Nourishing Abolition | Chewing the Fat Event ft. Jalal Sabur and Mike Capers

Warmed by a crackling fire under the Lazarus pavilion and nourished by miso-broth and toasted cinnamon bread, students and community members from all disciplines— the CT BIPOC food network, the Yale School of Drama, Yale School of the Environment, Yale College, the Yale Prison Education Initiative fellowship— gathered as the sun set over Edwards Street after a 60-degree day, to learn more about Sweet Freedom Farm.

On Thursday, November 16th, YSFP had the honor of hosting Jalal Sabur and Mike Capers of Sweet Freedom Farm for a Chewing The Fat event. The event was co-hosted by the Yale Undergraduate Prison Project.

“Grow Food Not Prisons,” opened Jalal and Mike’s slide deck, as the two began the workshop discussing the intersections of Black land sovereignty and prison abolition. Sweet Freedom's namesake comes from the farm’s maple sugaring practices, which has long been an alternative to cane sugar, sugar whose production historically and presently relies on enslaved labor. Jalal and Mike explained Sweet Freedom’s mission “to positively impact people who are negatively impacted” by the prison-industrial complex, in order to create healing “on both sides of the fence.”

So, how can an abolition framework be actualized? Jalal and Mike elucidated their theory of change, which constitutes “builders, warriors, and weavers,” and layed out four pillars of abolition: divestment from the prison system, investment and nourishment, repair and resilience, and Black land sovereignty.

While Jalal and Mike shared personal and professional experiences throughout their presentation to visualize modes of abolition, their presentation was rooted in the long legacy of abolitionist history. A slide depicted a painting where we could see a pair of hands and a head being braided and wrapped in green leaves and vines. If you look closer, one can see literal seeds being braided into the hair. Jalal shared that the painting is used at Soul Fire Farm, and references that when enslaved people were abducted to the United States, people would braid seeds in their hair, carrying the resources for nourishment across continents. People who were enslaved, Jalal notes, had immense knowledge of the lands they were being taken from.

Photos of Freedom Fighters such as Harriet Tubman soon followed. A photo of Malcom X with his quote “Land is the basis for all Freedom, justice and equality,” projected under the Lazarus Pavilion as Jalal and Mike discussed how land sovereignty and food access has played and continue to play an integral role in Black freedom movements across generations, from Tubman to incarcerated Black Panthers to Sweet Freedom Farm.

Sweet Freedom Farm is located in Germantown, NY. Germantown is located in the Hudson Valley, a majority-white and affluent area. Jalal and Mike emphasized how the Farm’s very existence is powerful, working to normalize the presence of Black farmers in the area.

As of 2022, one percent of farms are owned by Black farmers in the United States, but that was not always the case. Jalal and Mike shared historical legislation during the Nixon administration’s infamous War on Drugs that increased both industrial farming and the prison industrial systems: the number of small farms in these years went down, the number of Americans in prison skyrocketed. Mike also noted that as he was pursuing his Associate’s Degree through the Bard Prison Initiative, he learned just how much tax money goes to benefit the prison industrial complex, and began to understand how food and health care access is tied to incarceration rates in neighborhoods in New York.

The prison industrial complex affects both those inside and outside prisons; Sweet Freedom distributes fresh produce to the families of people who are incarcerated and engages impacted communities in education about abolition and land sovereignty, informing the next generation of farmers. Sweet Freedom used to supply produce packages to be brought inside prison facilities by family members. However, in 2022, New York banned bringing fresh produce inside, limiting parcels to vendors certified by the Department of Correction; huge price hikes on produce made those products largely inaccessible for families and inmates. For example, a mango that might cost $.99 in the grocery store is $4.50 through the prison vendor. After this policy change, Sweet Freedom pivoted to movement work, participating in advocacy to get the state to reverse the ban. Simultaneously, the group pivoted towards abolition education for affected communities and providing for families impacted by the prison system.

After the slide presentation, participants —which included undergraduates, New Haven and Connecticut community members, and program participants with Sweet Freedom— had the opportunity to talk about their personal understandings of abolition and connect about their work and ideas.

Much gratitude to Jalal and Mike, the YUPP coordinators, the YSFP coordinators, and everyone who came to the Old Acre on a chilly fall night.

Photos from the event by Kavya Jain ‘25 can be found here.

Fall Feast

What a day October 27 was on the farm! Our annual Indigenous Fall Feast could not have been met with better weather. The meal — three sisters succotash, wild rice salad, beet poke, sunflower chia pudding, white cap cornbread, oh my — was sourced from the Old Acre, local vendors, and Indigenous producers in Hawaii and Turtle Island. Producers included Massaro Community Farm, Mexican Amaranth, Noh Foods of Hawai’i, Romona’s American Indian Foods, Red Lake Nation Foods, Schoolyard Sugarbush, Séka Hills, and Sweetgrass Trading Co.

The event honored the Three Sisters, corn, beans, and squash, grown on the Farm and gifted by Abenaki Seedkeeper Liz Charlebois, and served as a celebration of Indigenous foodways.

