Harvest
This Thanksgiving, Remember The Women Who Harvest Your Food
This Thanksgiving, let us consider those women in the fields who have to choose between a paycheck or going to a workplace in which they face abuse.
Why Sukkot is called the ‘holiday of the harvest’ — even though there isn’t any harvest
Sukkot is often called the ‘holiday of the harvest’ despite no harvests occurring at that time of year. We have clues as to what it really means.
Israel's Autumn Harvest Foods
With the end of the High Holidays, autumn is in full swing here in Israel. Everyone feels it — from produce lovers, like myself, bidding goodbye to the delectable sweetness of the summer’s watermelons and mangoes, to the country’s farmers harvesting this season’s new delights and preparing for the coming rains.
Preservating the Season's Bounty During Sukkot
Sukkot is the holiday that celebrates the autumn harvest. The last of the three annual pilgrimage festivals on the Jewish calendar (if we’re counting from Pesach), these were the days in ancient times when our ancestors would gather the best of their seasonal produce and travel to the Temple in Jerusalem to give thanks as a community. In modern times, the communal table often takes the place of the Temple, bringing people together to give thanks for the abundance of the harvest. At the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center’s Sukkahfest more than a hundred people from all denominations of Judaism come together to celebrate and give thanks for the fruits of the season. Participants are able to see firsthand the source of their sustenance, with opportunities to visit our farm, orchard, and barnyard. Another way to show gratitude for the abundance of the harvest, and to continue to feed oneself with locally grown produce through the colder months, is preservation.
Sustainable Sukkot
I have often thought how strange Sukkot must appear to those who are not familiar with the holiday. I imagine my neighbors thinking something like, “I thought it couldn’t get any more bizarre after my neighbor built this hut in her backyard, but now she is out there holding a lemon and shaking a bunch of leaves!” Even for those of us who are familiar with the rituals of the holiday, as city dwellers we have become so removed from agriculture that it is often hard to connect with this fall harvest festival. But for our ancestors, the harvest was so central to their lives that Sukkot was known simply as chag, the holiday. It was the time of year when they celebrated the completion of the harvest but also looked toward the future recognizing that without the proper conditions, they might not survive to celebrate Sukkot the next year.
Sugar Season: Harvesting Maple Syrup on a New England Farm
Early spring is a magical time for maple sugar makers in the Northeast. After three months of cold temperatures, quiet mornings and early evenings, the awakening of the natural world is ever so apparent now. The warm March sunlight melts the snowpack and maple sap begins to flow from the trees.
Yid.Dish: What to Do When Your Garden Explodes in Bounty
Q: What do you do when you have so many home grown zucchini your friends won’t answer the door when you try to share your harvest?