Love Notes #17, October 5, 2016

Love Notes #17, October 5, 2016

By: Hannah Slipakoff

Contents of Share
Announcements
Farm and Food Justice News
Recipes

Members of the Audre Lorde Project’s Safe Outside the System Collective after their Sunday morning harvest during an Activist Retreat (Photo: Leah Penniman)

(1) CONTENTS OF SHARE

Dill or Cilantro- 1 bunch
Onions- 2 to 4 fruits
Lettuce Mix- approx. ½ lb.
Tatsoi- 1 head
Garlic- 2 to 3 heads
Collard Greens- 1 bunch
Red Russian Kale- 1 bunch
Easter Egg Radishes- 1 bunch
Parsnips- 1 bunch
Tomatoes- 1 to 2 fruits
Jalapeno Peppers- 2 to 3 fruits
Green Bell Peppers or Eggplant- 1 to 3 fruits
Sugar Snap Peas or Edamame or Tomatillos- heaping handfuls
Butternut Squash- 1 to 2 fruits
Optional: 1 dozen eggs
Optional: Green Lentil Sprouts

Our radiant farm family all in one place! Join Soul Flames and get in on the magic!

(2) ANNOUNCEMENTS

SOUL FLAMES is the inner circle of Soul Fire Farm supporters who are committed to ending racism and injustice in the food system and dedicated to supporting the work. Join Soul Flames and be entered to win a date with one of the farmers – Che, Hannah, Amani, Jonah, Dan, or Leah!

Be the flame that lights the fire.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN

Donations are tax-deductible

COMMUNITY DAYS. 8-1 Work and learn together. 1-2:30 Potluck lunch. October 22, and November 12. RSVP here.

UPCOMING EVENTS: We will host an on-farm seed keeping workshop with Owen Taylor on Saturday, October 8 (limited spots still available!) and an ancestor healing workshop with Enroue Halfkenny on Saturday, November 19. Please join us!

GARLIC FOR SALE: We have a beautiful hard-neck garlic for sale for eating or seed! All orders can be placed by-the-pound (a pound is roughly 1 quart) and picked up at the farm or delivered on our weekly Wednesday distribution route. This garlic will store for months, so stock up for your winter supply. Garlic also makes a great gift! Contact us if you are interested. $9 per pound. $12 for seed garlic.

RETURN YOUR BOXES AND JARS please. You can leave them where you get your delivery. If you break them down, please make sure not to tear or bend any of the tabs, or just leave the assembled box for us and we are happy to break it down.

WASH YOUR VEGGIES. We DO NOT extensively wash veggies before delivering them to you. We will do some washing if there is a lot of dirt on greens and we always rinse root crops. In general, this allows the food to stay fresher longer. It also means you need to wash your veggies before consuming them. For greens: fill a bowl with cold water. Soak greens in water for a minute. Drain water and repeat two more times. Dirt will rinse to the bottom. Bugs should float to the top.

KEEP FOOD FRESH, EASY: Store leafy greens in a sealed plastic bag in the fridge. To revive wilted greens, dunk them in ice water and dry in salad spinner or with gentle toweling. To make it easier to use greens on the go, wash and chop them in advance and store them in a sealed plastic bag. Then you can just grab a handful to add to your eggs, smoothie, soup, or saute. Quick and easy.

Farmer Cheryl refines her tractor skills and prepares our beds for their winter rest. (photo: Jonah Vitale-Wolff)

(3) FARM AND FOOD JUSTICE NEWS

It’s October! A new month and a New Year! Chag Sameach and L’Shanah Tovah!

At the beginning of this week we celebrated Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. Here on the farm, we’ve been reading Arthur Waskow’s Seasons of Our Joy and reflecting on the connections between the growing season and Jewish ritual. While Rosh Hashana, literally meaning “head of the year”, is the holiday of renewal and new beginnings, technically the beginning of the Hebrew Calendar is the Spring, during Passover. During Passover we celebrate the beginning of our freedom, our unity, our shared vision for a just world.

During Spring time on the farm we celebrate the launch of our growing season and our Farm Share community. Now that we’ve arrived in autumn, we honoring our selves and steeped in deep reflection of the work and bounty that emerged on this land.

But our fall celebration of the New Year does not stop with personal and spiritual revitalization! This year we are eager to bring things full circle, back to collective liberation, with our SOUL FLAMES campaign!

CLICK HERE TO JOIN

Leah blows the conch in honor of Rosh Hashana, and her Haitian Ancestors. In her beautiful words;

“The conch was blown by my Haitian ancestors to assemble people for the uprising that would overthrow slavery and result in a free Black republic. It lives on as a symbol of resilience and unity. We use a conch as our “shofar” this season, as Hebrews attribute a similar symbolism to the ram’s horn – freedom from slavery, redistribution of land and wealth, community, reconciliation. It’s the sound of “I’ve got your back. We’re gonna get free together.”(Photo: Jonah Vitale Wolff)

Members of the Albany Jack and Jill Club enjoyed their time at Soul Fire this Saturday. (Photo: Leah Penniman)

While we work towards growing our fall campaign, the heart-warming visitors that graced the farm this week have certainly kept our embers lit.

Today, we count that 3,539 people directly participated in a Soul Fire Farm program in 2016!

That’s 518 youth that came to learn and play, 254 activists that chose to regenerate and grow, 2621 community members that attended public events, and 146 farmers that put their hands on the land and trained on site!

Sweet Audrey Lorde Project members Ashleigh (BLFI 2015) and Tomi enjoy our fall peas (Photo: Leah Penniman)

This weekend members of the Audre Lorde Project’s Audre Lorde Project Safe Outside the System Collective visited the farm for an Activist Retreat. Safe Outside the System is a queer, trans, people of color group that organizes for community based alternatives to safety that exist outside of police and state intervention. We have soooooo much to learn from them! And we were honored to get to listen and host their crew at Soul Fire, including 3 beloved alumni from Black and Latinx Farmers Immersion.

We are so excited that our farm family continues to grow and that we get to be connected to such incredible people! Shout out this week to BLFI Alum Amani Olugbala and Dan Lyles leading up Soul Tribe Eats and the food justice caucus of Upstate NY Black Lives Matter. And, a huge congratulations to the amazing Shanelle Donaldson West, BLFI 2016, for starting an urban farm in Seattle Washington!

Lastly, in the aftermath of the devastating Hurricane Matthew this weekend, Soul Fire Farm and Ayiti Resurrect are sending lots of prayers to the millions of people in Haiti and the greater caribbean. Our friends in Leogane have weathered the storm ok, and we continue send love, strength, and protection to all.

Love and Nourishment for the week ahead!!

(4) RECIPE – Maple Glazed Root Vegetables

Keep this versatile recipe on hand for the bounty of root crops to come this fall! (Photo and Recipe: Paleo Grubs)

Ingredients

1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and diced
6-10 parsnips, beets, carrots, potatoes- or a mix of all of these!
Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
Salt, to taste
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tbsp ghee, butter, or coconut oil
SPICE IT UP:
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon and a pinch of ground nutmeg OR
- 1 tbsp grated ginger, a drizzle of sesame oil, a drizzle of tamari/ soy sauce

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place the diced vegetables on a rimmed baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Toss to coat. Sprinkle with salt. Roast for 30-35 minutes, turning twice, until tender.
Place the maple syrup, ghee, and cinnamon in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer and then remove from heat. Pour over the roasted vegetables and carefully toss to coat. Serve warm.