Garden it

May 12, 2010 - 11:25 AM by · 6 Comments
Filed under: Art, design, Environment, General, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life 

The sun is hot, the days are long, and gardens are blooming and still fairly green even though the dry season has begun. Relatively new gardener that I am, I’m still reveling in having my own little plot of land, where the lime and peach trees are just about ready to bear their first fruits of the season.

That said, my own square of soil is pretty traditional, a backyard garden reached by our back door. What I love to catch a glimpse of in my turns around the neighborhood are the less traditional spaces that people find for growing their own greenery. Jerusalem being a city of mostly apartment buildings, people cultivate balcony gardens out of containers of all shapes and sizes, take over the dry strips of dirt outside their buildings and create blooming beds of flowers and vegetables from the most unlikely settings.

Here’s a selection of local gardens:

Along the sidewalk in Talpiot

A balcony garden from afar

Outside a low-rent housing project

A potted garden in Baka

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I heart Sukkot.

October 12, 2008 - 7:30 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Holidays 

Sukkot Sukkot is by far my favorite holiday. Within an hour of Yom Kippur ending the incessant sounds of banging envelop my neighborhood as nearly everyone, secular and religious erect their sukkot in their backyards and all too often quite precariously on their porches. There are sukkot as far as the eye can see. I bought a small pre-fab sukkah a few years ago that goes up in about 15 minutes with minimal effort – though I haven’t put it up yet – I’m a last minute type of guy.

I cherish this part of the year. We usually get our first rain during Sukkot (though we were trumped by Rosh Hashana this year) and then winter quickly comes rather quickly though there is always a random hot day in November. It’s the closest we have to a spring-like season though it only lasts for a couple of weeks. I took full advantage over the weekend and did a lot of much needed gardening for the first time since June. My lemongrass and lemon tree is out of control so I harvested much of it and gave generously to friends. On Friday night I stuffed about a dozen stalks in the tuchus of a chicken. I highly recommend this in in lieu of using lemon. You get the delicious lemon flavor without the acidity. My lemons are better suited for lemonade.

I am far from a religious man but I for some reason I can’t explain I feel very connected to this holiday. Perhaps it is my love of the land married with the cultural observance of this holiday. Perhaps it is the vision of unity. The Israeli people (or should I say Jewish) experience unity in both tragedy and celebrations and unfortunately not too not much in between. But that’s ok, because on Sukkot it all comes together – at least for me.

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First rains

September 28, 2008 - 1:39 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: General, Life 

It was the first rain yesterday. In Israel we take our rain seriously. My children were out there quick as a flash, dancing around the garden as if…, well as if they hadn’t seen rain for six months.

Their education in water conservation was immediately apparent. Every container they could find was pressed into use catching raindrops and run off water from the roof. When the rain stopped they began diligently watering all the pots.

rain B.jpg

It may have been short, and it was definitely filthy (the first rain always leaves you wiping down your windows, car, garden furniture, and the floor, if you unluckily left your window open), but yesterday’s rain was a welcome sight for everyone.

rain A.jpg

Last year’s dry, warm winter compounded three previous years of drought, leaving Israel facing its worst water crisis in years.
With the red line of the Galilee – Israel’s main reservoir of natural water – already breached, pumping looks as if its set to reach the black line, beyond which point many believe the damage to the lake is irreversible.

With the government seemingly doing little to reverse the crisis – even water rates haven’t gone up in price – we desperately need rain this year, and many will be hoping that Saturday’s early shower will be an indication of a rainy winter to come. Around Jerusalem at least, up to half an inch fell yesterday, while in Tel Aviv and other areas of the country, the rain was fairly light and drizzly, allowing the parched earth to absorb some of the run off.

No forecasters are willing to give any predictions of rainfall this winter, but the rain did set in motion one important yearly tradition, known and dreaded by parents – mostly mothers – everywhere: the autumn switch to winter clothes, an exhausting job that involves trailing through the dark recesses of children’s wardrobes, and boxes stashed under the bed.

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