On Friday, April 8th, 2022, the YSFP held its weekly workday and knead 2 know. The workday was spent tending to the soil and preparing for spring planting; students pulled weeds, finished turning the compost pile, and raised, smoothed, and broadforked beds. Continuing last week's work on the soon-to-be strawberry beds, students placed tarps and drip irrigation lines in advance of our plants’ arrival. It was a beautiful day, as sunny as the yellow daffodils which have recently sprouted up across the Old Acre. Even the chickens, recently welcomed back to the Farm, were basking in the sun as they ran around outside their coop.
After a fulfilling workday, students gathered in the Lazarus Pavilion to enjoy pizza and listen to the week’s knead 2 know, presented by Storm Lewis YSE ’23, Faith Taylor YSE ’27, and Fransha Dace YSE ’27 from the Yale School of the Environment’s Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Sustainability Initiative. The three scholars spoke about their various studies in the intersections of food, the environment, and justice and discussed the implications of their research in informing policy. Storm presented her research on food sovereignty in Brooklyn, NY, and her radical approach to transforming food systems, which positions marginalized workers to own the means of their production. Faith spoke about the principles of Black veganism and how the practice can be leveraged as a form of liberation. Fransha spoke about how she aims to leverage her research and education to serve the South Shore neighborhood, her home community in Chicago. To finish off the afternoon, The New Blue of Yale sang some acapella tunes. It was an inspiring and impactful afternoon filled with questions for our presenters—thank you to Storm, Faith, and Fransha, and to everyone who came to work, eat, and listen. Photos of the event, taken by Reese Neal ‘25, can be viewed here.