Kibbutz Neot Semadar

Neot Semadar is a small kibbutz located 60 km north of Eilat. It is an oasis in the middle of the desert, based on organic agriculture. The members of the kibbutz only eat what they grow, totally self-sufficient. It has orchards of date palms, a vinyard, a goat pen, a winery, a dairy, an arts center where members make pottery and jewelry, and a small store/coffee shop located at Shizafon junction.

During my volunteering stint at the kibbutz I met some of the most interesting and nicest people I've ever encountered in my life and heard amazing stories. This is a place where you can still feel the pioneer spirit, the way kibbutzim used to be. These people created an oasis with their bare hands starting with almost nothing, in one of the harshest environments on the planet (yesterday we had strong sand storms it was hard to even see the next building). It is a kind of quite life - I was surprised to see how many people left the big cities and came here to live, leaving their old life behind. They view it, I guess, both as a challenge and a mission.

Every morning we started our work day at 5:45 am and ended it at 4:00 pm, with intervals for meals. A work schedule is posted on the board at the dining hall the night before for everyone to see.

Here are some examples of work I did at the kibbutz:
* Planted peach trees around the "Snail" near the lake (I expect to eat the first fruits two years from now)
* Went up to the top of the'male' date palms with a telescopic fork lift and cut the flowers. These flowers then are dried and used to polinate the 'female' date palms (just like they used to do in biblical times).
* Milked the goats in the goat pen, fed a newborn goat, and herded the goats to pasture a mile outside the kibbutz.
* Picked lettuce and other vegetables in the vegtable garden and brought them to the cook in the kitchen for breakfast.
* Pulled weeds from the carrots plot
* worked the Saturday morning kitchen shift - prepared food, cleaned dishes, etc.
* Pruned the vinyards
* Pruned more vinyards
* Pruned a lot more vinyards.