About Us:
Adamama is Australia’s first ever Educational Urban Farm, inspired by Jewish values of healing the world and nurturing community. We run our programs out of the Randwick Sustainability Hub, a beautiful space that includes a permaculture veggie garden, food forest, native bush tucker garden and more.
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 school excursions, early childhood incursions and excursions, working bees, courses, eco workshops and community events. We look forward to seeing you at Adamama!
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 school excursions, early childhood incursions and excursions, working bees, courses, eco workshops and community events. We look forward to seeing you at Adamama!
History
Adamama was founded in 2019 as a pilot program of Shalom after a trip to the US-based Hazon’s Isabella Freedman Retreat Centre and exposure to JOFEE (Jewish Outdoor Food, Farming & Environmental Education). Mitch Burnie, Adamama’s founder and first Program Director, participated in the Adamah Fellowship in the US integrating organic agriculture, farm-to-table living, Jewish learning, community building, social justice, and spiritual practice.
Supported by the JCA, Adamama, the first Urban Jewish Educational Farm in Australia, germinated from an idea to a working farm at White City. With the development of the Hakoah Club, Adamama searched for greener pastures, and finding them at the Randwick Sustainability Hub, a partnership with Randwick Council was established.
Now guided by Elik Rotenberg, who embodies the spirit of outdoor education, Adamama’s team is responsible for exciting community-building projects from small courses to large-scale events. Offerings include permabees, school and preschool excursions, gardening and a range of hands-on eco workshops. Large-scale events include SuccahFest and in 2022 Sydney’s First Jewish Food and Farm Festival. In 2023 Adamama launched the Adamama Community Garden Project. This initiative provides free 3m garden beds for 25 young people aged 20-35. They learn hands-on skills in the basics of organic gardening (including propagation, soil quality, permaculture, seed saving and more). They are not only growing their own organic food locally, but they are also part of a thriving young Jewish community.
Adamama continues to be a source of inspiration to both the Jewish and general community, nurturing the growth of individuals, communities, and crops through sustainability programs and experiences.
Join us as our journey continues…..
Our Team
Elik Rotenberg
Adamama Farm Program 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.
Contact us
Address
Randwick Sustainability Hub
27 Munda Street,
Randwick, 2031 Australia
Adamama
Elik Rotenberg
Phone : 9381 4000
Email: elik@shalom.edu.au
