Rosh Hashanah has passed, with all the excitement involved.
People ran around, doing their holiday shopping, choosing gifts for each other, the children prepared greeting cards, the tables were stacked with abundance, beautifully arranged, families gathered around them, greeting, wishing each other a good year and wellness… A lot of hope is everywhere surrounding us. May the year end with it's woes, and may the year begin with it's blessings! (Abraham Hazan). Rosh Hashanah brings with it many meanings in the agricultural aspect – such as the pomegranates, dates and honey served at the holiday table.
In the Jewish tradition there are several beginnings of the year – the one dedicated to the trees, the one that is accustomed for reaping, the one annotating the harvest… This New Year also symbolizes the invitation for autumn to come. Soon we will start talking about the days that are getting shorter and the nights getting cooler, which vegetables are saying goodbye and which we're excited to welcome at the store…But first, between Rosh Hashanah and autumn (which officially arrives when you finish hanging the last decoration in the sukkah, so that we will be more comfortable and pleasant for us to sleep in it) – there is Yom Kippur.
"I can think, I can wait, I can fast" the hero of the book Siddhartha answers to a wealthy merchant, who asks him what he learned during his solitude as a monk. To some of us the answer will sound strange – to the merchant it sounded strange too. "Is that all?" He wondered. "That's all" Siddhartha confirmed, and later in the story he demonstrates how these abilities are the basis for everything else. For some of us, the thought of fasting causes some discomfort, perhaps even concern – maybe thefeeling of weakness, the temptation of the plenty of foods that are at hand, or the headache that may come in the morning without caffeine.
For most of us, fasting is an undesirable result, and certainly not part of modern life, where there is everything, always and abundantly. It is precisely from this place that Sidhartha's attitude to his ability to fast is most relevant in my eyes – being calm in the face of hunger, and not to let it take over our judgment. Which one of us has not ever returned from the store packed with products that do not benefit our body, after shopping hungry? Who was not ever tempted to buy "something" to stop hunger, to munch, just to "grab something while on the way"? Siddhartha's ability to decide "yes, I'm hungry now, but I'll wait for food that is good for my body, even though there are plenty of options around" is charming to me.
If man is the tree in the field, then fasting is the most organic detox. Some people regularly fast while only drinking water, but in some fasts, such as for Yom Kippur, no water is consumed. Studies in the world of science and medicine show that the body utilizes the fasting state for healing and regeneration – defective cells are eliminated, growth hormones are secreted, the immune system cells are "refreshed". If I paralleled this process to the organic crops world – I would say that the fasting body is a type of "conversion" – shedding the results of harmful processes, and renewing itself.
There is also something full of mindfulness on Yom Kippur. The quiet roads, the opportunity to stop, gaze,think, examine thoughts we tend to avoid, find the unnecessary, throw away the useless remains and deeds that are not beneficial to us and others, and to walk barefoot on the warm earth, slowly. A day of simplicity. Like an organic field. And when the fast is over – even a glass of water is tasteful…
Yours,
Maggie's Garden Team
Forecast:
In the ORGANIC vegetable baskets we expect (draft only):
Cucumber
Tomato
Lettuce
Potato
Eggplant
Onion
Parsley
Pumpkin
Swiss chard
The LARGE organic vegetable baskets also include:
Carrot
Coriander
Sweet potatoe
In the ORGANIC fruit baskets:
Sweetie
Orange
Banana
The large ORGANIC fruit baskets also include:
Dates – Brhai
Red grapefruit
New! New! The ORGANIC Green Basket:
Swiss chard
Celery
Spinach
Basil
Dill
A kind of lettuce
Mint
Sprouts
