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Celebrating the Harvest:Green Apprenticeship Graduates are Leaders of the International Environmental MovementJanuary 2010
Friends of Kibbutz Lotan, 501(c)(3), c/o Kibbutz Lotan
The CfCE faculty set out to empower their students to be agents of change. At the foundation of this is confidence building, and there is immense growth in the short time students are at Lotan.
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In the past year, we have expanded to offer a semester program for university credit based on the Green Apprenticeship, called 
The following pages are a celebration of our graduates, whose lives have been changed by the programs, and who are now making their own impact on the world.
Claire Cohen, Colorado
Claire's business, Nosh (standing for Nourishing, Organic, Sustainable, Human), comes from a fusion of Claire's passions for healthy food and mindful, vegetarian cooking, and her value of sustainable ecological practices. During the Green Apprenticeship, she was able to synthesize all her passions into one holistic philosophy. Before coming to the GA, she was trained at 
Our days of the Green Apprenticeship were spent living Permaculture, investigating its every element, understanding its ethics and principles through study and experiment. As a community, we struggled to work together and triumphed as a team. Nowhere else were my doubts about what was possible to achieve squashed by gleaming accomplishment. Our learning was so reinforced by doing; theory demonstrated by example, questions followed by discovery. 
Hazon seeks to encourage the continuation of such possibility. In 2008, I had the incredible opportunity to attend the 
I led a session called, “
Yoshi Silverstein, Washington
In fall 2009, Yoshi worked as a Jewish environmental educator at the 
Yonah Zur, Israel
Noam Hurvitz-Prinz
Alexa Pinsker, Pennsylvania 
Merav Carmi, Israel; Dalia Bali, Mexico; Maya Baruch, Delaware |
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| Yael | Maya | Dalia | Merav |
Andy Sahn, New York
Sustainable Farm Manager and Activist
Living Routes: Peace, Justice and the Environment Semester, Fall 2008
Andy is using the knowledge and skills he learned at Lotan to play a role in the sustainable farming movement in the United States. He was an apprentice at the Huasna Valley Farm in California, where he learned methods for both ecological and economic sustainability, and helped the farm in its goal to serve as a model for other farms wanting to make the switch towards organic agriculture. The apprentices are given a good deal of responsibility and perform rotations that have them in charge of everything from pest control to harvest management to accounting. "We would discuss soil tests and business plans. This was a very grounding idea and made the experience realistic. It was a great way to see both sides of the sustainability of a farm." 
Andy has been inspired to bring this work back home to Rockland County, New York. He is working with a small CSA farm, Camp Hill Farm, the first and only in Rockland County, and a non-profit activist group called the Rockland Farm Alliance, which was founded by farmers from Camp Hill. 
He has taken on a project all his own, managing their one acre CSA plot. On top of the work of running the small farm, Andy is also involved in political activism and helping getting other plots under way. "My hope is that we can have enough farms around the area to supply a good amount of food to the county and these plots would also act as educational facilities to reconnect people to the land on which they walk. This is just the type of project I was looking for and even better, it is happening in my hometown backyard!
None of this work I am doing could have come about without the help of Kibbutz Lotan. I owe them so much credit and hard work, for the knowledge and experiences that were offered to me while I was enrolled in the Living Routes/GA program. My time at Lotan completely opened my eyes to the reality of the human situation on this planet and offered many solutions to help make our lives, and future generations, more compatible with the world in which we live."
Eden Vardy, Colorado
Permaculture Educator www.re-generation.us
Green Apprenticeship, Spring 2008
Eden Vardy, a 23-year-old who grew up in Aspen, co-founded Aspen T.R.E.E. (Together Regenerating the Environment through Education) with [childhood] friends. The group promotes local, organic food, with an emphasis on educating people on how to turn that vision into reality. Vardy, who studied food systems development at Washington's Evergreen State College and is working on a master's in eco-social design through Gaia University, leads workshops in ecological gardening, and also assists people in creating “home ecological food-producing systems.” He has helped build permaculture projects in Uganda and Mexico, and has plans to establish gardens locally at schools, senior centers and hospitals.
Aspen T.R.E.E. announced its presence a year ago with the inaugural Early Bird Community Meal. The event drew 150 diners, and Vardy used the occasion to demonstrate that the fresh-and-local ethic was possible, and could result in a first-class experience. The cafeteria was decorated; there was table service rather than a buffet; and the food — prepared with support from local restaurants who donated kitchen space and manpower — exceeded people's expectations. Vardy and his crew of 25-plus volunteers is stepping it up this year, as they expect at least 300 diners.
