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JFN CONFERENCE
2024
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It's been four years since our last gathering and we can't wait to see you!
This event will convene 120 Jewish farmers for a weekend of learning and community building at Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Falls Village, CT. The kitchen and dining room are glatt kosher under supervision of the Hartford Kashrut Commission.
Our schedule highlights the many facets of Jewish agricultural wisdom, uplifts the diverse stories of Jewish farmers past and present and leaves room for ample structured and unstructured shmoozing (socializing).
Sliding scale registration starts at just $180 for our working farmers and includes housing and meals for the duration of the program.
Look forward to:
Unique learning opportunities - see below
A hands-on Kosher lamb slaughter intensive
Connecting with Jewish farmers from across the country and beyond!
Suzanna Goldblatt Clark and Rabbi Aaron Philmus
A session discussing/investigating how the experience of working as a shepherd can inform our understanding of the many sheep/shepherd references in Torah.Grace Oedel
Come to ground first in what shmita teaches us about an agricultural system that works for people and planet (and how to move towards the system that will allow for shmita on your farm or homestead). Stay to expand your thinking and practice around how shmita is not just about agriculture, but rather about transformation of our whole economic system-- one that points towards a just transition, towards an economy of care, solidarity, justice, and right relationship between people and planet.
Katie Herzog
In this session Katie Herzog will present her artistic research and production around Lekoudesch, also known as Viehhandlersprache or Jewish Cattle Traders Jargon. Lekoudesch was a Hebrew-based secret insider language developed around the cattle trade in rural Germany and surrounding countries, where cattle trading was a popular vocation for rural Jews from the Middle Ages through the 1930s. As an artist and descendant of German Jewish Cattle Traders, Katie will be presenting on Lekoudesch and sharing her recent body of work inspired by it.
Zalman (Robbie) Friedman
This session will explore the intersection of kosher practices with contemporary values of sourcing local products that are sustainably produced. The session will combine text study and open dialogue as we dive into the challenges of embracing traditional Jewish practices in modern times.
SJ Seldin
How can the Jewish calendar inform your farm's workplan? How do you practically reckon with, and make meaning from, seasonality in diaspora? In this session, SJ Seldin will share how the crew at Yesod Farm+Kitchen creates month-by-month plans that are informed by both the Jewish calendar and local seasonality, using their newly designed worksheet and calendar template. Then we will work in small groups to apply these tools to your project.
Adam Carlin
This session explores the relationship between mushrooms and Judaism, highlighting their symbolic roles in Jewish teachings, mysticism, and culture. We’ll discuss themes of divine blessing, resilience, and renewal, while also acknowledging mushrooms’ darker historical associations. From ancient interpretations to their misuse in anti-Semitic propaganda, mushrooms have held complex meanings in Jewish life and culture.
Naomi Spector
All peoples have always relied on plants, and all peoples have their own unique relationships with plants. We can tell just from the name of the popular Sefardi folk song, “Seven Ways to Cook Eggplant,” for instance, that eggplant must be a food adored among Jews. In this session, we will learn about some of the plants that are most beloved across Jewish communities through exploring how our ancestors nourished, healed and protected themselves with them.
Drew Grim & Lacey R Grim
Our homestead, Schoolhouse Farm, took the seasons of Shmita off--no tilling or gardening, with few small exceptions. We expected this year to offer abundance from the years of perennial development & familiarity with the natural landscape, however what we discovered was far more humbling, & has given clarity on a message that all seeking self-sufficiency need to hear: Community is the only solution & we must learn fast & hard how to nurture & develop & give space for that to grow.
Ollie Emes
We will view a minidocumentary capturing 7 years of communal work towards right relationship with land at Linke Fligl, a queer Jewish farm & cultural organizing project on Schaghticoke land (NY). From there, participants will explore personal relationships with land through a “Linke Fligl Land Stories” practice, a ritual for sharing & witnessing our complex & evolving stories of loss, connection, home, & quest for accountable relationship with place.
Ricky Baruch & Deborah Leta Habib
Return to the land as Jewish farmers is rising! But farmers can face stress that takes a toll on relationships, and even end the small farm dream. How do we sustain passion & growth in our relationships amid full lives & challenges? We’ll explore ways to balance farm, wellbeing, and family, and ideas to bring everyday ritual and celebration to our lives, farms, and communities--essential to growing our crops as well as our delight, love, and service outward for the years to come.
Jesse Miller
As Jewish farmers reclaim agricultural practices in exile, we must also build solidarity with BIPOC farming diasporas. By connecting through labor exchanges, seed-saving, community land trusts, and integrating BIPOC agricultural histories into education, Jewish farmers can join a broader movement for justice and cultural renewal. Drawing on personal experiences from BIPOC-led farms in Brooklyn, this presentation shows the power of Jewish farming in fostering mutual support and shared learning for food sovereignty.
Amy Price
Did you know that bees make 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in their lifetime?!?!? There's so much to learn from and about bees. In this session we'll sing, learn and taste our way as we explore a connection with bees. We'll look at Jewish texts about bees and insights will be shared from observing bees. This session is sure to create a lot of buzz!
