Week 3, Fall ‘21
On Monday our favorite farmers met for a beginning-of-the-week meeting before setting out to seize the day. Maranda, Maya, Isabelle, and Lexi spent the morning harvesting tomatoes, eggplants, shoshito peppers, bell peppers, jalapeños, and green beans (oh my!). Joey fluxed all morning to contribute data to our carbon sequestration research projects. Marya spent the morning coordinating a special persimmon planting initiative. Have we mentioned she’s a certified agroforestry queen? Maranda and Maya finished harvesting early, and then, like true #girlbosses, they went inside to edit the ZA website to let the people know about our new market initiatives. In the afternoon, Maranda and Maya sorted and packed produce to send out to market. Marya, Lexi, Isabelle, and Eric planted 18 persimmon trees in the ATR garden. Joey continued fluxing and then helped plant with the agroforestry crew. In the evening Marya, Maya, and Isabelle prepared an elaborate Rosh Hashanah meal that consisted of 2 types of challah, noodle kugel, tzimmis, carrot souffle, matzah ball soup, and chocolate cake! We were all quite full by the end of the night--an excellent start to the Jewish New Year. Shana Tova!
We celebrated Rosh Hashanah on Tuesday with a day off from farm work. We had a relaxing morning, and then in the afternoon, Lexi led some of the crew on a hike to a nearby river where we performed a Tashlikh ceremony, casting off breadcrumbs as a representation of what we each want to leave behind going into the new year. For a warm and comforting dinner during a very windy and rainy evening, Lexi and Maranda made lentil, carrot, & squash soup and rice.
Wednesday morning, Maya and Maranda took a crate of potatoes and a crate of tomatoes to the Sheldon Food Pantry so that we could share some of our fresh veggies. Back at the farm, Eric got to work harvesting tomatoes, lunchbox peppers, and eggplants. The rest of the crew worked on taking field cores of the soil in the alfalfa and corn fields in order to measure and understand the mineral content of the soil. After lunch, Lexi taught us all how to ferment cider. We will have our own homemade hard cider oh so soon! In the afternoon, Joey, Isabelle, and Marya worked on rhizones. Maya and Maranda worked on CSA and Comms planning while Eric rescued a bounty of fallen squash. For dinner, Maya and Maranda made yellow lentil dahl with fresh zaatar & garlic naan.
Thursday morning, Joey showed the research crew how to do titrations. Maya strapped on the Field King ™ backpack to spray neem oil and BT, two kinds of organic pest control methods that we employ. Eric began a meticulous walk through of all the trees on the farm. And Maranda (accompanied by her trusty pitchfork and biceps) began the laborious process of preparing a very overgrown bed in ATR for radish planting. In the afternoon, Marya and Isabelle continued with the titrations, Eric continued with his agroforestry walk through, and Maya, Maranda, and Joey got to work perfecting a food storage and fridge plan. After work, Maya and Maranda drove down to the Watseka Food Pantry to bring some cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, and eggplants. For dinner, Maya and Eric made rice noodles with a peanut & miso dressing and lots of veggies -- daikon, cucumber, marinated onion, jalapeño, and shredded carrot -- with blistered shoshito peppers on the side.
On Friday, Maya, Maranda, and Isabelle spent their morning harvesting eggplants, okra, peppers, tomatoes, green beans, and squash, while Eric, Joey and Marya pruned the tomato plants. For our very special presentation themed shabbat dinner, Maya and Maranda made black bean burgers with homemade buns and roasted potatoes. We closed out the week with six presentations about topics each of us are very passionate about -- ranging from Jewish representation (or misrepresentation?) in the film Ratatouille to the imminent world domination of the nutria rat (we promise they weren’t all rat themed e.g. Joey spoke with vigor about fridge infrastructure).
