A few weeks ago, the Adamah fellows attended the Teva Environmental Education Seminar at Surprise Lake Camp — what an amazing day. Kudos to Teva for organizing such a great event. Here are some thoughts inspired by one of the sessions by Jackie Topol. Jackie is an artist who loves photographing nature (esp. produce from farmer’s markets) — check out her website: www.jackietopol.com. Hopefully we’ll get some of her photos up here soon ;-)
– Anna
As you may have gathered from Jeff & Anna, our schedule here at Adamah is exciting and filled to the brim. So — as much as I love working in the fields, the greenhouse, and the pasture — it was a nice change of pace to head to the Teva Seminar for a day of Jewish learning and environmental education. The first lecture I attended was about GMO foods and the Jewish response, led by Noam Dolgin. Genetically modified organisms are a major piece of the conversation around contemporary food issues. We talked about BT corn, square tomatoes, vegetables with fish genes, and other new and bizarre developments that are or will soon be growing on farms in the US.
Noam shared examples from the Torah and Rabbinic commentary that could be said to pertain to our current agricultural practices, including the question of GMO. A quote that I found particularly poignant was: “Look at My creations! See how beautiful and perfect they are… Make sure you do not spoil or destroy My world, for if you do, there will be no one to repair it after you” [Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) Rabbah 7:13].
But, although the biblical excerpts really resonated with me, what has really been on my mind for the past two weeks is the square tomato.
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When I was home in Vancouver this spring I had the opportunity to write a piece for my friend’s awesome new newsweekly, Tooth and Dagger, about the state of CSAs in the Vancouver area. Fresh from NYC, where Just Food lists over 50 CSAs for the five boroughs, I was surprised that there were only a handful of CSAs in Vancouver — some of them barely getting started.
In talking about CSA I have a list of ready answers to the usual skepticism. But it seems the problem in Vancouver (and I wonder other cities?) is not price, consumer awareness, interest in organics, or availability of local farmland or distribution sites. Rather, we have an imitator species that has taken hold in the niche where CSA should be…
Read the article
PS - more from Adamah soon!
My friend sent me a card the other day with this quote on it:
We have not inherited the world from our ancestors. We are borrowing it from our children.
It is a remarkable thought because it shifts our view of history from a series of events culminating in the crowning glory of this present life, to a vision of an even better future, for which our lives are the foundation.
For some reason it is difficult for us to plan ahead, though, to plan our present with a mind for what we hope for in the future. I remember when I was first organizing events at Hazon and we wanted to have them listed in the JCC calendar. An event taking place in June needed a blurb, title and date by the previous December, and I was incredulous at the lead time.
On a farm, the lead time is even more tangible. The entire year is a process of planning, planting and harvesting. The glimpse I’ve gotten of this in one week on this farm is quite a powerful example of how growing your own food is so cosmically grounding, and so profound an experience of Jewish life.
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Shalom! I am happy to report back to jcarrot from the beautiful wilderness of upstate Connecticut — more specifically, the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center and a program called Adamah which I have the great privilege to be a part of this summer.
Adamah is a 3-month long fellowship for 20-somethings to explore Jewish identity and learn about organic farming. We are 14 people, with different histories with Judaism, different (often no) experience with farming, from all over the US, Canada and Israel. We’ve only been here two days, but already we have learned about goat farming, weeding, compost, irrigation, climbed to the top of a mountain, shared hopes and fears, learned about group mediation, and jumped sweaty and hot into a watering hole.
I’ll write as often as I can to give you a sense of some of what I’m learning up here. I have to say from even these two days, though, that I expect this summer to be an amazing experience. I’ve done a lot of talking about food, I can tell you up down and sideways why you should join a CSA, support your local farmer, shop at a farmers market, eat seasonally, eschew high-fructose corn syrup. But I’ve never actually grown things in the ground in quite this way.
So far, I can tell you some stories from my experiences this morning, in the Sadeh (our 4-acre field), doing the weeding.
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My philosophy professor at JTS, Dr. Neil Gilman, used to say, “If you need proof that God exists, look no further than a sliced red onion.”
I was reminded of him as I sliced into some chioggia beets this evening, from Hazelmere Farm. It doesn’t get more awesome than this.
I picked up a chocolate bar in the checkout line the other day. It had sleek packaging, and the offer of “dark chocolate with orange” was enticing. As was the Fair Trade symbol, which was prominently displayed on the front of the bar. Great, I thought, I’m sold.
