creative jewish mom

A Visit To The Tzippori River Promenade

With the three week period between Tisha B'Av and Rosh Chodesh Elul when all school age children/college students/ talmudic scholars are on vacation now in full swing, we are so blessed to have the opportunity to explore some amazing places not far from home (around 1 hour) that if not for cancelled plans for a trip to the USA, we may never have explored! Israel is full of so many wonderful locations, with hiking trails galore, archeological sites galore and both the Mediterranean Sea and two large lakes, as far as water goes, ah yes and then there is the Jordan River! It is true that this three week period means many cars on the road and crowds in some places, we have chosen to explore the slightly less beaten path, and I couldn't be happier! Our first stop was a 3 night stay in Kibbutz Harduf, with a view of the Haifa skyline, and just below the rental a lovely canyon where the Tzippori River flows, and where some of the trails are a part of the Israel National Trail. Of course, I just had to get an up close look, and we ended up at a really sweet location with a paved walk and lots of shallow water, perfect for picnics and little kids, and scenic for the rest of us! Little did I know that there was actually a paved promenade! Keep reading for more directions and lovely photos.......

Yellow Broom Bushes Bloom Abundantly In Northern Israel

This Passover as we went on outings in our area in Northern Israel there were many gorgeous surprises, one being the very abundant bloom of yellow broom, which covered hills and roadsides with swathes of yellow. Truly stunning and special! There was something about the length of the winter or the fact that this is a special year, shemittah year, that has caused many flowering plants to flower in abundance, even my white rose bushes are now blooming with more flowers than ever. A fun fact about yellow broom, it is the same bush that I grew up with in Northern California, so it always reminds me of my childhood! I write this just before shabbat, so running to tend to the kitchen, and enjoy the rest of  my photos!

Giant Fennel In Bloom in Northern israel

Ever seen giant fennel in bloom? I certainly may have, but never in the quantities I've seen this Passover, causing me to take note and photograph this beauty! Because Passover occurs at a slightly different time each year, and this is leap year, meaning we added an extra month to our calendar, the flowering species that I'm seeing this year on our Passover outings are different than what I may have seen last year, and friends, it is so wonderful and so inspiring! This year Passover has occurred exactly at the time of blooming yellow everywhere, whether it be this giant common fennel, wild mustard, broom bushes and more! I'll of course be sharing with you photos of it all, not to worry! Right now it is time to give some attention to the giant fennel, which one really can't help but notice as it is quite tall and calls out to those who are fortunate enough to notice such things! I took these photographs in the Birya Forest, not far from Tsfat, and just above the gravesite of Rebbi Yonaton Ben Ouziel, but more on that later, first hello giant fennel!

A Pomegranate Orchard In Meron, Israel

Just before Rosh HaShana, my husband and I took a mini vacation and enjoyed two very peaceful nights on the Moshav of Meron, just a 20 minute drive from our home, and actually part of the view we enjoy everyday! I just shared photos of vines laden with grapes in Meron, here, and now, a peek at trees laden with pomegranates, equally if not more stunning! Fall in Northern Israel is one of my favorites times of year, and I don't think I'll ever tire of watching the pomegranates mature and ripen, so lovely! The interesting thing is that the week prior to our mini vacation I was painting pomgranates and making pomegranate collages, and when we arrived at our vacation rental which happened to be right next to a pomegranate orchard, my jaw literally dropped! I spent many hours at a picnic table under a huge oak tree just looking, ahhhhh, Enjoy!

A Visit To Mount Meron And The Seasonal Rain Pool

This past Passover we had the very great pleasure of at long last visiting the top of Mount Meron, the very mountain that comprises our stunning view. We driven past the turn off to the Mount Meron National Park countless times, as it is on the way from our home to Nahariya, where 2 of my boys have been in Yeshiva for the past 4 years between the two of them. But you know how life is, the wonders of nature that are closest to home somehow don't get the attention they deserve! And boy were we surprised, not only because we didn't even know that this amazing rain pool existed, but because it was truly one of the most special places I've had the great honor to visit. Something about the mountaintop location, the red soil, the fact that we were alone, well mostly (more on that later) and that it was a total surprise to boot. WOW, WOW, WOW. I can't wait to go back next winter when it will be fuller, or even this fall to see how it looks before the rain fall. In any case, if you have a chance, do visit this amazing spot and if you need help in advance finding it (because I have not seen it documented anywhere, even on the National Parks website) just ask, happy to help! For most of you, enjoy the photos, and it is my great pleasure to share with you our beloved land.

