Basketry is my small contribution to the battle against climate change

I grew up in the city. In the mornings I would check the newspaper to know what the weather was like that day so I could plan what to wear accordingly. The seasons did not touch me beyond this morning ritual. When I was eighteen I was introduced to permaculture – a method of sustainable agriculture and living. At first I thought it was cool "tricks" based on common sense – the water from the sink waters the mint in the garden. The corn supports the beans, the chickens turn the soil and fertilize it for planting. I learned about the "founders of permaculture in Australia" and "who brought permaculture to Israel" with awe and reverence.

Some describe permaculture as a method of sustainable agriculture, but in fact it is much more than that – it is a way of life in which agriculture, food and lifestyle are interwoven in harmony. I will give an example: the local farmers, the Palestinians, grew wheat as a main source of nutrition. As such, their diet was influenced by this agriculture but not only their diet, also their lifestyle. As the local culture was based on wheat, traditions accumulated around wheat such as the weaving of Reeds of wheat. Wheat reeds have been and are used in traditional Palestinian weaving, the most familiar of which is the "tabak", a wide, flat basket that was used in the past as a dining table. The family would sit on the ground around the tabak and eat together. Other traditions tell of a unique basket on which the bride would carry her wedding clothes to her groom, or of the bride having to weave the basket herself as Her dowry, and until the basket was not finished she could not marry her beloved. Why am I telling you all this? Because later on, I became a basket-weaver myself, and discovered how much weaving with natural materials embodies permaculture principles. Here's another example: another local weaving is olive-branch weaving. I am referring to the young, slender branches that sprout from the lower part of the tree trunk. These branches are part of the tree that must be removed, a nuisance if you will. In a moment, the farmer's dung becomes the gatherer's gold. And if the farmer and gatherer are married, as in my case, then baskets are woven with joy and filled with olives with glee. The permaculture method is taught according to principles, or basic rules. One of these principles is called: "You never have too many snails, you have too few ducks." While we are not duck eaters, nor do we suffer the moist and damp and from the snail problem in the garden as in Australia, the principle is a principle and can be adapted. According to this principle, instead of exterminating pests, one should think of them as part of a whole ecological system and try to bring in the natural predator to reduce the "harmful" population. Of course, the principle is familiar to you, only this week we have applied this principle when we discovered a field mouse in our food pantry and decided to accede to the pleas of our eldest daughter and adopt two kittens. But as I have discovered, the principle is almost constantly repeated in almost every basket I weave. For example, I recently discovered aquatic plants as wonderful weaving materials. Although reed, rush and bulrush in the wild are rare and some are even protected, many gardeners who clean out bulrush and rush ponds would pay me to come and give the pond plants a "haircut", and I would gladly do the service for them, as it serves me as well. Or, another example, I found myself walking through the village with pruning shears, trimming the almond tree saplings growing into the paths to weave with them baskets and thinking to myself how Irit Sharir, the gardener in charge of the gardening in Klil would surely be pleased to see me doing this service to the village gardening. Morning glory, ivy, and wisteria that aggressively climb and require seasonal pruning are plants that I turn into baskets and thus give life to plants that were on their way to the dump, and I also save gardeners the pruning work. Weaving with pine needles that are scattered on the ground in groves and parks, or the date palm tree leaflets that are agricultural waste in the date plantations, they are another expression of the permaculture principle - garbage becomes gold. Reducing waste, creating cyclicality and harmonious thinking about ourselves as part of nature are the ecological expressions of the weaving that I love so much. So if you have too much of some plant, before calling the gardener to mow it down, it is worthwhile to find out if it is possible to weave something from it, and if the reeds in the ornamental pond are overflowing, it is worthwhile to check, maybe you don't have too much reed, but rather you have too little weavers. A final point in favor of weaving: local production and reduction of purchase in networks are important principles in protecting the earth. So let's weave!

The article was published on the website of Klil