Unwrapping the chocolate later (are you drooling yet? it was good, but I’m not going to elaborate on the taste, since I have a different bone to chew), I had the opportunity to peruse smiling faces of Latin American farmers, and read the careful literature on What Is Fair Trade and The Fair Trade Difference and Chocolate with a Smile, etc. etc. etc.
I give us as a society (and my local supermarket as a provider) points for valuing Fair Trade chocolate. But you know what would REALLY signify to me that we have ‘arrived’ in a new era of sustainable healthy global food supply?
If you didn’t need the description at all.
Think about it. You don’t see products with a hekhsher also sporting carefully worded literature on how this hekhschered product will enable you to keep a kosher home and raise a family of torah scholars!
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I spent an amazing afternoon at the Monterey Bay Aquarium on Tuesday. The Aquarium’s mission is to “inspire conservation of the oceans” and they do, in part because of their location on Monterey Bay: after you’ve gazed at the 40′ high “Kelp Forest” exhibit, and watched fish nibble something tasty off the kelp leaves, and watched a school of mackerel follow itself around in circles like an undulating lava lamp — you can look out of the huge windows at the ocean, right there, and think, ‘all of this is going on, right now, right out there.’
Fish. It bothers me when people say, “I’m a vegetarian, but I eat fish.” I think vegetarian ought to be restored to its hardcore origins: no animals, period. Fish are just as much animals as chickens or cows — but somehow they get put in another category? And in kosher terms they also end up in a third column: fish is parve, you have have it with milk or meat because it is technically neither. Huh? Tell that to a self-respecting tuna! I think fish is worth paying a lot more attention to, and, incidentally, the Monterey Bay Aquarium has some tips for how to do just that.
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I picked up the program guide at the San Francisco JCC this afternoon, and enjoyed seeing something I’d never seen or heard of before: the JCC is hosting farmer’s markets before several holidays, including Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot!
For Shavuot, the catalogue reads:
“Celebrate Shavuot with organic produce from the JCCSF’s Farmers’ Market - a new holiday tradition at the JCCSF! Northern California farmers bring their bounty to the Pottruck Family Atrium to help you prepare for your family feast.”
I’m curious about who the farmer’s are, and the logistics of a “one-time” (or at least, irregular) market vs. a regular location from the vendors end. But I guess they’ve got it figured out. Short of hosting a CSA, which is a more permanent undertaking for JCCs, I think the idea of the farmer’s market, tied to special occasions (where you’re likely to be buying celebration food) is quite lovely. How wonderful!
Actually, it’s in the pinenuts. Yessir! I’ve made challah with pinenuts twice now, and enjoyed it both times, and so I’m ready to declare a public launch. I was vaguely inspired by a pinenut torte I had once at a fancy Italian restaurant, but mostly I just love pinenuts, and also love mixing Things That Are Sweet with Things That Are Not, for character-deepening effect. In challah, it adds this buttery nutty soft crunch that is terribly pleasant.
I have done two variations: Read more »
This year, Counting the Omer is posting a new reason to be vegetarian every one of the 49 days of the omer. So far, they’ve got animal cruelty, vegetarians smell better, slaughterhouse workers work in deplorable conditions, it’s easier to keep kosher, and a number of others (we’re on day 8).
I admire the new twist on the old tradition (in similar fashion, a good friend of mine used the Omer one year to do one more pushup every day). But these lists of “10 reasons to be green” or “365 things you can do to save the planet”…are they really helpful? Are they really telling us something new? Is lack of information really the problem, and are ‘the people who don’t know’ really the ones who will read these lists? I’m not entirely convinced - though regardless, the site is worth checking out, even if just to remind yourself of stuff you already know.
We remember! We remember!
(We also recommend adding a little more wine to this recipe, for optimal construction qualities).
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We talk about Passover being about freedom. Not only freedom _from_ oppression, from slavery, from want, but also freedom _to_ limit ourselves, to make choices, to live by a set of ethics and morals as set out by the Torah on Shavuout, or just in general — as free people we have privilege and also responsibility.
But damned if that privilege doesn’t drive us crazy sometimes. I enjoyed this article by Sara Deseran called Feast of Burden, which talks about the challenges of wild vs. farmed lox, the ten minute agonizing over the freezer case at your grocery store, the guilt that comes when your head knows but your stomach still craves.
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