Bible Lands Preserve Field Trip 10/12/09

So. Yesterday we went to a "Bible Lands Preserve" called Neot Kedumim. They have different sections of their...compound, for lack of a better word, that are dedicated to different Biblical examples of the land.

For example: First we stopped off at a place and learned (again) about cisterns. Our guide was very impressed that we guessed the name of it....little does she know that we've had a number of fun experiences in cisterns. She also told us that in biblical times a person used 15 gallons each day, which is what a normal person uses today, just for taking one shower. They really treasured their water back then. And you would, if it only rained three months out of the year and you just had to store it up, or your family, animals, and crops would have no water for the other 9 months of the year.
This is my group pretending to be Abraham's servant going to find Isaac a wife, and there's Tonya, in the Red, pretending to be Rebecca, giving all the cames (those on the left, except for Richie, who is pouring the water back into the bottom of the well, and was the Servant, are camels.) Fun times.

Next we went and we did a fun little activity called...Shepherding! Yes, that's right, we got to herd sheep! (and goats, actually.) That was really fun, and really funny. Apparently, though, we did a better job than any of the leaders had seen before. Or at least the sheep were more cooperative than before. It was fun though. Our guide, Miriam, told us that they way to do it is to be gentle and encouraging, and definitely not violent. We split our big group into three different groups that all did it. It was really funny. I was in the third group, so we got to watch and discuss the other groups' tactics. I think she was impressed with that too. I'm fairly certain she's used to usual tours with families and people that don't know each other coming there to visit, not a group of Mormons who are used to working in groups, planning, and cooperating. Oh, and we're also in our 20's and are very friendly, but competitive Mormons :). Of course we wanted to be the best! And guess what, my group was :). We did it in 3 and a half minutes. The first group did it in 6 and a half minutes, and their task was the same as ours - to get the sheep to stay in a group and enter (and stay in for 10 seconds) four circles in the pasture, one after the other. But, to be fair, they went first so they were the pioneers of our group. The other group took 4 minutes, and their challenge was different. They didn't have to stop in the circles, but avoid the circles as they went from one corner to the other. (Meaning them and their sheep/goats avoid the circles.) It was really fun, and funny to watch. And funny to do, come to think of it...who herds sheep in the middle of the Holy Land? Oh wait, Mormons! It was way fun :).
This is us getting our sheep going... You can see me in the white shirt, with my back to you, by the girl in the blue striped shirt.

This is during the Herding...I'm above Brooke, who is in the gray shirt. I was petting them to get them to go.....hand sanitizer was used afterward, don't you worry. :)

Afterward I tried to get a picture, and the sheep kept running away! It made me sad. They liked us as a group better.

Me by the sheep, in the end :)

Next we went and talked about Christ for a while, and how all the leaders in the bible were first shepherd or were called shepherds, like David. Shepherds have to engage their sheep to get them to be cooperative. They have to make them want to do it, but can't always be bribing them with food or what not. Also, shepherds have to not stand in front of them, but behind the group, making sure that none get lost, always watchful of their sheep. She said that shepherds use sticks as an extension of their arms so they can put them on the sides of the sheep and so the sheep know they are there and feel comforted. She equated all of this with Christ, which was really cool. The last thing she said was my favorite, it was that being a shepherd is a 24/7 job. There are no breaks. You can never leave your flock. This is why Christ is "The Good Shepherd." Obviously some shepherds leave their flocks sometimes, and that is not a good thing. Not everyone is a diligent shepherd, but Christ is. He is the good shepherd, and He never leaves His flocks. I really liked that analogy.

Next we walked on this little path and she showed us two trees that are in the bible. The first is one that Abraham sat under and greeted his guests. She had a whole bunch of stuff along with that, and how the root of the word for hospitality or something comes from that tree because Abraham would offer his guests food, drink, and a place to stay. That was interesting.
This is Miriam, our guide, and the tree to the left of her is Abraham's tree.

The next tree she told us about was one that Christ's crown of thorns could have come from. It's called the JuJu Tree, I think? The latin word for it has "Cristos" in it, and the Hebrew has the word for Jehovah or something in it. It was very interesting, and we got to see it, alive, and with big thorns. Here is a picture...
So, that gives you an idea of the crown of thorns... They were big ol' thorns, too.

After that we went to this little amphitheater and we learned about zataar....which is a spice here, that I've had, and really like. We saw the plant it came from, and she talked about it in biblical terms. In English it is called hyssop, and it is the plant that the Roman Soldiers mixed with vinegar and put on Christ's lips while He was on the cross. It is a sign of humility, and in the scriptures when it says "hyssop" it generally means humility. We got to grind our own. She gave us little bowls with grinding tools and we ground our own Zataar. I'm excited to try some with bread and see if it's as good as in the Old City.

This is Miriam telling us about Zataar, with all the bowls to crush our own, sitting on the table..

Me hard at work :)

This is what it looked like before...afterwards it was a fine powder.

