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Hello from Adamah!

by Anna Stevenson · May 30th, 2007
Adamah, Farming

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.

We spent the morning weeding the Allium Nation — the beds of onions, garlic and green onions. They were planted a few months ago and haven’t been weeded in a while.

We took out Golden Dock, which I’m told can be used for medicinal purposes, but which in this case grew very large and have a taproot the size of a carrot. You have to put a trowel (sometimes a shovel) in next to the plant and heave back and forth–this loosens the rootball and usually a good yank will pull the whole thing up.

Then onto the green onions. Can you guys tell the difference between the rye and the onions? Shamu asked. Sort of a fair question, since they’re both whitish green stalks, but actually it was easy. Rye looks like grass, it was about a foot and a half tall, and some stalks had seeded at the top.

Rye. Rye! Rye alcohol. Rye bread. Rye, as cover crop for fixing nitrogen. It was a jolt to look at this unassuming grass plant and think “pastrami on rye” or “rye & coke” — such remarkably different end producst from the original, the plant that grows in the ground.

But it was growing on soil meant for the onions and we pulled it out. Between the three rows of hollow, watery, garlic-smelling stalks there were a lot of smaller weeds. We didn’t have to pull them out individually as much as massage the ground and turn it all over — the small little roots of the invaders will just dry out right there.

I was working quickly. It is very satisfying to move down a row, to separate out the three little stalks that you want to keep growing from the rubble of green things growing at every opportunity. Weeding reminds you how unnatural farming is. We’re not foraging. We’re manipulating plants, soil and water to give us good yields, grow us food. Weeds aren’t necessarily bad, they’re just not what we’re trying to grow.

Shamu came over and said, ‘See this plant you’re pulling up? This is Lamb’s Quarters.’ I looked at the little plant, leaves with uneven edges growing out in all directions from the stalk, some kind of fuzz or water droplets reflecting a white sheen — like condensation on a window when you’re making tea — and recognized it from another world: the Farmer’s Market!

A bunch of Lambs Quarters — $4/ bunch. “Good for salads.” The very same — a weed in my onions!

It only grows in cultivated ground, said Shamu. It’s very fancy in some places. We said the blessing for eating food from the earth and I bit off the top of the whole plant and ate it.

The taste was somewhat like spinach, it was juicy and bitter (also a little gritty, but that was my fault.) But oh! so tasty! and growing right there.

So we continued to weed, and I got myself a little bucket, and when that got full I collected my pile on a hankerchief. I picked the dirty roots off them, washed them in cold water, and stored them in the fridge. And this morning, we had sauteed greens with garlic and it was so tasty — our first harvest!

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9 Responses to “Hello from Adamah!”

  1. Phyllis Bieri Says:
    May 30th, 2007 at 9:00 am

    Wonderful notes from the farm, Anna. Keep them coming! I grew up eating lambs’ quarters. We ate all the edible weeds in my mom’s garden. Gives me inspiration to saute some of my own lambs’ quarters that are taking over a few spots in our garden on Fire Island. The kids need to taste them, anyway. They have a unique flavor and texture, so aptly described by you. I had no idea they are sold at farmer’s markets.

    Are you using gardening gloves? Sunscreen? Pulling off any deer ticks? Take good care. Farming is not for the faint of heart. — Phyllis

  2. Leah Koenig Says:
    May 30th, 2007 at 9:19 am

    Anna, it sounds like you’re having an incredible time! I think I remember there being lambs’ quarters in Prospect Park, when I went on one of Wildman Steve Brill’s urban foraging tours…but I can’t remember what it looks like now. Are you going to be able to take pictures of the sadeh? If you do, please keep us “posted” xo, Leah

  3. Gluten-Free By The Bay Says:
    May 30th, 2007 at 9:27 am

    Thanks for the update - It sounds amazing. Keep it coming, for sure. I would love to do Adamah but I have a bad back which is something I don’t think they could accomodate. Bummer, because I really want to learn about farming and gardening and sustainable agriculture from a Jewish perspective, as I’d like to start a small Jewish farm in upstate NY at some point in the future.

  4. carol koenig Says:
    May 30th, 2007 at 9:34 am

    Hey Anna,
    Have a wonderful summer! It sounds as if you will truly enjoy. Hoping to see you on Ride week-end. I promise to go to our local Farmers’ Market faithfully as the CSA was just toooooo much food for us and I had no control over the variety. We have had a wonderful market in our area for many years and it it now virtually totally organic with the exception of one old farmer who was an original vendor. Looking forward to enjoying some of the fruits of your labors (and vegetables, too) in Sept.
    Carol

  5. Rachel Says:
    May 30th, 2007 at 9:56 am

    Thank you for this report; I look forward to reading more as the summer progresses! I won’t be at Isabella Freedman again until August, by which time the whole scene will be different…

    Recently we’ve been picking leaves off of garlic mustard, which is a weed here in western Massachusetts (I’m sure it grows in northern Connecticut, too) — a botanist friend tells me it’s invasive, not native to the area. It’s one of the first things to go green at the start of spring, and its leaves are bitter and delicious, especially lightly wilted and tossed with mushrooms and pasta. Now that it’s flowering, the leaves are more bitter and slightly less tasty, but I hear they still make a good pesto.

  6. Eric Schulmiller Says:
    May 30th, 2007 at 5:59 pm

    What an inspiring (and delicious) post. Looking forward to enjoying more vicarious visits to the Adamah program!

  7. Anna Says:
    May 31st, 2007 at 7:41 am

    Thanks for the good thoughts! Here’s more info on Lambs Quarters (with photo!) if you’re interested: http://www.veggiegardeningtips.....-quarters/
    More soon!
    A.

  8. Edith Stevenson Says:
    May 31st, 2007 at 12:35 pm

    greetings from the teeny tiny garden of North Vancouver BC, where I just weeded my 4 little 10′ x 3′ plots - feeling thankful that beet sprouts have red stems (we’re talking 1/2″ tall dicotyledons) so as to tell the difference between them and the real weeds! Appreciated Mom Phyllis’ reminder about sunscreen (echoed from the Canadian Mom), and ticks; and gloves actually make pulling weeds easier - believe me daughter, I have lots of experience in that area! Beans and snap peas are 6″ high, and the yuppy trendy mix of baby lettuces is starting to actually look like lettuce. Found a wonderful photo of you and your brother at about age 5 and 7, planting our first garden - so it is definitely in your blood - continue to have fun in the good earth……. and so will I!

  9. Sabrina Malach Says:
    June 1st, 2007 at 9:37 am

    Hey Anna! Great to hear that you are getting into wild edibles. My family used to have a sticker on our car that said “What is a weed? A plant whose virtue is not yet known.” I love weeds! I have been harvesting dandelion greens, wild onions and nettles all spring. I guess one person’s weed is another person’s gold.

    Loving weeds and being a farmer is sometimes a challenge because it becomes painful to harvest the weeds that are taking up the domesticated plants space. I am struggling a bit now about whether I should weed the lamb’s quarters popping up between my Caledula seedlings in my community garden plot… What to do?

    A little secret: There is a great patch of nettles behind the parking lot by the goats. You can use them for a mineral rich tea, wild spinach or to wash your hair! Harvest them this week because they lose some of their sweetness as they grow.

    Enjoy every moment of Adamah!

    LOVE TO ALL

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