Week 1, Fall ‘21
Howdy! My name is Maya, and I’m so excited to welcome you to the first installment of the Fall Cohort Farm Journal. ZA’s second fall cohort arrived one week ago and we are all settling into farm life!
Introducing....
Maranda Raskin is from Leonia, New Jersey (20 minutes from NYC; woah!). They recently graduated from McGill University where they studied History. At ZA, Maranda is the Media, Communications and Community Outreach Manager. She specializes in tenderly plucking cherry tomatoes from their stems and providing hugs for the very needy farm cats, Shlomi and Moishe, nicknamed Goop and Nooch, (she has a strong preference for Goop, whom she calls Booch, though).
Marya Matlin-Wainer is from Brooklyn, NY and earned a B.S. in Chemistry and Environmental Policy from the University of Michigan last spring. At the farm they are the Agroforestry and Biochar coordinator, and she is excited to learn more about mushroom cultivation! Marya is DJ-in-Chief when out harvesting and the eggplant parm extraordinaire in the kitchen. Marya also loves Goop more.
Maya Savin-Miller is from Los Angeles. She plans on starting Oberlin College next fall, where she will probably study Creative Writing and Political Ecology … or maybe something completely different; who knows! At ZA, she is the market coordinator and budget manager, and she’s on farm journal duty (hi!). Maya loves nothing more than wielding a pitchfork at the unruly potato patch … except for maybe the film Ratatouille. Maya is on team Nooch.
Isabelle Davis (she/her) is from New York … but the part with farms, dirt roads, and stuff, she assures us. She recently graduated from Middlebury College, where she majored in Geology (the girl loves rocks!). At the farm, she is the Research Coordinator and singer of many splendid Kabbalat Shabbat songs. She will soon be the leading Israeli (and cotton-eyed joe) dance instructor in all of Sheldon, Illinois. She responded “no comment” when asked which cat she preferred (#diplomatic).
And our returning seasoned farmers who spent the summer at ZA...
Eric Luu (he/him) is from Wilmette, IL and is a graduate of Loyola University Chicago where he majored in Environmental Policy. At ZA, Eric is the Horticulture Coordinator and resident cat mom. In his free time, he can be found horse-girling with the neighbor’s friendly and slightly (very) slobbery horse, Licorice and absolutely rocking out on the acoustic guitar. He noted that he supposes he has to love both cats, but then quickly added that he believes Goop is more annoying.
Joey Finnegan (he/him) is from Evanston, Illinois. He attended Lewis and Clark College and graduated with a major in biology and minor in gender studies. Joey continues to brush up on these areas of study by keeping up with the most recent episodes of Love Island UK. At ZA, Joey is the Work Facilitator and is in charge of all things infrastructure, including but not limited to his hand-built walk-in fridge, eponymously dubbed “Finn's Fridge.” Joey prefers neither Goop nor Nooch ... nor any cat for that matter.
On Monday, we started our day with some improvisational dance led by Gavi, and then jumped into getting oriented with the work flow and operating procedures. We spent the rest of the day harvesting and packing orders for market. A wonderfully busy first work day at the farm for the fall cohort!
For dinner Marya and Isabelle made a wheat berry and watermelon salad, hummus, and a kale salad.
Tuesday morning, while Maya headed to drop off our produce to be sold this week, the rest of the crew got busy doing farm work. Eric, Marya Maranda harvested, and Joey and Isabelle trekked out into the fields to take some soil samples for research. In the afternoon, we came inside to discuss what spirituality practices might look like on the farm and what they have looked like in each of our own lives thus far. It was a wonderful way to learn more about each other through the lens of our spiritual upbringings, outlooks, and processes.
For dinner, Maranda and Eric made Instant Pot chili, focaccia, roasted potatoes, and a cucumber salad.
On Wednesday morning, Maranda and Eric headed to the Sheldon Food pantry to get to know the community better while donating fresh produce. Meanwhile, Maya, Marya, Joey, Lexi, and Isabelle stayed back on the farm to get some harvesting done. Maya spent some time acquainting herself with the ZA market and finance practices by working on invoices while Joey, Marya, and Isabelle got together to create a research plan for the fall.
We finished the day with cherry tomato pasta, tomato and cucumber salad, and pesto stuffed fried squash blossoms made by Maya and Lexi.
Thursday was potato day. The potato patch had unfortunately succumbed to the entropy of all kinds of weeds, and it was time to harvest them. Eric weed wacked, Joey sheared, Maya pitchforked, and Isabelle, Marya, and Maranda followed with trowels and bins to collect the newly exposed potatoes. It was an exhausting morning, so we followed it up with a more restful afternoon of sorting the potatoes.
For dinner, Eric and Joey made taco bowls complete with eggplant, cabbage, rice, beans, and freshly prepared salsa.
Friday morning, Taylor Swift blasting through Marya’s speaker, we set out to finish the potato harvest. Same routine, Eric taking the first pass with the weed wacker, next Joey with the Shears, then Maya with the pitchfork, and finally Isabelle, Marya, and Maranda swooped in to collect the potatoes. Once we had wrapped up with the potatoes, we headed into the house for some pre-shabbat programming.
For shabbat dinner, Maya and Isabelle made falafel, hummus, tahini sauce, and a tomato & cucumber salad. Lexi made two loaves of challah using an array of different exciting flours she found in the flour closet!
