The Farms
Farfields Farm & Hegyion Orchard are farmstead projects located on the rolling meadows, waterways, and woodlands in the Blue Ridge Mountains. These Mahaz program farms are home to vegetable and medicinal gardens, fruit and nut orchards, mixed pastures of steer, sheep and poultry, mushroom logs and wildlife. We are in service to a regenerative agriculture that celebrates the ecology of life, the culture of place, and the diverse expressions of natural beauty. We produce a variety of organically grown farm products for local distribution, and are a host to community events and educational gatherings.
The Name
Mahaz is a modern Hebrew word for “outpost”—but it is also connected to the root achaz / אחז that means “hold” and “be held” and is used specifically in relation to land. When we “hold” the land, the land holds us, sustainably, intergenerationally, as a heritage. In this precarious time, we must establish outposts where we can re-learn to root ourselves in sacred relationships with our living home and stronghold (ma'oz) — its contours and micro-climates, its ecological expressions and seasonal successions, and its wider community inter-connections. The two-letter root חז also suggests vision, as in hozeh (a seer). When we return to the land the land returns to us and fills us not only with skills of the hand and ways of the heart but images and metaphors of (super)natural splendor that may guide us towards balanced living and co-nourishment with the richness of life in our midst.
The Team
The Mahaz program is blessed with a diverse group of vibrant and skilled farmers/educators, and they are all looking forward to meeting this year's Mahaz cohort! Fellows will be introduced to our wider team at the start of the program and have a chance to work with many of our staff through the duration of the season.
We are glad to share introductions of our primary Mahaz staff members below:
Chani Mochkin
Mahaz Facilitator
Chani is a vibrant soul with a deep love for Torah, nature, and storytelling. She feels most alive under open skies, walking through forests, watching the ocean breathe, or sitting in stillness as the sun rises. Her travels, yoga teacher training, and journey into holistic living have all guided her back to one simple truth: everything we need already lives inside us. Through yoga, writing, and her joyful connection to Judaism, Chani shares from the heart and invites others to slow down, listen inward, and live with more presence. She loves exploring food as nourishment from the earth, movement as prayer, and connection as the truest form of healing.
Psachyah Lichtenstein
Director of Education
Psachyah is a teacher, naturalist, and artist. He graduated from Pratt Institute of Design and the Rabbinical College of America. Psachyah has taught wilderness awareness, earthy Torah, and the creative arts in the US and Israel for over 25 years. He has designed and directed nature-connected spiritual retreats, forest schools, and experiential curricula. As an artist and author, Psachyah is drawn to explore the intersection between the wilderness and the dream state. He has raised sheep, goats, chickens, ducks, and has been raised by his children.
Jorian Polis Schutz
Principal, Farfields Farm & Hegyion Orchard
Jorian is a writer, artist, publisher, curator, educator, land-steward, community builder, culture instigator, entrepreneur, yogi, and gentleman ecologist, based in Central Virginia, Jorian was raised in Boulder, Colorado and La Jolla, California, graduated from Harvard in 2006, and has lived for stints in Argentina, the Netherlands, Italy, France, and Israel. In 2013 he bought Farfields Farm in Afton, Virginia; in 2015 he founded the Iyyun Kollel in Brooklyn; in 2020 he took root in Covesville, Virginia; in 2021 he founded the Mahaz homestead program, and published his first volumes under Deuteronomy Press: An Introduction to Sabbath Agriculture (co-written with Yigal Deutscher) and Eit Yosef.