Some time back I wrote about my on-again, off-again love affair with weekly boxes from our local organic farm, called Between the Furrows Farm or Bein Hatlamim (חוות בין התללים in Hebrew).
To recap, after our relocation from Jerusalem to Zichron Yaakov we were initially living yet another temporary apartment with limited storage and a weekly box of fruits and vegetables was just too much. At the same time the quality and taste are amazing and we missed the experience of supporting local organic farming.
One day in mid-summer I thought it would be a good idea to go to the farm in person, to take a break from our seemingly endless house-hunting and to see the farm for ourselves. I mistakenly thought that it was generally open to the public – this is not so, however they were friendly even allowing us to buy a smaller amount of produce, and gifting us with the very first ear of corn of the season.
Visiting Bein Hatlamim was an amazing experience, providing an opportunity to learn about the meaning of the name – it is a smallish farm located literally ‘between the furrows’ of other farms surrounding it.
We also learned a bit about the history of the location, which some time back had been a plant nursery, growing trees, among other things. Bein Hatlamim is now surrounded by verdant groves of ficus trees that started out as seedlings in pots and took root, becoming a permanent part of the landscape and providing pleasant shade at the height of summer. Looking at the trees up close it is amazing to see how many of the pots are still in evidence, decades later.
Now that we have moved into our permanent home we have settled into a routine of ordering a box every other week or so, which has proven to be a happy medium, ie the middle path. Establishing relationships with our local organic farm helps us to feel at home.
Your Second-Middle Age: 