It was such a joy to see the community come together and to watch conversations over beautiful food, warmed by the setting sun on a picnic blanket, last into the evening. Our Native American Cultural Center Seedkeepers and Programs Liasons Emerson Harris '26 and Rebecca Salazar '26 welcomed us to the feast, explaining the significance of the three sisters as a means of resisting American settler colonialism. Salazar and Harris offered a poignant critique of Yale’s land acknowledgment and spoke of indigenous resistance to dispossession. To learn more about the history, meaning, and utility of the Three Sisters, listen to Salazar’s podcast, “The Three Sisters of Abya Yala: Mesoamerican Histories of Agroforestry, Animacy, and Agency,” produced this summer as part of the Lazarus Summer Internship The podcast can be found here. Salazar will also be presenting her summer research at our last knead 2 know of the semester, on November 10th.

The line for the feast commenced after the land acknowledgment and gratitude to the organizers was shared. Soon, groups spread across the hill, sitting on picnic blankets while student performers Pilar Bylinsky '25 and Ryan Bibb '25 sounds spread throughout the Old Acre.

After all the cornbread was consumed, the evening concluded with Semilla Collective's Jarocho performance group Son Chaneques Rebeldes.

Conversation, in the Lazarus Pavillion and on picnic blankets spread on the hill, lasted late into the evening, augmented by the beautiful setting fall sun. Students were able to take a piece of Fall Feast home in ʻōlena-dyed cotton gift satchels, which contained rattlesnake beans, white cap corn, buffalo creek squash, hawaiian pink salt, and dried ʻōlena.

Many thanks to the Native American Cultural Center, the Native and Indigenous Students Association at Yale, and the Ethnicity, Race, and Migration Department for co-sponsoring this event. Photos from the event by Reese Neal '25 can be accessed here.

Cooling the Tropics | Workday and Book Launch feat. Professor Hi'ilei Hobart

Friday, September 22nd was a special day on the farm. Just a quick glance at the Old Acre revealed that something was different: the Farm was decked out in marigold streamers, Farm flower bouquets, and white tablecloths for the book launch of Cooling the Tropics: Ice, Indigeneity, and Hawaiian Refreshment by Profesor Hi'ilei Hobart.

The workday was the most routine part of the afternoon, yet spectacular. The week's drizzle halted for students to harvest a bounty of sweet potatoes and do a thorough weeding job around the beds and chicken coop. Students also de-installed infrastructure such as posts and tarps in several beds to transition for the coming season. 

After an afternoon of work, students, professors, and community members alike gathered around the Lazarus Pavilion for a panel honoring Profesor Hobart's latest book.

Professors Ned Blackhawk (Yale University), Jodi Byrd (Cornell University), Jean O'Brien (University of Minnesota), and Noenoe Silva (University of Hawaii Mānoa) gave their reflections on Professor Hobart's book, noting its unique analysis of how culture, infrastructure, and colonialism on the islands relate to the popularity of frozen treats, from ice cream to shave ice. Hobart’s opening remarks focused on the unidentified girl that marks her book’s cover. Analyzing the representation of Hawaiian people in frozen treat marketing campaigns serve as an entry point into the book’s themes—the impact of constructions of whiteness, Indigenous identities and food systems, supply chain networks, the tourism economy, and more. 

After the panel, Joshua Ching '26, Helen Shanefield '26, and Jairus Rhoades '26 performed a moving hula to close out the program. The celebrations did not stop there. Soon after, attendees were treated to a bounty of fresh pizza, cold drinks, and, of course, some Farm-made shave ice in delicious flavor iterations of hibiscus, passionfruit, and ginger. While centered around cool treats, the Farm exuded an extra poignant sense of warmth.

Much gratitude goes out to Professor Hobart for sharing her scholarship with us, the Yale Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration for collaborating with YSFP on this event, as well as all who made the trip to New Haven to be there to learn and celebrate. 

To many more beautiful afternoons like this one together. 

Photos from the event by Grace Cajski ‘24 can be viewed here. 

Update [October 9, 2023]: a more extensive article on the book launch and Prof. Hobart’s journey was published by the Yale Herald and written by Joshua Ching ‘26.

The Intersection of Ceramics and Agriculture | Workday and knead 2 know feat. Calista Washburn '24

On Friday, September 16th, a gorgeous and cool sun shone upon the Old Acre as students rounded out the first full week of classes of the semester with a workday and knead 2 know, programs run by YSFP up until mid-November.

This week, students harvested buckets of pinto beans, hops to make Yale Ale, crispy red apples soon-to-be pressed, and gigantic zucchini—some which were so large the women’s rugby team used them to conduct a few passing drills, before returning the veggies to their rightful spot in the cooler. A great turnout made the harvesting an incredible group effort.

The Old Acre is getting lots of love as students work to transition the beds for the changing season. In addition to the harvest haul, students composted material, scuffled and weeded several plots, and removed fences, hoops, and fabric to make way for the planting of new crops. Students also picked marigold flowers to be strung as garlands to decorate the Lazarus Pavilion.

