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COURTESY TAMARACK CAMPS
Got
Chickens?
Welcome to Farber Farm, celebrating Jewish roots and
inspiring kids to eat more veggies at Tamarack Camps.
VIVIAN HENOCH SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
VIVIAN HENOCH
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ABOVE: David, Jeffrey and Nanci Farber build stepping
stones in the Farber Farm Pavilion on ribbon-cutting day.
TOP: Farber Farm at Camp Maas in Ortonville.
Upcoming Events
Sunday, Sept. 30: Fall Fest at Farber
Farm from 1-4 p.m. at Tamarack Camps
in Ortonville. It will include a farmers’
market, a Sukkot celebration, food and fun
for the whole family. For more information,
call Lori Davidson-Mertz at (248) 952-9105
or email lmertz@tamarackcamps.com
Oct. 11-14: The JOFEE Network Gathering
will be held at Tamarack Camps. Generous
scholarships are available. All who work
with youth and teens are encouraged to
attend. For more information, visit
hazon.org/jofee/network-gathering.
o you believe in miracles?
Come, plant the seeds of
change in the landscape of
Camp Maas and watch it grow in
23 acres earmarked for develop-
ment in the new Farber Farm …
A first of its kind in Michigan,
Tamarack Camps’ Farber Farm is
conceived as a model for educa-
tional farm-based programming
for more than 1,000 campers dur-
ing the summer months and up to
10,000 visitors each year. With an
initial investment of $2 million in
“seed” money from the Farber fam-
ily, this project was launched and
completed in time for Tamarack
Camps’ first session of its 2018
season.
WONDER OF WONDERS
Imagine: Kids now coming to the
farm and learning to love eating
vegetables … learning to explore
and tend to the garden in all its
variety, learning to dig into their
Jewish roots to gain a deeper
understanding of the cycles of life
and growth in the natural world.
It’s all part of Tamarack Camps’
master plan for a greener, more
hands-on, more sustainable and
more eco-conscious Jewish camp-
ing experience. With the develop-
ment of Farber Farm, Tamarack
lays the groundwork for a broad
range of Earth-based educational
programming in partnership
with Hazon Detroit and the JOFEE
(Jewish Outdoor, Food, Farming
and Environmental Education)
program.
“We’re proud to have joined the
ranks of the Jewish farming move-
ment and open a transformative
space to benefit our campers and
our community,” said Tamarack
CEO Steve Engel.
Commenting on the partner-
ship with Tamarack Camps, Sue
Salinger, managing director of
Hazon Detroit, said, “The level of
support the Metro Detroit Jewish
community has provided is unique
in the country and represents a
real commitment to sustainability.
“We’re grateful to have been part
of the planning process, and we
look forward to bringing the 2018
National JOFEE Network Gathering
of more than 250 JOFEE leaders to
Tamarack to introduce them to the
Farber Farm and to share learning
across the JOFEE field.”
HERE’S TO LIFE!
Take a tour of the Farber Farm
and the word “Eden” may come
to mind. The landscaping, the
abundance of vegetables and the
garden beds in full bloom are
beautiful. By design, the work has
been an inspired collaboration
between local landscape architect
Rick Parker, Daron Joffe (known as
“Farmer D” from California) and
Tamarack Camps’ own farmer-in-
residence, Alex Rosenberg, along
with farming program director
Jessica Wolfe.
“We started the gardens at the
farm from a mud pit on May 25,”
Rosenberg said. “But we had an
awesome team of contractors,
builders and groundskeepers — so
many hands and hearts working in
full support of the project to bring
the farm to life. Now, in our very
first season, we have a harvest of
cucumbers, beets, summer carrots,
broccoli, cabbage, potatoes, green
beans, kale, ground cherries (a
sweet tomato variety), leeks, corn
and celery — along with plenty of
protective border flowers.”
Farber Farm uses what
Rosenberg refers to as an “inte-
grated bio-intensive” approach to
farming — in other words, lots of
crops are grown together in a small
space and rotated to benefit the
soil. The method is regenerative,
so that micro-organisms can thrive
underneath the planting and in the
soil. “There weren’t a lot of birds
out here last year,” Rosenberg said.
“Now there are birds and bees and
butterflies everywhere. Life wants
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September 20 • 2018
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