"Farming Is the Most Jewish Thing You Can Do" with Alex Rosenberg-Rigutto

In this episode, Shani sits down with farmer, educator, and herbalist Alex Rosenberg-Rigutto. Alex manages an educational farm and co-owns Northwoods Farmstead and Skill Center in Hersey, Michigan with her husband Rick, where they are slowly regenerating ten acres of previously neglected land while building a small garlic and potato operation.

Alex shares the unlikely path that led her to farming—from working as a nursing assistant and struggling with her own health, to questioning the food systems she saw around her and beginning to grow food herself. What began as curiosity soon became a calling, leading her through years of farm work, institutional agriculture, and eventually the dream of building a farm of her own.

The conversation explores the realities many farmers face: financial uncertainty, the search for stability, and the tension between institutional farm jobs and independent farming dreams. Alex and Shani also reflect on the emotional and spiritual journey of reconnecting farming with Jewish identity—especially for farmers who didn’t grow up seeing agriculture as part of Jewish life.

Alex also discusses her work creating widely loved kitchen herbalism content online, where she teaches people how to incorporate herbs and healing plants into everyday cooking. With nearly 100,000 followers, she has built a community around accessible herbal knowledge, food preservation, and seasonal living.

From regenerating land and growing garlic to navigating Jewish identity in rural America, this episode explores what it means to build a life rooted in soil, tradition, and possibility.