Aley Chubeza #208, July 28th-30th 2014

Due to the Tisha B’Av fast which falls next Tuesday, please note that our online order system will close for Wednesday orders on Sunday at 13:00. Let us know by Sunday of any changes or additions to your regular order! ______________________

In this time of summer vacations, many of you are making changes in your Chubeza orders– which is, of course, fine. Our request is simply that you inform us of the changes in plenty of time. Whenever you know ahead of time about an upcoming vacation, you have the option – even several weeks in advance – to inform us to hold your order on certain dates. In any event, your request should reach us no later than the date our online system closes (usually the day before delivery at 9:00 am). Messages that arrive beyond that date create an overload and a host of difficulties. We ask for your cooperation so that we, too, can carry out our work in an orderly, error-free manner. Many thanks, and happy holidays! ___________________

Manu, our baker par excellence, is taking a summer break. This week, as well as next Monday, it’s baking as usual. But from next Wednesday, there will be no bread available until Monday 25.8. To stock up by increasing your order, use our online ordering system or inform us. ________________

 The Three Weeks    

“Bein HaMetzarim,” the three weeks between the Seventeenth of Tammuz (the day on which the walls of Jerusalem were breached) and Tisha B’Av (the day the Temple was destroyed), are known as days of calamity in which destructive forces prevail. This year, unfortunately, the feeling is all the more intense in these difficult and very challenging times.

At Chubeza, our workers include Israelis, who are worried for the fate of friends and family who have been called up to fight and also for those who live in the south of the country; workers from Thailand, who have been caught up in the Middle Eastern storm; and Palestinian workers, whose Ramadan fast is accompanied by terrible pictures coming from Gaza. When the air raid siren sounds, together we all dive to lie flat on the earth, each whispering his own prayers.

In the field, too, this period is a time of great tribulation: Pestilence has struck in the forms of the “tuta absoluta” moth, which is threatening the tomato crop and leaving its vicious scar as black holes in your tomatoes; maggots burrowing and sometimes gnawing into the sweet corn which they (like you) adore, and the fungal pathogen Fusarium which is attacking some of the corn cobs (for the meantime on a small scale, which we hope will remain that way). But above all, it is the greens, which always face great challenges over the summer, who are the main victims. Currently our greens are suffering the indignities of being eaten by flying insects, whose mark you see on their punctured leaves, and various fungi which yellow the leaves. At a later date I will expand upon the tale of the tuta absoluta and upon the greens’ summer struggle for survival. This week I just wanted to give a brief explanation for the “battle scars” you’re sometimes seeing on our vegetables.

We all share the hope that like the changing of the seasons which brings relief and balm for the ravaged field vegetables, that calmer and better times lie just ahead for mankind as well. Despite the destruction, pain and fear, and over the muffled artillery blasts, may the voices of those who wish to live in mutual respect and cooperation be heard so that we can yet turn towards building, rehabilitation and life.

Wishing a great time to all who are vacation-bound, and special Eid al-Fitr holiday greetings to Majdi and Mohammed.

With greetings of peace,

Alon, Bat-Ami, Dror, Maya, and the Chubeza team in all its diversity ______________________________________

What’s in this Week’s Boxes?

Monday: Mint, lettuce, tomatoes, acorn squash/pumpkin, eggplant, cucumbers, leeks/ onions, cherry tomatoes, New Zealand spinach. Small boxes only: melon, okra/Hilda pole beans/Thai beans

Large boxes, in addition: Parsley/thyme, scallions, garlic chives, spaghetti squash, corn/ Thai beans

Wednesday: nana (mint), okra/yard long beans/green beans, cucumbers, slice of pumpkin, tomatoes, leek/onions, eggplants, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, corn, small boxes only: scallions/garlic chive

Large boxes, in addition: melon/green and red peppers, parsley/thyme, New Zealand spinach, acorn squash/spaghetti squash

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, crackers, probiotic foods, dried fruits and leathers, olive oil, bakery products, pomegranate juice 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!

Top