Aaaah… It is so rainy outside. It is not just a random drizzle or a cloud sprinkling a few drops on Israel and then flying away to do the more serious work over Europe.
Walls of rain, a real flood is pouring out there as I write these lines. A joyful and refreshing flood. I hear the sound of the drops hitting the ground and turning it into soft, wonderful mud. The plants are happy in this mud, the roots suck clean fresh water full of nutrients; The seeds are also happy with the abundance of this water, they stretch and reach their limbs out, feeling and groping inside all this goodness around them, knowing that it is now possible to sprout and start sending down a little root that will grow, and a tiny pair of leaves towards the sky that will spread their arms to welcome the rain and be very happy. Not only for small seeds and soft plants is this a time of joy. If I had a measuring tape attached to each lettuce and parsley plant, I could confirm my observation that plants have growth spurts after such rain when temperatures are not too cold.
If I had a happiness meter, I could also prove how pleased the plants are that the showers began. They smile by simply lifting their leaves with joy, as I do as well.
On the one hand, the rain makes it difficult for those who work in the field. The back of your neck gets wet, and maybe a trickle of cold water manages to make its way under your clothes and becomes a nuisance for the next couple of hours. Your feet wallow in the mud, the boots threaten to be sucked into the sticky paste with every step and leave your foot exposed and vulnerable with no boot on it. The mud powerfully embraces not only boots, but also the roots that grow within it, so the work of removing the roots that we want to eat becomes much more difficult. The mud is not only sticky (and demanding), it is also very slippery, and as much as we, the farmers, are happy about the rain and the good soil and the combination of the two, we davka do not like slipping face down into this wonderful pasty soil. The mud also sticks to weeds, which makes the weeding process particularly challenging. It is also difficult to remove mud from things because it is so sticky. As a result, we carry around lot of mud with us everywhere we go: to the packing house, into the boxes and sometimes to your home. But remember – mud is not dirt!! It is the healthy earth which produces our food.
At midday, when we take a break to refresh from work, we stretch and look with satisfaction at our green patch. The strongest effect of the rain is on your nose. Rain has a smell, before it comes, and after it goes. It smells of freshness, of clean air, of something new, of playfulness and lightness… The smell that follows the rain, the one that smells most powerful when walking in the forest or on hills, is the happiness waves of the plants, which secrete chemicals and oils, leaving a scent mark on the nearby rocks and the walker's nose, and also of the renewed soil. The earth, which has been waiting anxiously all summer for the showers, contains an abundance of different and various forms of life. In addition to the roots of the plants that begin to settle in it, there is also an abundance of arthropods, earth-worms and snails that hustle to their winter tasks, and even bacteria that were waiting for just the right time. And all these have a smell called geosamin, the smell of blessing and renewal. Animals react to this scent. The animals with the nose most sensitive to this smell are of course camels, who mysteriously can find water from miles away. It is not a mystery. It is the geosamin that they small.
We will bless the circle of animals and plants with a wish for a happy Chanukah and good luck, that the heavens will provide us with only good rain and that the good will come true in all aspects of life.
To health!
Yours,
Maggie and the garden team
Forecast for this week:
Organic vegetable baskets:
Tomatoes
Cucumber
Celery Leaves
Lettuce
Pepper
Potatoes
Coriander
Celery
Beet
Fennel
Large organic vegetable baskets:
Acocado
Lemon
Parsley
Organic fruit baskets:
Oranges
Clementine
Bananas
Large Organic fruit baskets:
Sweetie
Grapefruit
You can choose off course to mix and match your own order in our website.
If you are around, we are now opened on Sundays, from 1PM.
