Sweet Potato Harvest

Come to Yesod Farm+Kitchen for a volunteer day as we harvest our sweet potato crop! Sweet potatoes are the final harvest of our farming season and are an excellent storage crop that we hope will feed us and our communities throughout the winter. 30-40% of our harvest will be donated, in partnership with Bounty and Soul, to the community. You’ll see some of the other 60-70%+ at our future events.

Sweet potato harvest from 4-5:30pm looks like: cutting plants, loosening soil, digging and collecting sweet potatoes, cleaning off dirt, moving sweet potatoes into crates and into the truck. 

Cover crop planting from 5:30-6 looks like: raking beds flat, sprinkling seeds from a standing position over the soil. 

Then stick around from 6-7pm for some warm soup and sweet community. The soup will be vegan and gluten free. Feel free to bring other food to supplement. Register for this event in order to share other dietary needs that you would like accommodated.

This event is outdoors and distanced, but please **bring a mask** in case there are times where we need to be closer.  All are welcome! This includes families and folks of diverse abilities. Please read the rest of the event description to see if this event sounds like it works for the ages/abilities of all in your party. Please email info@yesodfarm.org with any questions or requests. 

Dress for the sun and bring clothes for the cold. Bring a water bottle, a mask, and a mug for farm-fresh herbal tea, as well as any other food you'd like to eat for dinner.

Please come for whatever amount of time works for you – any help is appreciated.

Accessibility

Pathways: There are flat, unpaved, wide walkways in the field. We have some shade structures and chairs. The available bathrooms are a few minutes walk uphill from the field. Please share your accessibility requests and questions when you register.

Farm Tasks: Most of the work happens while kneeling or bending down: cutting back plants and digging with hands in the soil to pull out sweet potatoes. There is also some standing work distributing harvest crates and loading (very heavy) harvest crates into the truck. Once we get to the end of the volunteer portion, there will be standing tasks of raking and sprinkling cover crop seed.

Wasps, ants, and ticks: All three of these creatures live in our fields. We will point out the location of the wasp nests that we know about, but you may not want to bring a child who has difficulty staying in a designated zone as there is a nest not too far from the work site. We have not dug in the sweet potato beds for many months so there is a chance there are biting ants present. We will be watching the soil as we uncover it to minimize chances of disturbing a nest and getting bit. With recent cold nights, we haven't seen ticks in the past 2 weeks at Yesod, but we still recommend checking for ticks once you get home. 

Dinner Venue: There is an uphill walk from the parking spot to the dinner venue, with closer parking available. We will be eating on a mowed lawn that is not perfectly flat. We will provide folding chairs, plastic mats, and cushions for seating. If you have a chair that works better for you, you are welcome to bring it. There is a composting toilet and handwashing station nearby.

Food: Dinner will be vegan and gluten free. You will have a chance to indicate other dietary needs in your registration form and are welcome to bring your own food.

Lighting: If you stay until the end of dinner, it may be dark by the time you walk to your car. The pathway from the dinner venue to the main parking location is not lit. A member of the Yesod crew will be happy to walk you with a flashlight, and we also have accessible parking available up by the dinner venue--the path to which is lighted. 

COVID

Please stay home if you are not feeling well or if you have been exposed to someone with symptoms or who has tested positive for COVID in the past 10 days. We ask that everyone brings their own mask. We will also have surgical masks available. Everyone will be wearing a mask when working in close proximity to someone else, including the farm work portion. Food will be served by Yesod staff wearing masks. Individuals can choose how close/distanced they sit from others during dinner.

Parking: Please park at the culvert on Kirstein Road by Garren Creek. From there, you'll see us in the field.

Questions? Email info@yesodfarm.org