And onward...

I completed the Green Apprenticeship a few days ago and I've been relaxing in Haifa this week. A huge storm has been weaving in and out of each day. I've never seen the tide so high before...the waves are enormous and loud and frequent and they crash against the rocks each time like it's a final push, but it's always one after another. The heavy clouds are tremendous, and the sunsets coupled with that contoured sky create perfect colorful streaks. It is so, so different from the desert. It has rained here every day this week. Patches of blue appear here and there, so everything is shiny for a little while.

I don't yet know how to wrap my head around what I learned over the last three months. And maybe it will take a long time for it all to unfold or become defined or complement a path I'll choose.

What I know is that I am very, very glad I did the program and that I am where I am right now, even in this confusing, maybe aimless spot.

I feel really good about the amazing people I've met (Thanksgiving with Katie and Adam today on the beach was glorious!), the lessons I've learned, and all the paths that have appeared to me.

Tomorrow I'm flying to Switzerland. Ryan is meeting me in Zurich.
I feel like this: !!!!!!!!!!

Building a Composting Toilet

Here is what my group looks like in a typical theoretical lesson in the bomb shelter classroom, in this case, learning about the history of different types of composting toilets.


You can see how the Americans expand their Hebrew vocabulary and the Israelis expand their English vocabulary in our lessons:


And so we began building a new composting toilet in the Bustan neighborhood. We started sort of from scratch. The metal frame was already built for us, and we continued the construction from there. It was an amazing process, using various different techniques we've been studying throughout the program, and having a group project that everyone worked on together as a team---rotating jobs, helping one another, developing our personal and group working skills. To see the structure develop from a metal frame to what it is now has been incredible! Here's the frame we began with:


We put up rows of straw bales for the east, west, and north walls. Here's a photo of hammering in the internal pins to keep the bales sturdy:


Leveling the straw bales to make sure that the wall isn't leaning in any direction:


Another building technique we used for this structure was building a mud brick wall. This is what we did to separate the two stalls. Mike and I:


Continuing to build up the mud brick wall:


The south wall was done using a technique called wattle and daub. We first wove date palm branches into horizontal wires and then began applying mud onto the branches. You can see how this wall is much, much thinner than the straw bale walls:


This is what the toilet looks like from the back. You can see the area below it, where the bins will be placed to collect the "humanure" in batches. Efrat and Ohad working on the wattle and daub:


Applying the first coat of mud to the outside of the straw bale wall:


Each person spent time practicing each technique, so this really feels like a collaborative experience educating us as individuals and as a unit. This project has definitely been one of the most valuable work experiences I've ever had.

Timna Park

We went on a trip to Timna Park and it was incredible! I highly recommend a visit to anyone traveling in this region. There are various hiking and jeep trails. We did an awesome hiking trail that explored areas where the Egyptians began copper mining 6,000 years ago!!!



We sat in the entrance to this mine shaft and our guide David explained the ancient techniques of digging for copper, and of course it was completely fascinating.


And then we crawled through that amazing tunnel system!
Efrat and Deedee:


Here I am crawling out of the end of the shaft:


And later on in the day we went to go see Solomon's Pillars...absolutely majestic!

Last Week

We’ve been working on adding “sticky mud” to the ceilings of the domes to cover the metal geodesic frames. We stand on tables and apply the mud, sometimes above our heads!


It’s different from working on the walls, standing on the ground. I feel like we work very carefully, and we really help each other by passing buckets of mud and water around so that everyone can stay standing on his/her table and continue working on a particular area of the ceiling.
We leave the "sticky mud" work with little mud decorations in our hair.


Adam:


Efrat:


Me:


Awesome pose with Efrat and Neta:



We also had a pottery lesson that I loved very much:


We learned how to build a clay oven, all the technical details about the layers of insulation and thermal mass. And then we made pizzas in the taboon in the "eco-kef" park here:


There was a whole day spent learning about irrigation systems, and then we split into three groups and each group put together a little model system using recycled irrigation pipes.



The evenings and mornings have been wonderfully chilly lately. The other night I very happily wore a sweater for the first time in a million years!

A great work week

This week had several practical lessons about new topics, and I really enjoyed the work because I felt like we could really see results. We usually spend a morning on each little project, and when there is a clear outcome…the energy we spend makes sense and I like that.

