Springtime! – March 19th-21st 2018

In preparation for the Spring holidays, note these delivery changes for Pesach:

During the week of Chol Hamoed Pesach (Monday, April 2 and Wednesday April 4), there will be no deliveries.

Those of you who receive bi-weekly boxes – note the three-week gap!

We will be sending you an email with details of your upcoming delivery dates. Please read it carefully.

Open Day at Chubeza: In keeping with our twice-yearly tradition, we invite you for a Chol HaMoed “pilgrimage” to Chubeza to celebrate our Open Day.

The Pesach Open Day will take place on Wednesday, April 4, the 19th of Nissan, between 1:00 PM-6:00 PM.  In tradition, the Open Day gives us an ideal opportunity to meet, tour the field, and nibble on vegetables and other delicacies. Children have their own tailor-made tours, designed for little feet and curious minds, plus activities and a vast space to run around and loosen up.  (So can the adults…)

On the Open Day, we also set up a produce stand where you can purchase all you need to replenish your vegetable supply.

The festivities take place in the fields on the outskirts of Moshav Bin Nun. Driving instructions are on our website under “Contact Us”

We look forward to seeing you all!

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A new date delivery has arrived from Samar, just when our supply of autumn dates was dwindling. All varieties are now replenished: Barhi, Dekel Nur and Zahidi, and all are Kosher for Pesach. You are welcome to sweeten your holiday with the healthy, tasty delight of Samar dates. Order via our order system today!

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Not only are the dates kosher for Pesach. Lots of other Chubeza delicacies are available for you from our associates: Juices and date honey from Neot Smadar, Green crackers and vegetable crackers, date and walnut granola, cocoa, almond and berry granola, double chocolate cookies, and ginger and cinnamon cookies, walnut fudge and brownies from Shorshei Zion; all the excellent spices from Reach HaSade; olive oil and honey from Ein Charod, and Tamir’s honey from the Golan. Lots of goodies for your holiday table or gifts for those you truly love.

Find them all in our order system.

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Spring is here!

This Tuesday marks the formal beginning of spring. Since the end of December, when we experienced the shortest day and longest night, the nights have been getting shorter, and this Tuesday, March 20th just after six pm, we will encounter the equinox – that time of year when day and night are equal in length, astronomically marking the beginning of spring (“equinox” is Latin for equal nights).

The four seasons of the year derive from the slight slant of the globe’s axis (directed towards a point in space, somewhere in the vicinity of the North Star. This slight gradient causes half of the southern part of the globe to receive more sun than the northern part, while during the other half of the year, the northern hemisphere receives more sun. On a summery afternoon in the northern half (where Israel resides), the sun is high in the sky, whilst during wintery days it rises and sets in a low arch, thereby making a shorter orbit in the skies. This is why in summertime we enjoy longer hours of light from the time the sun rises, climbs high and finally sets, while during wintertime it spends less time in the sky, disappearing early and leaving us with the long nights.

The two points in the year when the length of night and day are equal mark the autumn and spring. On both days, the sun is horizontal over the globe’s axis, rising exactly in the east, orbiting through the sky, and setting in the west precisely 12 hours later. Almost every place across the globe enjoys some 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. In the half of the northern hemisphere, autumn begins with the autumn equinox on September 22-23, whilst on December 21, the shortest day of the year, winter begins. Spring begins with the spring equinox on March 20-21, and on June 21, the longest day of the year, summertime begins. Here is a nice, interesting explanation about the equinoxes, explaining why the equinox isn’t exactly what we thought (but still a reasonable facsimile thereof).

The first day of spring is a day full of symbols in ancient culture, with very accurate architecture: the Mayans celebrated it by making sacrifices near the great pyramid of Chichen Itza in Mexico, which was placed on an angle, thus – on the day of equinox, the sunbeams resembled a snake of light descending from the top of the upper staircase to the bottom of the lower staircase. On the other side of the globe, the mighty Sphinx in African Egypt stood facing the sunset mark on the day of the equinox. This was an attempt to capture in rock the solitary moment as well as the exchange and the direction of light.

Perhaps it comes as no surprise, but the spring equinox and the commencement of spring is still celebrated in traditions and not-so-different holidays in various cultures: our Passover, the Christian Easter, Japanese Buddhist “higan” (literally: the other coast) and “Nowruz”(literally: a new day), the Persian New Year. What these holidays share in common is that they are packed with significances of meetings and passages, change and inner balance, renewal and exposure to life and the possibilities for growth before us. The message these holidays bring is that this is the hour in which the border between opposites is quite thin, which is why it offers a moment to halt in the midst of life’s fast lane, open one’s eyes in a way which is new and perhaps different, allowing the possibility for development and change and a new path, as well as finding balance and tranquility, before resuming the new race – this time towards summer.

In the field, too, this is a time of meeting and movement: the winter crops abide near the summer crops, while fertilization, weeding, planting and seeding and harvesting mix together, creating a very labor-intensive season for us. Not a lot of time to halt in the midst of the race, but the changes that the field undergoes as it prepares for the warm season definitely inspire lots of observing and eye opening, introspection on the past and plans for the future.

Pesach, the holiday of spring, ushers in the parade of agricultural holidays in Israel, with Nissan being the first month of the Hebrew calendar. During this holiday, the farmers are fortified with strength and the many hours of sleep they accumulated during the slow winter season, where they were able to rest and restore their energy (and forget how hot last summer was…).

After sowing in tears, the barley has ripened, heralding the time to reap in joy. At the close of the first Pesach holiday, a traditional celebration was held to mark the barley harvest season, by the ceremonial first binding of the sheaves.

This ceremony and this season were also accompanied by great apprehension. As the entire season’s crops are about to ripen and become ready to harvest, the volatile weather placed tremendous pressure upon the farmers. In the words of the Yalkut Shimoni, “At Pesach, one will not find simchah (joy) written even once. Why? For at Pesach, the yield is judged, and no one knows whether this year will bring a yield or not.”

We join in the hope and prayers that this holiday and this coming season will be blessed with milk, honey, and the fruit of the land, to bring health, peace and happiness.

Chag sameach!

Alon, Bat-Ami, Dror, Yochai and the entire Chubeza team

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WHAT’S IN THIS WEEK’S BOXES?

Monday: Cauliflower/cabbage, carrots, fava beans, cucumbers, garden or snow peas/Jerusalem artichoke, tomatoes, potatoes, parsley/coriander, beets, leeks. Small boxes only: Radishes/kohlrabi

Large box, in addition: Red lettuce, Swiss chard/spinach/kale, celeriac/parsley root, fresh garlic/scallions/onions.

Wednesday: Cabbage, carrots, fava beans, cucumbers, garden or snow peas/Jerusalem artichoke, tomatoes, potatoes, beets, leeks, fresh garlic. Small boxes only: parsley/coriander

Large box, in addition: Red lettuce/Swiss chard/spinach/kale, celeriac/parsley root, scallions/onions, kohlrabi.

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