First Potluck

Our workday, which consisted of both practical and theories behind organic gardening, ended early today so that we could prepare for our first Wednesday night potluck. Marc and I made toffee squares and there was WAY too much food... but no complaints about that. Dinner was followed by a slide presentation by Olga where she told us about Poland (her home country) and her experience studying mud-building in Denmark.

(Yisrael, Mikey, Nate and Me hanging in the hammock)

(Tuning in to the potluck)

(Food!)

(Yisrael, Marc, Ashley, and Sierra, overwhelmed by food)

(Feasting happily)

A day in the GA life

The highlight of today was definitely our breakfast of champions. Unlike most Kibbutz meals which we eat in the dining hall, this morning we picked veggies out of the garden, made fresh salad, fresh pita on the open fire and fresh solar-heated tea (herbs out of the garden as well).
We also planted our personal gardens, which I didn't finish because I was so slow, and had class where we discussed... the future...

(Benja and Sierra presenting their picture of '30 years from now')

(Yael, Ashley and Marc discussing peak oil)

(Olga, Mikey and Nate offering up alternatives)

(Taking a break in the beautiful Eco-Kef, which means Eco-Fun... all playthings handcrafted out of mud and trash)

Desert dreams

Today was one of the most exciting class days yet. Our local Kibbutz Lotan tour guide, David, took our G.A. group out 'into the wild'. It made me appreciate how amazing it is that these people have actually been able to make the desert bloom... the kibbutz is practically an island oasis in an awe-inspiring wasteland. The most scarce resource here, water, comes from pipes drilled 60 to 600 meters deep into the earth, and is definitely a finite resource. David said that at the current rate of use the water will run out in only 80 years... I hope that we will address this issue later on in the G.A. course. Until then, we had a tantalizing introduction to the arava valley.

(#1. Look at me! I'm in the desert!)

(#2. Up we go)

(#3. And around we go)

(#4. Through the wadi)

(#5. Seeing the possible dangers of flash floods)

(#6)

The rest of the day's activities were pretty standard G.A. fare, some garden work and sowing seeds in the nursery. All in all I am still excited and learning lots!

Week 2 begins

This morning we met bright and early in the 'bustan' neighborhood (bustan means orchard in arabic), which is the area where future G.A's will live. We are helping to build and maintain seven mud-domes for housing, plus communal dining, bath, and living areas. The great thing about this area is it will be completely off the grid, and will be a working example of how more than a dozen people can live comfortably and sustainably. Too bad we can't live there already, but it is great to be a part of developing it from scratch.
All we did today, however, was to create a raised 'sheet-mulch' garden (aka 'insta-garden'). By utilizing what we learned about composting, we layered organic materials in a way that will decompose into very nice fertil soil. The garden was placed next to one of the nearly complete mud-domes as a way of cooling the air circulating near its base, where some of the ventilation shafts are in place.
(#1. Sheet-mulch garden-layer1)

(#2. Sheet-mulch garden-layer2)

(#3. Sheet-mulch garden-layer3)

(#4. Sheet-mulch garden-layer4)

(#5. Sheet-mulch garden-layer5)

(#6. Sheet-mulch garden-layer6)

(#7. The finishing touches of the sheet-mulch garden...)

After our sheet-mulch extravaganza, we had lunch and then a short tour of the kibbutz in the afternoon. Here is a picture of a beautiful random rest spot.


After dinner, in hopes of finding a hat, sunglasses, a notebook, and chocolate, I accompanied of few of the girls to Yotvatah (a larger kibbutz nearby which actually has a store on-site... famous for their dairy products, especially chocolate). This is a picture of us entering the very touristy store, where I got all my needs except sunglasses. I just think the cows are pretty funny...

Bird's the word

In keeping with Israel's Shabbat oriented work week, most weeks we will not have class or work on Fridays, and instead we work on Sundays. This week, however, we did some maintenance at the Bird-reserve in the morning yesterday (cutting alfalfa, managing compost piles, and catching lady-bugs for relocation... so they would not all be eaten by the birds, and would eat the aphids in our garden instead).
Kibbutz Lotan happens to be located on the major path of migration for most bird species that regularly travel to and from Europe, Asia and Africa each year, and more and more birds are arriving each day for the spring migration. Kibbutz Lotan maintains a large bird-park for the purposes of education and preservation, since there are not many places left for most birds to stop on their long journey.

