By MEITAL SHARABIUpdated: JANUARY 25, 2018 18:46THE TU BISHVAT festivities at Kibbutz Yad Mordechai include honey tasting, rides on a tractor- pulled cart and a visit to a local museum(photo credit: YAD MORDECHAI TOURISM)
Next Wednesday, we celebrate Tu Bishvat, which is always a great time of year to spend time in nature, feel the earth beneath our feet and gaze at the flowers that are blossoming all over the country. There are lots of special Tu Bishvat festivities taking place all over Israel; below I’ve listed a few particularly great opportunities that are perfect for family outings.Tel Aviv FarmThe Tel Aviv Farm is inviting the public to take part in a festive tree-planting activity on Saturday, February 3. There will be a short guided tour of the farm led by Hanan Haganan, a game of bingo in which kids will learn about fruit trees, and a memory game to learn the names of dried fr uits. At the end, everyone will get to bake pita in a taboun oven.There will also be a plethora of workshops, including drumming, acro-yoga for children and adults, sprouting in the greenhouse, arts and crafts, as well as story hour, a petting zoo, drawing, building with recycled wooden cubes, puzzles, quizzes and a mini-gymboree for little ones.Hours of operation: 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tours will begin at 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. By pre-registration only.Price: NIS 35 per person. NIS 25 for holders of DigiTel Resident CardLocation: Rosh Tzipor Ganei Yehoshua, Tel AvivTelephone: (03) 613-8286Festival at Kibbutz YagurKibbutz Yagur, near Haifa, will be holding its annual Tu Bishvat Festival until February 3. On Saturdays, there will be exciting activities for children, such as making a grass head, a planting workshop and baking pizza with lots of spices.Dates: Saturdays January 27 and February 3, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.Workshop price: NIS 10Location: Kibbutz YagurTelephone: (04) 984-8108Drawing on woodKKL-JNF will be holding its traditional tree-planting activities this Tu Bishvat, as well as a graphology workshop to learn how to draw on wood, a unique event that is also suitable for adults, in which they will learn about botany and graphology. The point of the workshop, which will be led by a trained graphologist, is to discover how your drawing reflects your personality. Hot drinks and cookies will be served.Date: Thursday, February 1, 6 to 8 p.m. and 8 to 10 p.m.Price: NIS 30.Registration: 1-800-350-550.Location: Ness Harim Field Center, east of Beit Shemesh.Kibbutz Yad Mordechai The public is cordially invited to Tu Bishvat festivities at Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, which include rides on a tractor-pulled cart, a visit to the local museum, which offers a glimpse into historical kibbutz life and the battles with the Egyptian army in 1948 in which many kibbutz members fought. Visitors can also taste honey, learn about a typical day in the life of a bee and also of a beekeeper. Kids are invited to participate in a workshop and make candles from beeswax.Date: Saturday, January 27, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.Price: NIS 55 for children aged 3 and up, NIS 50 for adults.Location: Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, near Ashkelon.Idan HaPriThe Idan HaPri Farm in the Western Galilee, a family-run business that produces dried fruit, will be holding an agricultural festival in honor of Tu Bishvat that will focus on bananas – how the shoots are planted, the seedlings cultivated, the leaves pruned and finally the bananas picked. There will also be a selfie stand, a quiz with prizes, an arts-and-crafts station, memory games, an obstacle course and construction with colorful banana boxes. Visitors can enjoy freshly squeezed juice and chocolate covered bananas-on-a-stick.Dates: Saturdays, January 27 and February 3, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.Activities will take place every 45 minutes, with the last one starting at 2:30 p.m.Pre-registration required.Price: NIS 48 for children 2 and up, NIS 27 for adults.Telephone: 077-996-4439 or Otzrot Hagalil website.Location: Moshav Betzet, Western Galilee.Jerusalem Biblical ZooThe Jerusalem Biblical Zoo will be holding a festive tree-planting event near the giraffes and elephants, in which participants will be invited to plant trees or bushes, eat some dried fruits, create artwork using natural materials, and listen to a live concert by the Trio Dublin Band. Each person who plants a tree will receive a certificate from the zoo. Guests can also watch the chimpanzees, penguins, giraffes, lions, lemurs, red pandas and kangaroos being fed.Tree-planting fee included in entrance ticket.Price: NIS 42 for children, NIS 55 for adults.Date: Friday, February 2, noon to 2:30 p.m.Telephone: (02) 675-0111.Location: The Jerusalem Biblical ZooJanco-Dada MuseumOn Saturday, February 3, the Janco-Dada Museum in Ein Hod, south of Haifa, will be hosting guests for a special Tu Bishvat viewing of the George & George exhibition and two large, rare Dada trees that were planted at the museum. Kids can partake of the wonders in the experiential wing where they can let their imaginations run wild and make birds on a stick and collages with newspaper.Price: NIS 30 for children, NIS 25 for adults. Festivities included in entry ticket.Date: Saturday, February 3, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.Location: Janco-Dada Museum in Ein HodTelephone: (04) 984-2350Bus of WondersAt the Israel Honey Council Tu Bishvat celebrations, beekeepers Mordechai and Gal Golan will inaugurate the BEEBAR honey bus in Moshav Gilat in the Gaza periphery. Gal Golan, Mordechai’s son, a second-generation beekeeper, runs the visitor’s center out of an old bus that he renovated. They will be holding the activities inside the bus, including candle-making, a photography station in which they can dress up as beekeepers, planting seedlings in pots, and of course honey tasting. Visitors can also buy local produce at food stalls on site.Date: Every Friday during the month of February, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.Price: NIS 35 for children, NIS 10 for adultsTelephone: 052-777-2291Nahal DolevThe Israel Nature and Parks Authority will be celebrating Tu Bishvat with a variety of activities, including a hike between two tributaries in which you can see all the almond trees flowering. At the end of the trail, visitors will get to see the remains of the village Beit Ittab, east of Beit Shemesh. There will also be a guided tour that will take you up to an ancient Crusader fortress from which you’ll have an incredible view.Location: Nahal Dolev Nature Reserve, Beit Ittab National ParkDate: Saturday, February 10Price: NIS 45 for adults, NIS 30 for childrenPre-registration: 3639*Translated by Hannah Hochner.
