We are spending our last bit of time here (prior to Spain departure on Dec. 20th) in a new farm in the Arava Desert, super close to the Jordanian border and about 40 minutes south of the Dead Sea. It is incredibly gorgeous here; when the far-off haze clears you can see in every direction and have a wonderful view of the steep, multi-colored rocks and cliffs, reminiscent of red Arizona rocks, that make up the Jordanian mountains (apparently called the Mountains of Edon in Hebrew).
The small moshav of Idan has about 65 families, 90-95% of whom make their living off of agriculture. And then each of those families has Thai migrant workers who help tend the fields. So, in this small moshav "of ~65 families", there are actually about twice the number of people you would expect. Our family is 6 people (4 of them small children 6 or younger), but for their land they have 7 Thai workers. Apparently the vast majority of the families are the same. The dynamic of what is, in essence, two separate communities: the Israeli owners (who also work long hours in the field) and the foreign labor, is really weird to me. Again, I need to sit down and do some research.
As you drive down from the main highway onto the side road leading directly into the Moshav, it looks sort of like you may be crossing into Mars, as the earth is rather red and a mix of clay and sand, and there are giant nylon & net greenhouses arranged in little colonies that extend for kilometers in either direction. Each little house contains from 10-30 dunums of land, and an impressive array of crops underneath.
Our family's main source of income are the organic tomatoes they grow for export, largely sold in Europe and apparently also in the U.S. for a pretty penny. They also have a net house full of mango trees, 150 free-range hens (they had 500, but 350 were stolen), a shit ton of zucchini (the likes of which would make Barbara Kingsolver cry for mercy), and a small garden area within one of their net houses where they grow most of their own produce. Their entire farm is organic and self-titled as "sustainable". How is long-distance international export sustainable you may ask? Good question, and that is what I asked myself.
At the moment they are producing the tomatoes as such because it's what can bring in the cash, but their larger vision is to increase their 30-goat herd to a 200 herd and make small, boutique goat cheese to sell in Israel. Their idea of sustainability is to diversify the production of their produce and sell it at local markets in southern Israel, as well as possibly in a CSA-type way to nearby families, not along vast trade routes extending by airplane and ship throughout this hemisphere (this was a relief for me to find out). They also want to become no longer dependent on foreign labor, but their idea of how to escape that cycle has not been elaborated in words.
At any rate, our job is to work with the vast quantities of tomato plants, 6 hours a day, starting at 6am with a break for breakfast at 8am. This past week we were clipping the lower leaves of tomato plants off the main stem so that the bottom clusters of tomato could get more air and sunshine. Snip snip snip in many directions and then on to next plant. Never in my life have I seen so many tomatoes. It's actually quite tiring and hard work (being on your knees, leaning over, doing repetitive motions, etc.), and led me to the definitive conclusion that given the choice, I don't think I will ever actively pursue a factory-type job.
Now we have a nice early weekend rest because the family had to run some errands for the weekend (normally volunteers work on Fridays, i.e. 6 days/week). It's a good thing, though, because I have developed some awful confluence of the jet lag from my brief, weeklong Thanksgiving jaunt to San Francisco and some sort of cold and sore throat. In short, I have slept through the vast majority of the past 22 hours. So, it's good we have time off, because I really need to rest, even though curling up in bed is definitely not my preferred activity given the wide variety of choices I have such as going for a walk in the beautiful desert, mountain biking through said desert and nearby badlands, horseback riding on a cute Arabian chestnut mare through the desert, or borrowing the family car with Noam to drive somewhere like maybe the Dead Sea.
But, there is always tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment