- Potato Dig!
We hosted the broad community on the farm to dig spuds. It was great; we dug about 80 boxes (!) of potatoes.
- Food Awareness Month
We've re-activated an environmental action and awareness group at Green Gulch, the "Ecosattvas". Our first major endeavor was to designate September as a month to raise our community awareness about food and environmental issues around food production. September is a traditional harvest month, in the northern hemisphere, so it seemed appropriate to delineate the month this way, and our group is very passionate about local, healthy, organic food systems. We had a number of activities for the residents here, and for the broader community, aimed at celebrating food and looking at food systems. The crowning event was our annual Harvest Dinner and Dance. We prepared food from the farm, and the farm and garden crews did the cooking (with some highly valuable help from the kitchen crew). The menu:
--> Foraged Foods Salad (ONLY wild ingredients were used, except the dressing!)
--> Stuffed Magda Cousa zucchini with Indian spicy red sauce
--> Potato Masa Griddle Cakes
--> Rose Geranium Pound Cake, Apple Pie, Fresh Blackberries, Ice Cream
--> Wild Juice - recipe from Juicey Lucy (thanks!), with nettles and kale and loveliness
Then, after the feast, we danced! It was a real, down home square dance, and it was fantastic fun. 2 hours of foot stompin, whirling fiddlin fun. We decorated the pool deck with christmas lights and kerosene lanterns, and it was lovely.
We also made a Food Miles map for produce purchased for the Green Gulch kitchen (that coming from outside of Green Gulch). This spurred ideas to create an ongoing list of foods and food miles for many different ingredients in the kitchen, and that project is still active. We posted a "Pick of the Week", a poster featuring a vegetable of the week.
All in all, Food Awareness Month was a resounding success, with lots of discussion around food and food politics.
- Ending of the Farm Apprenticeship
The apprenticeship ended in October, but everyone was keenly aware of the close coming, of our 6 months together as a crew, and for us as apprentices. Two of the apprentices were departing for other venues, so there was a bittersweet tone to the whole thing - celebrations and goodbyes. To mark the ending of this moment, the farm treated the apprentices and staff to dinner at Greens Restaurant. The feast was glorious, positively. We had a kitchen tour with Annie Somerville, the head chef and long-time friend of Zen Center (see photo).
We had some donations of wine, and the weather cleared up for an exquisite sunset, which we could see perfectly out the soaring windows. A night i will remember for a long, long time. It was so lovely to celebrate with the crew, and to share a beautiful meal together.
So then it became October. On our last day of work, two of our friends came down to the farm and serenaded us while we worked! Cutting arugula and listening to angelic voices harmonize - it was like a fairy tale, and it made my last day really special.
For my birthday, and during my break between the apprenticeship and the beginning of Practice Period, i took off for a 3-day backpacking trip to Yosemite National Park. The weather was incredible - sunny and warm during the day, clear and cold at night. I soaked up the sun, and felt so much joy being in the cool mountain air of the mountains.
Yosemite is vast, and i was stunned by the beauty all around me, all the time. It was really magical and i hope to go back someday, for longer to explore more.
Now we've started Practice Period - a 2 month period of intensive Zen study and practice. The schedule is more focused on Zen practice, less on farm work, although i am still working on the farm. However, due to this turning inward, as i've heard it called here, i plan to take a break from posting and blogging until after the practice period ends (Dec 7th). Until then! Go forth, be well, and take your place.