After the workday, students headed to the Lazarus Pavilion for pizza with delicious end-of-summer toppings such as corn, fresh tomatoes, and zucchini jam (sensing a theme?). Students were treated to a fascinating presentation by Lazarus Summer Intern Calista Washburn '24, who explored the relationship between agriculture and ceramics by detailing her summer project harvesting clay from Old Acre soil. Washburn detailed the difference between sand, silt, and clay, and her evaporation process which allowed her to excavate clay from the soil on the Farm. Washburn spoke of the use of ollas, clay pots whose name originates from Spanish and Spanish-colonized areas, however has been a traditional irrigation practice across Indigenous communities across the world. Ollas, full of water, are buried in agricultural terrain, and osmosis through the clay creates a steady source of irrigation. Washburn intends to construct an olla with some of the clay she excavated this summer. She also brought clay and ceramic samples for students to engage with.

If you missed this Friday, don’t worry; the stellar Knead 2 Know lineup continues. This Friday, the Farm is partnering with the Program in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration to host a book launch for Yale Professor Hi'ilei Julia Kawehipuaakahaopulani Hobart’s Cooling the Tropics: Ice, Indigeneity, and Hawaiian Refreshment (2022). The reading and panel with Jodi Byrd, (Cornell University), Ned Blackhawk (Yale University), Jean O'Brien (University of Minnesota), and Noenoe Silva (University of Hawaii Mana) will begin at 4:30 PM with pizza and refreshments at 5:30 PM. Rumor has it that shave ice is involved...

Photos from Friday by Reese Neal '25 and Grace Cajski '24 are available here, and photos from Sunday by Arrow Zhang '26 are available here.

Maple Syrup and Canadian Identity | Workday and knead 2 know feat. Sasha Carney ’23

Spring is in full swing on the Farm! The dandelions are popping, the tulips are blooming, and the sun is out. On Friday, students, clad in extra sunscreen on an abnormally warm afternoon, spent the workday weeding the asparagus and sage beds, turning over our cover crops with shovels, scuffle hoeing beds to prep for the planting of sweet potatoes, and tending to the chickens, (who are laying beautiful blue eggs, by the way!). The groundwork is being laid—literally—for a productive summer. 

After a great effort on the Old Acre, students headed over to the Lazarus Pavilion for some pizzas, topped with delicious produce like fresh mushrooms, potatoes, and squash puree. Students gathered to hear Sasha Carney ’23 present their knead 2 know about maple syrup and Canadian Identity. Carney was a 2022 Yale Farm Summer Intern and this research was part of their independent summer research project, which involved writing a short fiction story that wove in themes of maple of Canadian identity. Read Sasha’s post about their project here.

Carney talked about the role of the maple tree in the Canadian imagination and national education system—maple sugar shack visitation is a mandatory part of the curriculum for all Canadian students. Carney discussed the prevalence of maple in Canadian literature, and how Canadian national pride relates to its natural resources. They discussed how identities in Canada had botanical affiliations—i.e., the English were coined the “roses,” the Irish the “thistles,” etc.—and how the maple tree came to symbolize a kind of colonialist unity. Maple sugaring, a practice long embodied by Indigenous communities in Canada, was taken and presented as French Canadian culture. Carney also presented the work of a collaborative called Oh-oh Canada, which makes the nation’s popular maple sugar candies in shapes that symbolize painful and under-recognized aspects of Canada’s history and erasure of Indigenous peoples. It was a fascinating talk, and timely, given that it sugaring season lasts through April. 

There are only two more Friday workdays and knead 2 knows left this semester, and we’d love to have you join us. We’ll see you back on the Farm this Friday; there will be another workday at 2:00 PM and a knead 2 know at 4:15 PM by Kiera Quigley MEM ’23 and Destiny Treloar MESc ’23. Photos from the workday by Reese Neal '25 are available here. 

Thinking with Paint | Knead to know feat. Eli White ‘25

On Friday, March 3, students gathered in the Office of LGBTQ Resources over steaming bowls of salad, rice, black beans, cheddar cheese, and salsa, talking midterms, summer plans, and the community’s eager anticipation to return to the Old Acre this spring. The meal held a special significance for this week’s k2k speaker Eli White ’25, who interned on the Yale Farm last summer, helping to grow the beans that the community enjoyed. 

In addition to farm work, Eli spent a significant portion of their summer rendering the Old Acre in water color paint. In their presentation, titled “Thinking with Paint,” Eli discussed the primary theme that guided their work: beauty, and the meaning of the word beyond a visual sense. Eli argued that the beauty of food and agriculture is about more than aesthetics; to Eli, beauty is deeply interconnected with concepts of joy and sacredness. The central argument of Eli’s project is that the beauty of places matters, and that aesthetics are something that must be expressed, not qualified. 

Eli took a watercolor class last spring and learned about concepts of balance in painting. They expressed how art can become a tool of cultural and historical storytelling, and shared their fascination with the “Solar punk aesthetic movement,” which utilizes narratives of the future that bring hope. To Eli, questions of beauty are related to issues of justice and the experiences that make life meaningful. 

