Week 10, Summer 2023
Hey everybody, this is Lev giving you the rundown for this week at the farm!
We celebrated at our backyard shindig with a few close family and friends, which included amazing performances by former ZA apprentice Eric Luu, current apprentices El and Olivia, JR and his buddies! They performed some classics like In Spite of Ourselves and Come Together, as well as freestyled like nothing we’ve ever seen! Thanks to everyone who showed up!
We also got a lot of rain over the weekend, and woke up to a flood situation on Monday. The whole team came together for the bailout, stopping up the drain and using our trusty sump pump to clear out the whole basement. Johnny came to the rescue with an extra pump, and soon enough we were in business. Unfortunately, we had to toss a whole batch of our mushroom buckets that were spawning in the tents downstairs because of potential contamination, but we quickly recouped with another straw chop and soak. On Tuesday, sooo many carrots were harvested, our compost pile got turned, and El went on a wild-boar hunt to save our squash. We also inoculated tons more mushroom spawn, and are hoping that they flourish in the next couple of weeks so that we can keep sharing them with the pantry, farmer’s market, and cook some up here too!
On Wednesday, Malia and Nadav inoculated using a new substrate composed of Okara and sawdust; it’ll be exciting to see what happens to the mushrooms, so stay tuned for updates! El and Olivia headed to the food pantry to share our produce and publicize our upcoming Family Food Fest happening on Sunday, August 13th. Apparently there were a lot of dogs and proud chatty dog-owners this week. Someone even offered us farm cats, but we politely declined because those positions have already been filled by our beloved Nooch and Phoebe (who have been overdoing it with the catnip this week by the way). We also did an end-of-summer reflection session with the whole cohort to review everything we have learned, the different ways we have felt connected to each other and the land, and what the future holds for us and ZA.
In other news, El has been working on solutions to some overwatering of tomatoes from Mother Gaia. If you have any suggestions for drenched tomato plants (all beautifully trellised up by the way), please feel free to reach out! Bayit also got a lot of work done, as we needed more space for new herbs like holy basil, catnip, ginger, lemon balm, shiso/perilla, and echinaceas… all of which (former ZA apprentice and now alumni) Eric brought with him! We had to remove two hugeeee sunflower plants to make more room (see photo at bottom of the journal!)
Another squash update, since they have been the talk of the town, or at the very least our cohort because of the infamous stomach-churning squash vine borer larvae, one of the most persistent pests out there: After some research, El found a plan of attack which involves an organic insecticide called “BT'' injected with a syringe into the base of squash plants. This week,
Daniel, Nadav, Zoe and Lev have been hard at work in the Eastern shelter belt finishing up with mulching the conifers. It looks like a beautiful straw donut caressing the small saplings.
As the week drew to a close, we couldn't help but shift our focus to the grand event on the horizon – El's 20th birthday bash! With an epic murder mystery Shabbat dinner, we celebrated not only El but also the end of our cohort's journey together. As we bid farewell to some of our summer cohort members during early next week, the gathering was nothing short of special.
So there you have it, a week jam-packed with adventure, celebration, and growth on the farm. As we look forward to what lies ahead, we're reminded that each day brings new challenges and opportunities, making this journey all the more exciting.
