When people think of a Kibbutz they think of the pioneers of the State of Israel who created an environment for modern day Israel to thrive. Recently the Kibbutzim have been transitioning from a farm based economy to a profit based one. There are many intentional communities that are going through this change in the United States also. My family and I first heard about The Farm during our research about intentional communities as we looked for a group of people with similar values. We had a limited idea about how this community of people kept things together after being in existence for 44 years.
The Farm's thrives thanks to its many non-profit organizations such as Plenty International and the Swan Conservation Fund. We learned that for any community to survive it must continue to grow, develop and expand. Part of the vision of it's founder was to support the elderly members in their last years of life. One of their ways to create community is through their many events that bring people from the outside which helps recruit new people. Their birthing center led by Ina May's of world fame as a midwife, is also one of the reasons to move to The Farm, for those of us interested in natural birthing methods.
One of the greatest assets of this community is their alternative school that works with a homeschooling network that is planning to reach people around the world through their educational projects. I am thankful for the opportunity to move to The Farm as my family and I have decided that this the best place to raise our daughter.
Trip to Israel
In 2004 I was priviledged to go to Eretz Yisrael (the land of Israel). I was unlearned on the ways of my fathers and did not fully grasped my experience while there. Years later I can remember key things. Learning to put on tefillin at the Kotel, finding my friends house in Lod, eating a falafel sandwich in the new city of Jerusalem, walking around the mall taking pictures of children in their purim costumes, hanging out with youths in the plaza, sharing my waterbottle with a stranger, recording interviews of chabad students about the uniqueness of Israel, driving to the dead sea at early hours of the morning, going to a satmar soup kitchen, looking at the temple mount from the mount of olives at 3 in the morning and singing piyutim with orthodox leaders at night.
Trip to Greece
My wife and I arrived to Greece on a Sunday morning. We took a bus from the airport to downtown Athens. We looked through the windows at the Greek scenery as we passed by local stores such as IKEA. In no time the Greek prairie turned into the suburbs of Athens. We were dropped off at Parliament Square, next to the city's McDonalds. We found our hotel after walking 800 meters just like the sign told us. We entered this nice old building and had to take the little elevator to the 2nd floor. I was exhausted from the trip so I took a nap, as I was not able to sleep on the plane. For dinner I decided to take my wife back to Parliament Square. I remembered that there was a fast-food gyros place behind the MacDonald's from my previous trip to Greece 10 years ago. We sat in the park and ate, as we people-watched we saw teenagers hanging out and a big dog that wanted to eat our food. We went back to do a photo shoot in area next to Acropolis (The ancient ruined city at the top of a hill where the Parthenon is); we climbed almost to the top to be able to see the whole city. My wife and I danced on the rooftop of a house next to the tourist picture spot, but another tourist got in our way as we tried to enjoy the moment. We walked back to the hotel and got some pistachio gelato. I tried to buy an art piece at one of the stores close by to the hotel, but the store owner was rude to me. My wife and I were so excited about going to our destination the island of Milos the next day, that we were not able to sleep again.
