[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SEahWSgs0k&rel=1[/youtube]We’ve been to visit the straw bale legends Bill and Athena Stein in Arizona. Israelis are getting into their own groove building with strawbale. Watch the time-lapsed video and the creation of a straw bale geodesic dome, at Kibbutz Lotan in the Arava Valley. Lately, we are of the notion that it’s more green to […]
Israelis, as the saying goes, are like a cactus fruit, because they are prickly on the outside but sweet in the middle. We kind of think Israelis are like bamboo too: strong as steel but soft and smooth. (If you are into eco-chic, you’ll know why we are talking about bamboo.) Thanks to Designist Dream, […]
This recently published book’s full title is ‘A Crack in the Earth: A Journey up Israel’s Rift Valley,’ and it is just that; in 2004 Jerusalem-based writer and translator Haim Watzman took 2 weeks to travel up the Jordan Valley from Eilat in the south to Kiryat Shmonah in the far north, meeting a wide […]
“Gie me a spark o’ natures fire, thats a’ the learning I desire: Then, tho’ I drudge thro’ dub an’ mire at pleugh or cart, my muse, tho’ hamely in attire, may touch my heart.” Israel’s small but distinguished Scottish community may well be nursing hangovers and sore throats this week, after celebrating the anniversary […]
Natalie Portman has taken up design… big deal! Another hot actress designing clothes… This actually is a big deal. Sizzling its way through all the hottest fashion blogs is the actress’s Vegan footwear! In previous posts we talked about a skirt that can save your life (Yael Mer’s evacuation skirt), a patch that can save your […]
We bumped into Neta’s blog “bobilina” by accident and have been so charmed by her unique hand-made creations, often done with the help of recycled materials and socks (like the creature pictured above). When we lived in Tel Aviv there was always such a bounty of neat fabrics – both at the pedestrian mall on […]
Although Israel has grown into a modern post-industrial economy, the country still has strong agrarian roots, most famously, the agricultural socialist community of the kibbutz. But earlier than that, the Bible proscribes things to do to mark the passing seasons. There are rights and rituals for nature in Judaism and it all started thousands of years ago.
Throughout history when a great event happened people would reset their calendar. When a new king became ruler the year would start again with one. Similarly, that is why we are in the year 2008 Anno Domini, Latin for: in the year of our Lord, referring to the birth of Jesus. In the Jewish calendar, […]
Tell the plastic film it is time for a wrap and invest in food-grade silicone food covers, which can go in the freezer
“There are four heads of the year… on the fifteenth of Shvat for the trees…” Mishna, Tractate Rosh Hashana, 1:1 As our home revolves around the Sun, the Jewish calendar is circular as well. How does one year have four beginnings? A circle does not have any beginning, nor does it have an end. Wherever […]
I recently had the opportunity to interview poet laureate and known environmental activist Robert Hass (full interview is here).Hass was in Israel for the “Poetic Natures” conference in Tel Aviv last week, and while he was here he explored some of Israel’s unique environmental features.Among many topics, Hass spoke about the environmental parallels between Israel […]
In Judaism it is traditional to make blessings. In fact sometimes it can feel, for the initiated, that one makes blessings for everything! It can be inconvenient, however, I believe that what lies behind, is the true nature of what it means to be green.
From the same gal that brought us the inflatable kayak skirt (the Evacuation Skirt), which is great for flash floods when global warming sets in, comes the 2-in-1 slipper rocker chair. This is our first season in Jerusalem and can we tell you – it is freeezing here. We think if we had one of […]
Israel offers such an incredible potpourri of cultures. They all seem to melt together through Rachel Oren’s Ethnicware.There you can find one-of-a-kind cushions handcrafted by Bukarians, Ethiopian embroidery, a Bedouin bag… so many treasures and delights.We love the driftwood bowl, but imagine that it’s been imported from India.No matter, Green Prophet thinks it’s a good […]
I love composting. It is pure satisfaction for anyone remotely interested in growing things, and watching how things can grow, sprout, shoot up, and also decay, die and rot. When you turn the soil, and see the half-eaten tomato, or ear of corn, or artichoke leaves from a recent dinner, and know that they are […]