From our friends at the Jewish Farm School,  an environmental education organization whose mission is to practice and promote sustainable agriculture and to support food systems rooted in justice and Jewish traditions.

Eden Village Camp (EVC) and the Jewish Farm School (JFS) are thrilled to announce the creation of the Eden Village Farm, a 2-acre educational farm that will be a central component of Eden Village Camp. EVC is a new Jewish summer camp with a focus on environmentalism, social justice and spirituality. The farm will be a laboratory for creative and meaningful educational experiences, connecting Jewish agricultural laws to contemporary environmental and food justice issues. The farm will also host programs and volunteer events in the spring and fall.

We are currently looking to fill the following positions.

Farm Manager
Eden Village Camp and the Jewish Farm School seek an experienced farmer to design, implement and manage a new organic and educational farm. The farm will be on 2 acres of land that has been an open field for many years. The focus in year one will be designing educational elements into the farm, building soil fertility, producing food for the campers, staff and off-season programs, and helping to develop a long term vision for the farm. The Farm Manager will work alongside the Lead Farm Educator and Farm Interns and will oversee all operations of the Farm.

Farm Interns/Counselors
Eden Village Camp and the Jewish Farm School seek 2 Farm Interns/Counselors. The internship begins in April and runs through October and offers a unique and varied experience. Throughout the season interns will be trained in organic farming, Permaculture, forest gardening, Jewish agricultural laws, natural building and experiential education. In the summer interns will work as farm counselors for Eden Village Camp and will continue to work on the farm and serve as educators for programs in the fall.

Click here for more info.

What if you knew that the organic vanilla that you were using in your recipe was not only kosher, but was grown by farmers who would not, under any circumstances, work in their gardens, harvest their trees or deliver their crop from 18 minutes before sundown on Friday until tzeit hakochavim (the appearance of three stars in the sky) on Saturday—with the same applying to all Jewish Festivals.

What if you knew that these farmers live in the deepest regions of  sub-Saharan East Africa in the area Mbale, Uganda, and that their farming cooperative consisted of Jewish, Muslim and Christian members called Peace Kawomera?

What if you knew that these farmers were being paid two and a half times the fair trade price for their beans, because a volunteer organization run by a hazzan (cantor) in Los Angeles removes the middle-man and makes every attempt to allow the farmer to receive the most that he/she can?

What if you knew that this organization, Uniting Jewish Communities and Products, UJCP, is attempting to do this for as many communities as possible throughout the world, helping them become self sufficient, providing clothes, housing, health care and education.

Wouldn’t this be a recipe (excuse the pun) that would continue to elevate our kitchen table from the mundane to the mizbeach, the ordinary to the altar of values and holiness that we are meant to accomplish every time that we sit down to eat?

You probably expect me to end with a sales pitch for a product—that is not the intent of this blog. We don’t yet have a product to sell—we are just helping.  And have made a commitment to continue to help.  The company that has purchased 3.5 metric tons of dried vanilla (constituting 21 metric tons of raw beans purchased directly from the farmers) is called Natural Flavors, Inc. in Newark, New Jersey. They are using the vanilla as concentrate to use in various organic, kosher products.  It is my brother, Herb Stein’s company, and though he has all the vanilla that he can use from established sources in India and Madagascar, Herb is willing to continue the process of buying from the Peace Kawomera cooperative.  A company called AMFRI Farms in Kampala then dries the beans, bought directly by Herb from the coop.  This has been a cooperative effort that will end, hopefully in the PK farmers taking complete control of the process—growing, harvesting and drying all on their own.

Other agencies and organizations have been helping as well.  Kulanu (along with UJCP) has worked hard to get training and building a facility for the co-op.  Recently they have been awarded a grant to build a building that can be used to dry and store coffee and vanilla!

The purpose of my blog is to keep you informed of the progress that we are making in helping first the Ugandan Jewish communities, and then others, in finding ways to sell their products so that they can lead more self sufficient lives.  We are in need of volunteers—those with business, accounting, PR and website building (we don’t have a home page yet) skills.  Or those that know of a buyer for vanilla, coffee and the many other products that grow in the region.

