About Us
Our name Adamama is a play on “Mother Earth” drawn from the Hebrew word for Earth - “Adama” and the word Mama.
Through engaged sustainability practices and ancient traditions we aim to cultivate a community of people passionate about growing food and living a sustainable life.
Our diverse crop of programs appeals to a wide variety of people. We run playgroups, school excursions, working bees, courses, private workshops and community events. We look forward to seeing you at Adamama!
History
The trip to Hazon’s Isabella Freedman Retreat Centre was galvanising. Mitch and Alon learnt about the world of JOFEE (Jewish Outdoor Food, Farming & Environmental Education) and were inspired by the meaningful work Hazon is doing in the U.S. After returning to Australia, Mitch started to map what these ideas could look like in the Sydney community.
He returned to the US to participate in the life-changing 4-month Adamah Fellowship integrating organic agriculture, farm-to-table living, Jewish learning, community building, social justice and spiritual practice. It was here that his knowledge, passion and vision started to take flight.
On his return, Mitch broke ground on a small patch of weedy grassy land filled with tennis balls and empty chip packets behind the courts of White City. A few volunteers came down with a lawn mower and whipper snipper and Adamama was born. Before we knew it, we were running weekly working bees and our corn, cucumbers and radishes were germinating.
Adamama enjoyed a productive two years where we organically developed the land and our communal offerings. More and more people became interested in our work. Schools began approaching us, so we developed student programs and excursions. Beekeeper interest led to Adamama hives and honey, and when it was time to grow cucumbers again, we knew we had to teach people how to pickle and sell them.
Just as our crops and programs continued to grow, so did our team. Wendy came on board to launch Adamama Jnr, a unique outdoor playgroup for younger children combined with preschool excursions. Coming off the success of this and higher demand of school engagement, Ra and then Gadia joined the team as our outdoor educator.
Our Team
Wendy Dolowitz
Adamama Jnr Manager and
Mud Kitchen Sou-Chef
Wendy is our playgroup co-ordinator and brings a wealth of experience working with young children and families. She is passionate about taking the children on a journey of discovery and supporting their learning by creating open-ended, hands-on nature experiences that encourage exploration each session in addition to providing lots of opportunity for play.
Elik Rotenberg
Program educator and Farm to Table Manager
Elik grew up in Israel and has a worked as an informal educator for many years, most recently as the coordinator of Hatzofim, the Israeli Scouts in Sydney. Elik is passionate about teaching outdoors and believes that hands-on learning in nature can be a transformative experience for people of all ages.... and a whole lot of fun! He is happiest when getting his hands muddy and boots dirty and loves cooking the food that he has grown.
