Pickling with Pride: Sydney’s Jewish Farmers Bring Tradition to Life

In the heart of Sydney, a group of Jewish farmers are bringing back a tradition that’s been passed down for generations - pickling. At Adamama, a community farm in Paddington, a diverse group of people have come together to learn the art of fermenting, and in the process, have formed a strong sense of community.

Farmers at Adamama community farm in Sydney

The pickle courses, which started earlier this year, have attracted people from all ages and backgrounds. The group, comprising people from their 20s to 60s, has been excited not just about their new set of skills but by the sense of community that has enveloped them.

A Sense of Community

The dynamics of the group have been one of the most interesting factors, says farm manager Mitch Burnie, who set up Adamama with the support of Shalom cultural and educational centre. “That was important to me; I didn’t want one particular age range. This range creates more interest in the conversations that we can have, and people bring different skills and life wisdom.”

One of the group’s members, lawyer Rachel Bickovsky, had worked on a kibbutz in the 1970s and has been a keen gardener her whole life. However, her current home has a “minuscule” garden. “This project was a perfect fit - I like doing things in groups, gardening, and with a sense of Jewish community.”

Rachel Bickovsky, a keen gardener and member of the pickle group

Learning a New Skill

Sami Hurwitz, 25, adds: “Before joining the pickle project, I was the kind of person who kills every plant I touch.” The group was given guidance through the whole process - from preparing the soil to harvesting and pickling. “It was very weird at the start,” noted another participant, journalist Elias Visontay, 25. “We’d be wheelbarrowing loads of compost, going up to the corner with these tennis players playing on grass tennis courts - an all-white professional affair - and we’d be catching tennis balls as we were putting the seeds into the ground, so it really felt like a community space.”

The pickle making process at Adamama community farm

The project also engaged with other Jewish grassroots food groups. The cucumbers were bottled in the kosher facilities of Our Big Kitchen (OBK) in the Yeshivah precinct in Bondi Junction. In addition, Visontay reports that one step of this pickling journey “included playing the shofar during Rosh Hashanah to our freshly planted seedlings.”

A Successful Harvest

The group’s hard work paid off, with over 1100 cucumbers harvested during the course. The pickles were bottled and sold, with all funds raised going back into the organisation. The group also had to grapple with marketing and logistics challenges, but their efforts were rewarded with a successful pre-sale of the jars.

Alma Street Pickles, the product of the community’s hard work

The ultimate aim, says Burnie, is to “preserve tradition and living culture - in the brine as well as within the community!” With plans to run pickling courses every season, the community is excited to see what the future holds.

The community celebrates their first anniversary at Adamama community farm