Taking the plunge into a home garden is an exciting and meaningful project that a family can undertake together.
Gardening can also be a powerful way to share your Jewish values - whether through composting to reduce food waste, while tending your garden, donating the food you grow, or promoting the growth of pollinators.
We hope home gardeners can be inspired by some of the incredible community initiatives taken by the more than 80 members of the Hazon Label for Sustainability. This is a 12 month program in support of organizations and communities working to create a healthier, more equitable, and more sustainable world for all.
“Our greatest impact on the community has been our extensive composting campaign,” said Rabbi Anna Levin Rosen of the University of Chicago Hillel. In partnership with student leaders and with support from environmental organizations on campus, Levin Rosen had examined the University of Chicago Hillel’s entire ecological footprint and worked together to develop a new approach.
“We started to only buy sustainable and compostable paper goods and also to compost all of our food waste,” said Levin Rosen. “Our partnership with Healthy Soil Compost allowed us to compost 5-6 full 35-gallon containers of leftover food every week along with plates and utensils that would otherwise have been landfilled.”
UC Hillel also volunteered as a location on campus for students to bring compost out of their homes.
The Lombard Congregation Etz Chaim from DuPage County started a Victory Garden project with 30 families. The community sends seeds to their families to plant in their home gardens. Once the harvest is ready, half of the harvested produce will be donated to local food banks.
“In the Torah we are told to feed the hungry by not harvesting at the edge of our fields and leaving the gleanings to the poor,” said Mary Hason, a member of the Etz Chaim Green team. “With our vegetable gardens, we’re going one step further by harvesting the produce and sharing half of it with local food banks so they can have fresh vegetables.”
Just as there are small free libraries in the Chicago neighborhoods, there are also small free pantries where fresh produce is welcome.
In New York, the Woodstock Jewish Congregation joined a local project to encourage the cultivation of native plants in their gardens. It is part of the Woodstock NY Pollinator Pathway, a larger initiative to create a corridor for pollinators in the northeast.
The community is also participating in a joint project with Woodstock Land Conservancy and Woodstock Transition NY that runs an annual film / discussion series about sustainability efforts in their community. This year, some of the events focus on regenerative agriculture, growing your own Victory Garden, and creating edible eco-landscapes in public and private spaces – even along urban roads – that will provide free food to both people and wildlife over time can. Pollinators.
Hazon Seal locations combine Jewish values with substantial measures to promote sustainability and climate-centric goals and are supported every step of the way to support sustainability projects and initiatives like this one to support their communities and create a healthier, more sustainable world.
Tips for getting started with composting in your home garden can be found at epa.gov/recycle/composting-home.
Visit the Hazon website at seal.hazon.org for a variety of curated online resources and to learn more about the growing national network of Hazon Seal websites across the country. Hazon is building a movement that empowers Jewish life and contributes to a greener world for all.
Liana Rothman is the National Program Coordinator for Hazon.
