Thanks to our Community Gardens Project, Bedouin women in the Negev have constructed several home gardens and are running workshops to encourage sustainable food production that is local and organic. The project reaps benefit from the health, culinary, ecological and social benefits of community gardening. Yes, Negev Bedouin women are (and historically have been) making the desert green!
Basma Abu Skeek from the unrecognized village of Bir al-Mashash explains, "In two days we built six gardens – all at once! And my children help, they know it is our collective responsibility, so when I’m not home, they water the plants. From the garden produce I have prepared mutabbal (eggplant salad), crushed tomatoes, eggplant tabbouleh, shakshuka, and an okra dish". She adds, "And it is so tasty – especially the tomatoes and cucumbers – they are smaller than what you can buy in the market, but the taste is so good. What you buy in the market tastes like water, but the cucumbers from my garden – you can smell their fragrance twenty meters away!"