Week 11, Spring ‘21
It’s our eleventh week here and we are getting ready for big moves like our potted asparagus seedlings.
On Monday, we dove into the new week with our All Hands Meeting! After planning for the week ahead and setting goals for the day, we set out on our watering rounds. Pro-tip, do not let Mordi the goat near your watering can! Then, we got to work pH testing and weeding the strawberry plots. Later, we worked on preparing a bed for our Jewish garden, Sara and Al’s Gan Shoreshim. Soon, we will be planting Jewishly significant plants such as fig trees, horseradish, grapevines, and perennial and annual flowers to pick for Shabbat in Gan Shoreshim. We also replanted the pawpaws and chestnuts that had been uprooted by deer. In the afternoon, we researched the parts that we will be ordering to construct a wash station. The wash station will be used to prepare our products for sales and donations. We are so excited to enter into our first harvesting season this summer!
For dinner, Tuomas and Jesse made textured vegetable protein stir fry with collard greens, rice, and salad.
On Tuesday, we kicked off the day with a quick team meeting and worked together to bring seedlings outside from the greenhouse to harden. Hardening the seedlings helps them get acclimated to the outdoors before they leave their cozy greenhouse home to be transplanted. Then we started a biochar burn and rotated tending to the burn while the rest of us took soil core samples from the corn and hay test plots, weeded the beds, and replanted a few pecan trees that had been uprooted. Later, we built another low tunnel in Gan Nes and planted flowers and bulbs in Grandma Jane’s Flower Garden and Sara and Al’s Gan Shoreshim.
For dinner, Brendan and Shachar made vegan palak paneer, rice, roasted sweet potatoes, and mango lassi.
On Wednesday, we ran through our goals for the day and, again, worked together to bring out seedlings for hardening. Then, while Jesse left to get tree tubes to protect all of our trees from predators, the rest of us got to work outside. First, we weighed, volumed, and activated our biochar batch from yesterday. Then we mulched our trees with wood chips and cardboard and weeded the beds. In the afternoon, we worked together to prepare more beds for planting in the Gan Ha’Ezim. Recently, we decided to include our horticultural cultivation in our basalt research. We are adding varying application rates of basalt to determine the impact of basalt on soil health and plant growth. There is great potential for expanding the use of basalt into gardening for carbon sequestration and soil fertility.
For dinner, Hannah and I made spaghetti squash, pasta, garden spinach salad, sauteed broccoli and carrots, and roasted asparagus.
On Thursday, we gathered for a team meeting and then headed outside to harden our greenhouse seedlings and make our watering rounds. Then we broke up into teams to divide and conquer our work for the clear sunny day! While some of us worked on preparing beds in the Gan Ha’Ezim and calculating and applying basalt, others worked on constructing and grounding tree tubes around our saplings and shrubs.
For dinner, Tuomas and Sophia made a lentil stew and rice.
On Friday, we headed straight outside to start pH-ing the strawberry test plots and to transplant and direct seed in the Gan Ha’Ezim. We transplanted three varieties of tomatoes, two varieties of peppers, basil, parsley, and cucumbers. After many days of hardening, they were ready to be planted in their garden home. Then we direct seeded radishes in the Gan Ha’Ezim and interplanted carrots and radishes in Gan Shemesh (Sun Garden). After a full team effort transplanting and seeding, we continued working on tubing our trees and shrub and planted two fig tree saplings. In the afternoon, we began preparing for Sophia’s Bat Mitzvah! We made food for the Kiddush (the lunch after the service), practiced all our roles, printed out booklets for the order of the service, built a beautiful bima (podium) out of Osage Orange, planted more flowers in the yard, and set up chairs for everyone to sit at. After our Bat Mitzvah preparations, we got ready for Shabbat.
For Shabbat dinner, Shachar and Gavi made zaatar pita, hummus, beet hummus, bok choy with miso beet green filling, lentil soup, and salad.
On Saturday, Sophia became a Bat Mitzvah! We had such a beautiful celebration together and we are all beyond proud of her. She worked with tremendously admirable dedication learning her Torah portion, writing her d’var (interpretation of her week’s Torah portion), preparing for the service, choosing a meaningful Hebrew name, and exploring what Judaism means to her. It was such a joy to be a part of her journey. Mazal tov, Sophia we love you!!!