Delivery Schedule Changes for Shavuot:
Monday deliveries were as usual.
Wednesday deliveries will were delayed till today Thursday, June 16th.
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And everything that was, perhaps will ever be,
The rising and the setting of the sun…
And songs are always sung, but can they speak
The vastness of the loss and all the love.
- The Wheat Still Grows Again, by Dorit Tzameret, translation by Elli Sacks
Over the past weeks, the wheat in Chubeza’s field has been harvested and gathered into tall, yellow bales. For the past several years we have been growing wheat in the winter season, but not intended for producing grains or flour. Instead, the wheat in our field is intended to be used as a “cover crop,” “green manure” or “beneficial crop.” As organic farmers, we actually grow soil, striving to make it healthy, rich and strong, while the soil in turn grows the vegetables. And for the soil as well, a renewal of strength means rest. Thus, when we finish growing a certain plot, we usually let it rest for several weeks or even months. Yet sometimes a field’s winter slumber can boomerang and create more problems than it solves. An empty field and an abundance of rain can cause a profusion of weeds which need to be cut again and again. Rainstorms can also cause major soil erosion.
This is where cover crops come in to save the day, covering parts of the field that would otherwise remain exposed during the winter.
The only thing we asked from the wheat we planted last winter was to grow. But, by sheer, natural determination, the wheat crop generated many gifts for us: because the wheat was densely sown, it expanded to fill the soil in its plots, preventing weeds from developing. And by covering the bare soil, the wheat’s deep, strong roots prevented the soil from being washed away by the winter rains. These wondrous roots also aerated the soil, improving its texture and delighting the microbes and other creatures celebrating deep down below, as well as giving the the beneficial, much-needed insects a great locale to spend the winter season.
Our wheat was grown to feed the sheep belonging to Gabi, our tractor driver, thus we let it grow leisurely and fill its beautiful kernels bursting with protein. Around two weeks before Passover, the wheat was harvested and gathered into long mounds along the field, waiting to be bound and bundled. Precisely at the start of the Passover festival, the harvested wheat was collected into huge, well-spaced bales. When the wheat was harvested, the roots and part of the stem were left in the field. Once the fields are sowed again, they will be embedded into the soil and slowly decompose. All this green energy is composted within the plants, adding health, strength and contentment.
We have been Chubeza farmers for over 20 years. We know that one of the most joyful aspects of agriculture is the seasonal renewal and the crops that accompany each season. Every autumn, we sow and plant the winter crops we longed for in summer. In spring, we return to sow and plant the crops that were deep in slumber over the winter. The old familiar rhythm of farming has been, and particularly this year remains, a source of stability, continuity and hope for restoration and recovery. Despite the terribly difficult time we are experiencing as our country bleeds, the seasons continue to change, and growth does not cease for a moment.
On Shavuot, the wheat harvest festival, we’re reminded of a song that holds great pain along with reconciliation and hope: The Wheat Still Grows Again. The words were penned in 1974, following the Yom Kippur War, by poet Dorit Tzameret, a member of Kibbutz Beit Hashita where 11 of its sons fell in the war. It was composed to music four years later by Chaim Barkani, becoming one of the songs that has since accompanied this country, its crises, challenges and growth.
Amidst the days last fall of terrible shock and mourning, despite the hardship and pain, the wheat fields throughout Israel as a whole and the Western Negev in particular, sprouted and flourished once more. Uri Ravitz, a member of Kibbutz Nachal Oz whose mother Alma Avraham was kidnapped on October 7th (and has since thankfully returned), asked to make slight revisions to the words of the song. He changed “the depths of the North” to “the Western Negev,” adding along with the strength that accompanies the renewed growth of wheat also a cry and a demand for the return of the hostages.
It’s not the same Negev, and not the same house,
You’re gone and must return.
The path with the boulevard, and an eagle in the sky
Yet the wheat still grows again.
The Gevataron musical group, who were among those to perform the original song, recorded and filmed the renewed song in collaboration with the Western Yifat Emek Jezreel School, on behalf of the residents of Otef Gaza and for the return of the hostages. You can watch it here.
Eight months have since passed. Now, with wheat harvest which grew in our field as a cover crop and soil booster, I wish to echo the words of this song once more: Even if the wheat grows and is harvested once again, they are still gone and must return! We steadfastly continue to grasp the hope.
May the Shavuot festival bring good news for all!
Best wishes from the entire Chubeza team
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WHAT’S IN THIS WEEK’S BOXES?
Monday: Melon/watermelon/Japanese pumpkin, cherry tomatoes/acorn squash, romaine lettuce/Lalique lettuce, green or yellow beans/slice of pumpkin, zucchini/squash, potatoes, butternut squash/eggplant, parsley/coriander/ nana/basil, tomatoes, cucumbers/fakus, corn!
Large box, in addition: Cabbage/turnips/beets, garlic chives/scallions, Swiss chard/kale/New Zealand spinach.
FRUIT BOXES: Grapes, bananas/pears, avocados/red apples, plums/nectarines.
Thursday: Melon/watermelon/Japanese pumpkin, cherry tomatoes/acorn squash, romaine lettuce/Lalique lettuce, green or yellow beans, zucchini/squash, potatoes, parsley/coriander/nana, tomatoes, cucumbers/fakus, Swiss chard/kale/New Zealand spinach/basil, eggplant/corn!
Large box, in addition: Cabbage/turnips/beets, garlic chives/scallions, butternut squash/slice of pumpkin.
FRUIT BOXES: Grapes/plums, bananas/pears, avocados, red apples/peach/nectarines.