Download Chapter 6 of the Food Guide.

The increasing popularity of Jewish gardens and CSA projects make it even easier to bring healthy food and awareness of local food and farming issues to your synagogue. Hazon’s food work began with the launch of the first ever Jewish CSA in 2004. Since then, the Hazon CSA program has expanded to include 57 sites across the US, Canada, and Israel. We’ve seen firsthand how a CSA can bring a community together, inspire new programs and learning, and have a very real effect on supporting sustainable agriculture. Collectively, Hazon CSAs have put nearly $5 million in Jewish purchasing power behind sustainable agriculture since 2004.

If you want to go beyond CSA, what better place to learn about the miracles of growing food than in a garden where you can actually watch the process happen? People of all ages can learn something new in a garden, finding joy and intriguing in the unfolding drama of growing plants. A garden at your institution can connect your community to the growing cycle. It can also, if it’s big enough, grow enough food to feed you, or perhaps even supply a soup kitchen in your area. And it can become a living laboratory where you can learn about Jewish agricultural laws and food blessings with an entirely fresh perspective.

This section uses material from the Jewish Farm School’s Jewish Gardening Workshop from June 2009.

In this chapter:

• Host a Hazon CSA
• Host a Farmers’ Market
• Start a Jewish Garden
• Themes for your Jewish Garden
• A Year in the Life of a Jewish Garden

Download Chapter 6 of the Food Guide.