Week 3, Spring 2023
Week 3 has just concluded for our ZA team, and what a week it was! Felix, the newest member of our team, joined us at the end of week 2 and is already an invaluable community member and abundant source of joy, great music, fantastic style, and kind compliments and affirmations. With the essential addition of his presence, our team has been able to fully delve into all the critical bonding activities aforementioned in the last farm journal - pickle tastings, crafting, watching A League of Their Own, and a truly collective and masterful team puzzling expedition (R.I.P. last missing piece). Much of that took place during an incredibly restful post-Week 2 Shabbat that left the team feeling relaxed, held, joyful, and rejuvenated.
…And it’s a good thing, too, because our team was quickly put to the test with a major hoop house deconstruction project! With overcast skies and prairie wind whipping around us, our team worked to dismantle a hoop house from a farmer friend near Champaign (thanks, John!) in order to rebuild it at ZA (wish us luck). The weather may not have been on our side, but regular cuddle huddles kept the team strong, and we managed to knock it all down in one day! Huge shout outs to JR and John for providing tools and leading the troops in our efforts, to Lexi for being the star player, balancing on makeshift scaffolding in the rafters while undoing the very bolts holding the overall structure together, to Claire for wrangling unruly wires, to Acacia for harnessing her unhinged power tool enthusiasm for the cause, to Felix for keeping everyone hydrated (even to his own detriment :’(), and to Remi for making absolutely sure everyone had their trip prevention wits about them in the beam lowering process.
Other weekly activities included getting the first annual crops (potatoes!) in the ground outside, fence reinforcement work, mushroom material pasteurization, prep, and inoculation (huge shoutout to Lexi for imparting all of their captivating fungi knowledge onto us while we learned the process and to Allison for all her help!), and strawberry patch tending - dance party and rolling down the rockwool mountain included. Our team also had the chance to learn about the history, cultural context and opportunities of at home bread making from Maria Trumpler, so keep an eye out for our inspired bread projects, coming soon! A Bergardo (the iconic Acacia+Felix duo) falafel feast was one of many meal highlights this week, and the week ended with yet another tasty and nourishing Shabbat dinner and beautiful challah set cooked by Remi. After a Sabbath day full of more crafting, a skillful and moving dance performance by Remi, a rejuvenating snack run, and a sunset Bernardo tandem bike ride, the team is ready for another week of getting hit by prairie wind!
-Acacia
