Jewish Farmer Network

10/14/2026

As we enter the Hebrew month of Cheshvan, we settle into the quiet that follows the fullness of Tishrei. Sometimes called Marcheshvan, or “bitter Cheshvan,” this month arrives without the holidays, festivals, and celebrations that filled the weeks before it.

For farmers, it’s a season of planting garlic, gathering seeds, curing storage crops, and tucking our farms in for a winter of dreaming. 🌱🍂

The slower pace can be a welcome relief, but for those farming in rural places, it can also mean a return to solitude. Luckily, we have something sweet to look forward to! 🍯

Over the coming weeks, we’re gathering for FOUR Farmer-to-Table Shabbat dinners across the country, bringing Jewish farmers together around tables filled with good food, meaningful ritual, and the warmth of community.

What better way to sweeten the bitterness of Cheshvan than by breaking bread with fellow farmers? 🍞

Join us at a table near you, and carry a little sweetness into the quieter months ahead. 💛

🔗 Find a dinner near you at the link in our bio!

10/01/2026

🧄 Introducing Garlic of the Jewish Diaspora! 🧄

For 2,000 years, garlic has been a potent part of Jewish foodways—so much so that for better or worse, Jews were once known as “the garlic eaters.”

Unlike most crops, garlic is generally propagated by planting cloves from the previous year’s harvest, creating genetically identical clones. That means a garlic variety carried and cultivated in a particular place can connect us, quite literally, to generations of growers who came before us.

That possibility inspired Garlic of the Jewish Diaspora: an evolving project to grow, gather, and share garlic varieties connected to places around the world where Jewish communities have historically lived and farmed.

🌱 And now, you can grow them too.

For our first year, we’re offering two limited seed garlic packs:
🧄 Ashkenazi 3-Pack — three varieties selected from our Polish, Czech, Russian, and Ukrainian/Italian garlics.

🧄 Diaspora Mystery 4-Pack — four varieties selected from the seven we’re currently growing: Greek Silverskin, Russian Giant, Polish White, Vekan Czech, Moroccan Creole, Donasti Spain, and Ukrainian/Italian Rocambole.

This first collection represents only a fraction of the Jewish diaspora and currently skews toward Ashkenazi cultivars. This is a beginning. Next year, we’ll expand the project with garlics from Georgia, Persia, Syria, and Uzbekistan.

Plant them this fall. Harvest them next summer. Save some cloves to plant again. Cook with them, share them, and become part of their continuing story.

✨ Garlic packs are available now in the Jewish Farmer Network shop. Quantities are limited!

And if you grow a garlic cultivar connected to another place in the Jewish diaspora—or have a family garlic story or garlic-forward recipe—we want to hear from you. 🧄

09/29/2026

🌱 North Carolina Jewish farmers — join us for Shabbat!

We’re gathering in Pleasant Garden, NC on Friday, October 30 at 5:30pm for a special Farmer-to-Table Shabbat dinner, happening alongside the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association’s 2026 Sustainable Agriculture Conference!

Come close out the week around the table with fellow Jewish farmers, good food, and a little Shabbat rest. We’ll slow down, connect, and share rituals—some traditional, some lovingly made up. ✨🌾

🥕 Friday, October 30 | 5:30pm

📍 Pleasant Garden, NC — exact location shared with registrants

🫶 Open to Jewish farmers (who are welcome to bring guests)

🎟 Sliding scale starting at just $7

You do not need to be attending the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association conference to join us for dinner!

Come hungry, bring a friend, and spend Shabbat with Jewish farmers from across the Carolinas and beyond. 💛

🔗 Register at the link in bio!

09/24/2026

Before we shake the lulav this Sukkot, let’s take a moment to honor the date palm 🌴✨

‎תמר | Tamar | Date

Our tradition teaches that “the righteous shall flourish like the palm tree.”

The rabbis marveled that no part of the date palm goes to waste: its fruit feeds us, its branches become ritual objects, its fronds roof the sukkah, and its fibers and leaves become useful materials.

And so, they taught: just as no part of the palm is without purpose, no one is without worth.