We learned how to make liquid fertilizer to feed our plants in the organic garden. We collected cow shit from the dairy to carry back to the huge “pot” where we then began the process of making cow shit “tea.” Katie has an absolutely hilarious entry about this!


There’s a bird reserve here in Kibbutz Lotan where birdwatchers visit to catch glimpses of different species on their migration routes. On Monday morning we walked to the bird reserve with a picnic breakfast and all our tools, and this was the sunrise we walked with:


At the bird reserve, our work consisted of cutting down the reeds that had grown very high, blocking the views of birds for the birdwatchers in the observation rooms. We stood in the unbelievable green of the alfalfa, stretched all around us, and worked for hours cutting down the reeds and dragging them away to a compost pile.


Throwing the reeds to the side...behind me you can see the observation room, built from mud, covered with date palm branches:


Something very exciting is that this week we began straw bale construction, which I really enjoyed learning about and doing…the whole concept fills me with a kind of optimism. We watched a film about homes made out of straw bales in various parts of the world, and the benefits of this type of construction really blow my mind. Straw bales provide incredible insulation naturally, so they are building blocks and insulation all in one. A straw bale is an agricultural byproduct, a renewable resource, a natural material, and easy to build with. I don’t plan on living in the countryside and building my own home out of straw bales, but it was still really exciting for me to learn these techniques.

We built a little room to practice what we’d just learned conceptually. Here is the beginning of the building process, when the walls were two bales high:


Yaara and Katie stabilizing the wall using a method called internal pinning:


After we finished the walls, we sat inside and had another theoretical lesson covering the details of straw bale construction, specifically discussing the attention that must be paid to moisture.


Hurray!

Day Trip

We went on all-day trip that consisted of three hikes, several stops at archaeological sites, and many spontaneous lessons about geology, cultural history, political history, and desert animals. Sometimes David spoke and explained while we hiked, and other times we paused to listen and observe.






I was extremely happy all day...I felt like every single moment held something valuable and educational. The one structured lesson of the day was about reconnecting with nature and it consisted mostly of silence. We were told to walk a part of our hike in complete silence, listening to the wind, to our feet on the rocks. The end of the silent walk brought us to this fabulous spot:



In the afternoon we went on a little hike that I thought was pretty scary! The trail was very narrow and slipping would have been a terrible disaster! Below is a portion of that hike. We sat down at one place and the view was spectacular, and we learned a lot about the Arava and the Negev, including different ideas of how people passed through this land thousands of years ago on trade routes.



Before going on our third hike, we stopped on top of a hill where we could look over Egypt and Israel, and we learned about the history of that border, and the geological formation of the Red Sea. Here is Egypt:



Our third hike was through this wadi:



The Arabic script on this rock is from the seventh century:



Here's my group, taking a little break on the third hike, very happy!


It was a really wonderful experience.

Geodesic Domes

We had a really neat lesson in which we learned all about geodesic domes. I loved it! First we studied the principles of the geodesic design to understand the strength of the different components. We practiced on trays, using chewy candies as the joining material and toothpicks as the struts of the design. Of course this was very fun.




Then we split up into two groups to actually build the domes. I was in a group with Katie, Neta and Adam, and we built the dome out of bamboo struts. The other group built their dome out of date-palm branches. Here are Neta and Katie looking at the diagram to understand how to lay out the struts in order to properly design the geodesic frame. It was a bit confusing at first, but after understanding the diagram the whole idea really clicked and made sense.



Here I am with Adam, Neta and Katie after we finished building the dome!



And here's an image of the other dome atop a wall of straw bales. Mike (in the background) taught us that just lifting the dome a bit can really change the feel of the space inside and it was definitely true. It felt much more spacious.



Here's an interesting site to check out about calculations and instructions for building a geodesic dome.

We also saw a documentary about Buckminster Fuller, the creator of the geodesic dome. He was quite a character! Certainly full of intriguing ideas.

The last few days have been really amazing. I feel so lucky to be learning so many different things, and discovering how they are all related. Yesterday we went on the greatest hike ever! I'll try to find time to post photos soon.

I feel happy...especially when the breeze is strong in the dark evenings and it all comes together.