In the Media
Labovitz Farm, the Jewish Way
Laura Labovitz and Shawn Bernard run a working farm with many moving parts as they focus on healthy living and educating others.
Jewish Farming Takes Root
A new generation goes back to the land, seeing new ways to connect to Judaism
Can We Talk? Episode 81: Linke Fligl Ends With Love
On a hot, humid day in late August, Nahanni Rous joined a gathering at Linke Fligl, a queer Jewish chicken farm and cultural organizing project in New York's Hudson Valley. (Linke Fligl is a pun—Yiddish for "left wing.") For the past seven years, queer Jews have celebrated holidays, farmed, and built community on this ten-acre, off-the-grid piece of land
From Seed Library to Seed Company: The Story of K Greene and the Hudson Valley Seed Company
When K Greene, co-Founder of Hudson Valley Seed Company, started working at the Gardiner Library in 2004 to offset graduate school expenses, he never imagined the journey this seemingly impermanent position would take him.
Connecting With Jewish and Indigenous People in Colorado Through Seeds
In October 2021, Slow Food Denver co-hosted their first annual seed-saving event at Ekar Farm, an organization that serves as a “focal point for Denver’s Jewish community to come together around issues of food security, environmentalism, and urban farming,” and Spirit of the Sun, an “indigenous womxn-led nonprofit working to empower Native communities, one youth at a time.”
Jewish Farmer Network: contadini ebrei negli Stati Uniti
Un progetto di agricoltura, comunità ed ebraismo nel mondo rurale statunitense
Under Vines and Fig Trees
In this episode, we speak with Jonathan Dekel-Chen about the long history of Jewish agricultural life. The episode traverses continents and centuries, describing Jewish farming from Abraham through the 21st century.
A New Generation of Jewish Farmers Returns to the Land
Wendy Rhein’s day begins at 5 am, when she wakes up, checks the weather and puts on her headlamp to bring a bag of kitchen food scraps to her two young Berkshire pigs. “From there, it’s usually off to the sheep, who hear me coming,” says Rhein...
Ba'Sadeh Outdoors Podcast: Shani Mink
For this month's episode, I had the privilege of speaking with one of the founders of The Jewish Farmer Network, Shani Mink. We got to talk about her intro to the outdoors, as well as what her relationship with the outdoors looks like now.
Cody Nicholson Stratton Is the Unorthodox Farm Daddy
Cody Nicholson Stratton isn’t your average TikToker. Among the reported 1 billion users on the app, the Northern Californian farmer stands on his own as the Unorthodox Farm Daddy, which also happens to be his handle.
Finding our way back to the land
From biblical farming practices to ancient wayfaring, these communities are reviving their cultural traditions to sustain body, mind, and planet.
Excerpt from Edible North Carolina
"North Carolina has been transformed by the labor, vision, and creativity of a new generation of immigrants, and nowhere is this more visible than in the state’s contemporary food economy."
Two Women Build Jewish Community Through Agriculture in Durham
Celebrating Jewish community around food and farming is a central focus at One Soil Farm
Judaism Unbound Podcast: Farming is Jewish, Shani Mink, SJ Seldin
Jewish Farmer Network co-founders SJ Seldin and Shani Mink on the Judaism Unbound podcast!
'Harvesting a participatory movement'
"This paper presents methodological findings and reflections from the initial stages of a participatory action research (PAR) collaboration led by the authors and JFN organizers centered on Cultivating Culture, JFN’s inaugural conference in February 2020. "
Gann Farm connects Jewish youth with agricultural heritage
Being Jewish at Gann Farm is unlike being Jewish in a synagogue or classroom. It means muddied knees, singing in open air and connecting with the land — a chance for youth to do as their forebears did.
Livingston native digs into Judaism’s roots
"Shani Mink wakes up at 7 a.m. and lets the chickens out of their coop... By noon she’s [inside for] office work for the Jewish Farmer Network..."
‘We’ve been milling our heads off’: For some small kosher food purveyors, the coronavirus era is boom time
"Almost overnight, Hertzmark’s Migrash Farm, which produces certified kosher flour from grain grown in the Chesapeake Bay region, lost virtually his entire wholesale business after local restaurants and bakeries were shuttered by public health authorities. "
Jewish Farmer Network Embraces Tradition
"As Shani Mink, executive director of the Jewish Farmer Network, put it, 'Before we were the people of the book, we were the people of the land.'"
May All Who are Hungry Come and Eat: Jewish Community Farming in the Face of Coronavirus
"Last month, most Jews were forced to grapple with how to celebrate Passover in a time of quarantine and lockdown. "
Connecticut’s Jewish Farmers
"Surprised that there were Jewish farmers? Many people are but scores of newly arrived Jewish immigrants were assisted in making their lives in poultry and dairy farming throughout the state. "
Tikkun Olam
"Episode five of J Voices is dedicated to the Jewish value of Tikkun Olam, and the efforts local Jewish community members are taking to help heal the natural environment through regenerative agriculture and environmental education. "
Farmer Daughter/Uptown Mother
"The drive from my condo in uptown Charlotte, N.C., to my daughter’s rural community of Fairview takes less than three hours. Despite its geographic proximity, Sarah Julia’s farm feels like a foreign country."
