Humans of Sweet Water...Meet Hassan and Sam

Humans of Sweet Water...Meet Hassan Beymuhammed and Sam Scardefield. Hassan and Sam have each been part of the SWF team since 2019. They bring different perspectives and life experiences to the SWF team, yet their relationship demonstrates the unique relationships that emerge at Sweet Water. Most recently, the two worked closely together to build hoop houses on SWF’s Community Farm. Read on to learn more about Hassan and Sam. Read more about Hassan and Sam below.

Tell us about yourselves.

Hassan: I was born and raised in Chicago. I grew up all over the South and West sides, and I  currently stay up north with my grandmother. I came to Sweet Water through Taryn. I was working with her in different gardens around the city and she thought SWF would be a perfect fit for me. I started to show up and volunteer and eventually got the job. I’ve been at Sweet Water going on a year now. I am an apprentice as well as a peer mentor. I usually have my hands in the agricultural side of things and I’m learning more about carpentry.

Sam: I am originally born and raised in Severna Park, Maryland, which is just north of Annapolis and south of Baltimore. I’ve moved around a little bit since growing up. I went to West Virginia University for a little while. The school wasn’t the right fit for me, so I went to a community college nearby for a few years. Then, I moved to Colorado to finish my undergraduate degree. Finally, I ended up at the University of Michigan where I got my Master’s in Architecture.

Emmanuel was my thesis advisor at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan. I was really excited to take his thesis section because, when I heard his “thesis pitch,” he was the only one who was talking about reality. I came to Sweet Water in July after I graduated.  

Can you tell us about your roles at SWF? 

Hassan: I would say I’m both an apprentice and a peer mentor here at Sweet Water. I don't have any prior carpentry skills, so I enjoy getting hands-on work experience and learning from mentors like Mike and Rudy. They have been teaching me a lot of problem solving skills that I can bring to other areas of my life. Also as an apprentice, I’m learning skills like what goes into designing buildings from Humans-in-Residence and Fellows like Sam and Danny. 

To me, being a Peer Mentor means passing on things I've learned to people who have less experience than I do. And to help others in the areas I struggled with when I first started. 

Sam: I am a Human-in-Residence here at SWF, but more importantly, I am an Apprentice. 

As a Human-in-Residence, I am trying to translate some of the work that I was doing in school by communicating the systems and the complexity of the Sweet Water into visual diagrams, maps, and drawings. As an Apprentice, I am unlearning everything I've learned thus far and I’ve been building relationships with the SWF team and community. 

Can you each share something that you've learned from each other?

Hassan: One thing I learned from Sam is how to make a difficult job fun. We worked on building the hoop houses together. We had ups and downs, and it was a frustrating project sometimes, but we always found a way to work around it, fix it, or correct it. 

Sam: I became a better team player when working with Hassan. The first day I came here, I met Hassan. He and Taryn taught me how to transplant peppers. Hassan also taught me how to space the peppers in the rows. It was the first moment I felt welcome at SWF. 

I was really excited to work with him on the hoop house. We were like two little birds kicked out of the nest pretty quickly, and despite struggling, it was really nice to have that support from Hassan. We came up against a lot of things that could have derailed our morale. To have someone who is able to laugh along and try to find the solution really reinforced what it means to be a team player. 

Can you share a little bit about the hoop house project? 

Sam: The hoop houses were the next step for the farm. The goal of the hoop house was to extend our growing season by three to four months, or five months. We had some materials donated and we had a few volunteer groups help with the beginning of the process of bending poles in July and August. 

Hassan: We were the main people working on the first hoop house. We learned a lot about the process from the first hoop house.  We worked with Mike and Rudy to build the second hoop house. I think I could do it again with some support from the team.

Is it a good thing to have folks from all walks of life as part of the Sweet Water team?

Hassan: I haven't been able to travel as much as I would like to. So, meeting people from different places and different walks of life is exciting. Everyone has different mannerisms and different ways they grew up that they bring to Sweet Water. 

My mom’s side of the family is from Georgia and my dad’s side is from Mississippi. I spent a few years down south with my grandpa, and I loved it. I haven’t been back since, but it has been great to meet people from different places and learn more from them. 

I appreciate what Sweet Water has done for me and to being part of this big goofy family. 

What do you want to do after SWF?

Hassan: I have a lot of things that I am learning here that I can do in the future.  I am looking into hands-on fields like carpentry and architecture. I also enjoy photography because I think pictures bring things to life. 

Sam: The original conversation that Emmanuel and I had was for me to come to Sweet Water for three months and to translate my thesis in grounded practice. Here we are seven months later. I realized that I wanted to see how Sweet Water changes throughout the four different seasons, so I will be here for a full year instead of just three months. My goal is to get back to Detroit to work with Sweet Water’s network out there like Kim Sherobbi and the Boggs Center. 

Are you learning what you wanted to learn?

Sam: If I’m being honest, what was supposed to be a “disorientation week” ended up being a disorientation season. I was only hoping to build some momentum and develop relationships. Instead, I've become part of a family which is more than I ever asked for on top of basic trade skills. As an architect, I’m also finding a new type of position for my skill set and building new capabilities that don’t limit what I can do. 

Hassan: That's something I take away from Sweet Water - it’s non stop learning. It doesn't matter where you come from or where you're going, you're always gonna learn a little bit more and maybe a lot more. 

Is there anything that you are excited about the future of your time here at Sweet Water?  

Hassan: First, I am looking forward to working on the Seeding the Future program. Last summer, I enjoyed working with the different schools and kids that came through Sweet Water. It was really fun! I wasn't really expecting them to be as engaged as they were. 

Second, I am looking forward to the summer, period. It's a different vibe and different energy here in the summer. Last summer, I found myself coming here after hours to sit in the Thought Barn and  just listen and look around. I didn’t know there are different types of sunflowers. I learned that we have four different species of sunflowers here at Sweet Water which is very exciting.

Third, I am excited to work on the new house we will be building in 2020. I didn't really get to work on the structure of [Re]Construction House because I came in after the fact. I did help with building some of the furniture in the house though. I feel a sense of pride when I walk in the house. I can see what I helped with from the bed frames to the art in the gallery. There is evidence of Sweet Water everywhere. I am hoping to be more involved in the next house.

Sam: I am looking forward to sharing the lessons we've learned through workshops like Gardening 101 or a Building a Hoop House Workshop. I think we’ll be able to share what we’ve learned with other people both within the City of Chicago or outside of the city through workshops. I am also excited for the ground up housing that we will be doing.  There is literally nothing we can’t do. 

If you could describe sweet water in one word, what would it be? 

Hassan: Oasis and Awe Inspiring

Sam: Necessary