We read in the Torah this week about treating the worker fairly—we as Jews should take the lead in making sure that no one is left without basic necessities in a world in which poverty is increasing at alarming levels.   When we prepare and partake of our food, think of how rewarding it would be to support those that grow and labor to support our needs.

We are in the middle of negotiations for December’s vanilla crop.  I’ll keep you posted.

The Mother Nature Network has released a list of the top farmers in the country under the age of 40, and Hazon’s Emily Jane Freed is recognized for her work, passion and commitment to sustainable farming practices and community outreach. Emily, who is the Assistant Production Manager for Jacobs Farms in Pescadero (northern California), comes in at #13 on the list, which, according to MNN, is compiled “with help from dozens of people in the farming industry — from farmers themselves to those who help them in the nonprofit sector to those in the media who cover them.”

Also on the list are former Hazon staffers Rachel Kaplan (#27) and Anna Stevenson (#36), who have continued their careers working to provide Americans with sustainable and healthy food choices.

Mazel Tov to Emily, Rachel, and Anna for being recognized for their work helping to improve food systems and sustainability throughout North America.

The JNF Bronfman Green Fellowship is a ten-week Jewish and environmental learning and action fellowship.  The fellowship aims to explore the intersection of basic human needs, the environment and the Jewish tradition.

Students will meet weekly at the Bronfman Center and at site visits throughout New York City and New York State for hands-on learning and volunteering.  Students will commit to one day of volunteering and learning per week for the fall semester and will receive $150 each for their participation and the opportunity to work with professional environmental specialists to help implement a local improvement project with a budget of up to $10,000!

During spring break the students will be part of the JNF Alternative Spring Break trip to Israel where they will perform service work and participate in special seminars on Judaism, Israel and the environment.  As part of the action component of the program, the fellows are given a large grant for their discretionary use on a project aimed to assist in the environmental improvement of their communities.

The program kicks off this June 1-4 with a free four day Jewish Environmental Seminar at the Teva Learning Center’s annual Teva Seminar which includes an Organic Agriculture and Educational Gardening Track: Learn to design and maintain a thriving educational garden. This track facilitatied by the Jewish Farm School.

Interested students should email bronfmangreen@gmail.com for more information.

The Jewish Farm School (JFS) is proud to announce its first ever Calendar Photo Contest!  This contest is open to photographers of all ages and abilities and will be centered around the theme for our 3rd annual calendar:

Theme: Seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease. – Genesis 8:22

General Information
Selected photos will be displayed in the 2009-2010 JFS Calendar as a featured photograph of the month. Winners will also receive a complimentary calendar, along with their photo published on the JFS Web site. JFS is seeking to capture your experiences with Jewish agriculture and sustainability as it relates to this year’s calendar theme.

The calendar is scheduled for release on August 1, 2009, in advance of the 5770 High Holidays.

What photos are we looking for?
We are looking for original and compelling images that depict the calendar’s theme. Photos will be primarily selected based on how well they capture the calendar’s theme.  What images does this passage conjure up for you?  What are the underlying messages of this text?

In addition, photos will be judged on their artistic composition and image quality. Since selected photos will be published in the 2009-2010 JFS Calendar, images will be chosen to reflect the various seasons of the year.

Who can enter?
Our JFS Calendar Photo Contest is open to everyone! Whether you are a novice or experienced photographer, you are encouraged to enter. Images can capture the calendar’s theme as it relates to food prepared at home, a backyard or community garden, or an agricultural operation. Yet, those are just a few examples for you to consider.

When is the deadline for entries?
The deadline for entries is Monday April 20, 2009. Notification regarding the selection of submitted photos will be distributed starting July 1, 2009.

Who will judge the photos?
Judges for the JFS Calendar Photo Contest will include JFS staff and Advisory Council members. Submissions will be judged primarily on their abilities to capture the calendar’s theme.

