Week 6, Fall 2024
Hello, readers of the farm journal!
Wishing you all a beautiful week and a meaningful journey through the upcoming High Holidays. Gmar Chatimah Tovah!
Rosh Hashanah Weekend (October 4-6)
I spent the weekend at home (Champaign-Urbana! The Urbana Folk & Roots Fest! Art Mart and Allerton!) while the rest of the crew held down the fort in Sheldon. I’m told that weekend highlights on the farm included a run/ride to Hannah’s farm, songwriting and poetry, another bab(k)a ganoush, and lots of woodsy explorations. A group visited the Watseka Harvest Days Fest to absorb the fall vibes.
Harvest season is in full swing in this part of the world. Our neighbors are harvesting corn and soy, transforming the landscape from its summer green and yellow to the brown of autumn. The leaves are turning across the road but the baby cows are as sweet as always in their pasture. We’re celebrating the changes that come with October and looking forward to a few more weeks of abundance before the land enters its winter dormancy.
Good to be home — with Ritz!
Thursday, October 3
A relaxing day on the farm. We paused our usual schedule to enjoy Rosh Hashanah and enter a period of reflection between now and Yom Kippur. Some people joined services online while others napped, pet the cats, and jumped on the trampoline. Ella made grilled cheese and shishitos for lunch, which we devoured beneath the oaks. I led a reflective writing activity by the container where we penned letters to our past and future selves. We’ve been kicking around the idea of spiral time — that the chronological structures of our lives are more cyclical and endless as opposed to linear. Ritz and I left for Champaign-Urbana, satisfied with a thoughtful start to the holiday.
Wednesday, October 2
Battening down the hatches!
The big day arrived … plasticing the high tunnel! And the Jewish New Year! Very excited for both!
We woke up early to finish harvesting before a crew of friends and farm mentors arrived to support the high tunnel project. My partner Ritz drove down from Chicago to join the action. A team threw the plastic over the top of the structure, then stretched it tight to avoid wrinkles and secured the sheets with wood and wiggle wire. Teams used a screw gun to bolt the plastic to the ground, and Phoebe helped out in the afternoon by making biscuits and mewing loudly from the other side of the plastic. Between all the excitement, I visited the Sheldon Food Pantry to distribute over 150 pounds of produce — an absolutely massive quantity!! We gathered in the evening to celebrate Rosh Hashanah with delicious food and dandelion wine. It felt like the perfect way to bring in the New Year and celebrate our hard work so far.
Some of our Rosh Hashanah spread — so tasty!!!
Tomato haul at the Sheldon Food Pantry!
Tuesday, October 1
Sukkah construction mode.
Today I jumped in on the MEGA-Sukkah project with Daniella. We measured and sawed the planks that make up the sides of the Sukkah, then treated the wood with a rainproof finish and left it to seal overnight. Another crew finished prepping for the high tunnel project, which included busting open a bunch of tennis balls and attaching them to the plastic to make the sheets easier to throw! I scrounged for scrap wood to hold the plastic in place while Ella and Margalit gathered all the relevant hardware. After so much infrastructural work, a group of us took a combination corn run / apple picking expedition around the neighborhood. We marveled at a dramatic autumn sunset from the hay bales (and the trampoline). Some folks logged on to the Four Corners Fellowship call for a lecture on Jewish timekeeping, then switched gears to watch the VP Debate over bowls of curry and noodles. We went to bed exhausted from so much activity and excited for the New Year — and the high tunnel, of course!
Monday, September 30
We started the week with a huge harvest, collecting nearly a hundred (!!) pounds of Ukrainian heirloom tomatoes and processing crates of peppers, okra, and cucumbers. All of the market tomatoes on the farm are grown in the high tunnel, which is basically a huge greenhouse, and our goal for the week is to put plastic around the structure to keep the tomatoes warm through the coming months. We spent the afternoon gathering materials for the project, plus a little weeding in Goat Garden and a little chicken care. I joined Gavi and Acacia for their MOPED (More! People! Dancing!) class in Watseka, then hurried home to cook a pot of gnocchi slop for the crew. We spent a quiet evening reading and journaling in the farmhouse.
Bonus raccoon pic. heh