“And this is for everyone. There is the idea that local food is only for the elite. We're showing the availability and the abundance.”
Text and photo courtesy of the article by Stewart Oksenhorn, which appeared on November 24, 2009 in The Aspen Times. To read full article, please go to www.aspentimes.com.
Rachel Vassar, Pennsylvania
Sustainable Urban Planner and Organizer
Green Apprenticeship, Winter 2006
Rachel came to the GA with a degree in visual culture from New York University and an interest in urban planning and green building. The program helped her chart her professional course and left her with a more holistic approach to sustainability. Immediately after leaving Lotan, Rachel worked as the personal assistant to a pair of internationally known green architects. 
She currently works as the local outreach coordinator for PennFuture, an environmental advocacy organization, and co-runs a campaign to shape policy to improve urban sustainability in Philadelphia. Having Lotan as a frame of reference has guided her to seek on the ground/ “get your hands dirty” work and she plans to return to school to study landscape architecture. Rachel’s ultimate goal is to help urban, low-income communities revitalize their neighborhoods by transforming lots into safe and functional places, like urban gardens and pocket parks, inspiring and promoting positive human interaction.
Rachel also founded Moishe House Philadelphia (MHP), and lived there for 2 years. Moishe House is an international organization that provides young Jewish adults with community and programming. Lotan was a big part of her involvement since she learned about it from a fellow GA, and her GA studies provided a lot of the fodder for programming. It was important to her to make environmental education a large part of the activities. MHP ecological programs include an annual Sustainability Sukkot where a home cooked meal is made for 40-50 people with only local and organic ingredients, and local farmers and food advocates are invited to speak. Additionally, they team up with the Jewish Farm School (which Rachel was also indirectly connected to through Lotan) and Mill Creek Farm to plant urban gardens, and participants are taught how the Jewish calendar relates to the agricultural calendar. The residents of MHP also live sustainably to serve as a model for visiting community members by composting, buying food through a CSA, and purchasing 100% wind power for the house's electricity needs. Rachel is proud that the house's focus on sustainability continues, as does her own in her new home.
Sarah Gilberg
Green Non-Profit Accounting Associate
Green Apprenticeship, Spring 2006
Sarah uses what she learned in the Green Apprenticeship every day. She works for two non-profit organizations whose missions align with the principles learned at Lotan: The Institute for Local Self-Reliance emphasizes the use and care of local resources, promoting local economies, renewable energies, and zero-waste initiatives; and the Healthy Building Network promotes environmental health and justice throughout the life cycle of building materials. Sarah studied biology with an ecology focus at Carleton College and is pursuing an MBA from George Washington University. She attends green building conferences and has participated in an Earthship seminar(where earth is pounded in used car tires to create residences) in Jamaica with famed eco-architect Michael Reynolds.
"I think more than anything, the GA has changed my mental framework in just about everything. Four years later, I still literally can no longer flush a toilet or ride in a car or even go grocery shopping without thinking on some level about my impacts and the resources involved, and how the systems at work contribute to or work against a sustainable existence. That thinking feeds little decisions and conversations that help me move toward a zero-waste lifestyle and encourage the same in others."
Isaac Hirt-Manheimer, Connecticut and Ghana
Founder and Director, Sankofa Arts Center www.sankofacenter.net
Green Apprenticeship, Spring 2009
Isaac comes from an engaged Reform family in Ridgefield, Connecticut. For over ten years, he has been going back and forth to Ghana, West Africa, and has become a master at West African drumming and dance. He holds a Masters in World Music from Wesleyan University and is a director and instructor at his family’s conservatory of performing arts, The Enchanted Garden, 
in Connecticut. His current passion project is the construction of the Sankofa Center for African Arts in the village of Kobina Ansa. The center's mission is to preserve and pass on traditional culture, create jobs for villagers, promote Ghanaian unity and create cultural exchange through study-abroad programming. Isaac came to the Green Apprenticeship wanting to integrate permaculture into his design plans, and has returned to Ghana brimming with knowledge and new perspective on building, agriculture, waste management, recycling and community building.
"I realized how disconnected I am from my surroundings. It's hard to be environmental if we’re not aware of the elements that make up the environment. I know now that my original plan to build the Sankofa Center in two months is not wise. The elders of the communities around us hold great wisdom and experience in earth brick building.
