Week 9, Fall 21’
Greetings, readers! It’s been a short and sweet week here at Zumwalt Acres.
A touch of sadness crept in as we began our first week without our lovely apprentice, Isabelle, who is now at Yale doing lab research on the basalt samples we collected at the farm. We’re excited to hear back on what the results of our basalt application research yield, and we wish Isabelle the best of luck in New Haven. To begin the week on Monday morning everyone (minus Joey who went out fluxing) gathered in ATR to harvest our favorite crop...green beans. Dedicated readers will know that our abundance of green beans is both a blessing and a curse. When the bean harvest was (finally) finished, everyone split off to finish the harvest of snow peas, bell peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, kale, shishito peppers, daikon radishes, kohlrabi, and okra. In the afternoon Joey continued fluxing and everyone else packed a plethora of veggies for the next day’s distribution through Down at the Farms. In the evening, Maya and Eric made scrumptious fried rice with roasted shishito peppers and japanese eggplants.
On Tuesday Maya delivered the produce that we had so tenderly packed the day before, while Maranda, Marya, and Eric garlic cloves for a highly anticipated planting. Julia and Joey did some agroforestry maintenance in Miracle Garden, which involved a lot of mulching, and then they (and Maya) joined back up with the planters in Goat Garden. Together, the squad planted 272 cloves of garlic and about 100 feet of spinach and mustard greens. We’re excited to eat the baby greens this season and are feeling #blessed to be able to provide yummy garlic to future cohorts. In the afternoon, everyone worked on various indoor tasks. Julia, Maya, and Maranda worked on developing a long term Communications plan, Eric and Joey created a fridge organization system, and Marya made a map of the west shelterbelt. It’s safe to say we have all reached peak #girlboss status. To nourish our bodies, Marya and Julia made miso-butter pasta with roasted butternut squash and a side of green beans.
Wednesday began with more beans, if you can believe it. Everyone worked on harvesting and uprooting some of our little legume lads so as to make the next harvest less tedious. Julia made like a pea, however, and split to the Sheldon Food Pantry where she offered the season’s last cherry tomatoes and some jalapeños. In the afternoon Joey embarked on a harvest log maintenance project while Eric made a cover crop plan. After work, the team cleaned up the house and packed their things for a long weekend in Chicago. Whoohoo! The big city!
