The new, beautiful, innovative, and informative 2019-2020 edition of Luach Shana Bagina is arriving! This calendar is an essential companion for the Israeli home gardener and farmer alike.
The 2019/2020 calendar was inspired by the abundance prevailing in the home, kitchen, garden and nature. All recipes this year are dedicated to food conservation in a bevy of methods and flavors.
Each Shana Bagina Calendar page is chockfull of *professional tips for your home garden *seeding and planting schedules *info on growing your plants from seed to fruit * seasonal recipes for food conservation * solar and lunar events, green events, and much more.
This year, Luach Shana Bagina is extending new branches blossoming with new, sweet fruit:
A tabletop calendar (similar to the regular calendar in content and illustration)
Illustrated weekly calendar journal (differs in content and illustrations)
And decorative magnets with detailed schedules of seeding and planting for spring/summer and fall/winter:
- Coming soon – the English edition!!
Order via our order system.
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And there in those wild bowers A lovely form is laid; Green grass and dew-steeped flowers Wave gently round her head.
(Emily Bronte)
Our calendar notes that we’re almost at the midpoint of summer, and a look at Chubeza’s field (through the sweat-screen) reveals a very summer- crop landscape, i.e., relatively empty. The small-sized pumpkins, the garlic and onion have ripened and been gathered to our shade net to be stored for the next few months. The giant-sized pumpkins are almost ready, after five months of plumping up nicely, and will soon make their way to the storage net. The zucchini, watermelons and melons have almost sealed their season, with only the bravest now remaining upright in the open fields (covered lovingly with mesh and shade nets to help ease the heat). Tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers are mostly planted within tunnels and growth structures, covered with shade nets to protect from the scorching sun. Look at this beautiful tomato, marching to her own beat as she blushes in Harvest Rhythm. (Thank you, Dafna, for capturing this sight!)
In the open fields, it’s survival of the heartiest. Under the vast shade nets are the leafy greens that somehow endure the summer: lettuce, parsley, coriander, scallions and New Zealand spinach. In the open beds, the lubia (yard-long beans), okra, eggplant, and of course, the uncontested king of summer, corn – turn their faces towards the blue skies.
The Jerusalem artichokes stand erect as they wait for autumn, their cue to blossom and grow their bulbs, alongside the sweet potatoes – who have not yet made their debut in your boxes – lazily spreading out to soak up the sun, creating a marvelous carpet of sprawling intertwined stems soon to blossom in beautiful purple array.
But the field is always planning ahead, with one foot in the next season, so that even what seems desolate and static is in fact forward thinking. Clear plastic sheets have been spread over the earth in our growth tunnels in a process called “soil solarisation” that cleanses the earth of pathogens before seeding (more about this process over the next few weeks) in order to prevent attacks on the new winter crops being planted. The piles of organic waste at the edge of our field (already nice and warm and transforming to compost) have been mixed with bird droppings and turned over by Gabi’s tractor. When these piles settle down again, a process of decomposition will take place within, assisted by billions of microbes, tiny organisms, worms, beetles, fungi and other earth dwellers to produce excellent aromatic compost.
In Hebrew, the word summer also means “ripe fruit” – probably in regard to figs. And the fig trees in our locale of Kfar Bin Noon are indeed bowing under the weight of succulent fruit, alongside the sweet fruit of the sabres growing at the edges of our field, plus the fruit within the field at its seed-producing prime. Now is the time to hold onto the seeds of pods that have ripened and dried up altogether, like our amazing okra:
The fields are buzzing with excitement, and everything is blooming: the plants flowering before they produce fruit, the weeds rushing to blossom and produce seeds before we pluck them out (which we attempt to do before their seeds ripen with the next generation in tow). And where there are flowers, well – there are insects paying visits, sharing information, drinking up some nectar and chattering away in insect-ish. When harvesting, it’s important to watch out for the scared bee that will scare us back with a venomous sting (speaking from experience…..). Here are some close-ups of the effervescent activities underway in our summery field:
Even the empty plots which have been in bedrest for several months have been cleansed, refreshed and allowed to gather strength as they return to work one after another. You can probably imagine how hot and dry the earth is at this time. Turning over dry earth pounds the clods out till they are dust, destroying their ventilation and breathing texture. Thus, in order to cultivate the earth, we dampen it with sprinklers. Only after the water is well-absorbed and the dirt is moist can we turn it over and prepare a place for the upcoming planting, due to begin in two weeks’ time.
The fall guests are already standing at the door. So, who’s marching towards the appointed plots? From the beginning of August, we will plant lettuce, Swiss chard, white cabbage, cauliflower, beets, fennel, celery and celeriac, leeks, broccoli, scallions and kale. These plantings allow us to stretch the autumn season just a little longer, but when you’re hosting guests from cold climates in the Israeli sweltering summer, you must take pains to provide wide-brim hats, parasols and ample water. This is exactly the kind of comfort we will be providing our autumn field friends at Chubeza, under shade nets, assisted generously by the irrigation system.
Chubeza’s field is always before, during and after. Somewhat like this summer vacation time now, with the schoolyear entirely behind us, day camps finished, and us amidst our own summer R&R or juggling children, work, and life as the new schoolyear beckons ’round the corner with brand new beginnings in its wings.
Wishing you all great summer getaways and relaxation, with lots of water, blue skies and family time. And best “King’s Day” holiday wishes to our Thai workers!
Shavua Tov,
Alon, Bat-Ami, Dror, Orin, Yochai and the entire Chubeza team
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WHAT’S IN THIS WEEK’S BOXES?
Monday: Butternut squash/Amoro squash/melon, lettuce, corn, New Zealand spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, okra/Thai yard-long beans, slice of Napolitana pumpkin, parsley/coriander, cherry tomatoes, onions.
Large box, in addition: Red bell peppers/zucchini, eggplants, garlic.
ALL FRUIT BOXES: Apples, grapes, mango. SMALL BOXES: Bananas LARGE BOXES: Plums
Wednesday: Butternut squash/Amoro squash, lettuce, corn, New Zealand spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, Thai yard-long beans, slice of Napolitana pumpkin, parsley/coriander, cherry tomatoes, okra/onions.
Large box, in addition: Red bell peppers/zucchini/potatoes, eggplants, garlic.
ALL FRUIT BOXES: Apples, grapes, mango. SMALL BOXES: Bananas LARGE BOXES: Plums.