This project will now take two years and I know how to use that time to observe and learn from the land and the people.
On a typical day I am working side-by-side with about 45 people from our village. We are molding mud bricks, weaving thatch roofs, planting and harvesting tropical fruit, molding cob dwellings, digging rainwater storage reservoirs, and celebrating."
Galit Dahabani, Israel
Landscape Architectural Entrepreneur www.ginun.org
Green Apprenticeship, Spring 2009
Galit is a resident at Kibbutz Givat Brenner and runs her own landscape architecture business. Prior to coming to Lotan, she strived to live an organic lifestyle and advised people on not using chemicals in their gardens, but she learned in the Green Apprenticeship that she was only touching the tip of the iceberg. She came to the GA with an understanding about the existing water crisis in Israel and a will to learn how it is still possible to benefit from a green and flourishing environment.
She learned about water cycles, use of companion planting, composting, and building with recycled materials. She also learned how to observe her environment, to utilize what exists, not to buy unnecessary materials and not to support policies which perpetuate the wasting of resources. Galit has made a commitment to incorporate this newfound perspective and knowledge into her business. “I now know that in every garden I enter, and begin to plan, I will use the knowledge that I collected at Lotan.”
Josh Tolkan, Minnesota
Development Assistant (AmeriCorps)
Project for Pride in Living
Green Apprenticeship, Spring 2006
Josh completed his undergraduate studies at Carlton College. His goal in coming to the GA was to gain practical training and permaculture methodology as a complement to his academic studies. He went on to receive a Masters in Urban Planning from the University of Minnesota in 2008.
Project for Pride in Living (PPL) is a non-profit, low income housing developer, whose mission is to help low income families achieve self-sufficiency through housing, employment, training, education, and support services. 
Josh first became involved with the organization when he participated in their Roots and Reading program as a volunteer in summer 2009. The objective is to teach kids about their environment, while bringing some fun into their summer reading lessons. The children learn to produce vegetables, fruit and herbs for their favorite dishes, care for their gardens, beautify their neighborhood, work collaboratively, and have a good time! Josh was also involved in lesson planning and leading activities. One particularly well-loved lesson was making seed balls, a technique of encasing seeds in compost and clay, originated in Japan and taught at Lotan.
"This summer has been going really well. In the first part, we planted seeds and seedlings and painted signs for the gardens. We have a three sisters garden (corn, beans and squash), a pizza garden (tomatoes, basil, peppers, onions), a sandwich garden (lettuce, herbs, and yes, watermelon), and a wildflower/butterfly garden. We have gone on field trips to nearby community gardens and also planted flowers and seeds in front of homes and in a nearby vacant lot. I have organized projects for kids at both garden sites. Recently I helped the kids make seed balls and they loved it. I think we will take a walking tour of the neighborhood soon to scatter the seed balls. I also am planning a scavenger hunt of the community garden, which contains my personal garden. Kids will have to identify all the types of vegetables (root, shoot, fruit, flower, stalk, leaf, seed).
Roots and Reading is really fun to be involved in and I look forward to it every week. It also has its challenges as it is a struggle to get the lesson across to the kids sometimes. The large age range means that one group of kids often gets bored or lost. When I am frustrated, I always remember something I learned on Kibbutz Lotan: the most important thing you can teach kids is to love playing in the dirt, and if they have that, they will learn to love nature on their own. While we don’t always get our message across, we do help the kids get messy, and enjoy it!"
More about Roots and Reading: http://rootsnreading.wordpress.com
Download Josh's report on the program at www.kibbutzlotan.com.
Frederick Mbah, Cameroon, West Africa
Agro-Engineer
Green Apprenticeship, Winter 2009
Frederick came to the Green Apprenticeship with a background in agro-engineering, specifically in effective microorganisms (EM). He worked with a company that helps farmers in Cameroon enrich their soil through the use of EM technology. He came to Israel to learn more about sustainable agriculture and to gain the skills he would need to start an ecovillage back in Cameroon. Inspired by everything he learned during the GA and the experience of living in Lotan’s EcoCampus, Frederick has begun the long bureaucratic process of establishing his dream in his home country.