Janna Siller & Ariana Taylor-Stanley
The once-every-five-years Farm Bill process is in full swing! Join us to discuss what this means for us as farmers and for food system change. What does it mean to engage in shaping policy as Jewish farmers, who are our role models, what texts can we draw from, and how do we make the most impact? This interactive workshop will explore some history, what to expect this year, and how to get involved. You will leave with next steps for taking action.
K Greene & Anna Pierce-Slive
How do we connect with our ancestors, present selves, and future ancestors through seed? Through hands-on seed activities and group discussion, we'll:
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dig into the past – reflecting on the origins and first few seasons of the Qi-Shuim seed project and our seed ancestors
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cultivate the present – exploring ourselves as seed beings
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sow a future – imagining a world where Jews are able to deepen and diversify our seed relations into future generations
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Shamu Sadeh
From our creation story to Shabbat and Shmitah, from irrigation to dependence on rains, from storehouses of grain to Manna from the sky, from 7 Species to blessings over food, we will explore a selection of Shamu’s fave Jewish wisdom on farming. How can these ancient words and the people's lives they reflect serve to connect, root and elevate our work on the land today? All texts will be accessible in English. NO background required besides open curiosity.
Yosef Hertzmark
We will examine Bread Wheat and its extended cereal family from a diverse perspective of co-Creation, agronomy, landscape ecology, and traditional Rabbinical perspectives. Following a trail to Torah m'Sinai from our primordial seed collecting experience, we will mix and knead our way through text and schmooze topics ranging from soil ecology and Temple offerings to gluten formation and Sefiras HaOmer. This discussion is intended to be accessible to all curious spirits.
Jewish Farmer Network was founded to fill a void. There was no space in the Jewish community for farmers and no space in the farming community for Jews. JFN is focused on providing resources and content that sit firmly at the intersection of Judaism and agriculture while providing community building opportunities to Jewish agrarians. We are proud to be the ONLY organization serving Jewish farmers.
While our resources and online classes are open to anyone from academics to proud parents of farmers, our upcoming in-person conference will be a little bit different. Due to limited space at our venue, and in an effort to stay true to our mission and purpose, we are taking conscious steps to prioritize farmers’ access to this event. While our definition of “farmer” includes growers of all scales - from shepherds of thousand head sheep operations, to intrepid urban farmers, to stewards of three acre homesteads, it might not include proud CSA subscribers or those growing tomatoes on their apartment balcony. Working Jewish farmers have limited access to relevant Jewish learning and affirming, accessible Jewish community and we owe it to them to hold the container they deserve.
If you are not a farmer, but you love farmers and love the idea of Jewish farmers getting together, please help us make this event as abundant and accessible as possible by donating!
We also know the question of who is or isn't a farmer is both expansive and even fraught. Some of you might carry the weight of imposter syndrome around, wondering if you are “farmer enough” to qualify. This question can be influenced by conventions of race, class, gender, sexuality, land access, and ability. With that in mind, we want to affirm that if you feel yourself to be a farmer (even and perhaps especially if you have felt gate kept from this identity) we encourage you to apply.
With all of that in mind, we are so excited to invite you to apply to attend our IN PERSON conference in December of 2024. We kept the application as short as we could. Applicants will be notified of their application status by the end of June, at which point, registration will be open.
“Being surrounded by such a dynamic and inspired community of diverse farmers, each sharing their own approach of Judaism, agroecology, and everything in between, was a truly precious experience. You have created an exceptionally inclusive and kind space for farmers to share, think together, feel together. I didn't run into a single participant who wasn't thrilled beyond measure to be present"
- Cultivating Culture 2020 participant
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Wellness at the conference:
We strongly encourage all conference attendees to follow CDC current guidance for COVID-19 vaccination. Because Cultivating Culture is a multi-day communal gathering, there is a potential that communicable diseases could spread during the conference. In order to mitigate spread and with our elders in mind, we have established the guidelines to keep our community safe.
Read our full health protocols HERE
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“Being surrounded by such a dynamic and inspired community of diverse farmers, each sharing their own approach of Judaism, agroecology, and everything in between, was a truly precious experience. You have created an exceptionally inclusive and kind space for farmers to share, think together, feel together. I didn't run into a single participant who wasn't thrilled beyond measure to be present"
- Cultivating Culture 2020 participant
Am I Jewish "enough" to participate?
Yes!!! Jewish Farmer Network formed from the need and desire for a Jewish community that centers and uplifts Jewish agrarians, from every point of the kaleidoscope of Jewish (and agricultural!) identity, background, and experience. We are not gatekeepers or arbiters of who is Jewish. If you hold Jewish heritage or identity, you are welcome. If you come from a multi-tradition household/family, you are welcome. If you are a Jew-by-choice, you are welcome. If you are Jewish but have never stepped into a Jewish space before, you are especially welcome. Come as you are, as you are. We are thrilled to meet you, to learn from you, and to craft ever-more accessible spaces for learning and connection.