Aley Chubeza #301, August 8th-10th 2016

Important message about a small change Next Sunday is the fast of Tisha’ B’Av. In order to allow our staff to prepare for harvest before the fast day our order system for Monday delivery will close by Thursday night at 9:00 PM. Please make your changes by then. Thank you!

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This week we bid farewell to Puah and Oded’s dairy projects from Tal Shachar. After much deliberation, Puah and Oded are selling their goat herd. Thus beginning this week, we will no longer supply products from Meshek 42. We are currently searching for another goat farm with which to combine efforts, and will update you on our progress.

We are tremendously grateful to Puah, Oded and all the farm and family workers who provided us with excellent, healthy and joyful milk products from a natural, free herd. Thank you, Puah and Oded, for your responsibility and devotion, fairness and reliability. We were lucky to work with you, and we wish you much luck and good fortune in your future endeavors.

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לוגו- התפוחים של חמוטל ותומרA New Relationship  – Tomer and Chamutal produce natural apple juice and cider (non-organic) at Moshav Givat Yearim. For some time we have been trying to connect, but this summer it finally worked and we are happy to add them to Chubeza’s circle of “cottage” manufacturers.  Their apple juice, apple cider and homemade jams will now be available for purchase via our Order System, to be delivered right in your boxes.

Here is Chamutal & Tomer’s story: Chamutal and Tomer’s Apples is located in Givat Ye’arim, where we cultivate apples and other summer fruit. We squeeze natural apple juice, produce alcoholic apple cider and create a variety of excellent quality jams from apples, pears and nectarines. We established this enterprise as a joint effort, beginning our love affair with apples in 2013 after working in agriculture at Kibbutz Tzuba and noticing the large quantity of fruit which remains on the ground after harvest. Apparently, gathering the fruit and sending it to factories is not financially rewarding, and thus much fruit of excellent quality is wasted and becomes an agricultural hazard. Hence, we decided to establish a small factory for fruit cultivation. This is our way to work together, remaining close to the earth and the world of agriculture.

We use apples grown in Kibbutz Tzuba (non-organic), the sweet golden “Delicious” and the tart and crunchy “Granny Smith” to prepare the juice and cider. These products are made from 100% apples, without any preservatives. We do all the gathering, washing, cleaning and separating, after which we squeeze the apples into juice. Part is then made into fresh juice and part into alcoholic cider. The apple cider is in fact apple beer, with a 5% alcohol content. This cider is sweeter than beer and feels lighter.

We invite you to try out our products, produced with a personal touch and with a lot of love.

Prices: 1 liter apple juice      17 NIS 2 liter apple juice      27.5 NIS Cider (330 ml)           13.5 NIS Nectarine/apple jam            16.5 NIS Pear in wine jam      17.5 NIS

Make your order via our order system today!

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shana baginaA reminder – this year, too, we are happy to offer the “Shana BaGina” calendar. It is a Hebrew/English/agricultural/pictorial calendar, unique and beautifully made by Ilana and Davidi, old friends who are gardeners and collectors, cooks and talented dreamers. The calendar walks you through the year, describing in pictures and words the annual cycle in your home garden and surrounding nature. This almanac, the fruit of Ilana’s talented labors, provides many professional tips for your home garden. Here you will find instructions for preparing vegetable and flowerbeds, tending to trees and growing plants at home. Included are the specifications of annual and perennial wild plants for every month of the year, as well as refreshing seasonal recipes and tips for preserving food from wild plants, your home garden and more. This is a great gift for every gardener, collector, cook, eater, and anyone who wishes to be in tune with the changing rhythm of life, seasons and the climate in our country.

