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Article: Israel's miracle food from the desert. (Negev Desert)
- Article from:
- The Saturday Evening Post
- Article date:
- September 1, 1987
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1987 Saturday Evening Post Society. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Imagine a vast expanse of moonscape rock and sand, a desolate hothouse since prehistory. Here at the lowest point on earth-1,200 feet below sea level -where the sun shines an average of 355 days and barely an inch of rain falls each year, where daytime temperatures can exceed 1200 F., is the Negev Desert, the southern two-thirds of Israel. And that's where Kalman Eisenmann makes a nice living growing tomatoes, peppers, and melons.
"Call me a conjurer, not a farmer," says Mr. Eisenmann, a pioneering member of the Ne'ot Hakikar settlement in the Dead Sea area of the Negev. With an admiring smile, he points across the desert's sandy monochrome at the striking ...