Week 8, Spring ‘21
It’s our seventh week here and we are as bundled as our hay-covered raised beds.
On Monday, we gathered for our All Hands Meeting to plan for the week ahead and set to work. As we stepped outside, we saw that our pine tree saplings had arrived! We stored them in the cool shed for safe-keeping until we were ready to plant them in the shelterbelt. Then, we split up to work on potato planting across the road and raised bed construction in the Goat Garden. We planted about 60 pounds of seed potatoes (cut up potatoes for planting). Meanwhile, we made our watering rounds and prepared all our beds for the oncoming cold and snow. We spread hay across the strawberry plot and our newly planted potato patch and covered the rest of the raised beds in tarps to keep them from freezing.
For dinner, Gavi and Brendan sautéed cabbage and watermelon radishes, roasted sweet potatoes, and a green lentil stew.
On Tuesday, we bundled up for the snowy day and gathered around the table to share our goals for the day and debate our favorite hot beverages. We took advantage of the chilly day to spend time planning where we will be planting all of the incoming seeds for our “bounty crops” (squash, kale, pepper, cucumber, green beans, eggplant, and potatoes), and determining the cost and projected revenue breakdown as we strive to become a financially solvent organization. Later, our policy group met to finish planning for the Lobby Day of Action tomorrow. At the end of the day, we came together for a strategic meeting about finances and financial decision-making. Everyone came to the meeting prepared with insights and visions for how we can continue building ZA into a sustainable organization.
For dinner, Shachar and I made kasha with miso and veggies, roasted sweet potatoes, and roasted watermelon radishes.
On Wednesday, we had an exciting morning at the virtual Lobby Day of Action! Along with our fellow Illinois Stewardship Alliance members in our district, we met with our representative Tom Bennett. We all introduced ourselves and advocated for continual and additional support for conservation programs in Illinois. After our virtual gathering, our team gathered around the table to establish our goals for the snow-covered day. We began by making our rounds checking on all the raised beds and young saplings to see how they endured the cold, snowy night. We watered and recovered them. While some of us worked on seeding flats with our “bounty crops,” the rest of us worked on pH testing the strawberry plots and seeding potatoes in the potato patch. In the evening, we drove down to our friends’ house to pick up three foster goats! We are so excited to welcome some four-legged friends back into our community. Two of the goats are milking Dior and Maggie, one is a yearling, Chanel, who we fostered in the fall, and one is a young kid who we got to name! We landed on Mordi, short for Mordechai. We are so grateful to our friends who are letting us care for their goats for the next few months!
For dinner, Sophia and Brendan made tomato rosemary focaccia, vegan red lentil bolognese, steamed broccoli, and roasted potatoes. During dinner, Brendan led a Context Conversation on ableism.
On Thursday, we greeted the warmer weather by making our watering rounds and collecting soil cores from the hay and corn test fields. Then, we headed into the greenhouse to finish seeding our flats with our “bounty crops.” While some of us worked on preparing for our fall apprenticeship informational session that evening, the rest of us prepared for shelterbelt planting. Later, we transplanted all of our elderberries from their pots to the berry patch across the road! It was a team effort, but we got them all in the ground. In the evening, we had so much fun meeting new folks at our informational session. After the informational session, we did an evening shelterbelt plant! It was incredible to watch as our shelterbelt that we’ve spent so long planning came to life. As Johnny, Shachar, and Jesse operated the tree-planter, the rest of us followed and pushed them down into the soil to ensure they were firmly rooted.
For dinner, Tuomas made breaded oven-fried tofu, spaetzle noodles, vegan cream sauce, sautéed cabbage and carrots.
On Friday, we began our day bright and early to finish planting the hazelnut and chestnut trees and serviceberry shrubs in our shelterbelt, and to plant the paw paws in our berry patch. After several hours of invigorating team work, we finished planting! Then, we worked together, making our watering rounds, taking soil pH, and raking in the Goat Garden until the end of the day. Tired and proud of all we had accomplished, we came together for Shabbat.
Our theme of the week was “2nd Grade Career Day.” We all dressed as the careers we aspired to have when we were 2nd-graders. Before eating, we sang Kabbalat Shabbat songs and talked about all our accomplishments this week. For dinner, we had Moroccan Harira soup, roasted shredded beet pancakes, tadig, and challah.
After dinner, we joined in our traditional Oneg of reading the fills from our fill jars.