Normal life

Living life in Israel is very good.  The weather is great almost all the time, and very consistent.  The work we do is somewhat demanding at times, but even young fellows (14 and 15 years old) help with the tasks.  The busyness keeps us occupied to the point we have hardly any time to keep up with the news.  Contrast that with the many places where unrest seems to occupy the many who may have never been in Israel.  Their only source of information would be the media.  It is my objective to show normal life here.

These past days I worked for Shaul in the mornings.  He has 10 greenhouses with tomatoes and one with cucumbers.

Currently we are cleaning out the old tomato plants.  Last week we pulled the plant roots out of the ground.  They were left to dry for a week.  Now we have been stripping the plants from the strings which hang from the top to support them.  At some point the plants are turned to compost, and new tomato plants will occupy the greenhouse.

I asked Shaul about the pounding we hear every day, even though there is little news from actions in Gaza.  He explained that there is a military base close to Nitzana which houses an artillery unit, and which is in training every day.  Outside of the farm areas, there is a large portion of the desert alloted as a firing range.  Tank and mortar operators need practice too.

It is comforting to see soldiers and military equipment around here regularly.  For one thing, they could be working with us in a greenhouse tomorrow as they also volunteer to help the farmers.  For another, they protect life here.  There is a unit called Caracal.  This unit integrates male and female soldiers into the same unit.  The specific task for the Caracal here in the area is to watch out for drugs smugglers from just across the border in Egypt.  That area of the Sinai houses many IS militants who raise money from drugs.  The word Caracal refers to a lynx-like wildcat which lives in Africa and in the Middle-East, among other areas.

Since this week we also work afternoons.  This past week we harvested potatoes for the Rosenbergs.  Their farm has the name 'Yarok bamidbar', Greens in the Desert.  They grow their crops organically, so no chemicals.  A tractor 'loosens' the potatoes in the ground by running with a cultivator.  Then we harvest the potatoes by hand.  I have not seen that in Holland.  Potatoes there are harvested mechanincally.  But there were many foreign workers from Thailand here not too long ago who were well able to do this.  So no machines yet.

Since we are here in Nitzana the local managers of Nitzana told our group: You are part of us here, we want you to stay regardless of what will happen.  This is a significant recognition of the work we do.

It is amazing how productive the desert can be.  It seems that all it takes is a seed or plant, and a little water every now and then.  There is no sprinkling here; instead they place tubes with dripping points on them.  It works, because everywhere there are plants they flourish.

 

The desert really blooms here.

Life in the desert is fascinating.  Beautiful bee-eaters and other birds roam the fields.  Here is a short video of a special kind of tracks I noticed on a dirt road at a farm.  Try to guess what makes these tracks before you see it (about 25 seconds into the video).

Let me know if you guessed it right!