Week 5, Spring 2024
Hi readers, welcome back to the ZA farm journal!
In anticipation of the eclipse we wore our most celestial clothing and set the table with sun and moon decorations. We also set into motion another beloved ZA tradition: fill jars. Each member of our cohort has a designated “fill jar.” Over the course of the week anyone can write a small letter of gratitude and place it in someone’s jar. It is such a nice way to help each other feel appreciated in our community. As always, we lit some candles and sang some songs to welcome in the spirit of Shabbat. For dinner Sophie and Eric prepared vegan spätzel, a Central European style of noodle, with a black walnut pesto. It was a very impressive spread. For dessert Martina made a beautiful eclipse-themed cake and used blueberry filling to make a crescent moon design.
We had a relaxing and restful Shabbat day. The weather took a beautiful turn so we made sure to enjoy the sunshine by picnicking and taking a stroll through the woods. We closed out Shabbat by reciting the Havdalah service on the stoop of the farmhouse under the light of the stars. In the evening the cohort was busy packing and preparing some granola and flatbread for our upcoming trip.
Monday was the solar eclipse! While Zumwalt Acres was in 97% totality, we wanted to see 100% totality. Most of us made our way to Lost in the Woods Meadery in Gosport Indiana where we camped two nights, enjoyed woods walks, river time, campfires, and people watching. Each day, there were several earth skills workshops, so we went to animal tracking, candle making, yoga, tai chi, and song writing. About ten minutes before totality, it started to get visibly darker outside and chillier. For 4 minutes, the moon completely covered the sun and we could look at the eclipse without the eclipse glasses! It was a very otherworldly experience; people were whooping, howling, hugging, setting off fireworks, and in general, soaking it in.
With our full crew finally back together plus our friends Lexi and Nadav, Wednesday was jam packed. Folks worked on bed prep, direct seeding, fence building, soaking straw, and giving our transplanted seedlings some fertilizer. Wednesday also marked our first mushroom harvest! I harvested over 4 pounds of PoHu oyster mushrooms, which looks like a lot more than it sounds. To celebrate, Lexi cooked up some of the mushrooms for lunch and they were delicious. Nadav also baked us some lovely scones with Drew, our dear sourdough starter. After the workday some of us processed our dried amaranth and collected the seeds to be cooked at a later date. We enjoyed our dinner of pad thai by candlelight to continue the theme of being in touch with the sun and moon.
On Thursday we carried out our weekly mushroom inoculation, this time 12 buckets of Italian oyster mushrooms. Gavi and Martina had been developing a curriculum for this season’s context conversations and shared it with us. The big question we want to address is, “How do we show up in ways that are true to our values including and beyond our immediate community?” This hefty question will be split up into 3 subsections: How do we show up as people living in Sheldon, IL? As Jews? And as farmers? Each of these subsections will be discussed over the course of two or three weeks in sessions led by members of the cohort. I am so excited to dive into these salient topics with my peers. I’m really lucky to be part of an organization that thinks so intentionally about what we do and why we do it.
Once again, the weather took a lovely turn on Friday. We enjoyed the sunshine while weeding in Goat and listening to some of our favorite tunes. I’d tell you more about Friday’s adventures but I don’t want to give away any spoilers. I guess you’ll just have to come back next week and see for yourselves!
