Week 10, Spring 2023
Hey hey hey! This was a fun, intense, and exciting week on the farm. One of our central tasks was building the greenhouse (AKA the high tunnel), and we got some serious headway done on that front. Acacia, Remi, and I (Felix) sorted all of the nails, washers, bolts, and other fun items into their respective bags for organizing. This process helped us visualize the next steps! We assembled some of the other parts, like the front pieces and the arms that go on the top. More progress soon!
Claire was instrumental in research this week. We did a lot of splitting soil samples into two bags to send to Yale. Soil sampling turned out to be a bit tricky. On Wednesday, the day that we went out, the soil was very concentrated and it got stuck in clumps in the soil augers. As a result, our sampling session was a little longer than we prepared for and we did not sample as much as we would have liked. That being said, team Welberg (Remi + Acacia) and team Flair (Claire + Felix) did some excellent work.
Some researchers from UIUC also came to the farm, and they were awesome! Claire and Lexi took them around the farm, sampled with them, and we had a great lunch with the whole team and they told us more about what they did.
The main project towards the end of the week was tree planting! We planted pear, apple, and grape trees around miracle and aronia berry, honey berry, and black currant trees in ATR. This was a real all-hands-on-deck effort, which included the incredible help of Allison, Grace, and Eric. We had to drill holes, weed the area, mix biochar and soil, put wood chips around the base of the tree, and water them. It was an intense process which started early in the morning but it was all worth it to see the beautiful trees planted in the ground. We’re so excited to see them grow!
On Friday we also prepared for our trip into Chicago! We prepared food that day and left in the afternoon. Claire and I picked up Maizie along the way and the three of us traveled to Andersonville and arrived at Grace’s home first! There we met their friend Trevor, and her bunny Benny and cat Bobby. Shortly after Remi, Acacia, and Grace came and we got the place in order! Also joining us were Eric, Acacia’s friends Esther and Elise, and Remi’s friend Lily. It was a really sweet Shabbat dinner and a really fun time spending time with everyone. On Saturday those of us who slept over at Grace’s explored Andersonville a little bit. We went to a gem store, had amazing bubble tea, had a delicious brunch at Fiya, great drinks at Kopi, and shopped for clothing at The Brown Elephant! What a day. See you next week!
Sincerely,
Felix
