Week 3, Fall 2024
Welcome to another edition of the fall farm journal! It’s been a busy week at Zumwalt Acres, full of abundance and sweetness. Check out the weekly happenings and give the fall playlist a listen if you like :)
Sunday, September 15
A good & calm day on the farm. Many of us embarked on ambitious cooking projects, from eggplant gnocchi to eggplant chocolate cake with eggplant icing. We piled into the farm car for a series of errands/misadventures around Iroquois County (attempted bowling, the hugest hardware store, egg retrieval, etc). Patricia, Gavi, and Acacia returned from their weekend at the Great Lakes Queer Farmer Convergence in Michigan, bringing tales of dancing and dairy, and we debated the mechanics of Kosher cheese-making over dinner. Does anyone know what rennet is, really? We continued plotting the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festivities, which are sure to include mooncakes and many, many candles. The weekend ended with a dessert party/poetry reading in the living room and an early bedtime. Stay tuned for more Mid-Autumn happenings!
Saturday, September 14
Ella and I woke up at sunrise and headed to the Watseka Farmer’s Market to sell eggplants, mushrooms, and tomatoes galore. My mom drove up from Champaign to hang out at the market and take a tour of the farm — she especially loved the silo! We drank espresso under the oaks while catching up on all the fall things. Many of us napped through the middle of the day, though we also swapped instruments and chatted in the living room for a spell. Margalit, Daniella, and I took a sunset bike ride to see a neighbor’s great pyrenees and pick from their massive pear tree. We returned to Eric’s awesome cooking and finished the night reading spooky stories by candlelight on the stage, between the faraway stars and the wind turbines glowing in sync. The cats and coyotes listened in.
Shabbat sunrise before the market.
Friday, September 13
Daniella assessing a trunk.
The work week closed with more planting in the miracle garden: red lettuce and chard, bok choi and pak choi, pea shoots to fill out the trellises. Eric showed me how to tuck each transplant into the soil/straw mixture at perfect intervals. Margalit and Ella sang to the sprouts and even named a few! In the orchard, the agroforestry team discussed the basics of tree care and “topped” a handful of trees, which means lopping off the top two feet of the trunk in order to promote growth and keep the fruit accessible — an important goal for shortish people such as myself. After work, we ran errands in Sheldon and Watseka and gathered ingredients from the garden to cook Breakfast for Dinner Shabbat! The menu included potato-leek kugel, shakshuka, apple pancakes, and Morningstar Farms Veggie Bacon Strips (a necessity). A sweet night with music and conversion beneath the oaks.
Thursday, September 12
Weed removal team.
An awful day to be a weed!! We spent hours yanking roots and vines from the miracle garden, taking care to remove each squirrelly rhizome from the soil, then hauled the weeds to the burn pile and covered the beds with homegrown compost and straw to prevent new weeds from taking over. After lunch, Gavi shared an overview of climate research at ZA, including a huge soil sampling project beginning in the next few weeks. We had another meeting with the agroforestry team (me, Daniella, and Acacia) to make a plan for tree care throughout the season. I joined a brainstorming session with the COVID task force to help create a new public health plan for the community. After so many meetings, I relished an evening on the trampoline and caught up with Ritz while watching the cows do their cow activities. Gavi made pizza for dinner with homemade pesto and baba ganoush from our eggplants — so tasty!
Wednesday, September 11
Daniella and I spent the morning at the Sheldon Food Pantry, where we distributed over fifty pounds of produce while chatting with shoppers and volunteers. On the farm, we continued prepping the beds in the miracle garden for fall planting. We pulled out the bush beans and collected the last of their green pods in our pockets. I visited the art container after work to finish a batch of linoleum prints, then joined a team of runners and bikers for a sunset spin around the neighborhood. The soy fields just west and south of the farm are beginning to turn yellow, which means they could be ready for harvest by the end of the month. It’s gratifying to notice how the seasons have turned since my arrival; I wonder what the farm and its environs will look like in another three weeks. It feels good to notice a place in this way.
Tuesday, September 10
My compost dominion.
A day for projects. A group of us attacked the toolshed, organizing each section and unleashing clouds of dust, while Acacia and Hannah traded roosters for hens and set up the new birds in a corner of the coop. It’s good practice to keep new birds separate from the flock for a few days while they get to know each other, because chickens can be mean! I joined Margalit and Daniella in turning the compost, a sort of smelly task that involves lots of digging and a host of bugs. We helped Johnny bale two more racks of hay, climbing on top of the prickly stacks to hoist the bales higher and higher in the afternoon sun. Some folks joined the Four Corners Fellowship call to talk about Torah, then clustered in the living room to watch the presidential debate. We broke the tension of the night with trampolining during the commercial breaks — a good way to shake out political anxiety!
Monday, September 9
Today we hung out with Tig, a sociologist researching queer farmers in the Midwest. They chatted with the farm crew while trellising tomatoes and harvesting a wagonful of apples from the south orchard — the perfect autumnal activity! We spent the afternoon sorting and packing produce for Down at the Farms, a hub for small Central Illinois growers to distribute fresh food across the state. This week’s order included apples, basil, shishito peppers, marigolds, and more. After work, I took a run through soy fields and forests just across the state line. I’d like to think that the air is ever so slightly different in Indiana? Back on the farm, I watched cows at the salt lick and ate dinner with the crew and read my book on the kitchen floor. Growing more comfortable on the land and in this special community.
Forest views in Indiana!
Bonus cow pic @ salt lick.