Eli explained that they chose watercolor as their medium because it is highly portable. They spent the summer practicing painting from life, perched in different spots around the Farm. Eli said that painting from life is not about cementing memories, but about learning, and the experience of looking. 

They described the process of their culminating work “The Liberty Apple Tree,” a large watercolor work which took a whole month to complete. Eli worked from the same spot on the Old Acre, detailing the titular tree, the grasses, the hoop houses, and the birds that would fly in and out of frame. As Eli worked from the left side of the paper to the right, they chronicled the change in colors and tones over the weeks. When scanning across the page, you can see the colors become more dried out, mirroring the progression of summer and of Eli’s work. The painting now hangs in the YSFP office to foster a “collective sense of purpose,” in Eli’s words. 

In a memorable moment, Eli said that watercolor has modern form and lends itself to transience—“memories that are gone as they are arriving.”

Eli spoke of their experience growing up in the Southwest, and how their project helped them explore personal histories of growing up in agriculture environments. 

Eli’s experience practicing watercolor techniques taught them that “things are less about talent and more about practice and care.” Eli tried to discard ideas of right and wrong and focus on play; they also tried to bring this mentality in their farmwork. 

After Eli’s presentation, students stayed to ask questions, eat, and paint their own watercolors. In addition to personal paintings, students passed around a community painting, filling in with color a sketch Eli had made of the Farm. 

It was a wonderful afternoon of learning, reflection, and creativity. To view Eli’s artwork and read more about Eli’s experience this summer in their own words, we encourage you to read this Voices piece. 

There will be no knead 2 know this Friday. After spring break, we’ll be back on the Farm! Looking forward to seeing you then. Photos from the event can be viewed here.

Fungi Communities l k2k Friday, February 17

On Friday, February 17, a rainy afternoon, students gathered in the Office of LGBTQ resources on Prospect Street for lentil soup, fresh bread, and some agricultural learning. While the Old Acre has been quiet during these cold winter months, the YSFP community has been staying warm, connected, and engaged in food systems work, continuing our Friday learning tradition with indoor knead 2 know discussions. 

This week, students gathered to hear Raina Sparks ’25, a 2022 Yale Farm Summer Intern, share what she learned about mycorrhizal fungi networks, which are fungi that interact with plant roots, forming complicated and extensive mutualistic connections. 

After spending her gap year working on an organic farm, Raina has been fascinated by the complex nature of fungi. They began their presentation with slides of various mushrooms they’ve found hiking around New England. For their project this summer, Raina attempted to grow Blue Oyster Mushrooms. She walked attendees through the process of inoculation and pasteurizing substrates, experimenting with materials like burlap, wheat, and rye. Raina left the mushrooms in a cool, dark spot in the YSFP office to grow. While Raina didn’t end up with giant blue oyster mushrooms as expected, she did grow some small, endearing mushrooms, and she’s eager to try again. 

Raina originally intended to complement their summer project with online research. After their computer broke unexpectedly in the middle of the summer, they pivoted and made a series of gorgeous oil pastel drawings inspired by mycorrhizal fungi, letting their imagination run wild with “adult crayons.” The very nature of her art medium, Raina emphasized, is an encapsulation of the spirit of fungi. Just as the colors of pastels bleed, combine, and overlap, so too do fungal networks; the organisms are “playful and collaborative.” Raina’s art pieces spoke to themes of nourishment, abundance, and mutualism. She also spoke about the history of the Blue Oyster Mushroom; growing the mushrooms became more commonplace during World War I to address food scarcity. Americans have come to rely on mushrooms for their heartiness—they are now a commonplace meat substitute. 

Last semester, Raina took Professor Marlyese Duguid’s Forest Dynamics course at the Yale School of the Environment, in which she made mycorrhizal fungi the subject of the course’s annotated bibliography research project. Raina shared their additional findings from this work, elaborating on the impacts of varying soil CO2 and nitrogen levels. Raina discussed fungi’s responsiveness to environmental disturbances; fungi are incredibly attuned to changes in their host plant and are able to bounce back quickly. 

To end her k2k, Raina extrapolated on the connected nature of fungi networks as allegory and blueprint for human communities. They discussed how they came to see fungi as symbolic of the power of mutualistic care and impact. It was a fascinating talk, and we would love to see you at the next one! Join us at 12:30 P.M. in the Office of LGBTQ Resources at 135 Prospect St. No registration is required. 

Fall Feast | Friday, November 11

Friday, November 11 looked a little different from the typical afternoon on the Yale Farm. Due to heavy rains, YSFP canceled the workday and moved Fall Feast, our final celebratory meal of the fall semester, to the Native American Cultural Center (NACC). 

Fall Feast is a yearly collaboration between NACC and YSFP. This year’s event was also cosponsored by the Native and Indigenous Student Association at Yale (NISAY); the Program in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration; and the Poorvu Center. 

