Land-based learning in Appalachian Kentucky

Jewish roots.
Shared belonging.
Here I am.

Hineni creates land-based ecological experiences in Appalachia through farming, shepherding, forests, food, art and environmental stewardship.

Rooted in Jewish tradition and open to people across cultures, beliefs and levels of Jewish connection.

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A 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Estill County, Kentucky.

Carl with the sheep in the warm evening light

Ecology / Stewardship / Belonging

Learning to belong
to a place

Hineni brings people together through direct experiences with land and the living world. Our programs draw from farming, shepherding, foraging, beekeeping, conservation, food, poetry, art and traditional skills to explore how people can live more attentively and responsibly within a place.

Jewish teachings and practices help root this work in gratitude, rest, responsibility and relationship. Our programs welcome secular and unaffiliated Jews, people from other cultural and religious traditions, and people who claim no religious identity at all.

We do not assume that everyone relates to the land - or to tradition - in the same way. Instead, we create opportunities to learn alongside one another through shared work, curiosity and care.

Our work

A few ways we gather and learn

The Art of Honey: Tasting the Landscape

Taste honey as an expression of place. This guided sensory experience explores flavor, color, texture and terroir alongside bee ecology, beekeeping, culture, gratitude and ritual.

Mushroom-Log Inoculation

Learn how forest-grown mushrooms begin by preparing and inoculating hardwood logs. Participants explore fungal ecology, responsible forest farming and the patient work of cultivating food within a living woodland.

Introduction to Shepherding

Meet the flock and explore the practical and cultural work of caring for sheep. Participants learn about daily husbandry, grazing, working animals, wool and the enduring place of shepherding in Jewish and Appalachian traditions.

Volunteers removing tires from the river

Restoration and Conservation

Care for a place through shared work. These hands-on programs may include stream cleanups, habitat restoration, invasive-species management, tree planting and other projects responding to the needs of a particular landscape.

Community Building and Education

Build, plant and tend shared growing spaces while learning from one another. These gatherings bring together food, gardening, seasonal reflection, music, poetry and the everyday hospitality that grows around a common table.

Jewish Ritual and Spiritual Practice

We design, host and participate in gatherings that honor Jewish tradition and deepen contemplative practice. Whether an inclusive Shabbat dinner, a Sukkot festival, an eco-poetry workshop or a solstice gathering, we connect tradition to the living world.

Rooted here

Shaped by
Appalachian hospitality

Hineni is rooted in Estill County, Kentucky. Across Eastern Kentucky, we have received some of the greatest hospitality of our lives and have been welcomed into incredible communities. Those relationships have deeply shaped what we know about farming, forests, music, food and the meaning of Appalachian hospitality - even if no one wants to share their secret cornbread recipe.

Appalachia is often described from the outside by what it lacks. We know it instead as a region rich in ecological knowledge, cultural memory, creativity and relationships built through showing up for one another.

Hineni grows from this particular place while creating connections beyond it. We bring Jewish ecological traditions into conversation with Appalachian knowledge - not because the traditions are identical, but because both can ask us to pay attention, care for what has been entrusted to us and become responsible to the places we call home.

A spiderweb catching the light at a mine restoration site

Meet the founders

Stewards, educators
and community builders

Richard Shmikler and Lauren Traitz founded Hineni from a shared commitment to land, animals, community and place. Their experience spans shepherding and farming, Cooperative Extension, mine-land and ecological restoration, agroforestry, regenerative agriculture, environmental and arts education, and community-based programming. They bring that experience to Hineni with equal measures of practical knowledge, curiosity and respect for the people and places from which they continue to learn.

Richard Shmikler

Richard is a shepherd, farmer, educator and community organizer who serves as Hineni's executive director. His work brings together business and nonprofit development, regenerative agriculture, environmental education and Jewish ecological practice. He also works with the Southeast Kentucky Sheep Producers Association (SEKSPA) to strengthen skills, relationships and opportunities among the region's sheep producers.

Lauren Traitz

Lauren is a shepherd, farmer, educator, poet, community builder and psychotherapist who serves as Hineni's president and director of programming. She helps shape Hineni's programs and relationships around thoughtful facilitation, traditional arts and herbalism, regenerative agriculture and ritual practice. She also serves as vice president of the Stidham Old Time Music Association (SOTMA).

The meaning of Hineni

Here I am

Hineni is a Hebrew response meaning "Here I am." Throughout the Hebrew Bible, figures including Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Samuel and Isaiah answer "hineni" at moments of calling and transition - an expression of presence, attention and readiness.

We chose this name because our work begins with that same response. Like Shabbat, Hineni invites us to pause, become present and encounter the place where we actually stand - its land, its people and the living world around us.

Growing from relationship

Hineni is a young 501(c)(3) nonprofit growing from years of work in farming, education, conservation, traditional arts and community life. We are developing programs in conversation with farmers, artists, educators, Jewish communities and neighbors across Kentucky and beyond.

We are beginning deliberately: creating meaningful experiences, listening closely and building the relationships needed for this work to endure.

Come learn, gather
and care for the
living world with us.

Hineni works with community groups, educators, artists, Jewish and other cultural organizations, conservation partners and host spaces interested in creating thoughtful, place-based experiences.

Whether you want to attend a gathering, bring a program to your community, explore a partnership or help this work grow, we would be glad to hear from you.

Start a conversation

Jewish roots.Shared belonging.Here I am.

Learning to belongto a place