Week 1, Summer ‘21
The sun is blazing, the plants are blooming, and our new summer cohort is in full swing!
I am honored to introduce you to our fantastic farmers…
Patricia Mathu (she/her/hers), is from Whitefish Bay, WI, and is an incoming fourth year at the University of Texas at Dallas. She is majoring in history and minoring in geography and political science. At ZA she is the Community Outreach Coordinator as well as the manager of Triple B (biochar, brown matter, bees). Patricia is interested in how the past can inform present systems of food security, with a focus on archaeology, paleoclimate, and ethnobotany. In her free time, she has been working on a mega cross-stitch, loves to read (she brought more books than clothes), and is fascinated with the USPS & epistolary art in general.
Stephanie Berger is from Needham, MA, and is an incoming fourth year at Washington University of St. Louis. She is majoring in mechanical engineering and minoring in environmental studies and women, gender, and sexuality studies. Stephanie is ZA’s Biochar Coordinator and Goat Garden Bed Manager. She is passionate about social change and houseplants and can be found rock climbing, singing, baking, or hiding in the grain silo or up in a tree at the farm.
Grace Mennerick (she/her/hers) is from St. Louis, MO, and is an incoming third year at St. Olaf College where she studies environmental studies and political science. At ZA she is the grant coordinator and a co-manager of the beds Across The Road. She is passionate about regenerative Ag and loves livestock & befriending animals. She hopes to have her own hobby farm with plants and animals one day. She loves cooking, baking, and gives great back massages.
Joey Finnegan (he/him/his) is from Evanston, IL, and is a recent graduate of Lewis and Clark College where he majored in biology and minored in gender studies. At ZA he is the data manager and one of the infrastructure managers specializing in fencing, pest control, and mushrooms. Joey loves being active, whether it’s going on hikes in the Pacific Northwest or working out at home. He also loves to draw and play music with friends and during COVID has gotten into playing and watching basketball.
Eric Luu (he/him/his) is from Wilmette, IL. He is a recent graduate of Loyola University Chicago where he majored in Environmental Policy. At ZA he is our Agroforester and a co-manager of the Across The Road beds. Eric is a lifelong nature lover interested in climate action, botany, agriculture, and ecology. In his free time, he enjoys political organizing with the Sunrise Movement, growing plants, observing them and their pollinators, and playing guitar and singing. One philosophy that gives him purpose is what author and speaker Charles Eisenstein describes as bowing into service of the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible
Sophie Johnson (she/her/hers) is from San Diego, CA, and is an incoming third year at Cornell University studying Environment & Sustainability Sciences. Here at the farm, she is the Communications Coordinator and the Miracle Garden Bed Manager. She loves pickles, animals, hiking, her family, being outside, music, cold brew, making friendship bracelets, being vegan, hammocking, and staying hydrated. She dislikes kombucha, being itchy, and fork biting
I am also thrilled to re-introduce you to our stay-overs from the spring cohort who are back in action this summer!
Hannah Kahn Glass (she/her/hers) is from Portland, OR, and is an incoming fourth year at McGill University where she is majoring in cultural studies with a minor in gender, sexuality, feminist, and social justice studies. Hannah is staying over from the spring cohort and is excited to take on the role of Horticulture Coordinator as well as serving as bed manager for the strawberry and perennial patches outdoors. Hannah’s favorite ZA activities include snacking on roasted radishes, biking around Sheldon, and spending Shabbat with the farm family.
Jesse Miller (he/him/his) is from Pasadena, CA, and is an incoming third year at Brown University where he is majoring in math and Jewish studies. He is excited to return to ZA in the role of budget manager and agroforestry maintenance manager. He is passionate about growing food and Judaism. At Zumwalt Acres, he loves getting to work at the intersection of these values. He loves bringing in Shabbat, engaging in the community, and then eating food from the farm.
Tuomas Sivula (he/him/his) is from Saint Paul, MN. He is a recent graduate of Carleton College where he majored in Environmental Studies and Political Science. Tuomas is staying over from the spring cohort and is excited to continue as the Political Engagement Coordinator and begin his role as one of the infrastructure managers specializing in irrigation and building and tools management. His favorite temperature is -5 C and his second favorite type of banana is finger banana.
Gavi Welbel (she/her/hers) is one of our incredible founders. She is from Evanston, IL, and is an incoming third year at Yale University where she studies mechanical engineering and earth and planetary science. This summer she is managing the research and maintaining the Jewish garden. In her free time, Gavi loves to have dance parties, bake sourdough bread, and take walks at the lake.
With our fabulous new team together we started strong with a busy first week!
