Week 2, Spring 2024
Hello again, dear readers! Welcome to our second week of Spring 2024 here at ZA.
On Friday night we welcomed in Shabbat by singing some traditional tunes and some new ones. We blessed the candles, wine, and the two beautifully fresh loaves of challah that Gavi prepared. Gavi and Martina prepared a spectacular Shabbat meal themed around our three sisters patch. We started with some bean soup, then enjoyed spaghetti squash and popcorn. Not only was the food delicious, but the significance of enjoying these crops together made our Shabbat dinner extra special.
We had a slow and relaxing Shabbat morning. I soaked up some sun and hung out with the cats. We spent lots of quality time together chatting, crafting, reading, and a little napping. In the afternoon we went for a walk in the woods and spotted some wild ramps and trillium. We closed out Shabbat by reciting Havdallah together and then having some dinner. Later we had an impromptu dance party and I had a blast learning some new line dances.
Sunday was pretty calm as well. A group of us got together to make plans for Shacharit, the morning prayer service, to be held on Monday morning. In the afternoon, Gavi led us all in an activity many members of our ZA community know and love: MoPeD. For those who have never experienced it, MoPedD, which stands for “More People Dancing,” is a guided improvisation session meant to help participants move freely and be present in their bodies. As someone who has a strong background in dance, I was so excited to try MoPeD for the first time. Gavi did a great job guiding us to pay attention to all of the sensations in our bodies and to move with and through them. Margalit and Gavi made us dinner featuring fresh focaccia, flatbread, and vegan ricotta. Sophie, Eric, and Martina covered our budding Apricot trees with plastic to prepare them for the impending drop in temperature. We ended the evening with a couple rounds of Bananagrams.
Every Monday we begin our work week by discussing what our goals are for the day and week as a whole. After our meeting, Acacia and I got the ball rolling on our next mushroom inoculation. We chopped plenty of straw which turned out to be an incredibly messy endeavor. Later Margalit and I left some of the straw to soak in water mixed with agricultural lime which will become food for the mushroom spawn. Eric, Martina, and Margalit worked on seeding some spring crops to be planted later in the season. After our workday, Margalit and Martina started the process of making a tincture from the turkey tail foraged from our very farm. We closed the evening by watching the VeggieTales movie Esther, the Girl Who Became Queen to prepare us for our Purim festivities to come.
On Tuesday we started direct seeding some native plant varieties and seeding many other crops in the greenhouse. We also inoculated our oyster mushroom spawn with the straw we prepared on Monday. Eric and Acacia were hard at work strategizing how best to prune our fruit trees to ensure that they grow as healthily as possible. For dinner we enjoyed taco Tuesday provided to us by Margalit and Martina. We were extra lucky that Martina, Sophie, and Gavi made us some Hamantaschen, a jam-filled cookie typically enjoyed in celebration of Purim. Flavors included rosehip jam, chocolate and peanut butter, and ZA apple butter. They were delicious!
On Wednesday Acacia gave me some pointers on pruning the trees in Miracle and we were joined by Eric and Gavi. While we haven’t had much to harvest lately, we’ve been spending that time organizing the greenhouse, research shed, and bike shed. Acacia, Martina, and Gavi headed out for Chicago in the afternoon and the rest of us spent some time weeding Miracle and listening to an interesting podcast about the production of vanilla, which I learned is actually derived from orchids. For dinner I got scrappy with our leftovers and made fried rice/quinoa. We ended the night with a singalong accompanied by Eric on guitar.
On Thursday Sophie drove Margalit and I up to Chicago with a crucial stop at Janie’s Mill for some more purge flour. The three of us arrived at Lexi’s apartment and we tuned into some virtual prayer services and discussions in honor of the fast of Esther. Gavi, Lexi, Acacia, and I went for a lovely walk on the shore of Lake Michigan as the sun was setting. After some dinner we headed out for an exciting evening of Klezmer music and Yiddish dancing hosted by Upshtat Zingerai. The event also featured a Hamantaschen bake-off, and Lexi encouraged us to enter some vegan Hamantaschen into the competition. We didn’t end up winning, which I think is a shame because these were some of the BEST Hamantaschen I’ve ever had in my life. No joke.
On Friday Acacia, Martina, Margalit, and I got some brunch at Kopi Cafe and met up with friends from ZA and beyond. Then Martina drove Margalit and I back to the farm in the afternoon and we all began to prepare for Shabbat. What an action-packed week we had! I can’t wait to report back on the adventures we get up to in the next installment.
