Written by Casey Gold | 27 December 2010

Our Final Day of Week One at Winter Wonderfarm

I look down at my wrist and remember a wonderous week at Hayes Valley Farm. Four loops of yellow bookbinding string hold four magical beads on my wrist. Four pearls of wisdom that represent the knowledge I’ve gained at Winter Wonderfarm and the experiences I will share with the greater communities in which I exist.

Day Four of Winter Wonderfarm was guided by the theme of Community. The day was dedicated to honoring our fellow farmers, our brethren and sistren of students and educators, and the webs of relationship that connect us to our friends and family around the world. On day four, Winter Wonderfarmers celebrated community through music, art, and culinary mastery.

We began the morning in the freeway food forest. We stretched our bodies, relaxed our minds, and awakened our senses to the cool breeze and sunshine around us.  Janelle led us in two trust-building exercises to showcase the belief that communities thrive through bonds of trust, communication, and mutual understanding.

From team-building to artistic embrace, we transformed ourselves into a rock band- The Rock and Roll Farm Shakers! Around 10am we began creating music shakers from reused toilet paper & paper towel tubes, corn kernels, and other found objects from around the farm. Campers decorated their shakers with beautiful and unique designs; each shaker spoke to the individual style of the artist, but together we rocked out in unison to the rhythm of ‘Hayes Valley Farm.’ Two community musicians played guitar in the most harmonious way, and the songwriter himself, Mark, paid us a special visit to sing along with the band. “Hayes Valley Farm, won my heart with its smiles and charm…I’m head over heels for Hayes Valley Farm!”

Around 11am it was time for the Farm Shakers to become Farm Bakers! We moved over to the northside of the farm to learn about community building through the age-old tradition of feast. Hayes Valley Farm was recently blessed with the construction of a cob oven, a wood-fired oven made of clay, sand, and straw. This past Thursday was our first run of the new earthen appliance, and it sure was a success! Campers topped pizza dough with dino kale and broccoli harvested from the burms on-site, and educator Yannick brought in foraged chanterelle mushrooms from the East Bay hills. Homemade pizza baked in our homemade oven was an incredible icing on our community cake.

Alas, it was time to bid farewell to our first-session Winter Wondercampers. We had such a blast this week- every memory will surely live on in our minds and hearts for seasons to come. There has been a clear expressed interest in Summer SunFarm, as one camper liked to imagine it being called. We’ll keep you posted on future adventures with Hayes Valley Farm Youth Education Program. Happy New Year!!

Photo by Janelle Fitzpatrick, December 23, 2010