Hi’ilei Kawehipuaakahaopulani Hobart, Assistant Professor of Native and Indigenous Studies, has partnered with YSFP since her arrival at Yale this fall. She brought students from her First Year Seminar, Indigenous Food Sovereignty, to the Farm for six visits over the course of the semester. Her students were an invaluable part of the preparations for the Feast. During their time on the Farm, the students put the Three Sisters to bed; threshed black turtle beans by hand; filled tea bags with Yale Farm-grown tea; milled corn and created cornbread mixes; chopped and roasted peppers; prepared the Three Sisters chili; and so much more, all in stewardship of the Three Sisters and in preparation for the Feast.

Erita Chen ’26, a student in the course, said the class’s visits to the Farm provoked “fascinating conversations about sustainable farming practices, labour, and capitalism…making for a unique discussion-based learning time.” 

Jaleyna Lawes ’26, another one of Professor Hobart’s students, reflected: “Fall Feast was a very fulfilling way to culminate our experience growing and preparing food on the Yale Farm in that same sense of community I felt threshing beans or cutting squash or spooning each of the Three Sisters into the chili pot. Every dish on my plate I could trace to a story or a lesson or a laugh on the Farm or in the classroom. Hearing from [Catherine Webb ’23,] the Seedkeeper, as well as about the Native food producers who contributed to the feast and other people who were a part of the process really fostered that feeling that those Farm visits were part of a larger community effort to bring food to the table.”

The Fall Feast menu centered beans, corn, and squash, the symbiotic indigenous polyculture known as the Three Sisters. The menu featured a Three Sisters chili, wild rice salad, beet poké, white cap & Ute Mountain blue cornbread, and chia pudding with popped amaranth and maple candied seeds. Students in ER&M040 had a hand in tending the Yale Farm beans, corn, squash, peppers, tomatoes, garlic, carrots, chilies, and eggs that contributed to the meal. We are grateful to Bow & Arrow Foods, Massaro Community Farm, NOH Foods of Hawai’i, Passamaquoddy Maple, Ramona’s American Indian Foods, Sweetgrass Trading Co., and Ute Mountain Tribe, the producers who supplied the meal’s other ingredients. 

Since 2017, YSFP has had a dedicated Three Sisters plot on the Farm. The NACC also has a garden where the Three Sisters are grown. Catherine Webb ’23, the YSFP and NACC Seedkeeper and programs liaison who has stewarded both these plots, offers reflections on her relationship with the Three Sisters in this poem. In her introduction, she also provides some of the history of planting the Three Sisters at Yale. Catherine notes that while she was the inaugural official link between NACC and YSFP, “Noah Schlager (Poarch Creek Band of Indians) and Kap`iolani Laronal (Haida/Tsimshian and Native Hawaiian) began the partnership and gardens in 2017,” when Noah Schlager YSE ’18 was a YSFP graduate student affiliate.

Attendees at this year’s Fall Feast (including Handsome Dan!) enjoyed the delicious meal, shared over warm conversation and community. To close out the event, Red Territory performed drum songs. 

YSFP extends our deepest appreciation to NACC, the YSFP Culinary Events Team, and all students and staff who made this event happen. We hope you’ll join us next year! 

Photos of the event can be found here. 

Learn more: Professor Hobart’s work was recently featured in this fascinating Yale Talk podcast, a conversation between Professor Hobart; Mark Bomford, Director of the Yale Sustainable Food Program; and Peter Salovey, Yale President, about agriculture, sustainability, food insecurity and sovereignty, and the role of scholarship therein. 

Moonlight Hauntings | Friday, October 28

On Friday, October 28th, after the pizza had been eaten, the workday had been completed, and the sun had set, students made their way back to the Old Acre for Moonlight Hauntings, a live poetry Halloween event in the Lazarus Pavillion. The event, a collaboration between the Asian American Cultural Center and YSFP, featured poets and performers from Jook Songs, Oye, and WORD, the predominant slam poetry groups on Yale’s campus. 

Snacking on berries and cookies warmed by the embers of the woodfire oven, still hot from the afternoon pizza, students were treated to myriad performances, guitar songs, and poems ranging from topics such as climate change, love, and insects. 

We could not have thought of a better way to keep of Halloweekend; everyone’s poems brought so much light and joy to a chilly evening. We love having student groups at the Farm. Come chat with us during workdays or knead 2 know if you have an idea for an event collaboration with YSFP. More photos of the event can be found here. 

Workday and knead 2 know | Friday, October 28

On Friday, October 28th, students kicked off Halloweekend with a workday and knead 2 now. There was nothing spooky about the workday, though, as students braved the fall chill and got to work preparing the Farm for winter. The workday was heavily garlic themed— students clipped garlic heads and broke them into cloves. Students also sowed garlic beds, laying cloves on top of beds and tucking them into the soil. 

Students threshed midnight turtle beans, which will be used to make a Three Sisters chili at our upcoming Fall Feast on Friday, November 11. 

Students also spruced up the chicken coop with some plants and pulled basil plants for compost, which made the Old Acre smell like one giant margherita pizza. 

