Page 69 - Kol Bogrei Habonim - Winter 20
P. 69
During the 10 years I worked there, ending as cooks. The Community continually
Pick Manager, I confided in the Farm complained about the lack of variety. The
Manager, that I very much wanted to become trouble was, we had the largest beef herd in
the Kibbutz Landscape Gardener. He said he the country by now, and four huge chicken
would make me an offer 'I couldn't refuse.' If coops, each about a quarter of a mile long.
I would agree to do a year in the orange 12,000 chickens were shipped to market
groves, while someone was out studying and every 4 months. Consequently, the Catering
earmarked to be the Branch Manager, I could Department was always being lumbered with
definitely become Gardener. Promises, tons of Grade C chickens and the occasional
promises. A year passed. cow that got its leg broken amongst the rocks
in the hillside pastures. The rest of the
During this time, I had been co-opted onto a
number of kibbutz committees and country was suffering from austerity and
volunteered to become Ambulance Driver Amiad was glutted with beef and chicken, as
and Volunteer Manager, some five times. well as fruit. My team and I spent hours
thinking up new recipes for chicken and beef.
In 1969, there was a crisis in the Catering
Department. Once again, the 'offer' was In 1971, I finally made it to become the
repeated. If I would agree to go out on a short, Landscape Gardener. During that time, I did
6-month Catering Course in Rupin College the gardens and lawns for some 50 new
and then do two years as Caterer, he would houses and planted a number of forest groves
promise to make me the Gardener for as long in the surrounding hills on the annual Tu
as I liked. This time I was a bit wiser and B'Shvat.
made sure that this was part of the deal, when
it was brought to the vote at the Kibbutz
Assembly. Now everybody knew.
Amiad’s central lawn
All in all, that was a 13-year period, with
another couple of years as Caterer in the
middle. Also, as Volunteer Manager, I had
Amiad dining room developed a number of volunteer weekend
bus trips, to the Golan, Haifa Bay, Western
I did the 2 years, and it wasn't a job that Galilee and the Jordan Valley, in a project I
anyone liked, catering for 300 people with a called 'In the Footsteps of the Pioneers'. My
budget which was appallingly low, and a activities reached the ears of the Kibbutz
steam cooking system that broke down twice Federation, and I was head-hunted by the
a week. The work pressure was hard on my Centre for Kibbutz Studies in Ef’al, to
team, and there was a heavy turn-over of
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