Wildflowers Bloom On Mount Arbel, Israel In The Spring

On our visit to Mount Arbel, just a 40 minute or so drive from our home in Northern Israel, we were in awe of the views, which you can see here, and in awe of the archeology, some of which you can see here, though I also realized that this was indeed a very special place as far as nature and ecosystems are concerned, as it is a plateau mountain just above the lowest fresh water lake in the world, which means all kinds of things. It is home to a diversity of plants, birds, and cliff-dwelling animals, and I did discover on the National Parks website that in fact there is a specific snail that lives on on Mount Arbel, and is unique to Mount Arbel, called Cristataria genezerethana; there are also rare plants like the bladder senna (colutea istria), rock scrophularia (Scrophularia xylorrhiza), and the wallcreeper (Tichodroma muraria). Addtionally there is a bird that over-winters on Mount Arbel, and looks like a red butterfly in flight as well as nesting birds of prey, and many more.

While I did not identify any of these rare plants on our trip, I did take note of all the wonderful little wildflowers in bloom, which I am sharing with you here, enjoy!

Tiny Spring Wildflowers In Northern Israel

There is nothing quite like coming upon a patch of colorful wildflowers in Northern Israel. I'll admit, the wildflowers that we saw in Sweden two summers were pretty amazing as well, but these flowers are close to home, and very much a part of our lives, well my life anyway. I look forward to the first signs of Spring, and the the changing of the guards in the meadows as one species after another has its moment in the sun. This year I caught the barbary nut (poor man's iris) in bloom in great quantities that I'd never witnessed before, though within a couple of weeks they were gone....While most folks recognize and appreciate the red anemones and red poppies that are native to our area, I think it is the little flowers that just don't get enough attention. So, dear readers, here I present to you the little wild flowers in bloom. Well most of them are little, shhhh the cyclamen are medium sized, but I won't mention it if you don't. Enjoy!

Red Crown Anemones In Bloom In Northern Israel!

The gorgeous red crown anemones, that are natives in certain regions in Israel, are in bloom, well technically they were in bloom, as they are dwindling quickly. The truth is that these beauties can begin blooming here and there as early as December, with the quantities seen here happening in March. I took these photos of this spring delight a good month ago, and was just too busy with Passover prep to share them with you then. Sorry about that, and hopefully when the red poppies bloom I'll share those photos with you in a timely manner! Yes red anemones and red poppies are not the same thing, though many folks confuse them. They may be difficult to tell apart, but the leaves are different, with the poppie boasting larger leaves, and blooming starting in March. So if you see red poppy like flowers in April chances they are poppies!

In Hebrew the anemone flower is called a kallanit, and while I never made the connection myself, this is (quite obviously) because the flowers are beautiful like a kalla, a bride! And funny enough while in English all the red flowers are referred to as poppies, in Hebrew all the red flowers are referred to as kallanit, which is correct at least until March. So friends, learn the names of the wild flowers that grow in your area, so that you can identify them! I just picked up a whole set of nature guides for Israel, and it was the best little present to myself, as I now have all that info handy, like now! Okay, lets take a look at the blooming crown anemone in the pine forrest area just 7 minutes or so from my house, so thankful for that!

Take A Walk In An Olive Grove In Northen Israel!

We are in the middle of an extreme heat wave which means it is even too hot at 6pm for my usual walk which takes me through a lovely old olive grove, so I thought I'd share with you some photos I took a few weeks ago on one of those end of the day walks! Come along, it will be lovely!

Olive trees are native to the Mediterranean region (as well as parts of Africa and Asia) and both olive oil and olives play a great role in the Mediterranean diet. Not to mention that olive oil was the oil lit in the menorah in the Beit HaMikdash, and is now used by many when lighting the Chanukah menorah. Olive trees are seen dotting the hills all over Israel, and some of them have huge trunks, meaning they are hundreds of years old. There is an olive tree in town that is said to be 800 years old, and its trunk is practically a little house! Olive trees are also evergreens, so they basically look the same year round, except when bearing olives (which is really only noticable when you are close up) or flowering with tiny flowers in the Spring. While some trees have a uniform shape, olive trees come in many shapes and sizes, as you will see on our little walk through the olive grove!

Queen Anne's Lace In Bloom Everywhere In Northern Israel

I love witnessing the yearly cycle of the fields and hillsides just outside our front door, and the brilliant cascade of color sometimes associated with that! In the spring vivid green becomes hills of rolling yellow, then dotted by red and white, and then comes all things purple, like thistles of all kinds (which I must photograph this coming week) and now we are enjoying a dense bloom of Queen Anne's lace, otherwise known as wild carrot, bird's nest, and bishop's lace. Daucus carota, is its real name, and is a white, flowering plant, with tall stocks and a very interesting flower. Yes, it is a weed, but a lovely one, whose silhouette at sundown is very striking indeed. Common to many temperate areas of the world, most of you, who have taken time to observe the weeds, will be familiar with this beauty, who is actually edible! Lets take a quick look at the Queen Anne's lace plant I've been enjoying on my evening walk, shall we?