Observations about life in Israel from a Canadian immigrant's perspective.
“We want to get married.” “Mazal Tov! When?” “Three days after you get back from your trip. In your garden.” I could see Amir waving his hands frantically as if he were guiding a Boeing-747 down the runway. He himself was flying — and it was into panic mode. “I love garden weddings,” I replied calmly.… Continue reading The Circle of Life
Meet Bob, Sushi’s new boyfriend. Bob recently came into our lives via a love note. It was a bit of a shock, but since Sushi was spending lots of time away from home, we suspected something was up. But we did not anticipate “Bob.” Sushi even pulled an all-nighter, arriving home one morning looking tired… Continue reading Sushi and Bob
Following up on last month’s blog, the corrupt mayor in Tzfat (the one who bankrupted the city) lost to a Hareidi candidate who knows nothing about the city’s issues - he was parachuted in by Shas and his connection to the town is that his wife was born there.All of the Tzfat Hareidim voted for… Continue reading We are united and all is ok
Our garden in February.It is municipal election day today and the skies are filled with jets screeching non-stop. I sit with my morning coffee and practise chicken therapy by relaxing with the hens. I suddenly hear a barrage of explosions nearby – and so do the hens. In synch, we move our necks, ears to the… Continue reading War time offers strange opportunities
The heat is beyond belief. As I am new to this part of Israel, I am not sure whether this is normal or whether the whole world is burning up. To do any work in the garden, we must now get up before 5am, a time when the chickens stir, the roosters cock-o-ri-coo, and both crickets… Continue reading Don't Count Your Chickens (or Melons) Till They're Hatched
The little rain we had this winter has ceased. The clouds have dissipated, revealing pure magenta skies. And the temperature is soaring. Our colorful meadow has dried to a crisp. There are still a few Queen Anne’s Lace, hollyhocks, and thistles bravely dancing in the hot wind. Surprisingly, we have some wild sunflowers that popped… Continue reading Here Comes the Sun!
“They too have to eat.” These were Yuval’s compassionate words regarding sharing our organic greens with other critters. As we stand over buckets of water, dunking and swirling heads of lettuce, our feet in mud and our hands covered in caterpillar refuse and aphids, I keep trying to remember these words.Last Thursday, we were up… Continue reading They too have to eat
January marked a complete transformation of the market garden, as it turned from brown to shimmering green. With the help of super friendly people in the community, we planted over a thousand seedlings. The brown no-dig beds were soon filled with tiny organic seedlings of kale, lettuce, Swiss chard, beets, arugula, coriander, and parsley. The first… Continue reading The Market Garden
Life in Israel 