(#1. Morning Chi-gong in bird reserve)

(#2. The bird look-out)

(#3. G.A.'s hard at work)

(#4. Me smiling invisibly over a pile of shit)

(#5. Benja eating shit)

(#6. Taking a load off in the alfalfa, from left: Mikey, Ronny, Ashley, Nate, Me)

(#7. A bucket full of lady-bugs)

(#8. The lady-bugs in their new home... happily eating our aphids)


After our morning in the bird reserve we ended the day early to prepare for shabbat. I decided to take a little shabbat break from taking pictures so I have none to share of services, dinner, and (the best part) Israeli dancing with kibbutz-kids. We also all headed to the pub last night after the kids were off to bed, and dancing and revelry ensued.
Today, our lovely enjoyment of shabbat-rest continued with a trip to 'the lake'. Now some of you astute readers may wonder... the lake? I thought Julia was in the desert... well I still am, but after flash floods a pond-like quantity of water gathers and does not seep into the ground because there is such a large layer of clay where the water collects. The pond will evaporate by summer-time but for now it is a nice watering hole, and surprisingly cold. An interesting tidbit about this region is that it is actually one of the driest deserts in the world. In ordert to be classified as desert an area must get 440 mm of rain or less per year, we get only 25 mm if we are lucky.

(#1. Chen by the lake)

(#2. Sierra taking a break... note the didgeree-doo's on the right)

(#3. Yigal, Ronny and Marc playing frisbee near the lake)


After our day of rest, Marc and I had dinner at our 'adopted family's house (they actually live across the street from us so it is very convenient). They were very nice, Aliza, Daniel, and their two kids Amalia (who is being Bat-mitzvahed in a few weeks) and Reuven.

Getting Greener

Luckily I was still jet-lagged, because today started bright and early with 'Chi-Gong' at 6:30 am...



The morning continued with some serious manual labor including weeding and collecting of organic materials in order to start two different compost piles for the great 'Compost Competition'(whichever pile decomposes first wins...). My team is the 'Pink Organic Elephants'.

(#1. The G.A's doing some intensive weeding)

(#2. Nate as a frog)

(#3. Slaves to ecology? Note the beautiful desert landscape...)

(#4. Benja posing next to a hippie truck)

(#5. Mike and Yisrael- Our fearless eco-leaders)

(#6. Proud 'Pink Organic Elepahnts'-From left: Yigal, Marc, me, Caitlin, Healy, Mikey, and Nate)


After a tiring morning and a well-deserved break, the G.A.'s blazed through the afternoon's team-building excercises with flying colors. Led by an occasionally absent-minded professor named Alex, a blind experience followed by secrets revealed and crossing a toxic river left all in good spirits.

(#1. Alex directing at right)

(#2. Us kids crossing the toxic river)


After dinner, the evening ended around a campfire which Marc initiated right outside our little abode (#991). Once again we were all treated to didge-vibrations by the firelight. I think this will be a good 10 weeks...

Welcome to Lotan

I arrived on the Kibbutz yesterday after a sleepy four-hour bus ride from Jerusalem. One by one I started meeting some of the other fourteen Green Apprentices (not including Marc, of course, who I was happy to see again after a few days apart). There were no scheduled activities, so I moved into my plain apartment and met my other housemates, Caitlin, Olga and Benja. The day's long journey ended in room built from mud, permeated by candle-lit vibrations (Olga and Yigal lulled us into happiness by playing didgeree-doo's)... and so it began.

Today, we started the morning off with orientation and get-to-know-you activities... nothing crazy, but we learned that the most important rules are 'Don't walk East' (Jordan is only a few meters away... and the border is well patroled) and 'Don't leave glasses on the ground' (for the safety of small kibbutz children... and unsuspecting adults too).


By the afternoon we immediately dove into the joys of mud-brick building. Who knew how easy it was to build from mud? Well, I'm sure we'll get into more complexities later, but the basic ingredients are clay+sand+hay+water+air... in proper proportions of course. Check out these fun 'dirty pics'...
(#1. From left: Marc- my love, Yael- from France, and Olga- from Poland)
(#2. Yigal perfecting his mud-arch)
(#3. Me and my mud-square)

Pre-Lotan

Before even arriving in Israel, I was lucky enough to meet up with the lovely Rachel Nagorsky in Milan, where we partook in the classic run-jump-hug in front of many ashamed Italians.
From there we continued to ha'eretz, and proceeded to meet up with my family (aunt/uncle/and cousins- Steve, Sophie, Alex and Liat Rhodes... Elisheva is serving in the army somewhere near Be'er-Sheva). Rachel and I spent two nights on Moshav Shorashim catching up and relaxing. Even in our jet-lagged state we attended a charity auction on the Moshav, and Rachel took me to Kabul to meet her Arab host-family which she stayed with over a year ago. Above is a picture of Rachel with Samah and her sisters.


After our stay up north, Rachel and I headed to Jerusalem where, by some amazing chance, many of us EIE-ers happened to meet up only six years after our initial Israeli bonding. Most of my 24 hours in Jerusalem was spent cherishing my time with some of my favorite people. This pic is for you guys (from left: Josh Weinberg, Miriam Zichlin, Caren Gandelman, Rachel Nagorsky... and of course-Me, Julia Lachman).