Tu Bishvat, the New Year of the Trees, fell mid-week this year but holiday activities — these days a combo of eco-celebration and dried-fruit eating frenzy — started on Sunday and went on throughout the week.

In modern Israel, Tu Bishvat has traditionally been celebrated with tree-plantings in JNF-KKL forests around Israel.

The Tel Aviv municipality brought the message into the urban space this year with an installation of a temporary grove of saplings in Rabin Square.

In Jerusalem’s Emek Refaim Street, composting was the watchword of the day at Yarok BaEmek, a celebration of ecology through lectures, music, street theaters and a sidewalk exhibition of creatively decorated composters.

Sponsored by Jerusalem’s Ginot Ha’Ir (City Gardens) Community Council, the local composting initiative aims to get both individuals and neighborhoods involved in recycling organic waste.

They also aim to make composting fun!

Ginot Ha’Ir states that since the start of the project in January 2012 hundreds of Jerusalem households have joined the project.  Residents separate the easily biodegradable kitchen waste and transfer it to a composter purchased at a subsidized price. Project participants receive professional support and assistance from the “Ginot Ha’Ir Goes Green Team”.

To learn more about Ginot Ha’Ir’s composting project, visit their website and Facebook page. And check out the JNF-KKL’s Tu B’Shvat video greeting card, a lovely depiction of tree-plantings past and present.

Images courtesy of JNF-KKL, Tel Aviv Municipality, Ginot Ha’ir