Chag Sameach – and an invitation – come visit us on our Open Day next week!

At the height of the “Tishrei” Holidays – New year’s behind us, Sukkot & Simchat Torah lie ahead

In this very season 20 years ago, we took our first steps in our first plot of earth in Kfar Bin Nun. The field was organic, cultivated for over a decade by the late Chaim Pocher and his wife Liora (may she be blessed with long life), who both pioneered organic farming in Israel. In the years before we arrived, the field had lay fallow due to Chaim’s ill health. Fierce two-meter-high thorns and weeds covered the plot. That gladdened our hearts, for this was a clear sign of a fertile, happy plot which could also grow crops.

Step One was to mow down the plot, and then remove the old drip irrigation pipes that had been buried beneath the weeds. In order to moisten the soil, bone-dry from a scorching summer without irrigation, we spread irrigation lines and sprinklers over the plot of land. Since we were working with the used equipment that was in the field, each tap we opened was accompanied by a wild shpritz from a point in some other corner of the field…After countless repairs and reconnections, while I was in the throes of earning my BA (in psychology), the mythological Chubeza concept “Good Enough Irrigation System” was coined.

The plot was irrigated, the soil was turned, and it stood ready and waiting – and excited like us – to welcome the first seeds and seedlings to its bosom. In the beginning, we set out to recruit friends and family members to come work in our field in the early morning hours before they left for work, on vacation days, or in the afternoons. They mobilized at our side to come sow, plow and plant.

Here’s a peek at some scenes from the early pioneer days. (We’re all 20 years younger here. The infant in the baby carrier is already a young man…)

As we reached our very first harvest day before Passover that year, excited, exhausted, hearty, and somewhat queasy, we harvested the first crops and packed the first boxes for shipping:

This year we celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Chubeza’s birth, which changed the lives of Alon and myself, and of more and more circles emerging from this lovely, pleasant and positive farm – circles of employees, customers, cooperative endeavors, suppliers, owners and just passers-by who came our way. We were privileged to embark upon this path twenty years ago, which we gratefully continue to tread.

THIS YEAR, WE CELEBRATE OUR 20TH BIRTHDAY ON CHUBEZA’S TRADITIONAL OPEN DAY – THIS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 1ST BETWEEN 13:00-17:00, HERE IN KFAR BIN NUN.

The Open Day is a perfect chance to see where your vegetables grow, get to view them up close in their beds, and smell, touch, and taste. And of course, to meet us, the people behind the vegetable boxes, as well as your fellow members of the wonderful Chubeza Community, all part of the growing band of supporters of small, local agriculture who enable our farm to exist and thrive.

WHAT’S ON THE OPEN DAY AGENDA?

Field tours set out every hour (on the quarter hour) to wander through the beds and get to know the vegetables and the stories that accompany their growth. Alon leads a more “professional” tour, Bat-Ami’s tour is more suitable for children. Tour times (approx.): 13:15, 14:15, 15:15, 16:15

Cooking Corner: Come make your own pitot on the sadz, and enjoy noshing them along with a selection of spreads and veggies, fresh from the field.

Arts & Crafts Corner: In our daily life in Chubeza, we deal with the tangible and the “real,” while on our Open Day, it’s time to catch the wind…We will make our own wind chimes from natural materials. You are invited to bring metallic items from home (old keys, bottle caps and other metal treasures) to weave into your very special wind chime.

The Games Corner will feature card and board games on the theme of Vegetable Growing – Here you can “grow a garden” of your own, and have fun while playing with friends.

The sale of vegetables, fruits and very special products from Israeli producers will be ongoing throughout the day in our packing shed.

We’ll slice veggies for you to nosh on, and in the Sales Area, you can purchase additional food products. It’s best to pack a picnic – we’ll be setting up our famous corn-stalk sukkah to host you. And, of course, a cold drink, plenty of shade, and nice clear air.

This year’s celebrations will take place near our Packing House, and our famous tractor tours will also leave from the fields outside the moshav.

DIRECTIONS HERE

We can’t wait to see you!

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