Q&A

DEAR NEW FARM:

Can you tell me if the farmers in Israel will be beginning their barley harvest this month or next month?

Thanks,
Ken Hoeck
Illinois

DEAR KEN:

We asked The New Farm writer Yigal Deutscher, who recently visited six communities in the Holy Land and wrote about his experiences. Yigal writes:

“I am no longer in the country but I believe the harvest will be next month, sometime during mid-April. The holidays usually connect with agricultural dates, but since this was a leap year on the Hebrew calendar, things are a bit confusing.

“Usually, Passover begins the ‘Omer counting’ which marks 50 days before the conclusion of the barley harvest and the commencement of the wheat harvest. The end of the counting is a holiday called Shavuot, which is also the ‘festival of the reaping.’ This year, Passover comes out a bit late due to two months of ‘Adar’ preceding ‘Nissan,’ the month of Passover."

I hope this helps,
Yigal

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