This Sukkot, as we gather the four species and raise the lulav, may we remember the remarkable tree it comes from—and the wisdom our ancestors found growing in its branches. 🌴

Chag Sukkot Sameach from Jewish Farmer Network! 🍋🌿🌾

Art by @

‎ כְּתִיב ’צַדִּיק כַּתָּמָר יִפְרָח׳ (תהלים צב:יג)... מַה תְּמָרָה זוֹ אֵין בָּהּ פְּסוֹלֶת אֶלָּא תְּמָרִים לַאֲכִילָה, לוּלָבִין לְהִלּוּל, חֲרָיוֹת לְסִכּוּךְ, סִיבִים לַחֲבָלִים, סַנְסַנִּים לַכְּבָרָה, שִׁפְעַת קוֹרוֹת לְקָרוֹת בָּהֶן אֶת הַבַּיִת.כָּךְ הֵם יִשְׂרָאֵל אֵין בָּהֶם פְּסֹלֶת אֶלָּא מֵהֶם בַּעֲלֵי מִקְרָא, מֵהֶם בַּעֲלֵי מִשְׁנָה, מֵהֶם בַּעֲלֵי אַגָּדָה, מֵהֶם בַּעֲלֵי מִצְווֹת, מֵהֶם בַּעֲלֵי צְדָקוֹת וְכָל הָעִנְיָן.

‎במדבר רבה ג:א

It is written: ‘’The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree” (Ps. 92:13)... For no part of the palm tree goes to waste - dates for food, branches to wave for prayers of praise, fronds to roof the sukkah, fibers to make rope, leaves for baskets, planed boards for ceilings of houses. So too among the people, no one is without worth. Some are masters in Tanakh, others in Mishnah, others in stories, some in mitzvot, others in justice, and so on.

Bamidbar Rabbah 3:1

09/16/2026

Join us in Swanton, Vermont on Friday, October 16 for a Farmer-to-Table Shabbat at Bondegaard ✨

Come by 5:45pm for a farm tour, then settle in for an evening of good food, Shabbat, and time with fellow Jewish farmers.

Shabbat is the original farmer’s “reset button”—a chance to put down the work for a little while, gather around the table, and nourish ourselves with food and company. We’ll share rituals—some traditional, some lovingly made up—and celebrate Shabbat together. No experience necessary.

🐑 Our hosts at Bondegaard (better known as “the Klein Family in Swanton”) focus their farm on research, community engagement, and getting animals out onto the land.

🌱 Open to Jewish farmers, their friends & family

💛 Sliding scale starting at $7

📍 Swanton, VT — exact location shared with registrants

Come hungry, bring a friend, and spend Shabbat with us. 🌾🕯️

Register at the link in bio!

09/11/2026

Tishrei is here (tonight).🍎🌾

For farmers, this season of harvest, transition, and return can feel especially tangible. The days are getting shorter, the fields are changing, and we’re gathering what we’ve grown while preparing for what comes next.

Sukkot reminds us that the harvest is never ours alone. Sun, rain, soil, pollinators, animals, neighbors, and countless other forces all have a hand in what eventually makes its way to our tables.

As we enter this new year, may we find moments to pause and take stock, gratitude in the midst of the work, nourishment in community, and space to imagine what we want to grow in the year ahead.

Shanah tovah from Jewish Farmer Network. 🍯🌱
Wishing you all sweet renewal this season!

09/09/2026

🌾 Shabbat on the farm, during Sukkot. What could be better?

Illinois Jewish farmers are invited to a special Farmer-to-Table Shabbat dinner at the Institute of Soil & Soul in Long Grove, IL, on Friday, October 2 at 6:30pm. Come early for a farm tour!

Shabbat is the original farmer’s “reset button”—an invitation to slow down, connect, and nourish ourselves with good food and company. We’ll gather with fellow Jewish farmers, share a meal, and dive into rituals, some traditional and some lovingly made up. No experience necessary.

🍂 Friday, October 2 | 6:30pm
📍 Long Grove, IL
💛 Sliding scale starts at $7. Any amount above that helps make these dinners vibrant and abundant.

This dinner is open only to Jewish farmers, their friends, and family.

We’re grateful to gather at the Institute of Soil & Soul, where Gabriel Gould and his team are cultivating a regenerative farm and educational center rooted in Jewish agricultural wisdom, environmental stewardship, and community.


Register through the link in our bio! 🌱

09/06/2026

08/28/2026

https://forward.com/news/847058/jewish-farmers-planted-ancient-seed/

We are so honored to have the story of our seed project highlighted by The Forward! Grateful to the Hudson Valley Farm Hub, Noah Weinberg, Experimental Farm Network, Lehrhaus, our growers, and the seeds!

After six years of cultivation and research, an ancient melon cited in the Torah and Talmud is sprouting in diaspora gardens across the U.S.

08/20/2026

We’re so excited to introduce Noaam of Mud Nap Farm

Mud Nap Farm is a quarter acre vegetable farm in Austin, TX who mostly shares their veggies with their CSA members. They specialize in growing a diverse bunch of vegetables to share with their community. Using organic and regenerative practices their food is nutrient dense and grown with love.

“It is so fulfilling to have a job where I can see the direct impact of my work in my community. Sharing food that ends up on family tables for holiday meals or nourishes a friend throughout the week is a true gift. There is nothing like the childlike wonder that is brought out by watching a seed transform into food!”