Amazing Negev Day by Rosalie Whitehill

Thursday, we traveled to the northwestern part of the Negev desert, where we visited the JNF Research and Development Station for the South, at Sde Nitzan, close to the Gaza border, an awesome and inspirational place.....where we saw some examples of how this part of JNF is working to improve the world production of agricultural products such as peppers, tomatoes, strawberries, wheat, and more.....and learned that all their findings are available to everyone....so impressive!!! They even had us working and contributing to their research on wheat. We pulled the wheat for the sampling, placed in bags for analysis, and then cleared the area.
Next stop… Kibbutz Gvulot, a place important in the War for Independence, where we had a delicious lunch (or we were really hungry from all that work), tour of the original kibbutz from 1943 and the War of Independence and an opportunity to plant trees.
Later we went to see one of Israel's most unusual reservoirs....in the Besor region. The Besor reservoir system is really three reservoirs. These important reservoirs were made possible by JNF and donors from South Africa, USA, Australia and Great Britain. It is good to know that Israeli technology assures that Israel will not have a water problem in 2 years.....and that over 80% of their waste water is recycled. The entire day was fascinating....and full of reasons to be proud of JNF and of Israel.
Wishing you my love,
Rosallie

Forest Day - "Spring Cleanup" for CAARI by Ron and Marcia Bercov

"On Tuesday morning the CAARI gang, dressed in work clothes, set off to work in Horshim Forest. This place holds special meaning for guide Neil, who served in the army as a soldier under the command of the son of our host, Yashke. His son, Hezi Sapir, died in reserve duty service of his country, on 11 Novemvber 1994. Yashke, Hezi's father and Emalia Hezi's mother(z"l) and sister Miri, dedicated one of the JNF forest's in his memory. On this morning there were a few different tasks to perform, among them painting picnic tables, trimming tree branches, weeding, and for my group, working on a preliminary path through the forest by widening it and lining the sides with stones. Fortunately, other people handled the axe! I just found stones and some larger rocks for the border. When the job was finished, the path looked very inviting." After the group completed all their tasks we hiked the lovely Cyclamen Trail to an overlook. Ah, the spring flowers are so lovely... pinks, whites and deep red anemones covering the forest ground. Neil explained what is known as the 'green line' where Israel is the narrowest from east to west, viewing east both the Israeli and Arab communities on the pre 1967 line and looking west to the sea and seeing Tel Aviv from this overlook.
"Unfortunately, or maybe not so, at that moment the winds started to blow fiercely. We hurried back to the bus, and set off in search of a sheltered place to eat our picnic lunch. Susan and Neil found a community centre nearby in Alfei Menashe, where the staff welcomed everyone, set up chairs and tables, and provided a comfortable space out of the wind and rain."That evening we celebrated Tu B’shevat. To learn more, stay tuned..."
Sending best wishes from Israel,
Shalom,
Ron and Marcia