Week 6, Spring 2024
Hello friends, welcome back to the farm journal!
After finishing the work day on Friday, a group of us headed out to the woods to forage plants for our Shabbat dinner. With guidance from Lexi and Acacia I set out to see what greens and flowers I could identify, like ramps, wild garlic, garlic mustard, violets, and wild ginger. Becoming a more confident forager throughout my time at ZA has been a really important part of feeling more connected to the food I eat. When Shabbat arrived we said the customary prayers and sang some songs that helped us feel closer to the earth that provides this wonderful food for us. Many members of our team worked so hard to prepare an incredible foraged and home-cultivated meal. These dishes included an all-foraged salad, dandelion fritters, fried ramps, wild garlic butter, tomato jam, a mint and fresh herb sauce, sauteed mushrooms, amaranth, and two beautiful challot pressed with fresh flower petals. Wow! Not only was this meal delicious, but it was so fulfilling to enjoy.
On Shabbat day I enjoyed some leftovers while picnicking and reading poetry with Margalit, Martina, and Eric. There is no better way to celebrate Shabbat, in my humble opinion. In the afternoon I joined Lexi, Acacia, and Gavi to head into the woods for some mindful outdoors time. I made my way to the creek and listened to the sounds of the running water while reading through one of my old journals. We closed out Shabbat by reciting the evening maariv service and then having havdalah. We enjoyed the rest of the evening watching the office and making banana bread.
On Sunday we started dehydrating all the nettle we had collected for Shabbat, and there was a lot of it. Grace and Remi also drove down to pay us a visit. With the temperature surpassing 80 degrees, we decided to cool off by going for a swim in the river. The water was cool and very refreshing, and I picked up some foraged snacks along the way. For dinner, Eric and I whipped up some stir fry with our very own shiitake mushrooms.
The trend of hot weather continued through Monday. We spent the morning prepping some garden beds for seeding and transplanting. I checked on our mushroom grow tents and was shocked to see that the Italian Oyster mushrooms had grown from the size of my finger on Friday to twice the size of my hand by Monday. It’s pretty amazing to see how quickly and prolifically our mushrooms can grow. After the work day ended Margalit foraged some fresh greens which we turned into a scrumptious pesto for our pasta dinner, garnished with fresh spring beauty petals and trillium leaves.
On Tuesday morning Eric, Martina, and I planted some leeks in Miracle while listening to some old Beatles albums. For lunch Acacia made us some delicious pizzas using flour from Janie’s Mill. In the afternoon I got some logs soaking so that we could inoculate them the following day. I went for a stroll after work to watch the storm clouds approaching us and bumped into Gavi, who was going on a run. For dinner Eric and Martina made pad thai with a salad made entirely of our greenhouse greens.
On Wednesday Acacia and I started the process of inoculating logs with shiitake spawn. As a group we also spent a good chunk of time working on our own haggadah, a book that details the process of the Passover seder. Each year on Passover Jews around the world sit down with their families and recount the story of the exodus from Egypt. The word seder, meaning order, signifies the set of practices we follow over the course of the evening. These can include reading passages from the traditional haggadah text, compiling a seder plate featuring different foods that symbolize important elements of the holiday, singing songs, reciting prayers, and enjoying a special meal together. Growing up I always looked forward to the Passover seder because it was a time my whole family would get together and connect. It is customary for each family to have their own traditions for the seder, and I’m looking forward to bringing some of those traditions with me to ZA. I’ll segue here to give a shoutout to Margalit and Gavi for making an awesome dinner of fresh olive focaccia with tomato soup and dandelion salad.
Thursday was a big mushroom day; we completed 2 inoculations! The mushrooms are really starting to come into their own, and they aren’t the only ones. As the weather has been looking up I’ve been noticing small signs of spring growth everywhere I look. Our trees are starting to bloom, I see dandelions everywhere I walk, and the forest floor is looking greener by the day. This is part of the magic of spring: new birth and regrowth. For Thursday dinner Acacia and Gavi prepared some awesome fresh flatbreads and ratatouille.
With today being Friday we are gearing up for Shabbat and for Passover. There’s a lot of cleaning and cooking that needs to be done, a haggadah to be finalized, and so much more. I spent some time today harvesting shiitake, Italian oyster, and grey dove mushrooms. In the vein of new growth, Eric, Martina, and Margalit planted some trees. We are looking forward to a restful Shabbat and are excited to jump into Passover, the holiday of springtime!