And there was pizza, and plenty of it, as the Culinary Events Team churned out its usual stellar selection of pies. 

With cider, tea, and pizza in hand, students gathered to hear Ismini Ethridge, a second-year Masters of Environmental Management student at Yale School of the Environment, Agroforester-in-Residence, and 2022 Global Food Fellow, give her knead 2 now. Ismini presented her summer research on Tree Gardens in the buffer zone of the Sinharaja Forest Reserve in Sri Lanka. 

When Ethridge arrived in Sri Lanka, the country was in crisis. The previous year, the president passed a total ban on fertilizer and agrochemical imports, without consulting farmers about the decision. Ethridge visited Sri Lanka at a moment of national reckoning about the country’s economic and agricultural future. Ethridge visited the last remaining primary forest in Sri Lanka, and immersed herself in a village of 35 households, learning how tree gardens can be used for tea production, non-timber products, herbal medicine, and maintenance of biodiversity. Ethridge talked about a groundbreaking research paper published by Cindy Caron thirty years prior. Visiting Sri Lanka this summer, after the area had greatly improved its infrastructure and increased its emphasis on tea production, Ethridge could see how the landscape of agroforestry in the area had since changed. Ethridge was inspired by how increased tea production did not encroach upon the subsistence portion of the village’s agriculture; villagers were able to retain agency in the market. Ethridge was also impressed by the generational knowledge imparted to village children about the varieties and uses of plants. She also talked about her strategies for cultural immersion. She spoke about how she waited weeks to begin her research and spent the beginning of her time in Sri Lanka meeting the community. 

After the k2k, students stuck around the Lazarus Pavillion as Raffa Sindoni MEM ’23 and math lecturer Erik Hiltunen of Spirit of the Glacier played some Swedish folk tunes on flute. 

Thank you to everyone who attended and has been attending our workdays. It is the participants at these events who truly make them special. Photos from the event can be found here. 

Workday and knead 2 know | Friday, October 14

With each sunny Friday workday on the Old Acre, we’ve thought the warm conditions may be the last of the season. This Friday was no exception. 

On this particular glorious afternoon, students threshed and winnowed Einkorn wheat, chopped corn stalks, and scuffled plots in preparation for planting. Reaping the fall bounty of a summer’s hard work, students harvested persimmons, heads of lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, and 25 lbs of beets. The beets were used on Saturday at Yale Pop-Up’s lunch event, hosted at the Old Acre. 

After an afternoon of hard work, students gathered in the Lazarus Pavilion, now fully decked out in dried flower bouquets, garlic bunches, chile ristras, and marigold garlands from previous workdays. Natalie Smink ’24, a Farm Manager and 2022 Yale Farm Summer Intern, presented her summer research as the knead 2 know. Smink, who hails from Boulder, CO, spoke about regenerative agriculture in her home state, and the ways that farmers are working to adjust to a changing climate. Smink talked about soil health in a drought state, the dangers of flash flooding, and the importance of cover crops to protect soil health. She spoke about ranching and grazing techniques, such as sending goats through agricultural fields, and the ways that these practices leave root systems intact and naturally introduce fertilizer into the area. Smink also noted how ‘regenerative agriculture’ has become somewhat of a buzzword, and that all the self-identifying regenerative farms in Colorado are white-owned. She spoke of the importance of bringing native communities back to the lands from which they have been disposed as a means of making agricultural practices more genuinely regenerative and justice-oriented.

Thank you to everyone who has been coming out to our events this fall. You can view photos from the event here. 

Workday and knead 2 know | Friday, October 7

On Friday, October 7th, students celebrated the start of Family Weekend with a joyous workday on the Old Acre. On what may well have been the last hot and sunny day of the season, students and their family members harvested tomatoes, peppers, kale, and collard greens. Students washed and packed the greens, then pulled out the end-of-season kale and collard green plants from the field. Participants then chopped the plants into small pieces and composted them, before rolling up the tarps and tidying up the now-empty beds, ready for the upcoming planting of cover crop. Students also raked beds, sowed wheat, weeded the upper berm area, and continued the weekly task of stringing marigold garlands. 

As the workday portion of the afternoon concluded, participants gathered in the Lazarus Pavilion for cool, refreshing apple cider and a plethora of delicious and creative pizzas. Carmen Ortega ’24, a 2022 Yale Farm Summer Intern, shared her knead 2 know on indigenous farming practices in New Mexico. Ortega is from Albuquerque and identifies as mestiza, meaning she has both Spanish and Indigenous roots. Ortega talked about food and cooking as a form of both cultural and physical survival; she discussed the topography and climate of New Mexico, some of the highest and driest in the country, and how farmers utilize various techniques to get plants to thrive in this arid region. She described many practices used to combat water scarcity such as canal irrigation and rainwater collection. Ortega also discussed the traditional practice of co-planting the “Three Sisters,” corn, beans, and squash. Additionally, Ortega presented elements of spirituality and worship as they relate to water and agriculture in indigenous cultures. Ortega talked about how some Southwestern Native Americans have lost agricultural knowledge through forced acculturation, and about efforts to reconnect people to the land, which her research also aims to do. 

