it’s an update!

Not to brag, but there’s a slight possibility of me becoming a huge celebrity this weekend. Here’s the deal: A group of American women called the Lions of Judah (ie philanthropic Jews) came to visit the farm yesterday – we talked about the farm and our program, and as part of the day, I told them “my story” and gave some of the ladies a tour of the farm. My story was met with great enthusiasm and appluase and a couple of thumbs up. (The extrememly abbreviated version goes like this: I grew up in a secular home, and then I was an environmental studies major in school, and I wanted to farm abroad after I graduated, and I could have gone anywhere in the world, but good golly I wound up in Israel [thanks to philanthropic Jews who gave me a scholarship to come here], and my goodness i LOVE it here…) By the end, the Lions were all but laying gold ingots and first-born children at my feet.

 

Coincidentally, there is a huge conference called the General Assembly this week in Jerusalem. It’s a meeting of Jews from all over the world, and apparently it’s a pretty big deal to go, and it’s a $300 per head per day to get in. But, becuase being green is so hip right now, our whole sustainble program was invited to the summit day on Sunday, where Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister is speaking. And apparently, the PM wants to tell the story of some young Jew who was able to come to Israel and LOVE IT first hand, and apparently the Lions made some calls, and while I was eating mashed pumpkin for lunch yesterday, I got a call from the Prime Minister’s office asking me for “my story” for the PM to mention in his speech. It sounds like it’s between me and some other kid doing a MASA program, whoever’s stopry is more appealing will get mentioned. But I was told to prepare for lots of cameras at the conference, anyway. I think my next step is to locate a set of clothes that is neither filthy, shredded, nor a costume article I found in a trash heap …. which, unfortunately, is easier seaid than done. (I’ve also been advised that now is the perfect time for a mohawk and to break out the green felt mumu-bathrobe (with embriodered gold chest plate!) that I found on the ground in Tsfat last week …)

 

I’m thrilled if the PM just wants to say “Hey, Ele is a great kid and we sure are happy she’s in Israel,” but I have no desire whatsoever for becoming a posterchild for MASA or “my story” becoming a commodity item to be touted about in search of more donations. So we’ll see what happens.  I’m just keepin it real.

 

There is so much to talk about, it’s overwhelming! Here are a few high lights from the past few weeks:

- Along with my friend Dan, I’ve been on the bread chore for the last two weeks. This means we bake a few loaves of break once a week for our community on the farm. The Tassajara Bread Book has been utterly invaluable during this experience! To bake bread in our mud oven, here is what one must do:

1 – gather firewood. this is the frst big obstacle, because there is not much wood in our parts, so we end up burning a lot of date palm fronds, which burn very quickly, so you need a lot. the wood we do have is in huge chunks, and the farms seems oblivious to the need for an axe with which to chop the wood, and sawing it is rather tedious.

2 – light a fire in the oven, and let the metal box part of the oven heat up.

3 - put in 2-3 loaves of bread, or anything that fits into about 2 small cake pans (we also make granola, and goodies)

4 – wait about 8 years for the things to finish baking. we’re not sure how hot the oven gets, but everything takes about 2 or 3 times as long to bake as it should, and nothing ever really comes out perfectly …

While Dan and I have had to pull some late nighters waiting for the bread to bake, it is very satisfying to wake up the next morning to big doughy loaves of cinnamon-raisin-date honey rounds, or sourdough sesame seed rolls. The other day we were thinning out our strawberry patch (which has been continuously producing berries for well over 3 months now!), and I picked a bunch of overripe berries and made a quick batch of jam. And it was mightily enjoyable to eat my hot homemade jam on my hot homemade bread. Worth the effort? I’m still not sure yet. Next, Dan and I get the chore of taking care of our compost systems, which doesn’t have quite the same charm.

 

Last week, we went on a Tiul (fieldtrip) up North to check out sustainability projects, hike and swim, and learn about water issues and the military history of the North. It was a fantastic trip!! There are 3 main tributaries to the Jordan River, which feeds the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), which is Israel’s only lake, and only freshwater source. (A country of only one lake?!) We hiked along two of the three tributaries, and swam in both streams, as well as the Kinneret. The hiking paths remined me of California, and I sat in enough waterfalls to last me a while.

We drove through several Druze villages, and stopped twice for knaffe, which is this awesome Arab pastry with philo dough, cheese, honey syrup, and sometimes rosewater. It is either baklava-colored or neon orange (no joke). Druze are a very interesting people – their M O for survival is to co-operate with the ruler / empire du jour, so long as they are allowed to saty on their land. So they switched relatively easily (though of course not without their own issues) from being Syrian citizens to Israeli. I’m really interested to learn more about the Druze.

We toured the Golan Heights, and were at various times a stone’s throw from the Lebanese and Syrian borders. Neither country officially recognizes the state of Israel, and there are many, many abandonded bullet-riddled cement buildings to recount the history of that dispute. We woke up ealry one morning and had a yoga session atop the former Syrian army headquarters, which is now a delapidated pile of concrete in Israeli territory. For the Warrior pose, our directions were “Face me, and point your left foot towards me, and your right foot towards Syria …”

 

We also spent a day and a night at Moshav Nahalal, the first moshav in Israel, where a young woman is starting a permaculture community. We fit in all together quite well, and in exchange for a place to sleep and the MOST AMAZING foccacia ever, we helped work on their garden beds and plaster the outside of their natural mud-builidng community center. It was really nice workign with their international crowd, and many of us plan to go back at somepoint to hang out and do more natural building and basketweaving with them.

 

This is probably way too long as it it, so I’ll sign off by saying I hope you’re all well and happy.

Wait – also: OBAMA!!!! we stayed up all night in an American bar in Tel Aviv watching the results come in, and 2, 3, 4, 5 in the morning, although we had to leave before we got the final counts that Obama one. All of us on the farm are possitively beside ourseleves with joy, though this sentiment is not shared throughout Israel. Most American-Israelis were/are staunchly pro-McCain because McCain is staunchly pro-Israel. Because, don’t you know, Obama is an anti-semetic Muslim terrorist who wants pull the American military-aid rug out from under Israel. I heard somethin crazy like 79% of the American-Israeli vote went to McCain. Luckily, Obama’s pledge to suport Israel and his appointment of a cabinet member whose family is Israeli is a source of some relief for people here. Israel held elections two days ago, and the biggest suprise is that a secular candidate won the mayoral race in Jerusalem, where the Haredi (ultra-orthodox) candidate was expected to win. Change is in the wind?

 

Love

Ele

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~ by travelinshoes on November 14, 2008.