A Whirlwind Week!

November 8, 2011 at 8:30 am | Posted in adamahniks, alumni, community, food | Leave a comment

Last weekend, Adamah made a journey to Boston. We left the beauty and peace of a rural farming life, and plunged into the city. We met hard-working, compassionate people addressing social injustice through agriculture. I was humbled, excited and honored to witness how so many have actualized such thoughtful visions of a new way to live in this world.

I have recently been thinking about my relationship to cities, as I’ve lived most of my life in cities namely Vancouver, BC and Berkeley, CA. Despite my many qualms with cities: individualism, isolation, commercialism, this trip reminded me of a very important truth. It is always possible to carry values of kindness, compassion in your heart wherever you go. I was so happily surprised to find that the sweetness and love I’ve been internally cultivating at Adamah is portable. I feel empowered, relieved and excited that I can carry these intentions with me in my pursuit to actualize similar social justice projects in cities.

We stayed at the houses of Adamah alumni, and I was once again floored by the unconditional generosity and kindness extended to us.

When we returned back to Isabella Freedman, a storm was already underway, and we arrived to find that many trees had fallen, breaking power lines. For the past week, we have lived all together in IF’s main building. Sleeping close to stay warm, sitting up late, singing, appreciating each other and the generosity of all the IF staff.

I’ve been very touched by how well people have adapted. Pickles, cheeses, and yogurts found new temporary homes, and we successfully harvested a bountiful crop for our West Hartford CSA. I am so impressed and grateful for this community. Despite countless hassles and mini-disasters, we all pulled through, culminating in a Shabbat completely in the dark.

As unsettling and unstable the week was, we found comfort and grounding in each others and ourselves. It comes to show that when things become out of our control, we shouldn’t resist, but renew our energy towards appreciating the constant forces that nurture us.

– Submitted by Jordan Kahn Tietz, Fall 2011

Suddenly Sauer!

March 24, 2010 at 2:22 pm | Posted in alumni, pickles | Leave a comment

I was just alerted to the wonderful new blog by Blair Nosan (Adamah Summer 2008, Pickle Apprentice) wherein she recounts her fermentation foibles and culinary adventures, along with stunning photography.

A little exerpt:

I let both bottles ferment for 9 days in a dark cabinet, then I refrigerated them.  When I finally popped the cap on the large bottle last night, I was shocked and delighted to watch detachedly as the brew explode up and out of the bottle, champagne like, drenching my cloths, my ceiling, my floor, and even some of my house guests.  The flavor was pretty uniformly deemed delicious, but interestingly, the two different bottles had very different flavors.  The uber carbonated glass bottle was much more acidic, more earthy (strongly celery), with less sweetness and less grapefruit flavor, while the ceramic jug had more of the flavor I was expecting the get out of the brew: sweet, sour, bitter, and salty.

I now need to figure out why two bottles poured from a uniform mix, underwent different fermentation processes.  any suggestions/thoughts are welcome.  In the mean time, I’ll keep experimenting.  And for the record… celery grapefruit soda definitely made a splash.

Check her out in the original: Suddenly Sauer: Preserving Food and Tradition in a Modern World

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