Week 10, Fall 2023
Hey everyone, Claire Ivey here! Isn’t it wild that we’ve made it through week 10 already?! It feels like yesterday everyone was just moving into the farm house and getting to know each other. The season is quickly wrapping up with no more farmers markets, our last food pantry week, and nothing to harvest (except mushrooms). Last week we focused a lot on bigger projects and winter preparation tasks.
On Monday we started in a few different groups; CP and Margalit worked on the high tunnel, Amy and I went out to soil sample, and others started on our fence that is going around miracle garden. Later in the day Martina checked the temperature of our compost pile, which she does every day, Amy updated our spreadsheet for our produce distribution orders, the spinach bed’s hoops were tied together, Margalit and I sent out to sample some more, and the peppers got a little trimming of their leaves. We ended the day with bean shelling! It’s our favorite activity of the season. We each take a giant pile of dry bean pods and shell and organize them into jars. It's very satisfying work.
On Tuesday most of the group went out to UIUC to attend a Carbon Market Field Day and Illinois Regenerative Agriculture Initiative Public Convening. We learned about the UIUC Energy Farm carbon capture trials from researchers we have collaborated with, and Gavi presented the first year of results from our IRAI-funded research project on the biotic effects of enhanced rock weathering. Some of us stayed behind to get some other work done, Amy went to drop off the DAF order, the spinach was uncovered, the trellises from the tomatoes were all taken down, mushrooms were harvested, and the fence continued to be built.
On Wednesday morning Martina and I went out for more soil sampling and did the LAST plot of the season which is huge so that we can now focus our priorities on other projects that need to get done! Also CP went to the food pantry, Acacia reviewed a grant that she is working so hard on, and a bunch of people hopped on working on the fence so that it could be done by the end of the day. In the afternoon mushrooms were harvested, I packed up some soil samples to send to the lab at Yale while Nooch sat next to me and did nothing, the high tunnel continued to be worked on, and turning beds happened throughout the day.
On thursday the high tunnel continued to be a priority (and is looking so good and almost done!), Amy worked on clearing and mulching bayit, I packed samples and shipped 12 boxes full of them to the lab, tomato seeds were prepped for seed saving, our spinach was weeded, watered, and re-covered, one of our main hoses was fixed, and clean up from cutting down the trellises in the high tunnel area was necessary.
On Friday Amy finished up the last of the mulching that needed to get done in bayit and started working on 3 Sisters, the harvest log was updated so that we keep up to date as the season nears its end and we can assess what crops produced and worked the best, I packed 8 more boxes of samples (will it ever end??), Frances took the poison hemlock out of where it was encroaching upon one of our gardens, and we did some high tunnel tasks. After a late lunch Martina and CP led a context conversation on the history of farm legislation and policy in the US and we had a group discussion about points that were sticking with us which lasted until the end of the day!
It was a packed week but it's so awesome to see big season tasks getting completed finally! On Saturday Amy left the farm for the season! We are so sad to see her go but appreciate all the hard work she has put in this season on the marketing and distribution aspect of our organization, the knowledge she gave us all about different herbs, making delicious sorghum cookies, and just being an amazing addition to our community this season :) Unfortunately next week we will continue to see people slowly trickle out and back to places across the country, but will also continue to finish up big projects!
Until next time,
Claire Ivey
