Organic vegetables and tu bishvat in the garden

 

Looking through the newsletters I wrote during tu bishvat in previous years you can see the fluctuations of the weather.

One year I wrote about a very rainy tu bishvat and the next year I wrote to you on a sunny and springy day…. this year, tu bishvat was exceptionally warm for the season, when just several weeks ago we had snow!!! And we’re expecting snow again at the end of this week…. If this is mankind’s influence on the weather, it is time that we take responsibility and correct what we are doing wrong.

The date of Tu Bishvat, 15th of the month of shvat, was set as a sort of determining date for the Jewish laws of donations and tithes from fruit trees in the country. Once, when in Israel most of the population was agricultural, and as Einat Kramer wrote in “Teva Ivri” : "Trees do not really belong to the owner of the orchard, and therefore he has a duty to share the bounty (Tithes) with those who have none. In fact this is a realization of the Jewish idea of reducing ownership of property (in this case – the trees) in favor of taking responsibility for the community and society."

In exile Tu Bishvat changed and became the date that symbolizes our longing for and our agricultural connection with the land of Israel. Throughout the world, also in Israel unfortunately, it has become customary to eat dried fruit, which originally grew in Israel. Therefore in the exile they ate dried fruits rather than fresh fruits. If we are true to the idea we can simply eat organic fruits and vegetables which grew in Israel. Fresh, rather than dry, and certainly not grown somewhere else !!!

"Kah holchim hashotlim…" is practically the tu bishvat anthem for all the children in kindergartens and schools going to plant … but this tradition is actually very young. In the last century, due to an initiative of a school teacher  Tu Bishvat became what it is today – a symbol of the people's connection to nature and the environment. In 1890, a school principal in Zichron Yaakov, Rabbi Zev Javits, went with his pupils to plant. It was a precedent which continues to this day. It is the day to care for our world. Planting, environmental conservation day, cleaning day, nowadays it can even be a local “green” market…. Paper recycling and caring for the tropical forests in other continents, that we know today affect us too… A day that we go out and enjoy this wonderful nature and try to come home with ideas about how to better preserve it.

We read: "Mind you do not spoil and destroy my world, if ruined, there is no one to fix it after you" "תן דעתך שלא תקלקל ותחריב עולמי, שאם קלקלת, אין מי שיתקן אחריך" (Ecclesiastes)

Environment, crops, nature … regardless of what we do for a living, we should always keep this in mind and take into consideration. This is our future, our children’s and their children’s future. It is inside all of our daily decisions – what we eat, where to buy, what we write on, with what we wrap, with what we clean, etc. Tu Bishvat is here to remind us to take care. Tu Bishvat is here to remind us to take responsibility. There is no one to fix up the world after us ….

In every ancient culture as well as ours today, food is a central issue. This is the most basic thing for all of us. What do we eat? How is this food grown? How did it reach us? Who packed it? Who brought it to us? These are good questions for Tu Bishvat and also for every day the entire year … 🙂

Let's keep our health – our first instinct. The earths health – where it all begins. Where there is earth, there is life. The community’s health – that’s us, our family, each and every one…

Be Healthy!!!

 

Love,

Maggie and all the garden staff

 

And in our weekly baskets I expect(draft only) :

 

Swiss Chard

 

Green garlic

 

Sweet Potatoes

 

Lettuce

 

Onions

 

Dark zucchini

 

Regular Cucumbers in interesting shapes 🙂

 

Tomatoes

 

Cabbage

 

Daikon radish

 

Avocado

 

 

 

Larger ones also:

 

Broccoli

 

Coriander

 

And cauliflower

 

 

 

Fruit baskets :

 

Sweeties

 

Oranges

 

And Temple Clemintines

 

 

 

Larger ones also:

 

Bananas

 

And Orr Clemintines