On Monday, we got everyone acclimated to their new indoor and outdoor roles. We transitioned to having a group of bed managers responsible for keeping up with all the bed maintenance, research, and delegating tasks. We also have added two infrastructure managers responsible for tools, building management, drip irrigation, and fencing. Triple B is our other newly instituted outdoor role that focuses on bees, brown matter (compost), and biochar. It’s the peak of our growing and harvesting season, so there is lots of work to be done in our beds! We all went off to weed the strawberry bed and goat garden, listening to music and chatting throughout.
For dinner, Tuomas and Joey made a spinach and barley stew.
On Tuesday, we met for a breakfast and morning meeting and then started the day with a data collection tutorial led by Gavi. We are excited to continue our research on basalt rock and biochar as soil amendments that can sequester carbon and help us mitigate climate change. We are currently collecting soil samples, pH testing, and measuring crop yields for our research. Research is being done in Gan Lamad (strawberry bed), Perennial Patch (asparagus), Goat Garden, and ATR (Across The Road). We are also continuing our basalt research in our corn and alfalfa field. We are looking forward to seeing how basalt and biochar can be used in both large-scale farming and home gardening settings.
After the research tutorial, people broke off to keep weeding around the farm, tree tubing (or as we like to call it trubing), and harvesting from Miracle Garden. We harvested huge purple daikons, turnips, bok choy, romaine, speckled lettuce, and butter lettuce. We came together for a group lunch made from all of our fresh produce. After lunch and a break, we headed back out. Gavi fluxed, Tuomas did soil cores in the big field, and people continued to weed.
For dinner, Gavi and Grace made miso roasted turnips and carrots, soy ginger daikon radishes, brown rice, salad, roasted beets, bok choy, seaweed, and rice. Most of the things on our table came straight from the garden!
On Wednesday, we met for a quick morning meeting and then went out to the fields! We split up into groups to mulch potatoes with hay and finish weeding goat garden. Then we moved on to continue trubing and harvesting from Miracle and Goat Garden. At group lunch, Gavi and I led our first context conversation about the Jewish agricultural practices of Shmita (leaving the land fallow every seven years), Peah (leaving the corner of your fields for the poor to harvest from), Leket (giving fallen fruits to the poor) and Yovel (the jubilee that occurs every 49 years that frees people from their debts). We discussed how these different practices can inform our work and how we can adapt them to a modern context to promote socially just land stewardship.
After lunch, we spent some time doing indoor work. Patricia, Sophie, and Jesse worked on a plan for distributing produce and going to market. For the first week, we are giving produce boxes to our neighbors in Sheldon and are hoping to start selling at the Watseka farmers market in July. Stephanie, Joey, and Gavi worked on revamping our data collection spreadsheets. Eric, Grace, and Tuomas worked on drip irrigation Across The Road. Hannah worked on a plan for succession planting.
For dinner, Patricia and Stephanie made spaghetti with butternut squash, spinach and basil, miso-glazed carrots, roasted asparagus, roasted squash, salad, and grilled tofu.
On Thursday, we met for a morning meeting and then headed out for a big day with lots of infrastructure work. Joey, Stephanie, and Patricia worked on fencing in our strawberries, and Grace, Eric, and Tuomas continued setting up drip irrigation Across The Road. Hannah did pH and soil core data collection on the strawberry bed and Jesse and Sophie continued weeding the strawberries. Joey worked on ordering the rest of the materials for our mushroom inoculation.
Patricia and Gavi both worked on market plans by calling the Watseka farmers market and working on our food insurance plan. We ended the day harvesting and washing produce.
For dinner Eric and Tuomas made stir fry with radishes, celery, carrots, and TVP (texturized vegetable protein), a tofu stir fry, and a chili cucumber salad. After dinner, we gathered in the living room to have a conversation about community guidelines so that our new cohort can continue to thrive!
On Friday, Jesse and Stephanie woke up bright and early at 5 AM to beat the heat and start our first biochar burn of the season! We continued the burn throughout the day and activated it in the afternoon. We spent the morning weeding, continuing to build the strawberry fence, trubing, continuing our strawberry bed research, and clearing out our old spinach from Shemesh Bed and Miracle Garden. In the afternoon we washed the produce we harvested and packed them into boxes for our neighbors. A group of us went out in shifts to deliver the gifts much to the excitement of our neighbors.
In the evening we gathered for Shabbat where we sang a few songs and taught everyone the shabbat rituals. Hannah and Jesse made hummus, beet hummus, roasted sweet potatoes, braised cabbage, roasted radishes, challah, and chocolate chip challah. We ended the night with Joey and Eric’s guitars serenading the cows next door.
We can’t wait to see where the summer takes us! Tune in every week for more farm journal updates :)
