Rabbi's Blog

Farming and agriculture and connecting to nutritious, local food are central values for many of us in Boulder’s Jewish Community.  The JCC is planning to have an educational, 2 acre farm as an essential component of its new home across the street, and many people from across the community, including many Bonai families, have been involved in our chicken and goat co-ops as well as our community-wide CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program that brings delicious fresh veggies from Red Wagon Organic Farm, which until this year has always had the Thursday drop off site as Bonai Shlom.  With some of the changes and the construction, certain structures and animals will be moving around a bit.

Members of the Jewish chicken co-op decided to take a break for a while and to regroup once the new JCC is established.  There were 22 rather old hens that needed to move from their home adjacent to the site of the new JCC on Boulder Jewish Commons.  The most obvious and certainly the easiest solution would have been to make them into soup, but some of us in the co-op felt like we wanted to let them live out their days and so we floated around the idea of relocating them to Bonai Shalom’s property, behind my house.  Our friends Denis and Donna Walsh along with Bonai’s president Jeff, really jumped into action to make this happen, building a chicken run and converting an old barn to a coop with a roost and nests.

Last Friday a few us, including our enthusiastic Bat Mitzvah student, Becca Bloom,  moved the chickens across the street to their clean, new home and they are thriving in this environment and looking good. So why did the chickens cross the road?  To get to their new home where our community can continue to take care of them and enjoy their eggs.  Next time you see egg salad at a Bonai Shalom kiddush lunch, it will probably have been made from the freshest, most local eggs possible! We hope to bring a few baby chicks into the flock soon and increase production. Thanks to all who helped and all who are participating in this project.  Let me know if you want to volunteer! We have such wonderful partners and collaborators in Boulder’s Jewish community, ensuring a sustainable and nourishing future.  Who knows what will happen next in our flourishing corner of East Boulder?