA Farm Journal!
We started off the week with a visit from JR, Remi, and their dog Max. Tomato harvest is in full swing this time of year, so we spent a good chunk of time picking tomatoes in all of our gardens. We’ve been enjoying so many varieties of tomatoes: cherry, plum, roma, beefsteak, and heirloom! JR was hard at work leading our biochar preparations. I (Ayden) took some time to harvest and log some of the beautiful oyster mushrooms we’ve been growing. For dinner we enjoyed enchiladas under the stars.
On Tuesday we sent out produce to our distributor. We continued to harvest tomatoes, especially in our new patch of Ukranian tomatoes whose seedlings were brought to us by JR’s friend Valentine. In order to make room for our abundance of tomatoes we spent some time sorting through our picked tomatoes and brought some in to eat. For lunch we enjoyed a loaf of Marya’s delicious sourdough bread (shoutout to our sourdough starter, Drew!) along with some homemade hummus and salad with fresh peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Marya, who is heading to Yale soon to do some exciting research, spent some time taking samples of our soil. For dinner I prepared the viral tiktok feta pasta with plenty of fresh tomatoes and some of our own kale. The dish truly lived up to the hype! For dessert Marya made some delicious matcha ice cream.
On Wednesday morning I brought some peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and eggplant to the local food pantry. When I got back I harvested tomatoes in our Goat, ATR, and Miracle gardens. Meanwhile Marya helped out JR’s cousin Johnny with baling hay. We were so happy when Stephanie, a ZA alum joining us for the fall season, arrived in the evening! Steph and I teamed up to make some Bruschetta for dinner. We are truly trying to exhaust every single tomato-based recipe we can find. Lexi was hard at work preparing even more tomatoes to be canned so we can enjoy them all season long.
On Thursday Steph and I spent the morning harvesting our shishito and melrose peppers. Marya set up some new equipment to measure the levels of dust in the soil. For lunch we had rice and beans with guacamole and, you guessed it, tomato salsa! After lunch the cohort at ZA had a Zoom meeting with Gavi and Patricia to talk about and hone in on ZA’s values as we start off the season. Then Stephanie and I harvested some gigantic heirloom tomatoes from the Valentine patch while Marya took measurements of the soil’s pH. Lexi and Steph hiked out to our patch of qishu’im, whose unique seeds we received from the Jewish Farmer Network. For dinner we enjoyed some chicken of the woods eggplant parm along with some fresh kale salad. These mushrooms, foraged by Lexi, were truly the star of the show. After dinner Lexi finished the process of canning our tomatoes.
On Friday Stephanie, Marya, and I worked hard weeding the beds of our carrots and beets in the Goat garden. We are looking forward to harvesting these fall crops in the coming weeks. For lunch we enjoyed some leftovers along with a fresh qishu’im and radish salad made by Lexi. We spent the afternoon harvesting some more tomatoes. For Shabbat, Stephanie made some delicious challah from locally sourced wheat, and I helped a little with the braiding. We lit candles, made Kiddush, the blessing over wine, and enjoyed our challah. For dinner Marya made some delicious shawarma from our own oyster mushrooms.
We spent most of our Shabbat relaxing. We were also happy to welcome a new apprentice, Mira, to the farm! For dinner Mira and Steph teamed up to cook some rice and tofu along with some of our very own eggplants, shishito peppers, and tomatoes. Inspired by our abundance of flour, Steph baked some delicious chocolate chip cookies for dessert which we enjoyed with some tea. Our Sunday was equally relaxing. Luckily for us, Stephanie and Marya made a new batch of sourdough bread. Mira continued acclimating to our house. We watched some Junior Bake Off and started a puzzle while thinking about our Shabbat dinner plans for the coming week. For dinner Marya made some delicious enchiladas with a sauce made from our own canned tomatoes, as well as some baked squash from the farm.
We learned so much this week as we’re just starting to settle into our routine here at the farm. I’m so excited to see what the coming week brings!
Image description: Colorful cherry tomatoes in produce bins
Image credit: Stephanie Berger
