Published by City Farmer, Canada's Office of Urban Agriculture

Jerusalem Cityfarm

Sponsored by Yad HaNadiv
37 Rehov Yehuda (off Emek Rafaim in Baka), Jerusalem
Call Elisheva Kaufman - 050 777 332 for information.
humus1@netvision.net.il

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Jerusalem Cityfarmers

"Jerusalem Cityfarmers is a network of people from Jerusalem's diverse communities working for ecological use of our shared resources - in Jerusalem, in our bioregion, and our planet. We believe that every individual and community has untapped potential to create local solutions." Posted July 28, 2002

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"The Jerusalem Cityfarm is growing strongly. The Cityfarm creates a place for diverse communities to work and grow together. We are working with our neighbors in Bethlehem (see Rainfed Unit ) to develop a Palestinian urban bio-intensive garden. They are building a sunken compost protected by a traditional stone wall, and the garden is plowed with donkeys. There is much to learn and build togeher." Elisheva Kaufman

The Jerusalem Cityfarm is part the 'Sustainable Jerusalem' effort (sponsored by the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel) for community-based ecological solutions to urban environmental and social problems.

Our goal is to foster:

• sustainable food systems for affordable, pesticide-free organic food,

• a renewal of the traditional ecological knowledge of our diverse Jerusalem communities, and

• ecological living to restore our land and water.

The Cityfarm is located on the 20 dunam Jerusalem Educational Farm started 35 years ago to provide the new generation of immigrant youth with practical farming experience. As the city expanded, the farm became surrounded by populated neighborhoods. Over 1,000 children from 25 schools in Jerusalem visit weekly.

The pioneering vision to green the land of Israel today faces new challenges. Creative ecological solutions are needed to address critical agri-cultural problems of solid waste and sewage, contamination of land and water and loss of biodiversity -

• Our soils have been intensively cultivated and intensely eroding for millenia. Over half of our garbage can be composted for a low-cost, high quality soil amendment that restores degraded soils.

• Our water is contaminated from agrochemicals and waste. Wastewater that flows untreated into fields, especially in rural villages, can be treated with aquatic-ecosystems that restore water naturally.
  
  
  

• Urgent measures are needed to preserve Israel's threatened native plants, animals and habitats. Protected forests and backyard areas can preserve habitats for wildlife and create a sanctuary for indigenous life.

Ecological Pioneers - A New Vision

The Jerusalem Cityfarm began in 1997, when local families asked us to host family gardening. These children are now saving seeds from last year's harvest. The empty field in the back of the Jerusalem Educational Farm is growing a community of urban organic gardeners and agroecology activists. Youth groups visit to help create practical ecological solutions. Inter-generational research projects investigate dryland composting systems, saving seeds of native plants, and treating our duckpond wastewater with a fishpond/wetland/vermiculture system to irrigate our garden.

Come Grow with Us

Tuesdays: 2 to Dusk.
Fridays: 10-12.

Bring food scraps to compost, and receive fresh organic vegetables in exchange, or grow your own in our community garden.

Field research internships in indigenous/regenerative agriculture can be arranged, in cooperation with regional Israeli and Palestinian organic farming activities.

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