What happens with the photos?
Selected photographs will be published as featured photographs of the month in the 2009-2010 JFS Calendar. Honorable mentions will also be given and displayed in the calendar.

All photos, both winning and non-winning, may also be published in other JFS print and electronic publications, as well as on the JFS Web site.

What are the guidelines and policies for entering?
1. Entries must be received by April 20, 2009.

2. You may submit up to 3 photos total.

3. Each entry must reflect the calendar’s theme: “Seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease.”  -Genesis 8:22.  Creative and abstract entries are welcome!

4. With each photo you submit, please include the following information:

• your name
• your e-mail address
• your postal address
• your telephone number
• a title for the photo
• location of the photo (e.g., My kitchen garden, Allentown, TX)
• approximate date the photo was taken
• a short description (50-100 words) of the photo explaining how the image depicts the calendar’s theme.
• name(s) of any people in the photo
• your age (optional)
• your gender (optional)

5. E-mail your submissions to pics@jewishfarmschool.org.
In the subject line, enter “JFS Photo Contest: [photo title].” Please send one photo per e-mail and no more than 3 total submissions.

6. Each electronic image must be at least 1819 x 2598 pixels [154 x 220mm horizontal] at 300 dpi resolution, sent in jpeg format, and its file size cannot exceed 6 MB.

7. By entering the 2009-2010 JFS Calendar Contest, you permit Jewish Farm School to publish your photo in any of its publications and on the JFS Web site.

8. By entering the 2009-2010 JFS Calendar Contest, you permit the Jewish Farm School to crop or adjust the images for the purposes of publishing it.

9. Submissions must be your own work.

10. Entries should not have won previous competitions, and should not have been published elsewhere.

11. JFS assumes no responsibility for ineligible entries or entries made fraudulently.

12. By entering the 2009-2010 JFS Calendar Contest, you accept these rules and agree to be bound by them.

Over the past few years, a growing number of Jewish foodies, farmers, rabbis, chefs, teachers, students, families and many others have brought meaning to those words, asking why and how one can eat in a way that is both deeply Jewish and deeply sustainable.

It is time to ask a new question: where will this movement be in 7 years? Last Rosh Hashanah ended the last shmita (sabbatical year) cycle, and we’ve begun the countdown to the end of the next shmita cycle in September 2015.  Using the shmita cycle, with its wisdom about our relationship to the land as a guide, what should be the goals of the Jewish food movement? How do you envision that the Jewish community (in the United States, Israel, the entire world) will look and act differently in its relationship to food by September, 2015?

Read more »

Check out the great new press in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on a new breed of Jewish farmers.  “Farming the land, Torah in Hand“  explains how our friends at Adamah, Jewish Farm School, Kayam and others are more than just farmers who happen to be Jewish, but are actually farming Jewishly. Click here to check it out.

One correction to the article: Kilayim is incorrectly translated as ‘holding back’ – a better translation would be ‘mixtures’ or ‘mixed species.’

At the conference, I was given the honor of sharing my vision for the New Jewish Food Movement, and I thought I would also share it here. So, I have shared those words below. I hope you might get some inspiration from my vision, but more importantly, I hope you will be inspired to think of how your vision fits into Hazon’s work, and even share your vision here on JCarrot.

Happy New Year
zelig

——– (more below the jump) ——–

Fourteen years ago, during my junior year of college, I found myself in Costa Rica studying sustainable development with the School for Field studies. My time with Don Amadeo Acosta, a tenant farmer with whom I did an agriculture research project – set me off on my food journey. Don Amadeo was poor of land and possessions, but rich with vision. In a time when virtually all farmers of the area used a sea of chemical sprays to kill insects, Amadeo was passionate about growing food in harmony with the worms, insects and weeds that he seemed to befriend. While planting and cultivating an experimental plot of green beans together, Amadeo taught me the value of having a relationship not only with the beans that I put in my mouth, but the seeds that make them possible and the soil that nourishes them to grow. In a time when I did not feel close to my Jewishness, this connection to creation – the earth itself – opened me to a profound sense of awe and wonder that has drawn me to farms and wild places ever since.