After the k2k, students and parents lingered in the Lazarus Pavilion, listening to music as the Culinary Events Team continued to churn out pies. 

Thank you to everyone who came out to the Farm this weekend. It was so wonderful to meet your families and share the YSFP love. Photos from the k2k and workday can be viewed here.

The Unlikely Gardener | Saturday, October 1

On October 1st, a rainy Saturday afternoon, students gathered in Battell Chapel in Dwight Hall on Yale’s Old Campus to listen to Demetrius James give a reading of his piece “The Unlikely Gardener.” The event was co-hosted by YSFP, the Yale Undergraduate Prison Project, and the Yale Student Environmental Coalition. James is originally from the Bronx and is an alumnus of the Bard Prison Initiative. He recently founded the organization Project Oasis with the intention of planting an organic vegetable garden in every housing project in New York City. 

Introduced by YSFP farm manager Kavya Jain ’25, James started by reading his piece and then answered several questions from the audience. Born in a “built environment without green spaces,” James’s first involvement with gardening and organic food occurred during his 18 years in prison. James managed his institution’s garden and found it to be an empowering, healthy, community-building, and life-altering experience. 

James, the son of a sharecropper from South Carolina, spoke about the violent history of “black bodies and green spaces” and community skepticism toward gardening. James proposed an alternative to the commonly used term “food desert” to describe inner city spaces without proximate access to affordable produce or healthy food. Instead of “food desert”, James uses the term “food apartheid.”  A desert is a naturally occurring, sustainable environment, he reminded listeners. The term “apartheid” acknowledges that these disparities are constructed by policies of segregation and state violence. They have been created intentionally, and they can be dismantled intentionally, James taught us. (To learn more about the distinction between these two terms, check out this “Beyond the Buzzwords” article with research from Yale Professor Dr. Dorceta Taylor, curated by Yale Center for Business and Environment resident fellow Tagan Engel, with contributions from former Lazarus Fellow Austin Bryniarski.)

James recounted the experience of eating spicy leaves fresh from a garden bed and talked about the power that comes from being able to identify with food and where it comes from. James additionally spoke about the ways that built environments, especially project housing, can be anonymous and make people feel stripped of individuality. “Land is connected to liberty,” he said. “If you have land, you can basically do what you want.” His initiative is about getting people to their land. “Public spaces,” James said, are “ours. We’re the public.” James sees gardening and land reclamation as a means to unite communities. Neighbors nurture each other. 

James’s engaging talk—along with the YSFP’s cozy apple cider—provided a sense of warmth and inspiration on a dreary day. We are so grateful to James for bringing us his time, words, and wisdom, and to the partner organizations who helped make this event a reality. 

To view all the photos from this event, please follow this link.

Workday and knead 2 know | Friday, September 30

Making the most of the last few weeks of light-sweater weather, students showed up to the Farm in a near-record turnout for this Friday’s workday and knead 2 know. Students got right to work—mulching perennials, cleaning and re-bedding the chicken coop, hand-weeding the carrot bed, removing dead blooms from flower plants (“deadheading”), harvesting peppers and marigolds, and stringing beautiful flower garlands and non-traditional chile ristras. The Lazarus Pavillion looks extra special this month, decorated with drying chiles, dried flower bouquets featuring Strawflowers and Statice, and marigold garlands which will be used to make natural dye. 

After an accomplished afternoon of work, students migrated to the Lazarus Pavilion to enjoy pizza and cider made by our culinary events team. My personal favorite pie of the week may have been the sweet apple compote pizza, but they were all delightful. The culinary team took a brief intermission from throwing their forty balls of dough and community members paused their meal to listen to a knead 2 know by Grace Cajski ’24, a YSFP communications manager who writes the weekly YSFP newsletter! Grace is a 2021 Global Food Fellow who majors in English and Environmental Studies with a concentration in Marine Conservation. Cajski, who has family in Oʻahu, presented her research on Hawai’ian fishpond aquaculture. Cajski impressed upon listeners that Hawai’i is not “just a paradise,” but a place with rich history and unique agricultural traditions. Cajski described how farmers grow fish in estuarine pond. Baby fish can swim in, but larger, grown fish are stuck in the pond. Fishponds are the first form of aquaculture on the Pacfic Rim. Cajski described the “art” and “balance” of this reliable, sustainable food source, and the ways that colonization and invasive species threatened—and continue to threaten—this equilibrium. Cajski talked about the implications of climate-induced sea-level rise and how modern systems of land (or sea) ownership can make it difficult for indigenous stakeholders to steward their ancestral land. Cajski also discussed some potential solutions proffered by the tourism and education industries, as well as the U.S. Navy. While it was chilly and brisk on the Farm, Cajski’s captivating presentation brought us to warm, tropical waters and provoked new insights. 

We are thrilled by the number of people who have been joining us at the Farm. Please keep coming, and bring your friends! We love having you here. 

To view all photos from the event, please follow this link.

