I live near the Mediterranean sea, and the ground here is both sandy and salty, and oftentimes there are strong salt winds from the sea. The sun is direct and scorching for most of the year. These are extremely challenging conditions for plants, to say the least. One of the few plants that have adapted to this combination of plant killing things is the Tamarix aphylla, or Salt Cedar. There are quite a few of them planted in the parks and gardens around my house, and I always find it uplifting to see them survive and thrive despite everything around them trying to kill them — scorching sun, branch breaking wind, poor soil and the ever present salt.

An inspiration.

Last night we got a rocket barrage at 23:00, which meant that I had a pretty sleepless night. This morning I went to the farmers’ market, where there was a family of farmers from Otef Aza, the area hit worst by the terrorist attack. Their farm was destroyed and they were evacuated, but yesterday they were allowed to go and salvage what little produce was left. They loaded up a truck with what was left of their produce (melons, watermelons and corn), and went to the Tel Aviv farmers’ market to sell it. They have no place to store it, so what isn’t sold today will be binned. I’ve been spreading the word (and I’ve bought things from them myself) and I really hope that they manage to empty their truck. It’s a small comfort in the face of the destruction of their life’s work, their community and home, but it’s something. So fingers crossed that they sell it all.