Seven years ago, when I moved to Berkeley for law school, I encountered my Jewish community in Chochmat HaLev – this opened me to a spiritual path in Judaism – yet I longed to root my growing Jewishness in a direct experience with creation, just as I had found in Don Amadeo’s garden. As an Adamah fellow three summers ago, I found what I sought. Each day, after praying the Sh’ma together, we went to work in the field – sowing, weeding, harvesting, and eating the fruits of our relationship to this land. Never were the fruits sweeter, and never have I felt more complete in myself. Through this experience I learned the meaning to one of the deepest teachings of our tradition – “Love your neighbor as you Love yourself” – that through a direct relationship of love, reverence and care for the earth, I come to a deeper connection to the Source of All things, and a deeper connection to myself.

This connection to creation now fuels me in my work as an attorney with the Center for Food Safety, where I work on law and policy for safe, healthy food. One of the Reasons It’s so powerful to be here tonight is how this movement has helped me to weave together my professional life as a food advocate with my spiritual Jewish, spiritual life, and it is this interweaving of my worlds that underlies my vision for a Jewish Food Movement and how we might work toward Tikkun in our relationship to food.

Like the world over, much of our community has lost touch with our food source. Today, our food is largely made on distant, large-scale industrial farms, which use toxic chemicals and polluting machinery. Four large chemical/biotechnology companies – turned seed companies –now own 40% of our commercial seed stocks, the foundation of our food supply. And since the beginning of the short, 60-year era of industrial agriculture, we have lost over 80% of our farmers as small scale, local agriculture has given way to mega-scale corporate agribusiness. We have lost much of our culture, from our agriculture, as we have entrusted our health and well being to an industry more motivated by profit than nourishing people. And in our unique Jewish story, we were once a people of farmers and shepherds – our pilgrimage festivals celebrated the cycle of harvests. Yet due to our unique history of displacement and diaspora, we have also all but lost our direct connection to food and farming.

In the Torah portion for this week, Mikketz, we learn of Pharaoh’s dream where he sees 7 healthy cows followed by 7 sickly cows, interpreted by Joseph as 7 years of abundance followed by 7 years of famine in the land. Pharaoh’s Egypt, under Joseph’s leadership, amasses food for the famine, and our people relocate to the land of Egypt to survive the 7 years of famine. During the famine, and under Pharaoh’s centralized system of food redistribution, we fall under Pharaoh’s power and eventually become enslaved by the very system that fed us. Today, we stand at a critical moment like that in Mikketz, where the promise of abundance from the industrial food system is giving way to a realization that we need to rethink how we sustain our communities. At a time when the economy is shaking, we read about international food crisis and there are rumblings of seed scarcity within the ranks of small farmers. Amidst these troubling times, it is time for us to re-write our Mikketz story of today – one where we spend the next 7 years creating a sustainable food future.

Today, with the passion and hard work of many of you in this room, and the support, inspiration, and coalescing force of Hazon, we have become an incredible community movement of tikkun (healing) for our relationship to food. As farmers, educators, spiritual leaders, activists, chefs and foodies, we have already begun to renew our agriculture through educational programs like Adamah in Connecticut, Kayam Farm in Maryland, and Eco-Israel in Israel, the Jewish Farm School’s programs, as wells as Eden Village Summer camp, coming soon…; through building bridges between local farms and our communities through Hazon’s Tuv Ha’aretz; and through the emergence of a new cadre of young Jewish farmers. And from this place of growing strength, I think we are primed to truly shine our communal light as a Jewish food movement – in my view, I see three areas of potential focus for this light: 1) working for systemic change through political action, 2) working for personal and communal change in our relationships to food and earth, and 3) deepening our earth and food related education.

