To water or not to water? that is the question.

Dearest box receivers,
I'm reminding everyone that during the week of Hol Hamoed Peasch there will not be deliveries of boxes. Some of us will be on vacation and others will be busy planting....
if you want reinforcements for the holiday or because of the skipped week please let me know as soon as you can, or logon to our ordering system and see what is available. This is also a good opportunity to try out the ordering system, if you have not done so already. We will be glad to help.
In the week before the holiday, I expect a much bigger load on us all, and therefore there may be delays in the delivery. Your patience is appreciated. Sorry.

This beautifull heat has made some our cabbages fulfill their destiny without wanting to develop a full head. Cabbage leaves, especially these which are like the exterior leaves, are particularly healthy. (also great in green and purple smoothies).

To water or not to water? That is the question....
In the winter, especially this rich winter, the entire garden is irrigated in a sweet and natural fashion directly from the skies. It means that our irrigation system is not activated and not being used. When we irrigate the garden with our drip system, the water is transported inside tubes and will arrive only where there are tubes and drippers. Of course we sow and plant only where water reaches, so in summer we are limited to the tubes. In the winter we can take advantage of more ground and plant or sow between the beds, against a fence to climb on and other more original ideas. We are finished with these ideas until next winter, but we are still waiting for the Malkosh!... which is rain in the month of Nisan, just befor the harvest, that fills and hardens the produce.
(דברים יא יד): "וְנָתַתִּי מְטַר אַרְצְכֶם בְּעִתּוֹ, יוֹרֶה וּמַלְקוֹשׁ, וְאָסַפְתָּ דְגָנֶךָ וְתִירֹשְׁךָ וְיִצְהָרֶךָ"
The malkosh is the last rain. Think about this - it is a word that can only be understood retroactively. One cannot know that a certain rain is the last until much after it has ended.....
Always in spring there is much much work to be done. The plentitude of rain that has soaked in all parts of the garden holds a promise for each little seed inside the ground waiting for the right moment. Now each seed can identify the optimal conditions for it to sprout. And I'm not talking necessarily about the seeds we placed in the ground intentionally, but seeds from the weeds we pulled out this last season, seeds from the goat compost we bring over, seeds that blew over with the wind, seeds that fell from a bird in the sky..... so, along with the many weeds that germinate and begin to grow, this is also the perfect time for the summer crops to begin to grow. We are not yet sure it will be warm and cozy - the preferred temperature for summer crops, but we want to give them an easy start in nice weather which is warm and not too hot, and a strong start by enjoying the plentitude of water still absorbed in the ground.
Just as it is the time to clean the house, take out the leavened food, remove the old and ancillary from our lives (the equinox was last week), it is also the time to say goodbye to winter crops that are burdened by the recent warmth. It is time to weed, to enrich with compost and to cultivate the beds to prepare and renew them to receive life cycles of new plants.
Until it gets really hot there will be a mixture of winter and summer crops, but we already began the process of detaching from the winter plants. We thank those cycles for the nourishment and the green wonderful wintery flavor and are happily expecting the summer crops.
Next to be planted and sown in the coming weeks are eggplants of several types, beans, tomatoes, basil and a number of diffent gourds.
I wish us all a period of renewing, cleaning and sprouting, followed by a blossom of new ideas.
Yours,
Maggie and the team

Our expectation list for this week:

Tomatoes

Fennel

Cabbage

Lettuce

Dutch cucumbers half a kg

Swiss chard

Parsley

Peppers

Carrots

onion

Larger ones also:

Beets

Coriander

Potatoes

Green onions and something else ...

Fruit baskets;

Bananas

Avocado

pomelits

Orange