Harvest event at Camp Isabella Oct. 17

FALLS VILLAGE — Get in the fields, make your own pickles, meet the world’s pickiest goats and learn about the relationship between farming and spirituality  at Camp Isabella Freedman’s free Autumn Farm Day event Sunday, Oct. 17, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Amy Hannes, who handles public relations, and Megan Jensen, who has lived and worked at the camp for three years, showed a visitor around last weekend.

The goats are particularly engaging, and as well-behaved as goats get. Jensen said the goats are so used to table scraps and the good pasture they enjoy that “they won’t touch perfectly good kale.â€

Hannes explained that on Saturdays (the Jewish Sabbath) members of the community are not supposed to work. The livestock get the day off, too.

But the goats do need to be milked. It’s painful otherwise.

“So we milk them and feed the milk back to the goats. They love it,†Hannes said.

“Judaism is an agricultural religion,†continued Hannes. And at the event, visitors can “learn the rhythms of the seasons and the harvest cycle.â€

Also on Sunday’s agenda are hikes, fishing in the pond and a look into the inner workings of the working farm — with its spotless “cultural center†(where they make the cheese), the well-maintained fields, the truck that runs on vegetable oil, the cheerful, friendly and informative people — and the goats.

“They are very popular,†said Jensen.

A farmstand stocked with the camp’s ADAMAH products and freshly harvested vegetables will be open throughout the day.

There is no fee for the program. A kosher lunch made with  fresh ingredients from the farm will be available for purchase ($10 cash or check).

For more information go online to isabellafreedman.org/farmday.

Camp Isabella Freedman is at 116 Johnson Road in Falls Village.

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