Workday & knead 2 know | Friday, September 16

On September 16, students gathered at the Old Acre for the second Friday workday and knead 2 know of the semester. Working together, the participants reaped the summer’s harvest and laid the groundwork for the fall. Attendees used pruners and knives to mow basil to the ground and assembled a leaf-plucking assembly line on the steps of the Lazarus Pavilion. These 30 lbs of basil were then given to Yale Dining for transformation into delicious pesto, pizzas, and pomodoro sauce. 

Students continued last week’s project of threading marigold garlands and hung the finished products in the Pavillion. Students also harvested collard greens, kale, lettuce, radishes, and pints of cherry tomatoes, which were brought to the Dwight Community Fridge. Moving their sights toward the later fall, students thoroughly weeded and watered berms, then planted sage, sorrel, and rudbeckia. Participants also cut pears in preparation for cider making.

After all their efforts, the workday crowd was hungry and ready for pizza! Everyone gathered in the Lazarus Pavilion under the marigolds to enjoy delicious pies by the culinary events team and listen to the k2k by Storm Lewis YSE ’23. Lewis, a 2022 Global Food Fellow originally from Brooklyn, NY, presented her summer research on food sovereignty for Black farmers in her hometown. After presenting data on the low rates of Black farmland ownership in the U.S., Storm discussed some of the community-based organizations in Brooklyn that are working in food sovereignty spaces. She explained how instead of pushing a specific definition of this term, she made space for the self-definition of ‘food sovereignty by the study participants. Lewis also presented on the various challenges faced by Black urban farmers and her experience volunteering on several urban farms throughout the summer. Her work highlights some of the incredible efforts already happening on the ground in Brooklyn and will eventually serve as a resource guide for her community. Overall, it was an afternoon of fantastic work and learning. We hope you will join us next week! 

To view all the photos from this event, please follow this link.

First Workday and k2k of the 2022-2023 Year

The Old Acre, which has been lovingly stewarded all summer by a small and dedicated team of Yale Farm Summer Interns, was once again alive with students on the first workday of the semester on Friday, September 9th. 

The perfect late summer weather, glowing afternoon sun, and revitalizing energy emblematic of a new semester made for a joyful reunion, as students returned to the Farm and to each other. 

Students spent the workday weeding the carrot beds and the gravel zones in the Lazarus Pavilion, pinching basil blossoms, and harvesting collard greens, lettuce, tomatoes, and radishes. The final task of the afternoon consisted of picking marigold flowers and stringing them into beautiful golden garlands, which will soon adorn the Lazarus Pavilion and be used to make dyes.  

Once the workday portion of the afternoon concluded, students gathered to eat delicious pizzas prepared by the YSFP’s undergraduate culinary events managers, featuring seasonal produce such as corn, basil, and peaches.  

Slices in hand, students listened to the week’s knead 2 know by Destiny Treloar YSE ‘23, a Masters of Environmental Science candidate at the Yale School of the Environment whose work focuses on food justice. Treloar shared findings from her summer thesis research into the experiences of Latina/x/e women experiencing poverty and food insecurity and how their relationship with emergency food access in cities was impacted by trauma associated with the pandemic. 

After the knead 2 know, students lingered to mingle in the Pavillion and were treated to a musical performance by Dani Zanuttini-Frank ’22 and Jason Altshuler '23 of Toil!. The magnificent turnout and strong enthusiasm amongst participants made for a truly magical evening. We cannot wait to see you at next Friday's workday and k2k and at our Sunday workdays as well. It’s going to be a great year! 

Workday and Rachel Sayet Visit | Friday, April 21

There is no better way to spend Earth Day than on the Farm! On Friday, April 22, students made their way from the Earth Day fair on Cross Campus to the Old Acre to participate in one of the last Friday workdays of the spring semester. In the prophaus, students propagated indigo, parsley, and basil plants. In the plot nearest Edwards Street, students prepped the soil and planted Green Wave and Red Giant mustards and collard seedlings. Students then watered the newly transferred plants, welcoming them to their new homes. Farm managers also took on the routine tasks of turning the compost and tending to the chickens, who are happy to be back on the Old Acre after a long winter away. 

Students had the opportunity to learn about agroforestry berm pollination with Raffa Sindoni, YSE ’23. While the Farm was alive with workday participants, under the Lazarus Pavilion, Rachel Sayet—a member of the Mohegan nation and an Indigenous educator, anthropologist, Reiki practitioner, and essential oil crafter—demonstrated how to make a dish from local forageable foods: fiddleheads, ramps, maitake mushrooms (Hen of the Woods), and sunflower oil. Rachel came to campus as part of Professor Debbie Coen’s Making Climate Knowledge first-year seminar. The ingredient Rachel cooked was then used as a pizza topping. In the company of friends and the Farm’s brilliantly colored tulips, students lingered extra long on Friday afternoon, listening to the student band Friends of Kanaan’s performance. 

Many thanks to all who attended. Photos of the event by Reese Neal ‘25 and Sarah Feng ‘25 can be found here. 

Workday & knead 2 know | Friday, April 8

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.