Adamah fellow, Jackie Topol, put together a beautiful photo collage of her summer living with other young, Jewish farmers and working in sadeh (field) at The Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center.  More photos and Jackie’s reflections below the jump.

Baby Pepper-  One of the most amazing experiences in the Sadeh was seeing the vegetables grow from seedlings to mature plants.  My favorite among the young plants, was probably the pepper.  Here it is in miniature form, only in a few weeks to be full size.

Cooking for Shabbat - Friday nights are very important to Adamahniks.  Shabbat gives us a chance to relax, reflect, and celebrate our bounty.  After a long week farming, we truly felt like we earned Shabbat! The majority of our Shabbat meal featured vegetables from our Sadeh. Here is Noah cutting some just-harvested tomatoes from our Sadeh.

Mulberries - One morning, Josh took us on a silent hike to discover a wonderful surprise: a mulberry tree overflowing with delicious berries.  After devouring all of the berries our stomachs could hold, we meditated and davened on the grass and took in the surroundings.

Echinacea in the Gan - Fellows take turns caring for plants and flowers in the Gan at Isabella Freedman.  We also lead tours for guests and teach the names of all of the beautiful specimens; my favorite, along with the bees, was Echinacea.

Yonah in the Pe’ah-  A Jewish tradition that we practice on our farm is the concept of the pe’ah.  The Torah instructs us to leave four corners of our field for those in need and we have slightly reinterpreted this idea: at the entrance of our field, we have left one corner to grow without watering it or weeding it.  Because we have let it takes natures course, it is a beautiful wild mess of flowers.  This photograph is of Yonah (the son of Shamu, Adamah’s director), hiding amongst the flora.

Hi Kids!-  Another part of Adamah is learning about animal husbandry.  We care deeply for these animals and get to know them on a personal level.  Here are two kids that are at Aitan’s pasture, just up the hill.

Tending to the Basil - Purple basil will always have a great deal of sentimental value to me because I watched it grow from seedling to full size plant.  I placed the little seed in the soil, observed its progress in the greenhouse, transplanted it in the Sadeh, and then harvested the tasty leaves.  It was very fulfilling to be a part of the whole process and it was through this experience that I began to see myself as a true nurturer of plant life.

Farmer’s Market - Guests at Isabella Freedman not only tasted our bountiful harvest in their meals at the dining hall, but they were also able to purchase our produce at the Farmer’s Market we had on the day of their departure.  I had the pleasure of running two of the markets and loved selling our produce to the Jewish community.  As I sold each vegetable, I imaged what each person might make and took pride in knowing that what they were going to be eating was something that I had helped create.

Natural Accident - As I mentioned before, I began to see myself as a plant nurturer through my work on the farm.  One of my favorite places to be was the greenhouse for exactly this reason.  I was fortunate enough to see plants take nature’s course and notice some unusual things happen.  In this photograph, a purple basil seed must have accidentally gotten mixed in to the green basil seeds - oops!

Perfect Eggplant - Smooth, shiny, purple wonders of beauty!  I have to admit that I became a little obsessed with photographing the eggplants at the Sadeh.  They are the most perfect creations I have ever seen. Even the eggplants I receive from my CSA here in NY aren’t as pretty as the ones from our farm!

Fellows in the Sadeh - On a typical day at the Sadeh, we spread out in pairs, and get to work.  However, on the last day of our Fellowship, we decided to work together on picking several varieties of delicious beans.  Our summer was filled with meaningful work, introspection and group sharing, and it seemed appropriate that we be together in the place where we learned, loved, and laughed.

Check out Jackie’s website.