WHAT’S IN SEASON

A Truly Living Legacy

Savanah Farms

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY KAREN KENNEDY ILLUSTRATIONS BY CASSIE TAM

We all think from time to time about the legacy we might leave behind. Most of us are fortunate enough to be able to give it some thought and make a plan. Perhaps we will leave a trust for a favorite charity or create traditions that will bring our family together for years to come. Or maybe we’ll just be the best we can be for our friends and family, be kind to strangers and hope we are remembered with love.

Yet some of us are taken before we can make a plan for our legacy. And this was the case for Savanah Chavez. A bright, kind and generous spirit who grew up in Nashville, Indiana, the daughter of Sam and Susan Chavez and sister to Tony, Sam and Ian. She went to Ivy Tech and studied nursing. She married and gave birth to a daughter, Chloe, when she was 24.

From the time she was a child, Savanah felt empathy for every creature, whether it was an impoverished neighbor kid or an injured squirrel on the side of the road. She felt the pain of others deeply and did everything she could to remedy it. Due to Sam’s work as an international law specialist, the Chavez family spent a great deal of time in Mexico. While the rest of the family enjoyed their time there, Savanah could not. She was too disturbed by the poverty she saw. She loved all living things and told her father of her dream of creating a greenhouse on a farm where she could tend to plants and find peace. As an adult, she spent her days helping others full-time at a clinic called Volunteers in Medicine in Bloomington.

But on a chilly evening in February 2012, Savanah didn’t make it home from the clinic. She was hit by an impaired driver, and her bright, kind and generous spirit was taken. Thankfully, Chloe, who was 9 months old, was with her grandparents at the time.

“We lost a shining light that day,” Sam Chavez said.

Sam and Susan took on guardianship of Chloe and Sam began to formulate a plan to make Savanah’s dream of a farm come true. A self-proclaimed “mad scientist” who

“Farmer” Sam (left) and his son, Tony, stand at the entrance to the greenhouse. Chloe’s toys are found throughout the greenhouse.

had always tinkered with growing roses and palm trees, Sam bought a sunny two-acre piece of land in Nashville and turned his energy to creating a sustainable, organic and peaceful growing place where Chloe and the rest of the family could play, work and honor Savanah. In the summer of 2013, Savanah Farms yielded its fi rst crop: mostly cherry and pear tomatoes.

As the brilliant and curious mind of Sam Chav digs deeper into what makes living things tick, th novative growing systems at Savanah Farms becom more sophisticated and the off erings expand. Chav on the farm almost every day, often alongside son y y imaginable herb, plus kale, chard and sunfl ower sprouts now flourish in the greenhouse, alongside Sam’s proudest accomplishment to date: a heart-shaped Roma-F1 tomato hybrid, named, of course, the Savanah. Th e seedlings are nurtured in shredded coconut hair in an intricate vertical maze of fi eld tiles that have watering tubes running underneath and strategically drilled drainage holes to create optimal water levels. And the water comes not from the city supply, but from 11 rain barrels on site, which hold a total of 5,000 gallons of water.

But Chavez is just getting started. He recently accepted 150 raspberry and blackberry plants from Indiana University. He dug a pond on the property and plans to grow asparagus and Niagara grapes. He’s inoculated shiitake spores into oak logs to grow mushrooms and has a banner crop of sunfl ower sprouts that Josh Horrigan from Anna Belle’s Garden, in Indianapolis, will market for him. And, after being told last year about how diffi cult it was to raise tilapia, he decided to give that a try as well.

“I thought to myself, ‘You’re a fi sh. What do you want? You want water, food and oxygen.’ I give them plenty of all of those things,” said Chavez.

After a few rather epic failures, he now has two tanks of thriving tilapia fry. He feeds them a diet of organic greens and high protein cat food. He sells them in breeding pairs and harvests their waste in an emulsion tank to use as organic fertilizer for the greenhouse plants, bringing the farming full circle.

And as Chavez expands the operations at Savanah Farms, he continues to look for better, smarter, more effi cient ways of doing things.

“It’s literally impossible to grow what we grow for less energy and with less water,” said Chavez. “And I am fascinated by a plant’s will to survive. Even when we make mistakes, the plants always seem to come back. We share that will.”

And as Chloe celebrates her fourth birthday this year, she will have a place to also celebrate her mother.

“Th e greenhouse was my therapy. I started on it almost immediate and I worked on it probably a hundred hours a week. It’s all about leavin a legacy,” said Chavez. “If I can make this into a profi table venture, Chl will always have a connection with her mom, and her mom’s farm ca provide for her.”

Karen Kennedy is an Indianapolis-based food writer with over 25 years’ experience in the hospitality industry in Indiana, Chicago and Vermont. She is the owner of Small Potatoes, a catering and event planning company, and the creator of the Indie Indy Foodie Tours. She, along with her dedicated team of foodies, works to promote independently owned restaurants throughout the Indianapolis area. Top to bottom: Th e unique growing system allows for ideal water levels for each individual plant. Tony shows the strength of the root systems that develop in the coconut hair growing medium. Below: Tilapia

Pack-and-Go Fare The Perfect Picnic Basket

RECIPES AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY THE FITCHEN

Summer picnics should be two things: easy and low maintenance. And the dishes shouldn’t be messy, and they shouldn’t spoil. Th ese recipes are designed to have you packed, out the door and en route to your picnic spot of choice in under an hour. To waste a minute of summer would be a crime.

Dijon Sweet Potato Salad

Th is recipe is dairy-, gluten- and soy-free and vegan. Serves 4–6

1–2 pinches salt 1 pound sweet potatoes ¼ cup quality Dijon mustard 1 tablespoon olive oil ¼ teaspoon cayenne ⅛ teaspoon white pepper ¼ teaspoon sea salt ¼ cup celery, very thinly sliced 1 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed ¼ cup fresh dill 2 tablespoons green onion, chopped fi nely

Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a large pot. Add a pinch or 2 of salt.

Peel and chop sweet potatoes into ½-inch square chunks. Carefully add sweet potatoes to boiling water. Cook about 10–12 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine mustard, olive oil, cayenne, white pepper and sea salt.

While sweet potatoes are still cooking, prepare celery, black beans, dill and green onion.

Boil sweet potatoes until fork tender and strain using a colander. Allow to cool. Once cool, empty potatoes into a large bowl, add celery and mustard mixtures. Stir to coat.

Serve immediately or store in refrigerator.

Jordan and Clark Cord are a 20-something married couple living in Central Indiana. As food bloggers, most of their time is spent in the kitchen. Their mostly food-related hobbies include grocery shopping, trying and drinking new wines and tirelessly searching for the best Thai food in Indiana. You can follow them on their blog at TheFitchen.com.