A roots experience: Australia’s first urban Jewish farm
"THE MENORAH IS THOUGHT to be based on the ancient Jerusalem sage plant, which still grows in Israel and is believed to have been burnt as incense during religious ceremonies held at the First and Second Temples."
Pushing 80, Mike Tabor is still pushing himself and the causes he believes in
"'Michael Tabor — Tireless activist, organic farmer, justice-seeker, husband, father. The ultimate pot-stirrer. A non-conformist.'"
Jewish farms are booming. Now the farmers want to grow their community.
"Seldin, a farmer who runs Yesod Farm + Kitchen in Fairview, North Carolina, put out the word that she wanted to connect with other Jewish farmers. Some 13 people responded to the invite, including Shani Mink, who was then farming at the Pearlstone Jewish Retreat Center..."
Jewish Farmer Network Cultivates Ancient Agricultural Wisdom
"Western North Carolina has long been home to thoughtfully designed, diverse agricultural systems."
To Love Judaism, Be Jewish in Nature-Based Community
"What cultural elements were in place, in those times before modernity, that made it possible to so strongly maintain our tradition? ... First, we lived directly off the land..."
Jews fled persecution to settle in this piece of N.J. Their story is being told again.
Franklin, Chris. "Jews fled persecution to settle in this piece of N.J. Their story is being told again." NJ.com. November 10, 2019.
Growing community: How Colorado religious leaders are farming food — and a new variety of faithful
Miller, Adrian. "Growing community: How Colorado religious leaders are farming food — and a new variety of faithful." The Colorado Sun. September 25, 2019.
The Land Over the Fence: How One New Yorker Moved to the Midwest and Built Her Urban Farm
Kushins, Jodi. "The Land Over the Fence: How One New Yorker Moved to the Midwest and Built Her Urban Farm." Mother Earth News. September 16, 2019.
From Field to Vase: Local Flower Farms
Baldwin, Isabelle. "From Field to Vase: Local Flower Farms." Alexandria Living. August 31, 2019.
What Does It Mean To Be A Jewish Farmer?
McRobbie, Josephine. "What Does It Mean To Be A Jewish Farmer?" Earth Eats. August 16, 2019.
Chabad Couple Runs the Kosher Farm on Maui
Lobell, Kylie Ora. "Chabad Couple Runs the Kosher Farm on Maui." Jewish Journal. July 31, 2019.
Jewish Farm School to Close
Bernstein, Jesse. "Jewish Farm School to Close." Jewish Exponent. July 11, 2019.
Goshen Farm’s matzo goes organic for Passover
Ettlinger, Rachel. "Goshen Farm’s matzo goes organic for Passover." Times Herald-Record. April 14, 2019.
Could the Ancient Jewish Practice of Shmita Be a New Tool for Sustainable Ag?
Blake, Ethan. "Could the Ancient Jewish Practice of Shmita Be a New Tool for Sustainable Ag?" Civil Eats. March 28, 2019.
Nati Passow: Combining Judaism and Food Justice
Futterman, Allison. "Nati Passow: Combining Judaism and Food Justice." Jewish Journal. August 30, 2018.
The Pomegranate: From the Promised Land to the Sunshine State
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The Wow Metric of Success: Jewish Life Blooms on the Farm
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Outside London, British Jewry’s first communal farm in decades takes root
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Soil + Shul: A Jewish colony that came and went in the Berkshires
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Israel's Indebted Farmers Are Pulling Up Their Roots and Moving Overseas
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The Jews-by-choice of San Nicandro, Italy
"The small synagogue in the remote village of San Nicandro, in the province of Puglia in southeastern Italy, is the only one in the world where the women’s section is three times as large as that of the men..."
Rising to the Occasion
"Park Heights resident Ian Yosef Hertzmark does many things with his time, more than one might think possible. "
South African Jewish Farmers Concerned about Land Expropriation
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Boulder JCC’s Milk and Honey Farm Receives Coveted National PJ Library Grant
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A Tu B’Shevat Question: Do We Care Enough About Mother Earth?
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Raising organic fowl isn’t a task for the chickenhearted
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‘Shtetl Skills’ Workshop Series Blends Farming, Jewish Knowledge
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Forget the Jewish American Princess: Here come the Jewish American Farmgirls
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Synagogues bet the farm on community-grown organic gardens
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A new generation of Jewish farmers sees a fertile future in South Jersey
"Nate Kleinman, aka “Farmer Nate,” stands straw-hatted under the fierce sun at an experimental growing field in Salem County..."
Chicago Synagogue's Urban Garden Thrives, Feeding Thousands
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How A Mississippi Farmer Got Me Thinking About Eco-Kashrut
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Meet The Jewish Corn Farmers of Iowa
"If you drive south on Iowa’s County Road K42 off Highway 20 and look to your right just before you get to 190th, you’ll see cornstalks at the corners of the field... That’s my land..."
Farmers On Mission To Return 'Old Testament Sheep' To Holy Land
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A Jewish Farmers Movement: Revolutionary or Ridiculous?
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Jews and Farming, Pt 1
"In Biblical times, the Jews were shepherds. To be a farmer was a curse, as embodied in the story of Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam and Eve. Abel was a shepherd; his murderous older brother was a crop farmer..."
Entre-Manure Farmer D Talks Compost, Agrihoods, and Citizen Farming
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Church, Synagogue Gardens: Congregations Tend The Soil And The Soul With Community Gardening
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