New Spring

Hi friends,
Hope you all had a wonderfull vacation! I missed you..
1. First, I wish to notify everyone of changes in deliveries for the NEXT WEEK due to Independence day.
Deliveries to Herzelia, north Tel Aviv, Yehud and Kiryat Ono are being moved to Monday, April 23rd instead of Wednesday April 25th. For those of you affected by this change, please be sure to order by Sunday at 12:00.
2.This week we have a huge variety of greens, just before we part from them for the summer.
3.Sale on beets!
4.I added walnuts and hazelnuts with a new, good price!

Spring and new beginnings,
The month of Nisan - - "החדש הזה לכם ראש חדשים, ראשון הוא לכם לחדשי השנה" (שמות י"ב, ב').
Nisan is the biblical first month of the year. How suitable to begin the new year with refreshed energy (after the slowness of winter when we almost forgot how hot it was last summer), and with a burst of color, smells, growing and extra activity: ours and of all creatures in the garden that carry out this magical cycle.
The name Nisan originates from the Accadian word "Nisano" and means bud (like Nitzan in Hebrew), like the beginning of a flower, future potential...
That's it, it is official, spring is here - the garden is bursting with blossoms, colors, scents, rapid growth and the activity of creatures large and small.
In the bible the term "spring" (aviv) refers to the phase at the start of the ripening of grain after the stems have hardened.
The barley is the first of the grains to ripen in our region and in the month of Nisan it reaches the stage in development called "spring". The spring of barley happens when there is less rain, higher temperatures and the sun comes out.
The hail in Egypt damaged the barley and the flax, species that ripen earlier, and not the wheat and buckwheat that ripen later. "כי השעֹרה אביב והפשתה גבעול... והחטה והכסמת אפילֹת הנה" (שמות ט, לא)
So this season, for us characterized by fickleness - one day hazy, one day cold, one day hamsin - is a good season to leave Egypt for a hike in the Sinai desert, as Rashi explains Exodus 13, 4: ".... Be grateful that your camel took you out in a good month for exiting, not hot nor cold and no rains....." (my translation.....) I can personally testify to the suitableness of this season, recalling the herds of Israelis coming and going at the Taba crossing.
The spring is a time that the farmers are energized from the revival and natural awakening in the garden. The winter had short days, some of which did not allow work outside, which were used for planning and organizing indoors, and also provided additional hours to sleep at night. Hence, farmers are now fully energized. This is the time to reap joyfully. At the end of the first holiday of Pesach it is customary to perform the ceremony that officially announces the beginning of the reaping season. Nowadays, when we have irrigation also during summer and we are not dependant only on rain water, this is when the garden changes its face. We say goodbye to the winter crops, some slowly and some all at once, and greet the summer vegetables, of which most are actually fruit which carry seeds inside them
So, bottom line, how does it work? What's happening now in the garden?
The patches of broccoli, cauliflower, radish, most of the cabbage, mustards and more are finally reaped and you probably noticed that they have occupied our latest boxes. We won't see them in the garden till next fall. The empty patches received additional organic compost, some cultivation and deeper hoeing to ventilate and assure proper water drainage.

All of this in order to enrich the many micro-organisms that live in the earth -- they are actually what cause the fertility of the earth. In intensive organic agriculture, like ours, we must always aspire to maintain optimal balance and allow nature to do its thing. As opposed to conventional industrial agriculture where they enrich the earth with specific nourishing agents at specific times, we make an effort to keep our earth balanced and healthy all the time. In fact that is the most important guideline in the garden -- always to encourage healthy micro-organism activity, so a cycle of seeds and then rest are very important in keeping the earth fertile.
Each kind of crop takes from the earth certain materials and also leaves some. Growing the same crop, in the same patch, for many consecutive seasons will cause depletion of certain necessary resources. Situations like this of "tired" earth are what brought conventional agriculture to depend upon chemical fertilizers. They use the earth as a "bed" only, because it lacks healthy micro-organism activity. Restoration of the healthy state of micro-organism activity takes much time and effort, so they continue adding chemicals year after year.
In our garden we find it important to vary the kinds of crops and not to repeat the same crop season after season. In fact we try to create an even longer cycle of at least 2 years. This is in order to allow the little smart guys in the ground to do what they know best. In addition we try to help by ventilating, moisturizing, adding compost and also planting crops that enrich the earth: crops that restore to the earth essential materials like legumes, that connect nitrogen to the earth.
As appropriate to the mountain region, in the last month we sowed summer spinach and kale so we will have some greens in summer.

The Swiss chard is still producing its lovely leaves and the lettuce, only the romaine which is more resistant to heat, will be planted in shorter intervals than in winter because of the rapid growth in the warmth and sun. Hopefully this will provide a constant supply to all of us.
The patches are festively prepared and awaiting the real summer plants! This week we will plant zucchinis, tomatoes, melons, eggplants and basil!! Also, planned to arrive are the green onions, leeks and chives.
This week we will also plant pumpkins (winter squash, actually zucchinis that completely mature and thus have seeds and a hard peel, which allows them to be preserved for winter, hence their name) of many types: Napolitan, giant Tripoli, butterscotch gourds, Thai in many shapes, colors and sizes.
So that's it, as part of the sweep of the cycle, we will wish the outgoing vegetables a blessing and thank them for the nourishment they have provided, and happily receive those that are beginning their way in the garden.

I'm all excited from the burst of activity and hope we all have a year blessed with honey and milk and produce from the garden. May all our buds develop into flowers and produce fruit that provide us with health and joy.
Yours,
Maggie

And we expect in this weeks spring baskets:

Mangold

Beautiful green curly lettuce

Tomatoes

Cucumbers

Broccoli

Dill

Beets

Celery root

Eggplants

Kohlrabi

Larger ones also:

fennel

Spinach

Leeks

And parsley

Baskets of fruit;

Avocado, banana and citrus