My volunteer experience
My name is Sam Fox and I am a compost lovin’, worm kissin’, queer Jewish womxn from California. I feel honored and excited to share my experience at Sadeh to the folks who have discovered or are in the process of discovering this incredible Jewish Community Farm!
When I found out about Sadeh, I was living on a farm in Israel in search of my next move. The universal forces of everything jewish and everything earth-based brought me to England to help steward the magical land-project that is Sadeh. Previous to my nomadic farming adventures, I studied Food Justice and Community Resiliency at the Univ. of Utah under their Environmental and Sustainabilities Department. My love for food growing and land tending was a seed planted by my love, curiosity, and deep reverence for our Home. This seed was further nurtured by my Renewal faith and by programs like the Urban Adamah Fellowship where I wove the connection between earth stewarding and my jewish identity. I needed to be amongst a radical jewish community- folks who could unpack the ancestral wisdom of our people and in turn (quite literally) take to the fields and rejoice in the teachings and applications of inclusive and compassionate faith. I found myself at Sadeh living exactly what I was searching for, a place where I could feel Tikkun Olam in the soil, at the dinner table, and in the hearts of the community.
I came to Sadeh as a long term volunteer and was treated with loads of love. Everyday I was immersed in earth-based learning- from strengthening my food growing knowledge in the vegetable beds to attending an environmental justice lecture at the W. London Synagogue led by a panel of ecologically aware jews-including Sadeh’s one and only Talia Chain! Our jewish holiday celebrations were beautiful occasions of Passover story telling and late night study sessions of Seder Zeraim for Shavuot. I feel incredibly lucky to have spent half of my journey abroad living and loving at Sadeh, this community being the first where I have been able to receive the sweetness of jewish festival alongside a vibrant and diverse eco-community! I felt empowered to be involved in this project. I not only saw my care and hard-work reflected in the plants and people, but also within myself. I took on projects that overwhelmed me and at times was frustrated by community conflict. However, living the challenges that came into being offered personal and community based opportunities for group listening, compassionate communication, conflict resolution, and forward motion. The need for understanding and equity on the farm drives the conversation towards interpersonal AND ecosystem regeneration.
I have a forever home at Sadeh. I realized my blessings in greater detail after I returned home to the States; the magic of the land, wisdom of the people, and their support in my personal growth. Sadeh is a container where everyone is invited to come back to themselves and experience the intersections of faith, farming, and community. These elements and many more are woven into the fabric of Sadeh. I feel deeply grateful for my time in the field and treasured moments with all my beloveds on the farm- knowing that I am braided into that very fabric <3
