The Adamah Farm

We host our programs on 10 acres of farm fields, orchards, and pasture in Falls Village, CT.

Our diversified, regenerative farm includes rows of vegetables, agroforestry, pasture, compost production, and a mix of perennials in Falls Village, Connecticut.

Farming Practices

The abundance and health of our harvests are interdependent with the abundance and health of the many diverse species on Beebe Hill; from the billions of microbes in the soil to the red tailed hawks overhead. We farm for soil health, for carbon storage in the ground, for beneficial insects, and for nutrient density in the crops. We farm with reverence for the wisdom of our Jewish ancestors, the Mahican people on whose unceded land we farm, and all of the brilliant contemporary, and farmers in our region and beyond who have developed farming nonexploitive methods of feeding our communities. 

We are enrolled in the USDA’s Conservation Stewardship Program and have completed multiple conservation projects with the National Resource Conservation Service and the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education project. 

VEGETABLE FARM Our vegetable farm is certified organic, which is a legal definition proving that we use zero manufactured chemicals or fertilizers. We also go beyond the requirements of certification with practices that include low-till and no-till bed prep, crop rotation, cover cropping, on-farm composting, drip irrigation, maintaining habitat for pollinators, rotational grazing, and growing a diverse mix of perennials and annuals.  

All produce from our three acre vegetable farm feeds our local community via the retreat center kitchen here at Isabella Freedman, Falls Village CSA members local food pantries and other emergency food distribution programs, and value added product sales. 

BEDDING PLANTS: Our seedlings are certified organic and the highest quality imaginable. We take preorders of $200 or more. Contact janna.siller@hazon.org to learn more.  

PERENNIAL PLANTINGS: We maintain a diverse landscape of plants that reach deep into the soil and hold it in place each year. We grow blueberries, currants, and raspberries for making into jam and smaller plantings (just for educational purposes and ecosystem services) of strawberries, hazelnuts, hardy kiwi, grapes, echinacea, yarrow, gooseberries, fruit trees, elderberry, aronia berry, sugar maples, and more. 

CHESTNUT ORCHARD and SILVOPASTURE: In 2021 we planted more than 200 chestnut trees in order to grow roots, diversity and food for the long-term future. Goddess willing these trees will start to bear chestnuts in 2025 or so. We use our boy goats and sheep to fertilize the trees, reduce competition from other plants for the chestnuts, and make meat and parchment from their skins. 

VALUE ADDED PRODUCTS: Each season, we preserve some of the harvest in our commercial kitchen. We use the ancient art of lacto fermentation- a pickling method that simply uses salt. Our certified organic sauerkraut is alive and probiotic. We also make syrup from the beloved maple trees that line the roads along the farm. 

EDUCATIONAL DAIRY: Our herd of 6 dairy goats is used to teach cheesemaking and feed the Isabella Freedman community. We do educational kosher slaughter (Shechitah) and make parchment (klaf) from goat skins.

HOMEMADE COMPOST FOR OUR FIELDS: Each day, we compost over 100 pounds of food scraps from the retreat center dining hall. Our compost pile feeds our flock of 50 laying hens and is used to feed the soil on our vegetable farm.

Why the Food Access Fund Model?

With the generous support of individuals and foundations, we are able to grow fresh produce for those experiencing food insecurity. We work with the Corner Food Pantry in Salisbury, Friendly Hands Food Pantry in Torrington, Tuscan Brotherhood Homes in Hartford, and Vecinos Seguros in Lime Rock.

We are grateful to the Northwest Connecticut Community Foundation and Berkshire Taconic for the support of our Food Access Fund.

We see the Food Access Fund as a critical part of building resilient food economies. Our approach to growing food is regenerative, community-based, accountable for the health of our soil and ecosystem, and nutrient-dense. Until our society reforms the food system via policies that make regenerative farming more economically viable, our farming techniques simply yield higher-priced food than that harvested on farms who are not paying for externalities like polluted rivers and wells, worker exposure to toxins, and soil erosion. Creative solutions like Adamah’s Food Access Fund make the harvests from regenerative, community-based, ecologically-friendly farms accessible to everyone while maintaining farm economic viability.  

Adamah Land Acknowledgement

As we gather in community, we acknowledge that the Adamah farm is on unceded Mahican land. The systems of oppression that annihilated and displaced Indigenous Peoples ring familiar to us as Jews in diaspora, as does the modern Indigenous movement to maintain cultural and spiritual practices. 

Essential questions about what it means to be Jewish farmers on stolen land abound and we invite each of you to join us in engaging the difficult questions. As a step toward decolonization and reconciliation, we honor the Indigenous People who have been on this land for thousands of years. We also redistribute a portion of our funds to the Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust. 

Learn more about the Indigenous tribal boundaries of where you live:  https://native-land.ca