Our Family Has Farmed Bethlehem for 100 Years

The theme of this Fall Palbox is personal to us.

Our family has cared for land and olive trees in Bethlehem for more than 100 years.

Since 1991, our farm has faced the threat of confiscation from the surrounding Israeli settlements.

From a young age, we learned that farming in Palestine is never only about producing food.

Land can be confiscated. Water can be restricted. Movement can be limited. Markets can become uncertain.

And still, farmers continue.

We tend our olive trees. Families prepare food for winter. Recipes are passed forward. Stories are repeated so they are not forgotten.

That is what inspired What We Preserve.

This box brings together Palestinian foods and traditions that continue because people choose to grow them, make them, cook them, and carry them forward.

Our family's connection to the land in Bethlehem goes back more than a century.

Warmly,
Bshara and Kiersten