January 15 - Forest Day! Ah, sunshine, blue
skies and warmer temperatures. Perfect day to work in the JNF Forest. Usually, Tuesdays are our forest days.
After an fulfilling
Israeli breakfast we boarded our bus, with Zaharia, our CAARI driver, and off we
went. Driving along the beautiful Mediterranean
Sea is breathtaking! On to the highway
driving towards Jerusalem to the JNF’s Ayalon Park Canada.
This is a Jewish National Fund recreation
national park covering over 1750 acres.
Everything in Israel has a
story as Neil, our guide tells us.
There are also
fascinating places in the park to visit, such as an aqueduct, burial caves,
secret tunnels, a crusader castle and church ruins. In addition, it is the Dedication Center for
contributors for JNF Canada. JNF cares
for the park's fruit trees and has planted additional trees, along with
developing scenic roads, parking areas, scenic lookouts and many recreation
areas for all to use.
It is ‘winter’ in Israel,
but this is the time to get ready for spring and summer, when the Park is heavily
used. Israelis love having picnics,
taking nature walks and enjoying the outdoors. And…there are lots of picnic tables
and places for barbeques. This was our
project today - painting and picking up litter.
JNF foresters met us at the
picnic site, in the middle of the tree shaded area, gave us painters clothes,
gloves, paint and brushes and of course ‘schmatas’ to clean the tables before
painting. Off we went to do our
job. We painted the 20 + tables and
barbeque stands in a little over an hour.
The foresters were surprised, so off we went to another site and then
another! In total we painted over 80
tables and stands! Go CAARI! Now, time for a picnic lunch for us!
After lunch, on Tuesday January 15 we drove to Binyamina,
to the Tishi Winery for a unique wine tasting experience. Tishbi
Winery, is Israel's sixth largest and the only winery in Israel who makes
cognac. Back in the late1800’s, the Tishbi family was commissioned by Baron Edmond
de Rothschild to plant the first modern vineyard in Israel. Everything has a history! This was
a different kind of wine tasting. Each type of wine also went with a different
type of chocolate. So, it wasn’t just
for wine lovers, but for those who are chocoholics!
On to a short tour of the charming village of Zikron Yaacov and a history lesson, by Neil, on the founders of the town and some the early pioneers, from the first Aliya!
Time for a WONDERFUL dinner
which we tremendously enjoyed at the Tishbi Restaurant.
Great day for CAARI!
Enjoy the pictures!
