Thursday, December 21, 2006

The Olive Festival


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Yesterday's big event in this part of the world was the "Olive Festival," right here in Shiloh!

Olives are an ancient food and native to this part of the world (Israel-the Holy Land.) Olive trees grow massive. We have one in the front of our yard. Olives are ripe for the picking late summer, early fall, and there is a big crop is every two years. Olive oil is considered very healthy, and some people drink it every morning as a tonic. It is also fuel to be burned for light. Its wood is good for heating and carving.

I don't know the official count, but thousands of people were at the festival for sure.

The festival was initiated by Meshek Achiya (Achiya Farm,) which moved its operations from Achiya, a hilltop community northeast of Shiloh, to the Shiloh Industrial Zone. There was plenty of room for parking, and there were also buses from all over the country.

Weather was "perfect," meaning that the cursed drought continued. Besides being able to see the process to make oil out of olives, there were numerous activity centers for making things as diverse as soap, decorative candles, ceramics and more. There were also animals and animal rides. The nearby Ancient Biblical Tel of Shiloh was also open for tours and activities. Shiloh was the place to be!

Lots of families, including the grandparents and newborns, wandered around happily.

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The festival looks like so much fun...what I would give for real fresh pressed olive oil from Israel.

Great pictures...thanks for sharing. I send many of your pictures to my son in Sacramento...of course I told him about your blog. He is a member of Chabad of Sacramento.

Batya said...

Thanks, it was fun, and even my little granddaughters found something to do.
I'm sure that your son is doing good work in Sacramento.

treppenwitz said...

Hey... we were there too but didn't see you! :-)

Batya said...

Among 5,000 others according to the count.