One Little Goat, One Kid. Chad Gadya.

By Mimi Azrael
Animal Program Chairman
Kayam Farm at Pearlstone

Only hours before Pesach Seder was to begin, Kayam Farm at the Pearlstone Conference & Retreat Center in rural Reisterstown had a real, live Chad Gadya to sing about.  One little goat, one kid.  גַדְיָא חַד.  No zuzim changed hands.  Just joyful looks of awe and inspiration were exchanged as members of the Kayam Farm community gathered in the animal pasture to watch and assist the awaited birth of the first “kid” ever born at Kayam.   On April 4, 2012, Sweet Muzette, our first doe of our first kidding season ever to go into labor, gave birth to a healthy baby boy (a “buckling” in goat-speak).   And just one.  Not a twin, not a triplet.  Not a quadruplet.  Just one little goat, one kid.   Chad Gadya.  Just in time for Pesach.

April 4 was a Wednesday, two days before the first night of Seder.  Pesach preparations were well underway:  in the Pearlstone kitchen, in the Pearlstone dining room, in the lodge and in cabins, and in the Kayam Farm fields, as far as eyes could see, all over the 164-acre bucolic campus that Kayam Farm shares with Pearlstone and Camp Milldale, on Mt. Gilead Road in rolling hills off Hanover Pike.   Today, everyone was getting ready for Pesach, the most well-attended, usually sold-out event on Pearlstone’s annual calendar.  More than 150 guests soon would arrive, many to stay for a full week of Passover Seders and communal meals, learning, nature walks, socializing, family gatherings, farm and wellness workshops, craft activities, outings to Washington and Baltimore museums, and generally enjoying one another, and the unseasonably mild spring weather.

Just steps away, in the Kayam Farm Animal Pasture, Sweet Muzette, a pregnant, Nigerian Dwarf dairy goat, was also getting ready for Pesach. How thoughtful of her to begin her labor early in the morning and then to deliver her single buckling baby while the sun still shone, sparing us what could have been an all-night vigil in the midst of Passover preparations.  By midday, as Sweet Muzette’s labor progressed, her supportive onlookers — conflicted by the need to leave soon to travel to distant family for the holiday, yet wanting more than anything to stay put to see Muzette give birth —  shared a collective sigh of relief that the birth was near.  The time of delivery? A civilized 4 p.m.  Unnervingly close, but still two days before Pesach. Within minutes after his birth, Kayam’s new buckling stood up on wobbly legs, looked around, was licked clean by his doting mom, and then instinctively rooted (and finally found) the font of mother’s milk that brought a contented grunt and a satiated, well-earned nap.   All in a day at Kayam Farm.

It was less than a year ago, that Kayam started its first dairy goat-herd.  We now have five dairy goats who share pasture grazing rights in rotation with a diverse flock of about 110 free-range, pasture-fed hens, from which farm staff and volunteers hand gather more than 5 dozen eggs every day.  This Passover, 35 dozen of the farm’s eggs graced Pearlstone’s Seder plates and were served at Passover meals.  Kayam’s colorful,  blue, white, brown and other colored heritage eggs by the dozen are also available to CSA subscribers for weekly pickup and community delivery and are for sale at the farm office, as well.

So, haven’t you always wanted to learn how to milk a goat?  And play with baby goats? Make chevre? Gather freshly laid, still-warm eggs from the coop? Show your children where food really comes from? Come visit Kayam and join us this summer for milking, cheese-making, and animal workshops, as well as team building activities and many multicultural and Judaic educational farm programs, too.

Learn more about Kayam Farm>>

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What I learned from TGI

By Hanna Fiddle
TGI Fellow 2011-2012

This year, I wanted to get involved and help make a difference in the lives of others.  THE ASSOCIATED’s Teen Giving Initiative (TGI) has been that opportunity for me this year.

TGI is filled with 20 nice and amazing teens who wanted to make a change like I did.  We bonded so much over the year with a lot of fun activities.  We had a blast at the overnight, grew together in the day-long retreat at Pearlstone Conference and Retreat Center, and made so many memories along the way.  This whole program has been a wonderful experience.

In addition, I strengthened my leadership skills.  I feel confident in being able to do such great things on my own now.  Not only was this fun, but we raised a lot of money that we are going to donate to organizations focused on either education, domestic abuse or homelessness.  We raised money through various efforts including letter writing to out-of-town family and friends, a phon-a-thon where we called teens in Baltimore, and two fundraisers.  Our fundraisers were “Make Maggie Moo’s a Mitzvah,” an ice cream event at Maggie Moos and the Krav Mag-Auction.  The Krav Mag-Auction – part Krav Maga class, part Silent Auction – was one of my favorite parts of the program.  I had so much fun in the class getting a workout, and even won a prize at the auction!

