Week 9, Summer 2022
Last week was full of exciting events that brought us away from the normal routine of the farm but opened up new experiences and opportunities for connection with others and the Midwest. It brought me (Sophie) above the normal routine and helped me reflect on what motivates me to work as a Jewish food grower and land steward. It was hard to pack all of this into one newsletter!
On Monday, everyone at the farm drove the two hours to Indianapolis to spend the day protesting in the Indiana state capitol as the legislature began its special session to determine Indiana’s new abortion laws, likely paving the way to pass one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the nation. We found out about the protest from a neighbor in Sheldon, who attended as well. We live right on the state line with Indiana, and it felt powerful to travel as a group and show up for such a critical issue, bringing our full identities as young farmers and Jews.
Even though the summer is at its peak for vegetable farmers, we decided unanimously that we should make time to go to the protest. When we returned to the farm, we jumped back in to harvesting, continuing to bring in pound after pound of beets, cucumbers, tomatoes, and radishes from the field. We also have more mushrooms than we know what to do with – our indoor and outdoor oyster mushroom production is yielding flushes every few days, and our shiitake logs that were inoculated last year are starting to come on. Isa led us in dumpling making (with homemade wrappers) that used mushrooms, radishes, and scallions from our farm, which could not have been a better use for them.
Another group excursion last week was to Janie’s Mill, which is the largest organic farm in our county, producing grains on over 3,000 acres, and milling their flour onsite. They produce the best flour around, which goes into all of our various challot, sourdough loaves, cornbread, and vegan cookies. We had a tour of the mill from Sandy Wilken and Jill Brockman, and then had lunch and a tour of the fields with Harold Wilken. I was inspired to hear the story of the Wilken family’s motivation for becoming organic and producing high-quality food—Harold shared that he is guided by a deep passion for responsibly taking care of the land and a spiritual belief that all things happen for a reason. We were all so grateful to Harold and the folks at Janie’s Mill for their kindness and generosity. I think we all felt a connection with Harold and Janie’s Farm that went beyond work, based on our shared interest in building community and relating to people through growing food. Harold also plans on applying basalt on his fields this fall to capture carbon! We all left the mill with new matching sweatshirts.
At the end of a busy week, we hosted our first Rosh Chodesh Shabbaton, a gathering from Friday to Saturday evening for folks to come and spend time at ZA and celebrate the new Jewish month of Av. People camped on the farm, loved ones from many different parts of our lives along with new friends came from all over, and we all shared meaningful discussion, embodied practice, singing and prayer, and bountiful meals from the farm. We’re looking forward to hosting more of these gatherings and connecting with the Jewish community in the greater area.