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Food-focused events that take place on a farm are a common occurrence in the food-centric Bay Area. But those that cater to the kosher crowd? Almost never.
It explains why Carol Osofsky and her husband drove over two hours from San Jose to Vacaville to attend an event where they could enjoy different types of artisanal kosher cheese and other kosher items — something they can’t do very often.
“We rarely eat out,” she said. “I spend a ton of time in the kitchen.”
Called Cure’d Pop-Up Fermentation Lab, the farm event was hosted by Batsheva Rice and her husband, Rabbi Mendel Rice, over Memorial Day weekend. He was the subject of this column in 2018, when he was learning about animal husbandry at Devil’s Gulch Ranch, a Jewish-owned farm in Nicasio that raises pigs and rabbits.
The couple moved in 2023 from West Marin to Vacaville, where they are raising their three children and Mendel Rice is raising herds of sheep and goats. The farm where Cure’d took place isn’t theirs, but they help with its upkeep and hope that the future owners (the farm is on the market) will allow them to continue holding events there.
Cure’d was intended to kick off what will be seasonal gatherings at the farm. This one had a dairy focus, coming the week before the festival of Shavuot when Jews traditionally consume dairy.
Batsheva Rice, who also goes by Shevy, is a bodyworker and doula, but hosting and entertaining come naturally to her. So does feeding people, something that’s always been true, according to a friend who has known Rice since childhood.
Rachel Rafael, who came to the farm event from San Francisco, said she and Rice attended the same summer camp in Australia.
“I didn’t come from a very food-oriented family,” Rafael said. “Batsheva always had this incredible, maternal, sweet, giving energy about her. I’d come to camp with no food, and she would always share hers with me.”
The purpose of Cure’d, Rice said, was to highlight fermented foods. Local kosher wine by Michael Kaye of Invei Wines was on hand, as were homemade kombuchas and sauerkrauts made by the Rices, but the highlight was an array of some 20 kinds of goat cheese, all made by Mendel Rice, with milk from his own goats.
“He spent hours making these cheeses,” his wife said. “It’s not like you can buy cheese like this that’s kosher at the supermarket.”
The afternoon started with a buffet of Mendel Rice’s various cheeses. Later, he led demonstrations on mozzarella making, goat milking, and carding and spinning wool harvested from his flock of sheep. He used what looked like a miniature spinning device, rather than the large wooden spinning wheels of yore, with his sheep grazing right behind him.
He rents out his goats to roam and eat dried vegetation that otherwise would create a major fire hazard on private or public property. On the side, he also runs a very small-scale kosher meat business for those who want sustainably and locally raised meat that is kosher, too.
In the crowd of about 50 people were locals and a good number who drove in from around the Bay Area. As the sun began dropping behind the golden hills, guests could help make pizza in the wood-fired oven on housemade sourdough crust.
The Rices cultivate a space where all are welcome, and the event definitely had a Chabad vibe: Rabbi Chaim Zaklos of Chabad of Solano County in Vacaville held court in one corner of the eating area, wrapping tefillin on any willing man. When Rice gave his spinning demo, he explained how the wool can be made into tzitzit, the ritual fringes on a tallit, or prayer shawl. The spinner must have this intention in mind while spinning the wool, he explained.
Shevy Rice told me later that “we love everyone as they come,” and “we want people to feel the emes, the truth in the authentic way of living, in which we believe the key to a person’s heart is through their stomach, and the way you reach someone is by giving them food.”
She also shared that she grew up as one of 14 children in a Chabad family in Australia and learned how to cook at a young age. As a bodyworker, she’s also really come to appreciate fermented foods for their positive effects on gut health.
“When you have good gut health and bacteria, your brain health is better, as well as your focus and stamina,” she said. “When you help the gut, you’re helping your whole life.”To learn about future events put on by the Rices, follow them on Instagram.