Sowing the Seeds of a Healthy Sustainable
Chicago Jewish Community
As a social and environmental justice organization, The Gan Project nourishes, protects, celebrates Jewish life through the cultivation of soil and community. We are building a regenerative food system that enlivens our tradition, emobies our values, and immerses our community in a rich educational and cultural experience.
We see the roots of Judaism grounded in the ancient agricultural practice of our ancestors and believe that a continued commitment to contemporary agriculture deepens our Jewish practice. We choose to pursue sustainable and regenerative farming practices because they embody the principles of tzedek (justice) and tikkun olam (repair of the world), which are the foundations of Jewish ethics. Tzedek and tikkun olam require us to respond to injustice and oppression that we observe in our society. The programs of The Gan Project address the issues of hunger, health, animal welfare, environmental sustainability, human rights, and social isolation that are the results of our conventional food system.
Our first objective is to produce our own food. We grow fruits and vegetables, raise laying hens, and preserve our harvest. We desire to be not merely hobby gardeners, but true farmers who produce food that can sustain our communities and ourselves. We engage only in practices that are in line with our values and produce food we feel is fit to eat. These practices must maintain the fertility of our soil, encourage bio-diversity, provide for our workers, and supply healthy, safe, and nutritious food. We create opportunities for our community to join us in this task and guide other organizations in developing food projects of their own.
Secondly, we educate our community about Jewish food traditions, healthy food production, and care for the environment through hands-on experiential environmental and agricultural programming. Through working the land as our ancestors did before us, Jews from all walks of life can revitalize their connection to some of the most basic principles of Judaism. By providing positive experiences in nature we can breath life into old traditions, explore the foundation of our faith, and foster a greater understanding of Torah.
Finally, we work towards systemic change by developing working models that demonstrate the viability of community food systems designed to be recreated in other communities. We organize to create policy and dismantle power structures that stand in the way of community food production. To this end, we foster strategic partnerships that emphasize the connections between food and environmental justice and other issues of social justice that we experience in our community.
The Gan Project, with its current programming, is the only Jewish social justice organization in the Midwest dedicated solely to issues of sustainability, agriculture, and the environment. At present, we are a core group of volunteer staff and founders whose diverse backgrounds are unified by a common thread of a Do-It-Yourself social entrepreneurial approach to tikkun olam that can infuse people of every age, ability, and level of observance, with the desire to actively participate in creating vibrant, sustainable and healthy Jewish communities in Israel, North America, and around the globe. Members of the Gan Project community share the desire and passion to move Judaism from a people of survival, to a people of action, who develop a living, breathing, ever-expanding and evolving collective consciousness that addresses contemporary issues in a relevant and meaningful way.
"Cycling Suz"
Co-Founder, Media
Suzanne loves Chicago, photography, yoga, cycling, sociology, social justice, whole natural foods, cooking, national public radio, tv free life, car lite life, organic gardening, traveling, dinner parties, scrabble, silent meditation, vintage clothes, wearing skirts, feminist ideologies and her Grandma. Suzanne presently resides in Edgewater, Chicago after stints in Olympia, WA; Madison, WI; Portland, Oregon; and Jerusalem, Isreal. She has spent time at Isabella Freedman in Connecticut learning about Jewish Renewal and farming; at an ashram learning about yoga and meditation in Honesdale, PA; at a Haredi seminary in Har Noff, Jersualem studying Orthodox Judaism and then living on a da'ati Kibbutz.
Suzanne is a Masters-trained social worker, having just finished her degree from The University of Chicago in 2010. She works full-time as a therapist with chronically mentally ill and homeless adults.
"Masson Jar Maven"
Co-Founder, Operations
Anne loves almost anything DIY, painting, crafting, sewing, portrait and macro photography, food, farmers markets, creating and listening to music, cooking, gardening, feminism, baking bread, and playing strategy games. Anne grew up attending and working at Jewish Summer camps which fostered her love for the outdoors and Jewish culture. Anne sings and plays bass in a parody band, The Band of 1000 Names, which is currently recording their first album. She works full-time as a Project Coordinator at Rasmussen College and is a founding member of The Gan Project.
Anne LaForti graduated with a B.A. in Political Science from California State University, Chico in 2004. During her time at CSU Chico, she was the Co-Director for the Housing Law Program at the Community Legal Information Center; a free legal resource for students and other community members.
Staff, Volunteers, and Friends
"Jill Pickle"
Founder and Director
Jill is a Jewish environmental educator, farmer, and Chef. Jill was an 2008 Adamah Fellow at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, a 2009 intern on Henry's Farm in Congerville Il, and is a Chicago native. She started growing food in 2006, has been cooking professionally since 2004, and has been an eater of food since 1982.
Jill is a graduate from DePaul Univeristy and Kendall College.
The Gan Project
Bernard Horwich JCC
3003 Touhy Ave
Chicago IL 60645
773.516.5877
Home of HaNachalah:
The Urban Jewish Homestead
General Inquiries info_theganroject.org
Jill Zenoff Founder Director "Jill Pickle" jill_theganproject.org
Anne LaForti Co-Founder "Masson Jar Maven" anne_theganproject.org
Amir Star Wegg Associate Director amir_theganproject.org
Suzanne Nathan Co-founder Social Media "Cycling Suz" suzanne_theganproject.org
Educational and Mitzvah Programming
For Day Schools, Youth Groups, Congregations, Senior Groups, Home Schools, Summer Camps, NGOs, and more...
Educational Programs
Bring your group to HaNachalah: The Urban Jewish Homestead for hands-on, garden and nature-based Jewish learning! All programs teach Jewish ethics (such as tzedakah), Jewish agricultural laws, Jewish holidays and cycles, as well as organic gardening practices. All programs can be modified to reflect your Jewish studies curriculum.
Off-site programming limited during the growing season mid March - November.
Program fees are determined on a sliding scale, no group will ever be turned away due to lack of funds.
Tzedek Adamah: Hands-on Experiential Environmental Justice Curriculum
Judaism, Food, and the Environment
Urban Jewish Homesteading: Do-It-Yourself - Tikkun Olam
Holiday Programming
Mitzvah Programs
For youth groups, confirmation classes, social justice committees, and Mitzvah corps looking to make a sustained commitment to social justice and the Gan Project, we can offer Extended volunteer opportunities
Get out of the classroom and into the field helping to maintain Ha Nachalah: The Urban Jewish Homestead by seeding, transplanting, weeding, harvesting, tending to chickens, making compost, spreading soil, constructing, doing general maintenance, mulching, and more.
Sponsor specific projects or initiatives such as:
The Gan Project _ Bernard Horwich JCC 3003 Touhy Ave Chicago IL 60645 theganproject_gmail.com www.theganproject.org
