Farmworkers' Rights, Marimbas, and Dancing in the Moonlight | knead 2 know ft. Bea Portela '24

There was a fantastic turnout at the Friday workday and all the tasks were completed in record time. Not only did students tidy up multiple different tunnels around the Farm, they also raked fallen leaves, removed hops vines, and turned the compost. All in all, it was a highly productive session and we are super grateful for the wonderful sense of community throughout the day. 

It was then time for Global Food Fellow Bea Portela '24 to present her knead 2 know. Through her summer internship at Southern Migrant Legal Services, Portela immersed herself in the advocating process via direct outreach to farmworkers. “They don’t really know about our services,” says Portela, “so it’s up to us to reach out to them and tell them that we exist.” As part of her outreach, Portela got the opportunity to travel to a lot of beautiful places in the south. However, with various ‘private property’ and ‘no trespassing’ signs around the farms, work was both beautiful and challenging. Portela shared with us that working and living conditions of farmworkers were not ideal. Many homes were left unfinished. Some farmworkers lived in makeshift barracks and cramped conditions. Portela believed that it was important for people to understand the conditions that farmworkers were living with, in order to emphasize the importance of giving farmworkers the support they need and reaching out to them. 

The farmworkers she talked to were not always receptive due to understandable reasons like fear of retaliation and potential for job blacklisting. If a farmer is not efficient in their work, Portela noted, word can get around the recruiters who have contacts with each other, effectively preventing the farmworker from getting hired anywhere in the United States. Portela with the outreach team ultimately tried a new outreach strategy towards the end of her internship that she calls “the tentacle approach”, which essentially meant that the legal aids were  talking not only to farm workers but also people in the community connected with them including family and friends, former employees, community leaders, local immigration advocates, and more. This, while Portela experienced only once, already proved to be very successful and a more effective way to do outreach.

Afterward, the Yale Marimband performed for the first time on the Yale Farm. There was nothing quite like it: attendees got up and danced as fun rhythms rang through the air. Cheers and laughter ended the day on a high note, marking the performance a resounding hit. Intercultural Moonlight Stories the same night was also a success. With s’mores, hot chocolate, tea, and a campfire warming everyone up in the chilly night, we witnessed so much talent from singing to poetry reading to kazoos to group performances and more under the moonlight. The group cheered each other on in a supportive, intimate atmosphere. 

In accordance with daylight savings ending, the next (and last!) knead 2 know of the semester on Friday, November 10th will start at 3:30 PM EST. Lazarus Summer Intern Rebecca Salazar will be talking about her podcast episode titled “The Three Sisters of Abya Yala: Mesoamerican Histories of Agroforestry, Animacy, and Agency”. The event will be in collaboration with the Henry Roe Cloud Conference timed with the 10th year celebration of the Yale Native American Cultural Center. 

Photos by Reese Neal '25 from this past week’s knead 2 know can be found here.

Oysters and Sunshine | knead 2 know ft. Elizabeth Chivers '26

Friday, October 13th saw a bright sunny sky, which supercharged a very productive workday at the Yale Farm. Among merry chatter people uncovered sweet potatoes, strung red pepper ristras, and harvested basil in large buckets. In the midst of mid autumn stress, workday participants also dyed strips of fabric into a dye bath of turmeric powder and ʻŌlena. Soon the fabric will be knitted together and strung up into a garland to adorn the Lazarus Pavilion during the Indigenous Fall Feast later this month. After a full fall workday, everyone made their way to the pavilion afterwards to listen to the Friday talk by Yale sophomore Elizabeth Chivers ’26. 

Chivers was a Lazarus Summer Intern this summer who undertook independent research over the summer about the dynamics of change, relationships, and industry in the Point Judith Pond Oyster Farms with the goal of answering one question: “What are the defining practices and economics of Southern Rhode Island’s oyster aquaculture?” She conversed with three local farmers on-the-ground to hear their experiences on practices, as well as how the practices have changed in response to global warming over the years. 

Among the interviewees was Harvey Cataldo, founder and owner of Bluff Hill Cove Oyster Company. The primary method used by their farm is the floating bag system, where the mechanisms are spread out horizontally over the ocean’s surface. Chivers also added discussion about how climate change has impacted the industry from the point of view of people constantly engaged in it, highlighting to the audience how global warming results in higher water temperatures, which in turn leads to higher bacteria growth in the sea. This results in a higher likelihood of people getting sick from seafood, a challenge that those in the oyster industry have had to face more and more urgently in recent years. Another interviewee was Chris Morris, a fisherman and a lifelong resident of Rhode Island, who discussed his first-hand observations of oyster farming throughout his many years as an active member. His individual perspective provided a complementary contrast to Cataldo’s larger-scale one. The third interviewee was Mick Chivers, a college student receiving mentorship from Cataldo and Morris as someone new to the industry. The intensive interview-based project drew observations in three primary realms, namely the changes oyster farms have noted from warming sea waters, the relationships between people in the industry, and how technology and policy have shaped the industry as we know it today. 

Chivers’ personal connection to her research project led to a high-impact presentation, which was then followed by inspiring and thoughtful conversation as The New Blue a cappella group performed. Read her Voices post recapping more of her project here. Pizza and concord grapes made their way through the crowd as the sun began to set. 

Photos from the event by Elio Wentzel ’26 and Arrow Zhang ’26 can be found here.