Next we went to another amphitheater (after a bus ride) and had a presentation on the Torah, or the Hebrew bible consisting of the first five books of the Old Testament. A man was there who writes them. First, they make the pages out of leather. They work it until it is super, super thin. That was really unbelievable. And then they mix their ink and the man writes it. The Torah takes a whole year, just to write one. And the scrolls are parchment that is sewn together to make one, long scroll. He also writes the scriptures that are in the Mezzuzah and the Teffilin. The Mezzuzah are the boxes that contain scriptural verses that Jews put on their doorposts. The Teffilin are the boxes that contain scripture that Jewish men wear when they pray, on their foreheads and their arms. Both practices come from the Oral Torah, and are related to the senses. They have 4 compartments on their forehead (sight, smell, taste, and hearing) and one compartment on their arm (touch). It takes the man 3 hours to write just one of the scripture selection for one of the boxes, and if he messes up, he has to start over. It was really interesting.
This is the amphitheater...the little Jewish man is down in front, sitting at the table.

These are the Torah scrolls...see how carefully he's treating them? I didn't get the case, but they are stored in an intense, padded, velvet case.

This is the whole she-bang. The writing utensils, the stuff to mix the ink, and everything else.

This is me holding a writing "pen" made out of a reed....I just had to get a picture with Reed when I had the opportunity :)

After that we went to a camp-looking place and we made pita bread! It was weird...it reminded me of being up a canyon in Utah. The trees and everything could've been from there. It was really fun. And now I know how to make pitas! We didn't really use a recipe, which gives me even more hope for making it in the future at home. It has water, flour, olive oil, and salt. Pretty basic. We also cooked it over a metal pan-type thing, over the fire. It kind of looked like a wok. So, maybe I can perfect the recipe and we can have yummy, yummy pitas when I get home! Yes?
This is the campfire where we made it. Everyone is gathered around the place that we made the dough. You can see the "sage" (that's what Miriam called it), the upside-down wok over the fire where we cooked our pitas.

This is me, with way way gooey hands, because Miriam wouldn't let me add more flour to the dough, even though it was way, way too wet, and therefore sticky. She thought there was too much in it already....so, I just dug in :) Messy messy....delicious though. All of you know how much I love bread dough :)

After that, and lunch, we went to the "seven species" part of the preserve. This is the part where they grow the agricultural products that they grew in Biblical times. Some of the products are barley, wheat, dates, olives, olive oil, and honey (made from dates). I don't think I am remembering all seven, but that's some of them, anyway.

First we took a little train that looks like a disneyland ride :) to the seven species area. After that we sat in a grove of date palms and we talked about the different species and about dates and how they make the honey. Totally a girl's camp experience, cause we were all sitting on this tarp under the palms with our guide, Miriam, talking to us. Pretty funny.
This is our train that we took to the Seven Species area :) Disneyland anyone?

This is Jeremy Perkins, Emily Anderson (sen?), and me on the train! And yes, in case you were wondering, this day was a bad hair day for me...I went to sleep right after showering and had quite the mane to tame when I got up :)

This is us at the date grove, with everyone sitting together under the trees.

After the dates, we went to a threshing floor, which is where they crush the wheat stocks after harvest to separate the seeds from the stocks. Then they toss the mix up into the air with a pitch -fork and the wind separates the stocks from the wheat seeds. The wind blows the stocks away and the seeds fall straight down into a pile. That's pretty cool. After that they showed us the wheat grinder and said that a handful of wheat seeds takes about an hour to grind to prepare to grind again for another hour to be made into wheat. It took biblical people a LONG time to just make bread. Apparently it took about 3 to 4 hours a day just to make bread for a family of about...6-8 people, I think is what they said. Anyway, I thought that was interesting.
This is the only picture I got at the threshing floor, showing Sarah being dragged around by our very own "horses" Adam and Kyle. The horses would drag around this board with a metal grate on the bottom and a person standing on it, to crush the stocks.

After that we went to an Olive Press. They told us that to harvest or pick the olives, then you put a sheet under a tree and shake it, and the olives that are ripe will just fall off. Also, she said that Americans think there are two types of olives, green and black. But, in fact, they are they same type of olives. If you pick olives when they're green, then they stay green, but if you wait longer to pick them, then they'll turn black. The black ones are the ones you want to pick to make olive oil. She then showed us the press and how they take the olives and make a paste with it in the press. And after that they take the paste and put it into woven baskets and press it, and the oil runs down into a basin at the bottom of the press. Then you have to wait for the mush and the stuff that runs in still runs down to the bottom, and the stuff that's left on the top, that's olive oil! Guess what.....think apple juice. Replace apples with olives. And....ta da!! You have olive juice. :) I'm way ahead of these guys :)

The Press is in the middle, and then over to the left you can see a thick log that some girls are sitting on, like a railing. That's where the Olive mush was pressed to get the oil out.

This is Victoria Clemmons and I pushing the press :). You can see the harness where they can harness a mule or horse or something to do the labor for them.

Anyway, that was our last stop. Oh, on the walk to the bus I found three little bottles of olive oil on the ground, and so me and two of my friend took one :)....yay for cool finds in the holy land :)

I love you all, I hope you're enjoying my posts. My next big project it to continue with egypt. I'm sorry I've been so behind on that...I've just been so busy! This week has been uneventful too, cause we've just been studying for some big tests, but we'll get it all sorted out and I'll get the rest of Egypt up before I go to Jordan in a week and a half...I hope you guys are still interested in reading about Egypt!