College: Mud, Seeds, and Poop 101

I’ve been here only three days and it already feels like home. Mornings are my favorite. I wake up around 5:00, when the sun is starting to rise, to the sound of the goat milking about 20 feet from my window. The air is cool, but not for long, and the bustan is peaceful and quiet. I brush my teeth at our outdoor sinks and kill some time walking around and looking out at the surrounding mountains. By seven fifteen I make it to the chadar ohel (dining hall) for breakfast; fresh plums and pears, eggs, salad of cucumbers and tomato, and some bread with tahini sauce. It feels like a treat at every meal to eat such delicious fruits and vegetables. We then start our day at 8:00 on the lawn with our morning celebrations and warm up.

My first college class was gardening. We looked at different types of seeds, discussed germination, and our first project – planting twenty onion seeds to observe throughout the semester. After this, we made our way through the eco-playground to our next class: building adobe sun-dried bricks. Apparently, playing with mud is more technical than I thought. We learned the basic ratios for mud construction. But then, we got our hands dirty, mixed big batches of mud, and made a bunch of bricks. That evening before dinner we all made more thorough introductions, explored the kibbutz and played in the pool – a much needed cool-down from the 38º C desert heat. After dinner we stayed out late singing songs (both I and an Israeli brought guitars) and socializing in the moa-dome (moadone is hebrew for clubhouse). Day 1 = successful.

The next morning we had a class on sustainable communities (eco-villages), and the roots of our world’s global crises. It was really interesting and exciting to feel like what I was learning about was relevant; within my lifetime the world will be facing many necessary major changes, and I feel like here at Lotan we are on the verge of big things – real practical solutions. After that we made some seed balls, and then made our first compost piles. My group’s was “kitchen-themed” so we used food scraps, corn husks, egg cartons, etc. We are hoping to replicate a compost pile someone could create in their kitchen, to see how well it would work for people to do at home. In the afternoon we had big group team building exercises including a blindfolded trust walk through the desert, and some games that felt like camp – actually, all of my time here has felt like I am at camp... except there aren’t really any rules. I love it here. 

Today we did some more mud-brick construction, and learned all about the different ovens in our outdoor kitchen. Tonight we have our first potluck dinner in the eco-neighborhood. Somebody is making pizzas in the taboon (basic mud-oven), somebody has been baking brownies in our solar oven, and I am very excited... I don’t know what I am making yet, but I am thinking of making some chocolate covered pomegranate seeds from the pomegranate tree just outside my dome! Also this afternoon we spent some time learning all about our compost toilets. We have a "kaki classroom" underneath our bathroom where we learned hour our human waste is turned to compost which is used on trees throughout the kibbutz!

I was really nervous before coming because I knew I would be the youngest here, but it doesn’t matter. I'm having so much fun meeting new people from all over the world who all have different stories. They are all very inspirational – it is going to be hard to transition from such a magical place with such original and thoughtful people to go to regular college... The things we have been learning about and experiencing have already opened my eyes, and I am very excited to be learning about something "real". For the first time I feel that the education I am getting is important. Everything has been fun so far – making seed balls and mud bricks, hanging in the bustan late at night, and even having more serious discussions and classes – everything is so interesting to me that I have a hard time not getting excited about it. I can't wait to see what else is in store for me this semester.