The Social Nursery in Ya'ara forest

“It all began with lettuce growing in my own garden. I discovered that I could create a small paradise all by myself at home. Not only that, I realized how satisfying working the land was; it made me feel whole and relaxed, a real therapeutic experience. As a social worker dealing with individuals with mental health issues and others with disabilities, I dreamt of gifting them this magic as well. When our first participant, who came somewhat glumly to the opening activity, left full of energy and with a big smile on his face, I knew I was headed in the right direction” Noam Yaron, Manager of the Ya’ara Communal Plant Nursery Let’s take a few steps back. Who are we? Ya’ara – A Place To Grow” is a non-profit organization, which manages a communal food-forest, combining the restoration of nature with human empowerment. Our motto is “Man heals the earth, earth heals the man” or “He who heals the earth, heals himself”. What is the problem? Many individuals with mental health issues or disabilities have difficulty finding pursuits that give them a sense of self-worth and self-respect. As such, most tend to find work in mechanical, repetitive jobs that lack opportunities for promotion, with salaries that leave them trapped in poverty. So, what is our solution? The communal nursery – the first program of its kind in Israel, will provide professional training in planting and ecological gardening for these people. The communal nursery will circumvent a ‘glass ceiling’ by virtue of a track that will enable our subjects to learn a trade, in turn providing financial security, peer recognition and status, as well as a sense of belonging to the growing community of environmental activists. Why ecological gardening? With increasing global awareness to the dangers of the climate crisis, recognition of the importance of ecological restoration is rapidly rising. The community nursery isn’t beneficial just for the participants, but for the earth as well! Each year, we will train a new group of participants, who, in turn, will expand the spread of ecological gardening in Israel. How will it work? The communal nursery will start working in October 2021, and will be open five days a week. Following a three-month period of training and work experience, program participants will be employed at other working nurseries for two days a week, continuing to train the remaining three days at Ya’ara. During the first year, the trainees will slowly move to more work-days outside of Ya’ara according to their progress. They will receive full employment rights and be paid in accordance with their work ability. So what’s your role in all this? Unfortunately, government grants are insufficient for the initial launch of the nursery. In order to get started and to fund our first year of activity, we need to raise a significant amount of money. To that end, we have set up a crowdfunding campaign asking for contributions to this important project. Ya’ara requires this funding solely to launch the project and ensure its first year of activity. Following this first year, the revenue from nursery sales will fund its ongoing operation. Help us make this dream come true!