Rachel Sandler, Iowa
University of Iowa, MD/MA Candidate 2011
Green Apprenticeship, Spring 2006
Rachel was active in NFTY during her high school years in the Midwest. Since graduating from the Green Apprenticeship, she has embarked on medical studies, and understanding the great impact doctors can make on the environmental movement, Rachel founded Future Physicians for the Environment at the University of Iowa. She will graduate with both a medical degree and a Master’s in Public Health. She is spending a year in Peru doing sustainable development and public health work. Rachel is also a medical clown, has worked with the renowned social activist and clown, Dr. Patch Adams, and brings joy and healing to sick children all over the world.
“I learned from the GA how to see problems as solutions, and that environmental justice and social justice go hand in hand. I use what I have learned to live a more sustainable life."
Jessica Bell, New York
Columbia Law School, JD Candidate 2010
Green Apprenticeship, Fall 2006
After leaving Lotan, Jessica entered law school at Columbia University in New York City. She is passionate about fusing her law degree with the ecological knowledge and social awareness she gained during the Green Apprenticeship. She has worked in Washington D.C. at a public interest energy law firm and the Indian Resources Section of the Environment and Natural Resources Division at the US Department of Justice. She also spent a summer in Anchorage at the Environmental Section of the Alaska Department of Law. During her time in New York, Jessica has volunteered with Citizen Schools, an after school program, and as an advocate for survivors of domestic violence. She is also an editor of A Jailhouse Lawyer’s Manual at Columbia, which is a publication of Human Rights Law Review and meant to provide information about legal rights to prisoners. Before law school, Jessica attended Wellesley College and majored in chemistry, which included a senior thesis with environmental applications. She was also active in Wellesley's Hillel. She grew up in Woodbridge, Connecticut, as a member of Congregation B'nai Jacob.
Yaeir Heber, California
Swarthmore College, BA Candidate 2010
Green Apprenticeship, Winter 2009
Yaeir is a native of Oakland, California. He came to the GA during a break from his undergraduate studies at Swarthmore College, wanting a more holistic and practical approach to his education. He returned to college with a new way of viewing the world. He is now focusing his studies on placing permaculture into a larger formalized context.
Recently, Yaeir wrote a curriculum for teaching 5th graders ecological literacy, specifically about interdependencies. The coursework focuses on the children understanding their connections to others, as well as their natural environment. He planned out a series of activities and reflection sessions, which include trips to observe natural systems. The curriculum culminates in the children designing and creating their own garden according to permaculture principles.
Yaeir learned about permaculture on Lotan. He describes it as a way to see, as a precursor to taking action. It is a strategy, an ideal, one informed by active perception. In order to use permaculture design to construct system, one has to tune in to what is around us so that the components work together as a healthy system.
"Members of our society, and especially those who graduate from our top academic institutions, continue to relentlessly ‘progress’ in a direction of ever increasing dissonance with our habitat. Schools offer an invaluable point of entry to our society's psyche. They offer us the
ability to actively adjust the knowledge and sensibilities we bestow unto future generations. Could we imagine a population so informed as to not make environmentally catastrophic decisions?
The reason I push for the permaculture type of education (the younger the better) is that it facilitates the re-attunement which would underlie the conceptual shift I feel is necessary. Seeing the world differently, or seeing different things, would change the way we conceive of it, and consequently, change our place, role, and interactions. It's a bit of a deeper level than just understanding where food comes from, it's re-conceiving the world based on our inescapable interdependencies, and re-calibrating our perceptual experience accordingly, the two are concomitant and inseparable to implement real deep-set effective change.
The garden [in our schools] will be an ongoing project offering an awesome laboratory for further observation and experimentation across the disciplines for the duration of the year. This “garden as a lab” can be utilized both during the same school year by this class, but likewise is a resource for the whole school. The potential for real success and impact incite involvement in the task at hand—the garden project is a real puzzle to be solved, though not one with a fixed answer; creativity, uniqueness and ingenuity are part of the solution itself.
Lotan is a place that already provides this deeper sort of education, one that I hope will be part of every classroom in America and the world some day."
Danielle Ehrlich, South Africa
Co-Owner and Designer, LIV Sustainable Urban Design www.2livliv.com
Green Apprenticeship, Winter 2007
"Lotan changed my life and I have become an activist." Danielle holds a degree in Interior Design from Design Center, Johannesburg. The GA gave her a holistic perspective, as well as the tools to combine her passion for creating beautiful structural designs with her commitment to sustainability and the environment. In 2008, her business, LIV Sustainable Urban Design, was born. The company’s edgy home décor products are produced with thought and innovation, considering everything from the impact on the local community to re-using and re-thinking waste and materials. She is an active member of the liberal Johannesburg Jewish community.