As a Jewish community, we have before found ourselves on the cutting edge of social movements – and as we grow as a food movement and develop a clearer vision for the food future we want to see, we should mobilize into political action. Much of the nature of our food system is determined through federal policy – in particular, the pervasive farm bill that affects everything from determining the subsidies that will determine farmers’ crop choice, to food aid programs that determine who can receive food stamps and how they may use them, to creating new incentive programs that help young farmers get their start in organic farming. As a food movement, we should sound our strong voice to promote sustainable agriculture through federal farm bill policy. For example, a sustainable food future requires more farmers working at a community level – and you can see here this weekend, a new generation of Jewish farmers – inspired by the likes of Adamah – hunger for the opportunity to serve in this way – Thus, we should work for stronger federal farm bill provisions that encourage a new generation of organic farmers through stronger educational and financial incentives.

We should also work to protect our fundamental “Right To Know” what is in our food. Today, unless we buy certified organic, we don’t even know if our food contain genetically modified, cloned or irradiated ingredients because there are no requirements to put this on food labels. New labeling rules would allow us – at the very least – to choose the foods we eat and the type of agriculture we support. It would also afford the Jewish world more transparency about the nature of our foods as we continue the dialogue about how we will apply our ethical standards and laws of Kashrut to these potentially harmful and ethically suspect modifications.

Any action we take as a Jewish community must be rooted in the transformation of our personal and communal relationships to food. Rather than expect cheap food from the grocery store, we must elevate food in our consciousness and once again value food as a sacred gift. I believe this transformation will occur as we deepen our spiritual consciousness around food. For example, in the Jewish tradition, we have the practice of blessing our food – stopping to give thanks and to recognize what we are about to eat as a gift from our Infinite Source. I also believe we can only create such a transformation if we as individuals and as a community engage our rich wisdom tradition that provides a profound Jewish relationship to food, agriculture and the earth. Here at this conference, we can drink from an incredible wealth of teachers who will help us begin to make these connections. I hope you will drink deeply. And beyond this gathering, we must develop programs in all of our communities that help us deepen this relationship. For example, the pilgrimage festivals of Sukkot, Shavuot and Passover are incredible opportunities to link our ancient traditions to our modern food movement. Here in the Bay Area, for example, Hazon supported our Berkeley, Chochmat HaLev Tuv Ha’aretz program to create an annual weekend Sukkot celebration at Eatwell Farm. During this fall harvest holiday, we gathered as community in the fields to camp out, pray, shake the lulav, and eat food picked right from the fields. It has been incredibly powerful to pray while gazing over the fields of our sustenance. It seems that this is where transformation happens – when we feel the true meaning of the Shema deep in our bodies – that we are one with all of creation, the Source of Life, the Source of our food.
In the next 7 years, I encourage us in our communities across the country to take to the land during our festivals in this ways.

Finally, as I think ahead 7 years for how I envision my food work here in the Bay Area, I am called to fulfill a years long dream of creating a living model of sustainability on the land by bringing the Adamah educational model right here to California. Since Kait and I got engaged this fall, we are directing our collective vision toward collaborating with others to live on the land; a place to not only to grow our food and our children in community, but a place that will serve the Bay Area as a center for a living, earth-centered Judaism, that may inspire others like Adamah inspired me.

We are at pivotal moment in history – one where we can truly bring healing in this world – and I look forward to working with many of you, and hearing your stories and your visions as we turn our movement into a vehicle of change.

What would you do if you had seven years to prepare for a major event? Would you plan out each year carefully, with set goals for each step along the way leading up to the big day? Would you ignore the future despite your impending sense of doom, and hope for the best? Can you even think that far ahead? Seven years are the blink of an eye and an eternity, depending on your perspective.

This year, we began another cycle of the Shmita, a biblical agricultural cycle that mandate that the land lie fallow every seven years. No crops could be planted, and that which did grow was open to everyone. One had to plan for the Shmita for years in advance, so that you didn’t starve. The Shmita today is an odd commandment: since it only applies to Israel, it has a very significant impact on the lives of everyone who lives there. Every seven years, it creates agricultural chaos. But those of us in the Diaspora are free to ignore it. Why should we plan for the next seven years?

