Rosh HaShana 5778 – Shana Tova!

New Year Preparations – Changes in delivery dates over the holidays: 

This week: Wednesday delivery was moved to Tuesday, September 19th .

– The week of Sukkot: Wednesday delivery will be moved to Tuesday, October 3, and the order system will close (for that Tuesday) on Monday, October 2 at 9:00 am.

– During Chol HaMoed Sukkot: There will be no deliveries, thus you will not be receiving boxes on Monday and Wednesday, the 9th and 11th of October

Back to normal schedule on the week after Sukkot and Simchat Torah.

If you wish to increase your vegetable boxes before the holidays, please advise as soon as possible.

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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 Sukkot Open Day will take place on Tuesday, October 10, the 20th of Tishrei (fifth day of Chol HaMoed), between 12:00-5:00 PM. The Open Day gives us a chance 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 special activities and a vast space to run around and loosen up. (So can the adults…)

Driving instructions are on our website under “Contact Us.” Please make sure you check this before heading our way.

Wishing you a Chag Sameach and Shana Tova. We look forward to seeing you all!

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In honor of Rosh Hashanah, we have received special new flavors of honey: from the Ein Harod apiary, citrus blossom honey has joined their already-amazing assortment of flavors: Ziziphus/avocado/thistle blossom honey. Tamir from Ramat Hagolan, who hails from a long line of beekeepers, has introduced two intriguing flavors: lychee blossom honey and caper blossom honey, joining the wildflower/blueberry honey from his apiary.

What a sweet way to start the year! Order via our order system.

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Kosemet

Our New Year is commencing with sharing and generosity, thanks to veteran client and vegan chef extraordinaire Dora Levy’s generous offer to share her creative holiday recipes. You can download the file free of charge via this link.

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Each year the grass grows green

The squills go white, the citrus gold

Every year the earth renews

The sun goes up, the rain falls cold

Each year so many new are born

To happiness and grief, to laughter and tear

And someone who wants only good to prevail

…this year.

–       Leah Goldberg

(translation: A. Raz)

These pre Rosh-Hashanah days are festive indeed for Chubeza. We try to plan the harvest so it includes as many symbolic vegetables as possible for your holiday tables: Kara (squash), Rubia (black-eyed peas), Karti (leek), pomegranate (from Helaf’s orchards), carrots (from Kibbutz Alumim) and Silka (beet leaves, Swiss chard), but just a small quantity of the latter since these crops were not harvest-ready in time for Rosh Hashanah.

I like the holiday symbols, not necessarily because of their blessings (I can definitely do without all the curses and abuse to our enemies. Not my idea of an optimistic holiday atmosphere…), but because of the seasonal variation that the holiday table offers, bringing together guests of all sorts: from the green leaves (Swiss chard), the legumes (black-eyed lubia peas), the princess of onions (leek) and the gourds, the summer kings. Plus, of course, the pomegranate and dates, apples, honey and fish – all demonstrating the wealth of this season in its blessed nature.

The Talmudic sage Abaye, who was probably in charge of the Holiday Food Column, is the one who invented the symbolic dishes for the Talmudic table. In Tractate Krittut 6, 1: “Said Abaye: Now that you have mentioned that the siman has significance, every Rosh Hashanah, one should eat a pumpkin, black-eyed peas, leeks, beet greens and dates.” In a different place, someone on a major diet must have edited him and decided that one could only feast his eyes on the holiday table. In Tractate Horayot 12, 1: “Everyone should look at them.”

Of course, I don’t think looking at them is enough, but maybe we should stop for a minute and glance at the colorfulness and the amazing variety of long green pods, round orange (or green) peels, green leaves with a white stem, white onions, red juicy seeds and oval brown-golden fruit. What a holiday for the senses, and what a collaboration of leaves, bulbs, roots, stems, fruit and pods. A true song of praise to the vegetable garden that brings together a vivid host of vegetables and fruit!

The simanim also reflect so much hope and truth regarding the upcoming year (and the one that is ending), wishes that contain a little of everything, in a mixture and variety: a little bit of this, a little bit of that… depth and shallowness, simplicity and complexity. May it be easy and hard, funny and sad, emotional, annoying, exciting, boring, depressing, elevating. May we experience success and failure, mistakes and correct choices, acceleration and deceleration, a treading then a sprint…This perfection of an imperfect, mixed salad, made of tiny slices of life.

In honor of the New Year, we are sending you a box of greetings comprised of Chubeza vegetables, varied and rich in colors and fragrance, despite the difficulties of the end of summer, in-between season we are now experiencing. This is our Rosh Hashanah seder, some of it an adaptation of traditional holiday symbols, and others our very own Chubeza blessings, part aimed towards growth in Chubeza, others – at our very own growth.

