Week 1, Spring 2024
Hello readers, and welcome back to the ZA farm journal! My name is Ayden, and you might remember me from fall of 2022. I am so excited to be back on the land and reporting all of our adventures to you all.
On Monday JR graciously picked me up from the airport and drove me and Gavi to the farm. As we chatted and listened to some tunes I was giddy with excitement knowing I’d be back at Zumwalt Acres so soon. Of course we had to make a very important stop on the way at Janie’s Mill to pick up some purge flour. I can’t wait to see what kinds of delicious baked goods we’ll be enjoying this season! Hugs and warm welcomes abounded when we arrived at the farm: the entire spring ‘24 team was finally together! I’ve never been here for the spring season before, and things definitely look a little different than they did two years ago in the fall. I think it’s going to be fulfilling and rewarding to be a part of the growing process from the very start. It’s nice to feel like you too are growing a little bit every day alongside the plants. At night we had a lovely dinner together and I settled in for my first night, exhausted.
Tuesday started with farm orientation tasks like getting outside for a little tour of the greenhouse and shed. We also started to weed in the Goat and Miracle gardens. After lunch we had some guiding meetings about the organization’s structure and values. It’s important for us to think about how what we do daily fits in with ZA’s larger mission(s). Then Sophie gave us a stellar presentation about our budget and finances. In exciting news Tuesday also marked our first mushroom inoculation of the season! For dinner Eric and I got creative and made spaghetti with a sauce featuring black beans and roasted honey nut squash from the farm.
On Wednesday, Martina, Sophie, and I started covering the edges of the beds in Goat and Miracle to discourage weeds from growing there. JR, Eric, and Acacia assessed the state of our fruit trees and made a plan for pruning them. After lunch we had a conversation about our community guidelines and practices we want to implement during our season. JR was hard at work maintaining our bee hives. We were lucky to get some honey and even some honeycomb! Eric, our resident botanist, told me about how the type of nectar or pollen that bees consume affects the flavor of the honey.
Thursday morning brought a storm with slews of lightning and even hail, so we decided to start the day off by discussing what roles we each want to take on at the farm this season. I’m very excited to be working on the farm journal and mushrooms again. Lexi, our mushroom expert, will be down to visit us later this month. I’m really looking forward to getting reoriented in the grow-tent system that is even more sophisticated than last time I saw it! Once the weather cleared up, Martina and I started washing all of our gardening gloves: good old spring cleaning. Meanwhile Margalit has been doing a great job organizing and cleaning the shed and the greenhouse. Gavi prepared us lunch which included some fresh flatbreads featuring sage from the farm. Afterwards, Margalit, Martina, and I uncovered a giant tarp and used it to cover some of the beds in ATR. It took all of our might to haul it all the way over! Later we held weekly weeds and decided on housekeeping responsibilities. Seems boring but it’s an important part of living together in an intentional community. When we finished with work, I went out for a cuddle with the cats, a routine from my last season here that I have every intention of carrying over this spring. Margalit and I made dinner that featured tomatoes, spinach, sweet potatoes, dried mushrooms, and garlic chives all from the farm! In celebration of Pi day Martina prepared a lovely apple crisp for us (with apples lovingly preserved by Margalit last fall).
On Friday (today) I started the day cleaning the ducts of the mushroom grow-tent with Acacia. Meanwhile, Eric, Margalit, and Martina worked together to prune the apricot trees in front of Goat. It’s really exciting to see how much the trees have grown and to envision the fruit they will bear one day. I took some time to work on this very farm journal entry before making lunch: chilaquiles with an assortment of squash and tomatoes from the farm. We’re lucky that the fall 2023 team did such a great job preserving some of our produce so we can continue to enjoy it this season. We are all really looking forward to our first Shabbat together and enjoying the weekend as a full cohort. Stay tuned to hear about what adventures we get up to next week!