Courtney Rosser, Missouri
Community Builder
Green Apprenticeship, Winter 2008
I could have studied permaculture anywhere in the world in a variety of "convenient" ways. All of the courses teach the same theory and principles required to obtain a Permaculture Design Certificate. Living in the EcoCampus and being able to participate in what I was learning for six weeks was what made the green apprenticeship unique. Moving to Lotan, I did not know what to expect. I knew I would have fun, learn a lot, and play with mud. What I did not know was that the six weeks I spent doing the apprenticeship would turn out to be one of the most significant periods of my life.
Looking back, it is hard for me to believe that permaculture was not always a presence in my life. Taking a course on it helped to organize my values, give structure to my future, and provide me with a vocabulary, knowledge base, and ability to pursue these ideas and to manifest them in my life. But it was not simply the act of studying it that changed my life. Rather, it is the particular way in which I studied it.
One of the basic tenets of permaculture is the idea that each of us has the ability to "just do it." Whatever particular task "it" refers to, permaculture encourages us to get out there and make it happen. This quality of the course is what made the apprenticeship one of the most empowering experiences I have ever had. Here I was, surrounded by like-minded people, being encouraged by knowledgeable mentors, and studying something about which I was passionate. On a daily basis I got to experience my ability to go out there and "just do it." I realized that we are often held back by our fear of failure. But in reality, making mistakes is the best way to learn, and the only way to "fail" at anything in this life is to not act. My experience at Kibbutz Lotan gave me the confidence to manifest my dreams.
Text is part of an article written by Courtney Rosser, which appeared in the Sept/Oct 2009 issue of Tikkun Magazine. To read full article, please go to www.tikkun.org.
Rachel Mason, Massachusetts
SIT Graduate Institute, MA Candidate 2010
Green Apprenticeship, Spring 2008
Rachel holds a Bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and has been a Jewish, political and environmental activist for many years. After honing her skills during the Green Apprenticeship, Rachel began her Master’s degree in Sustainable Development. She went to Maputo, Mozambique to fulfill the practicum phase of her degree, working with the Social Policy and Planning Section of the local UNICEF office and interning with CARE (Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere) on their collaboration with WWF. This important policy work is especially thrilling to her, as it looks at solving social and environmental problems together. In her spare time, she tends to her garden, writes about environmental issues, and travels to new and exciting places.
Erin Katz, Missouri
Lesley University, BA Candidate 2012
Living Routes: Peace, Justice and the Environment Semester, Fall 2009
Erin recently completed the study abroad college semester program at Lotan, which covers the same topics as the Green Apprenticeship plus peace and conflict studies, and offers university credits. Erin has been an active leader in NFTY and has attended Jewish summer camp. She is pursuing a degree in art therapy at Lesley University in Boston. She worked in a center that uses art as a medium to reach youth in high-conflict neighborhoods and has studied communication while on a service learning program at a Navajo Reservation. Her time at Lotan has tied together all her interests and given her new perspective.
"When I came to Lotan on the Living Routes Peace, Justice and the Environment college semester program, I was interested, primarily, in the Peace and Social Justice aspect of the program. I had no idea what permaculture was and my only experience gardening was with some herbs and a tomato plant or two in my backyard in Kansas City.
Over the past three and a half months, I have fallen in love with changing a bed of brown compost into overgrown green, red and white chard, blooming purple bean flowers, and sunflowers the size of my head. After visiting two community gardens in Be’er Sheva, I realized that what I was learning here at Lotan didn’t have to stay in Israel - I can bring my love for the garden back to Kansas City (where I live during the summers), and to Boston, where I am in my second year at Lesley University.
I am still in the process of learning more about urban agriculture. I decided to look for internships with permaculture or agricultural projects in Boston to take part in as soon as I get back. I found an organization called City Sprouts and I have submitted an application. If I were to work with City Sprouts, I would be helping to bring community gardens to 12 different schools in the Cambridge, Massachusetts area, along with various other programs such as organic vegetable tastings! I am looking forward to bringing my love for gardening home with me, where ever that home happens to be in the future."
Erin's journal during the Peace, Justice & Environment semester: www.goabroad.net/ErinKatz
Contact Lotan Center for Creative Ecology
Leah Zigmond
lotan-ecocenter@lotan.ardom.co.il
Tel: +972 8 6356811; +972 8 6356935; +972 54 9799024
Toll free (while in Israel): 1800 2000 75
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