Sweet Potato: May we enjoy sweet surprises that grew and ripened far from the naked eye, and may they bring with them wholeness and happiness.

Lettuce: Lettuce learn to accept the changes that even the known, accepted rituals undergo in hue, texture and flavor. Lettuce know to appreciate and not take for granted the loyalty of those who remain with us, now and forever.

New Zealand Spinach: May we acknowledge our strengths to survive and flourish in green freshness, even when the heat is on.

Pumpkin: May we persevere, as the pumpkin, to the end of the vine.

Potato: May we learn from mistakes made in the past, of others and of our own. May we remember to vary our fields with many yields, and not only count on the simplest and most common (you can find an explanation right here)

Leek: May we have the patience to grow slowly and diligently, and the understanding that sometimes, in order to reach ripeness, one must grow very slowly. And spring no leeks.

Cucumber: When others are in a dither, may we develop the sensitivity and ability to be calm, levelheaded and cool, as the cucumber.

Coriander: May we rejoice in the difference in people’s tastes, in the differences between us, in the wonderful variety and vibrancy that create a symphony of opinions, varying faces and opposite choices.

Parsley: May we allow the good things to enter, fill and cleanse us from the poisonous and harmful. And may we live sparsely, as the parsley.

Eggplant: May we try and succeed to see the light, whiteness and faint but beautiful purple hue within the murky dark.

Pepper: May we be blessed with the skill to pepper our speech with just the right phrases, without overdoing it. And when life gets salty, may we stand beside it to add some spice.

Onion: May we be granted the wisdom to acknowledge the many and varied layers that life is comprised of, that people are made of, and that reality is created from. May we strive to gently, with consent, peel them off, rejoice in the many echelons, and arrive at the sweet heart.

Okra: May we gaze at the stars at least one night every so often to feel the lightness of our minuteness and the strength of being part of the vast cosmos. (slice the okra horizontally to see stars)

Tomato: May our experiences be homegrown, ripened on the vine, full of juice, color and sweetness.

Pomegranate: May our hands be filled with bountiful earthly missions, as the seeds of the pomegranate:

Black-eyed Pea: May our shiners be only from this pea.

Scallion – May we maintain the willowy green freshness of youth, innovativeness, mindfulness, energy and a bold whiff of fragrance.

Garlic – May we never stop asking questions or experiencing wonder in seemingly mundane surroundings, changing from acrid to sweet when the occasion arises.

Carrot – May we add scintillating color, crunch, vitamins and a dashing green top to reach grate heights.

Popcorn: May we never cease to feel the excitement of life, as our hearts rise, thump and burst with the joy of beautiful moments of happiness and love.

Mallow: This September, may we try to remember when life was sweet and oh, so mallow. Renew our days, as of old!

So here’s to the New Year, to great expectations and very wet showers — please, oh please, may they come in due time, in the proper measure and quantity. May they satiate the human salad of this country, and the animals crying out for drink, the dusty plants growing grey at the edges, the flying insects, the crawlers and jumpers, the rocks and clods of earth that so deserve the blessing of rain.

And, beyond the rain, we wish you the fulfillment of your hopes and prayers, for good and for blessing, for happiness and growth. Shana Tova!

From the entire Chubeza crew in the field, the packing house, the office and on the roads: Mohammed, Ali, Majdi, Noam, Hott, Thom, Vinay, Montray, Melissa, Gabby, Moshe, Eli, Tamir, Amit, Opher, Alon, Eyal, Ruthie, Dror, Yochai, Melanie, Aliza, Alon and Bat-Ami

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Even though we’ve already revealed What’s in This Week’s Boxes, here’s the list in detail:

Monday: Parsley/coriander, pomegranates, leeks, cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes/ potatoes, yard-long beans(lubia) okra, eggplant, slice of pumpkin, sweet potatoes, onions. Special holiday gift: popcorn!

Large box, in addition: Scallions/garlic, red bell peppers, New Zealand spinach/Swiss chard/carrots.

Tuesday: Parsley/coriander, pomegranates, leeks, cucumbers, lettuce, yard-long beans(lubia)/okra, slice of pumpkin, sweet potatoes, onions, red bell peppers/carrots. Small boxes: tomatoes/potatoes. Special holiday gift: popcorn!

Large box, in addition: Scallions/garlic, eggplant, tomatoes and potatoes.

And there’s more! You can add to your basket a wide, delectable range of additional products from fine small producers: flour, sprouts, honey, dates, almonds, garbanzo beans, crackers, probiotic foods, dried fruits and leathers, olive oil, bakery products, granola, natural juices, cider and jams, apple vinegar, dates silan and healthy snacks, ground coffee, tachini, honey candy 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!

 
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