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A Typical Day at ADAMAH

6:00-7:00 — Avodat Lev (Service of the Heart)

Avodat Lev brings us together for meditation, chanting, and creative sharing each morning. We begin the day in silent meditation, which is unstructured quiet time. Instruction is available for those unfamiliar with contemplative practice. We then find our collective voice, chanting short phrases from Shacharit (the traditional morning liturgy) to open our hearts to ourselves, each other, our community and the world. Creative sharing time is led by a different member of the community each day. Check out the Avodat Lev CD for a sampling of the beautiful music created by ADAMAHniks.

7:00-8:30 — Breakfast and Chores

We eat breakfast at the ADAMAH House, take a little personal time and then head out to milk goats, water plants and take out the compost.

8:30-12:30 — Avodat Sadeh (Service of the Field)

Fellows typically work in one of following areas:

• The Sadeh: Our stunning four-acre farm along the Hollenbeck River produces over 50 kinds of vegetables, using no synthetic pesticides or fertilizers. Fellows participate in all aspects of vegetable production.
  
  
  
• The Picklearium: Our newly-built commercial kitchen is the home of our lacto-fermented pickle and value-added product business. Fellows make pickles, sauerkraut, jam, and much more!
  
  
  
• The Greenhouse: Fellows assist with seeding and plant propagation in our 28 x 40 foot heated greenhouse.
  
  
  
  
• The ADAMAH Pasture: Goats, chickens and bees. Fellows learn how to care for our animals in ways that reflect our highest Jewish ethics. Our animals provide honey, eggs, milk and cheese for the community.
  
  
  
• The Kaplan Family Farm: Our newly-acquired 15 acres on Beebe Hill will showcase home-scale permaculture gardening and commercial-scale berry production. Fellows will assist in designing, installing and maintaining various projects on this new land.

12:30-1:30 — Lunch in the Dining Hall

We eat most of our meals in the main dining hall at Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center.

2:00-4:00 — Avodat Bayit (Service of the Home)

Each fellow spends no more than ten hours per week contributing to Avodat Bayit (Service at Isabella Freedman). Avodat Bayit includes working in any of the following departments: housekeeping, maintenance, kitchen or office.

4:00-6:00— Work or Limmud (Educational Seminar)

This is structured learning time. Classes are taught by ADAMAH faculty or guest lecturers and take place indoors or in the field. See below for a list of limmud classes taught during 2008.

6:00-7:00 — Dinner in the dining hall

7:30-9:00 — Limmud or Community Meeting

Structured educational programs are offered up to three evenings per week (one evening is free). Community meetings are held once per week. There is also a weekly leadership curriculum, as well as bi-weekly agriculture walks in the sadeh.

*Please note that this is an example of a typical daily schedule. Your actual schedule may differ considerably, depending on the time of year you attend and the faculty. During most mornings and most afternoons, some fellows will work in Avodat Bayit while others work in Avodat Sadeh. Field trips and environmental building projects are also a component of the curriculum.

On average, fellows can expect to spend 26 hours per week in Avodat Sadeh, 10 hours per week in Avodat Bayit, 6 hours per week in Avodat Lev and 8 hours per week in Limmud.

A Taste of Limmud

Here is a list of some of the limmud topics we explored in 2008.

• Environment 101: Greening Freedman
• Sustaining and Liberating Community Norms
• Why Religion and Sustainability
• Transgender Awareness
• Agriculture as a Religious Activity
• Global Climate Change
• Kashrut 101 & 201: What it is and could be
• Pouring Not Spilling Biofuels: Shmaltzatopia
• Introduction to Permaculture
• Work and Shabbat
• Cheese and Yoghurt Making
• Genesis I and II
• Wildcrafting/Plant Medicine
• HolyDays and the Natural Cycles
• Seed Saving for Home Gardeners
• Blessings
• Gilgulim: Composting Talk
• Shmittah
• Introduction to Sustainable Agriculture: The Sadeh Cycle and Plan
• Animals, Sustainability & Tzar Ba’alei Chayim
• Keeping the Harvest: Lacto-fermentation, Canning, Blanching, Freezing and Drying
• The Book of Job and a Jewish Wilderness Ethic
• How to Talk to Uncle Stiffneck
• Understanding Interdependence Day
• Urban Sustainability: Taking it Back to the Cities
• Local Foods
• Shavuot: Going Up the Mountain
• Tisha B’Av
• The Teachings of Rebbe Nachman