Isabella Freedman

The Adamah Farm

10 acres of fields, orchards, and pasture in Falls Village, CT.

Our diversified, regenerative farm includes rows of vegetables, agroforestry, pasture, compost production, and a mix of perennials
  • Guests at Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center get to eat our fresh produce, tour the fields, and meet the animals
  • Fellows in the Adamah Farm Fellowship build community among the seedlings, fruit trees, chicken flock, and even the weeds.
  • Members of the Farm CSA in Northwest Connecticut enjoy a fresh share of the harvest from June through November
  • The Food Access Fund allows us to grow fresh produce for those experiencing food insecurity.

Farming Practices

The abundance and health of our harvests are interdependent with the abundance and health of the many diverse species on Beebe Hill; from the billions of microbes in the soil to the red-tailed hawks overhead.

We farm for soil health, for carbon storage in the ground, for beneficial insects, and for nutrient density. We farm with reverence for the wisdom of our Jewish ancestors, the Mahican people on whose unceded land we farm, and all the brilliant contemporary farmers in our region and beyond who have developed nonexploitive methods of feeding our communities. 

We are certified organic but we go beyond the regulations to achieve regeneration of the soil and landscape. We are enrolled in the USDA’s Conservation Stewardship Program, have completed multiple conservation projects with the National Resource Conservation Service, and we have an active project under the USDA’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program. Indicators of a healthy ecosystem have increased steadily on our farm over time including wildlife diversity, soil organic matter, and the vibrance of our Adamah community on the land.

Learn more about our faming practices below and/or in this blog post



Vegetable Farm
Perennial Plantings
Chestnut Orchard and Silvopasture
Homemade Compost

Each day, we compost over 100 pounds of food scraps from the retreat center dining hall. Our compost pile feeds our flock of 50 laying hens and is used to feed the soil on our vegetable farm. Learn more about our compost yard here.

Educational Dairy

Our herd of 6 dairy goats is used to teach cheesemaking and feed the Isabella Freedman community. We do educational kosher slaughter (Shechitah) and make parchment (klaf) from goat skins.

Value Added Products

We preserve some harvest and use the ancient art of lacto fermentation- a pickling method that simply uses salt. Our certified organic sauerkraut is alive & probiotic, and we make syrup from our own maple trees.


Food Access Fund

Everyone has a right to fresh healthy food but wealth inequality often makes freshness inaccessible to families struggling to pay bills. Food pantries are in desperate need of fresh produce donations.

With the generous support of individuals and foundations including the Northwest Connecticut Community Foundation and Berkshire Taconic, we are able to grow fresh produce for those experiencing food insecurity. We work with the Corner Food Pantry in Salisbury, Friendly Hands Food Pantry in Torrington, Tuscan Brotherhood Homes in Hartford, and Vecinos Seguros in Lime Rock.

Until our society reforms the food system via policies that make regenerative farming more economically viable, our farming techniques simply yield higher-priced food than that harvested on farms who are not paying for externalities like polluted rivers and wells, worker exposure to toxins, and soil erosion.

We see the Food Access Fund as a critical part of building resilient food economies. Our approach to growing food is regenerative, community-based, accountable for the health of our soil and ecosystem, and nutrient-dense.

Creative solutions like Adamah’s Food Access Fund make the harvests from regenerative, community-based, ecologically-friendly farms accessible to everyone while maintaining farm economic viability.  

Adamah Farm Staff

Shamu Sadeh

Shamu Sadeh

Managing Director of Education

Shamu is the co-founder of the Adamah Farm and Fellowship and has been taking people into the woods (Yeah Teva!) and on to the farm for 30 years. He loves leading morning prayers around the fire and schlepping goat fencing, mulch, or compost!

shamu.sadeh@adamah.org

860.816.8973

Isabella Freedman

Janna Siller

Janna Siller

Farm Director and Advocacy Coordinator

Janna leads the Adamah Farm crew in growing organic vegetables; teaches skills and food system context; and generates Jewish grassroots food advocacy opportunities. Physical work in the soil inspires her approach as a farmer, educator, and advocate.

janna.siller@adamah.org

860.816.8975

Isabella Freedman

Carly Sugar

Carly Sugar

Program Development and Education Specialist

After four years of directing Adamah’s Jewish Farming Fellowship, Carly has returned home and will be working with the Detroit team to facilitate meaningful food, garden and environmental programming.

carly.sugar@adamah.org

248.636.2729

Detroit, MI

Luna Manela

Adamah Farm Fellowship Director

After working with the Adamah Farm Fellowship as a farm apprentice for two years, Luna is honored to be back! Chances are you’ll find her singing around a campfire, creating shtick, or marveling at the natural world’s many wonders.

luna.manela@adamah.org

860.318.7412

Isabella Freedman

Adamah Farm Land Acknowledgement

As we gather in community, we acknowledge that the Adamah Farm is on unceded Mohican land.

The systems of oppression that annihilated and displaced Indigenous Peoples ring familiar to us as Jews in diaspora, as does the modern Indigenous movement to maintain cultural and spiritual practices.

Essential questions about what it means to be Jewish farmers on stolen land abound and we invite each of you to join us in engaging the difficult questions.

As a step toward decolonization and reconciliation, we honor the Indigenous People who have been on this land for thousands of years. We also redistribute a portion of our funds to the Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust.

What traditional territory do you live on?

Learn more about the Indigenous tribal boundaries of where you live.

Native Land Digital
860.824.5991 | freedman@adamah.org
116 Johnson Rd, Falls Village, CT 06031