Some Final Reflections
By Samm Kaiser
There were many reasons I chose to spend this semester at Zumwalt Acres. I’ve been interested in sustainability, specifically sustainable agriculture, for almost my entire life. Back in high school, Gavi and I bonded over urban gardens, hydroponics, and my slow but steady transition to vegetarianism. We used to laugh and say that we would end up working together one day, only we weren’t really joking; it was only a matter of time.
I remember the day my family sat down, laid out all of my options, and decided that I would be spending the fall semester in Sheldon. It was July, and we sat six feet apart in a park outside their apartment building. I had just recovered from COVID-19 myself, and was feeling apprehensive about returning to St. Louis for school. We discussed every possible scenario, what each would mean for us financially, what each would mean for my volleyball career, and where I would be safest. It was all very meticulous, but this one consideration from my mom sealed the deal:
“You either go to St. Louis and live a watered-down version of your normal life. Or, you take a risk and do something radical”.
And radical it was. The decision from that point was obvious, and six weeks later, I was settling into my bunk bed at Zumwalt Acres. Not only was I, an aggressively self-proclaimed city kid, now living in the least densely populated county in Illinois, but this was the first time in my life that volleyball took the backseat. Everything about this was completely new - and that’s what made it wonderful.
I look back on this semester and it feels like a movie. I remember the very first morning I woke up there, when it was lightly raining and I could hear crickets outside. I remember tiptoeing into the kitchen to make coffee, and staring out the window at the miles of corn beyond. I remember a week later when Sophie first arrived, and I participated in my first Shabbat dinner, complete with our beautiful rendition of Take Me Home, Country Roads sung in the yard while we waited for Sophie’s covid test results. I remember Rosh Hashanah, all of us sitting outside and having the best matzo ball soup in the entire world (I’m still waiting on the recipe and at this point I think the Welbels are purposefully hiding it). I remember the night Julia and I stayed up until five in the morning re-analyzing middle school drama and laughing. I remember the day Max and Jason arrived, and for some reason the first thing we did was watch Coco. I remember the first grant we received, for $500, and the last one, for $25,000. I remember sitting on the hay bales every night after dinner and watching the red lights on the windmills blink in not-quite unison. I remember feeling so grateful that I had chosen this path. I still feel that way.
I learned quite a few things at Zumwalt Acres this semester. I learned how to use a power drill, build a hoophouse, milk a goat, and pan-fry tofu. I learned what poison ivy looks like and why it’s important to use lukewarm water when baking sourdough. I learned that I still need to wear sunscreen in October. All of this is great knowledge to have in the bank, but the most important thing that I learned this semester was how highly I value community. I love working outside and contributing to the world of sustainability, but what truly made this semester special to me was the people; getting closer with people like Julia, who I’ve known for almost a decade, while forming new relationships with people like Max and Sophie, who I never would have met otherwise. Throughout all of the last-minute grant submissions, cooking mishaps, and escaped goats, we all laughed together. That, to me, was the best part.