The תשע”ז 2016-2017 “Shana BaGina” calendar has brand new illustrations, helpful tips, recipes you haven’t before encountered and new topics (growing plants in bins, nature in the city and more). It is also 30% bigger (!) than last year’s calendar (as per your request) – a 31X31 cm square. A sneak peek and further details are available on their website Shana Bagina

Prices: Shana BaGina Calendar   75 NIS Two calendars                      140 NIS Three calendars:                  205 NIS Five Calendars:                    340 NIS Eight Calendars:                  488 NIS Ten Calendars:                    600 NIS

Order the calendars via our order system (under the “Chubeza Vegetables” category) and they will arrive in your boxes over the last two weeks of August and throughout September. Judging from last year’s experience, make your order fast before these beautiful calendars disappear! ________________________________

And after all these messages…

Over the next couple of weeks we will take you on a virtual tour of Chubeza’s field. This isn’t the season to invite you to an Open Day…. It’s scorching hot from 10 am, with no relief in sight till evening. But we know you miss us, and as we will only meet again in person at the end of October, we want to provide you with a look at our bountiful field during this season.

Thanks to irrigation, despite the heavy heat our field is quite green, abounding with beautiful flowers and juicy fruit. Here are some pictures. We’ll begin with a refreshing Israeli salad:

The tomatoes are gleefully going wild, inside and outside, large and middle- sized and little cherry tomatoes, all peeking cheeky red from between the leaves. Here’s one photo from the open field, and another from the net house:

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The cucumber bushes (growing only in the net house) are making great efforts to grow this year. They did exceptionally well last year, but are currently experiencing a difficult year. And yet, despite the smaller quantity, yummy beautiful cucumbers are growing on the mature bushes in our growth houses.

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And just next to them, dainty new cucumber plants are beginning their ascent:

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In the depth of the pepper thicket, among trellising vines and under shade nets, peppers are blushing their way from green to orange to red:

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And to complete your salads, a family photo: two cousins, the young green scallion, pungent and speedy, aside the patient, diligent leek, taking her time as she thickens away. They are neighbors, growing in the open field, surviving the hot summer beautifully together.

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For your main course, the huge Tripolitanian pumpkin has been gathered from the field, their plot has been cleaned and we prepared a mansion just for them with fancy parking for the royal chariots: a cool, ventilated, padded regal net shade where they are parked for the time being as they slowly arrive at the packing house to be sliced, wrapped and escorted to your home:

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For a light nibble at the beach or pool side – corn is everywhere in our field, at various heights and stages of growth, from little sprouts through middle-sized and bigger to big and tall, blossoming and producing fruit. Here are two corn beds, one middle-sized brother and a big brother, side by side:

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And there’s dessert-

Under the net, seeking protection from the oppressive heat, birds and the viruses going around, here’s a peek at our last melon beds in the fields, making their best attempt to survive summer:

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Thus concludes our virtual tour of Chubeza for this week. Tune in next week for more photos and stories about life in the field.

Wishing you all a healthy coping-with-the-heat, navigating between family and work, outdoors and indoors.

This Friday marks Queen Day in Thailand. Happy holiday to our Thai workers celebrating the occasion!

Shavua Tov Alon, Bat Ami, Dror, Yochai and the entire Chubeza team

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WHAT’S IN THIS WEEK’S BOXES?

Monday: New Zealand spinach/Swiss chard, parsley, tomatoes, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, eggplant, melon/butternut squash, zucchini/okra/Thai lubia, corn, leeks/scallions. Tripoli/Provence pumpkin slice. Special gift: nana mint

Large box, in addition: Bell peppers, onions, dill/coriander

Wednesday: New Zealand spinach/Swiss chard/basil, parsley, tomatoes, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, eggplant, onions, butternut squash, corn, leeks/scallions. Small boxes only: zucchini/peppers

 Large box, in addition: okra, Thai lubia/potatoesTripoli/Provence pumpkin slice, cilantro/dill/nana mint.

And there’s more! You can add to your basket a wide, delectable range of additional products from fine small producers: flour, fruits, honey, dates, almonds, garbanzo beans, crackers, probiotic foods, dried fruits and leathers, olive oil, bakery products and goat dairy too! You can learn more about each producer on the Chubeza website. On our order system there’s a detailed listing of the products and their cost, you can make an order online now!

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