This year, we also began another cycle: the countdown to the next Farm Bill (or more aptly, the next Food Bill). The last Farm Bill, an omnibus bill covering everything from conservation programs to food stamps to subsidies for agribusiness, was passed in May, 2008, and the next one will come up some time in the next 5-7 years. The 2008 bill had some wonderful elements (notably, increased funding for food stamps and other nutrition programs), but was far from the fair Farm Bill that food activists had hoped for. The planning for the next bill begins now. Should the Jewish community do something about the next Farm Bill? Can we even know what our priorities will be in 5-7 years?

The answer to all these questions can be: Yes! As Nati wrote about earlier, Hazon and the Jewish Farm School have teamed up to launch the Shmita Project, which will encourage the Jewish community to think in terms of seven year goals, and to explore the ways the values and lessons of Shmita can be incorporated into our lives. We are also seeking to have people understand the Farm Bill through a Jewish lens and be inspired to action. As a community, we have a mandate to protect the earth, support the poor and feed the hungry. Can our values of social justice help to shape the future of American food policy?

Those of us involved in the Shmita Project have suggested the following: The Shmita is relevant for the 21st century in that, to observe it completely, it requires us to think about what we eat, ask who grows our food and how it is grown, and consider how our meal impacts the world. We want the Jewish community to be thinking creatively about Shmita and how it can be a central value for a sustainable future.We are also suggesting that the Shmita Project be the lens through which the Jewish food movement engages with the Farm Bill.

The first steps in this creative discussion about Shmita will take place this week at the Food Conference, when there will be sessions devoted to Shmita. For those of you who will be at the Conference, we encourage you to join us in brainstorming about the future of the Shmita Project. And if we won’t be seeing you in California, ask yourself the question “What does Shmita mean for me, for the Jewish community, and for the food we eat?” Leave your responses below!

(Written last night as the election results poured in…)

As I sit here watching the returns with guarded optimism, I consider the role food plays in politics. In 2004 John Kerry came to south Philly and ordered a cheese steak with provolone. You don’t do that, and Kerry was mocked on the local news. While he still won Pennsylvania, he lost the election, and I think the cheese steak gaffe was a turning point for many voters. It showed that his food choices that day were a gesture, an attempt to make a connection with a certain type of voter, and he failed miserably.

That we feel such a cultural connection to what we eat allows food to play a part in our political sphere. Food is an entry point for politicians. When they eat your sandwich, drink your beer, slurp your soup, they convey their humanness, and their ability to relate to you, your needs and concerns in the world.

Beyond the two-year campaign that ends today, and the countless meals eaten by the candidates, the next president is in a position to play a defining role in the future of our food system. Earlier this year congress passed the farm bill, which will likely remain in effect for 5-7 years. The scope of the farm bill is immense and its implications are major, as it dictates, in large part, what crops are planted, what we learn and teach in schools about health and nutrition and what resources are available for the poor.

Despite its extensive impact on many aspects of our lives, most Americans do not know much about the farm bill, and while many activists praised some elements of this year’s version, there is still tremendous room for improvement, in particular around issues of land conservation and sustainable agriculture.

Hazon and the Jewish Farm School have teamed up to launch the Shmita Project, which, in addition to encouraging the Jewish community to think in terms of seven year goals, and to explore the ways the values and lessons of Shmita can be incorporated into our lives, also asks us to educate ourselves about our nation’s agricultural and food policies and to understand the Farm Bill through a Jewish lens. What does the farm bill look like when it is informed by the Jewish value of using food as mechanism for social justice, or honors our mandate to work and to protect the earth?

This process begins with discussion and debate about these policies, and not just in the year in which it comes before congress, but in the years leading up to that point. If we are going to solve some of the root problems of our national eating disorder, it’s going to take a lot of thought and creative thinking. Most importantly, our politicians need to know that we, the general public, care about these issues. We recognize their impact on our lives, our neighborhoods, cities and country. Begin now by reading the background information we have on the Shmita Project website.

Perhaps, if we are successful, by the next election cycle politicians will be eating fresh produce grown on the white house farm and disucssing the benefits of kim chi to show that they can relate to the voters.