Hazon Educational Library: Nature and Outdoors

Any Jewish farm, school, community center or garden can use this document to either create a calendar garden with the community or to lead interactive educational programs that situate the holiday and season in Jewish cycles of time. This document gives an overview of the mosaic design process. It does not give detailed instructions for mosaics; seek this out elsewhere if you are not familiar with outdoor mosaics.

This program is an introduction to greening in early childhood classrooms through teaching about the Jewish ritual of havdalah.

This program offers an alternative to a traditional Tisha B?Av program (where participants typically learn about the destruction of the first and second temples). In this program, the instructor uses an age-appropriate book as a jumping off point to teach about an important Jewish figure who was responsible for the construction of the first temple. Hands-on activities then explore the themes in the book and allow participants to discover JOFEE connections and take-aways.

This program uses worms to explore how all of G-d's creatures work together to create a functioning garden/society/world. Participants will get the chance to explore the diverse ecosystem of healthy soil, specifically worms, and how it is because of this diversity that our garden can thrive. Students will also draw connections to their own differences between classmates, other community members, etc to see how all folks have a role to play creating a happy world. Using a simple prayer, participants will be able to connect how a praise to G-d for ?varied creatures? can apply to both humans and animals/insects.

In this session we will connect ecology with the ritual of tashlich. We will look at evidence of this year's drought on the farm and the impact that water deprivation has on the land. Connections will be made between our observations to Jewish text about the cycle of rain as a reflection of our relationship with God. Together, we will create a ritual for internal healing at the bank of Lake Miriam.

Experience Sukkot as a celebration of the seasonal harvest while in an urban setting! Join us on an urban farm in downtown D.C. to celebrate the season's bounty with hands-on workshops and a farm-to-Sukkah feast grounded in the themes of the agricultural harvest festival. We invite you to end your week by taking a pause from the busyness of the city to connect with nature and eat from the harvest at Common Good City Farm. From a pickling lesson to tasting local seasonal ciders, we will come together and celebrate abundance both on the farm and in our lives.

Discussing the four elements - earth, air, water and sun - participants gained a greater understanding of the world they live in. This is a tool to help introduce the days ahead allowing the participants to get excited for what's to come, to be more engaged during the field trip, to connect to nature in their own way.

This program combines a group walk to compost piles, and a look at vermicomposting bins, with a conversation about the Jewish value of distinguishing between rest and work. Participants will engage in text study and discuss the relationship between adding intention to our time with Shabbat, and adding intention to our space with the placement of compost.

This program will help participants develop their ability to be more mindful and aware drawing on Jewish teachings while in nature. Participants will learn how to approach the natural world from a place of curiosity, and awareness helping to improve themselves and the planet.

This program is an introduction to the history and uses of medicinal herbs growing in the Camp Tawonga Garden. Participants will learn about how medicinal herbs connect to self-care and earth-care. Participants will learn about the healing properties of twelve medicinal herbs as well as their cultural and historic uses: Israeli, Mediterranean, Jewish and Native American. Participants will be given the opportunity to and think about what it means to connect both to their herbal heritage as well as the medicinal herbs that grow natively on this land.