I am so proud of what this year’s TGI cohort has accomplished under the leadership of Amy Steinberg.  She was such a wonderful person to have as our guide throughout the year.  While I am sad that our year is almost over, I know that this will not be the end of our actions.  Thanks to TGI, I have realized how important it is to be a leader and how much I love it.  One day, I hope to have my own organization for kids with Tourettes.  I will continue to help others and I hope that everyone else does the same.  It certainly has been amazing!

Learn more about teen programming>>

Growing Up with a Sibling Who Has Special Needs

By Emily Hecht

For twenty-one years I have had a brother with High-Functioning Autism.  Some might say that having a sibling with any type of special need can be difficult, challenging, often times overwhelming, and even frustrating.  However, being a sibling to someone who has a disability can also be exciting, motivational, powerful, and stimulating.   I have experienced situations with my brother where I have felt all of those emotions, sometimes even at the same time.   I firmly believe that I have grown up very differently from other young adults who have not been raised with a sibling with disabilities.   Although I did all of the things that other children my age did, like play sports, participate in drama classes and go to camp, something was always different.

Unlike most boys, my brother hated sports and still does, probably because he could never tolerate physical contact, even a loving hug.  Most girls my age who were interested in sports spent hours playing outside with their older brothers; however, I did not because my brother preferred to stay inside and watch TV or play on the computer.  Most boys did not want to play imaginative games with their little sisters, but since I was interested in drama, I would enter my brother’s sometimes-imaginative world and we would act out scenes from movies or make up skits and scenarios.

Both my brother and I went to camp and for a long time we both went to Camp Milldale, where my brother was in the Inclusion program.  Although it was great that we  were able to go to the same camp, I constantly worried about him.   I worried if kids in his bunk were making fun of him; I worried if his counselors knew where he was.  I worried about everything.   Although not all of these situations were bad, I had very different experiences from other children my age, and they significantly shaped not only my early childhood but the present as well.

I feel as if my parents did an amazing job making sure that I received enough attention, felt comfortable in my own skin, and felt comfortable being open and honest with those around me about my brother.  Although it took some time, and it did not happen overnight, I truly see having a sibling with a disability as a blessing, and nothing to be ashamed of or embarrassed by.  But developing these thoughts stems from the compassion and love my parents gave both to me and to my brother, and the individual attention and support I received throughout my childhood and young adulthood.  My parents anticipated how I might react in certain situations with my brother and my peers,  thought about what could be embarrassing or make me stand out, and they tried their hardest to make sure that I was always comfortable and never felt different or isolated from others, despite the constant differences I always experienced.

Growing up with a sibling with special needs has changed my life.  It has motivated me to dedicate my life to children with disabilities as I am currently pursuing a career in Occupational Therapy.  My love for my brother, his abilities and the special things about him that make him unique, as well as all of the children I have met through my pursuits and experiences,  have truly pushed me to devote my energy and passion in my life to children with special needs.

All the Things I Can Do, by Daniel Hecht>>

Jewish Disabilities Awareness Month, by Janet Livingston>>

THE ASSOCIATED for people with special needs>>

“And What Will You?”

By: Laura Menyuk
Volunteer Coordinator/Adventure Director
Kayam Farm

“Donkey: Ogres are like onions. We have a lot of layers.”  – Shrek

The onion-layers bit is not only a metaphor from Shrek, but a metaphor used in the study of Kaballah. Jewish mysticism and moon-lore would also tell you that near the beginning of December, when the Jewish calendar month of Kislev began at the new moon, so began the month of dreams.

To mark the new moon, we at Kayam Farm took on the onion’s culinary cousin and completed our planting of garlic and metaphors. Garlic, like daffodils, is a bulb. You make a hole in fertile soil, and push in the piece of garlic you might otherwise have eaten an inch deep- before the ground’s too hard with frost. Then the garlic waits. Sleeps. Perhaps dreams. And when the moment is right in late spring, your efforts will come to fruition as a green shoot pops out of the ground, and that one piece has- magically or miraculously or naturally depending on one’s understanding of miracles and the world- turned to a head of 10-12 pieces.

Winter work on the education and programs side of a farm is like this garlic: laying all the groundwork so that in the spring, programs can just do their thing.  And as the sun sets early along with my computer screen, it can feel like work of the spirit or the soul. An entire Jewish month has passed since the garlic planting and as the January cold sets in, it’s an opportunity to ask myself: what is it that I must plant now and then allow it to sit, hibernate, and rest in order to come to fruition in the spring?

And what will you?