Grape Picking in Bat Ayin

I think most families have the same challenge during vacation time- what to do with the kids that will be fun AND cheap at the same time?  Add to that being age-appropriate, and close enough to get to- that makes the challenge even  harder.  Bentzi and I were putting our heads together, trying to come up with some nice trips for the kids over the summer, and Bentzi found out about a free grape picking event in Bat Ayin, one of the yishuvim in Gush Etzion, which is not far from us.  He readily volunteered to stay home with Nissim (the vineyard wasn't exactly stroller friendly) and that I should take the kids (we can also only fit five of us in the car).  So I headed out with the 4 older kids bright and early, to hit the vineyards before the hot summer sun was at its hottest.

When we got there, each kid was supplied with a special shears to cut the grapes off of the vine.  Everyone had fun finding the grapes buried within the leaves of the vine, and we were amazed at how many crates of grapes we were able to pick.  Just as everyone was starting to get tired, the vineyard owner offered us a ride in his tractor- which was a lot of fun and left us invigorated, ready to do more.  We got to taste plenty of grapes - yum! - and we even brought home a huge bag full to make our own wine (which we did...but the product was not so successful!)

It was also nice to see the מצוות that are connected with farming, hands on.  We were show where the פאה was, and warned to make sure not to pick from there.  And Yisrael, who had learned all the הלכות this past year in Cheder, was busy explaining to everyone what he had learned about לקט and שכחה.  It was a nice חזרה for him, and a wonderful learning experience for the rest of us!

While we were there, the vineyard owner's wife- who is originially from the US- told me about a natural spring nearby which was made into a mikveh hundreds of years ago- and is still used today.  She said its a lot of fun, so after we were too hot and exhausted to continue picking grapes, we headed to the spring.  The spring flows from within a cave, and there is a structure with a kosher mikveh inside.  Yisrael and Bruria tried going in the actual mikveh, but it was too deep for them to reach the floor.  Outside of the structure is another pool they built, which is much shallower- and the kids had an absolute blast splashing around in the water- they were there for hours - literally!- and they enjoyed every mintue! 

I hadn't come prepared with bathings suits (I think I did have one towel in the car) so afterwards we went for a short hike in the area to dry up- where we found ancient homes and a shul- I'm not sure which תקופה they were from.

We finally headed home, happy and exhausted - and best of all, aside from transportation, the trip was completely free!  (unless you count the pie of pizza we bought when we got back to Beitar because everyone was starving- I hadn't planned on being out until almost 4 in the afternoon!)