Week 7, Summer ‘21
Temperatures are high, but our spirits are higher! While Shlomi and Antonio were curled up in their bed in the toolshed, we were out in the garden beds.
On Monday, we were able to complete a lot of tasks. Hannah ordered seeds for the fall season, Jesse and Eric finished the final touches on SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education) work for our trees, Grace finished taking soil cores in ATR and pruning the tomatoes in Goat Garden, Hannah finished soil coring and taking the pHes of the soil in Goat Garden, and Zaria transplanted kale in the Shemesh Bed. There was also much enthusiasm for giving ATR some necessary love, by weeding and mulching, which was an all-hands-on deck task.
To feed ourselves, we made mole, homemade salsa, fajita veggies, brown rice [Jesse + Eric].
On Tuesday, food distribution was top priority! We harvested kale, radishes, green beans, and cucumbers, which Stephanie delivered to Down at the Farms co-op. In addition to the co-op sales, we sent pounds of cucumbers to the Watseka Bread Basket Food Pantry! Out in the West Shelterbelt, Jesse and Eric, our dynamic tree duo, assessed our trees’ health, and began some much needed trubing that would last all week. At lunch, Zaria and Tuomas led a fruitful context conversation about indigenous land rights and environmental justice, which sparked a lot of inquisition as to ZA’s place within the environmental movement, and how we can best support and learn from these actors that are/have been doing so much within the field. After lunch, Tuomas finished taking soil cores in the corn fields, and Sophie and Zaria inoculated a couple logs of shiitake mushrooms.
For dinner, our neighbors (Gavi and Remi’s cousin Johnny and his wife Laurie) came over for dinner! We made homemade veggie burgers, corn on the cob, sweet potato fries, and they generously brought a berry dessert [Joey + Steph]. Johnny frequently helps us with our work on the farm, so it was great to have them over outside of work hours.
On Wednesday, now that our Monday tasks were all wrapped up, we were able to start new projects! In the West Shelterbelt, we started weeding around the trees, and laying out stakes and plastic tubes for tree tubing. While trubing was happening, Joey and Grace began the great cooling system endeavor, and started transforming our trailer into a giant fridge, requiring a lot of air conditioning, coolbot, and insulation work. Joey and Grace were able to finish the flooring of the unit, and some of the framing, which was really exciting! In the beds, Hannah, Soph, and Patricia went out to harvest squash, chard, basil, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, carrots, and radishes to both sell at the Wednesday Watseka Farmer’s Market, and donate to the Sheldon Food Pantry, manned by Jesse. Also, if you haven’t already, go check out our Instagram and Facebook (@ZumwaltAcres) infographic post about Jewish Land Stewardship! Immense credit to Zaria for creating this amazing resource, and to Gavi and Hannah for providing the information.
In the evening, we had a special event– JR invited some of his old jamming buddies over to host a band practice in preparation for our upcoming community event. A reimagined version of JR’s high school band, Cold Steam, along with some summer apprentices, jammed for hours after dinner, and was a beautiful end to our evening.
To feed ourselves, we ate tofu, rice, curried squash, cucumbers, roasted carrots, peanut butter sauce [Jesse + Gavi].
On Thursday, Joey continued with the fridge, with the help of Stephanie, and was able to get a good chunk of the ceiling finished. Also in continuation was the trubing in the West Shelterbelt, and mushroom inoculation. A new undertaking we began was a makeover of Miracle Garden. Jesse, Zaria, Grace, and Patricia weeded and harvested Miracle, and gave it some much needed love just in time for our new seed order to come in! The order of seeds that Hannah placed earlier in the week arrived, and we will give more updates on those plant babies as we begin to plant.
To feed ourselves, we ate rice, chana masala, and roasted carrots [Tuo].
On Friday, we’re going to Chicago! This week's early farm journal is due to an upcoming group field/bonding trip to the city. This Friday, we’ll be able to visit and learn from Black Oaks Center, Growing Home, Loyola University, West End Garden, and hopefully some other locations this weekend! Thank you to these places for having us, and we’re looking forward to a weekend filled with education and fun.
