חג האביב [The Holiday of Spring]

More than once, I have tried and failed to sprout an avocado seed. The Internet says it's so easy: just stick in toothpicks, balance over a glass of water, wait a few days, and – hey presto! – experience the magic of a tiny avocado tree. 

But it never works. Not for me.

This past year, it seemed that every single time we ate avocadoes, FF asked to save an avocado seed and watch it grow. But I've been burned too often, so I kept avoiding the issue. 

Eventually though, I decided to try again. 

Having no idea why every single one of my previous attempts had failed, I decided to change as many variables as I could. A few months ago, without mentioning anything to FF, I took an intact avocado seed (unnicked by any knife), washed and dried it veeeery gently, did not poke at it with toothpicks, and balanced it over a baby bottle filled with water. We don't have a lot of direct sunlight inside, so I put the avocado pit on an outer windowsill and almost dared to hope. 

Dishearteningly but not surprisingly, nothing happened. I didn't have the heart to throw it out, though, and I even topped off the water once in a while. Why not.

Eventually, FF found the avocado seed, and came running to me: "It's growing!!" he said. 

Luckily, I didn't believe him, so I wasn't too disappointed when the "growth" turned out to be just a tiny dingly thing on the bottom of the pit, which, for all I knew, had been on the pit all along. Or might even be mold. Ick.

But after a few days, the dingly bit was definitely longer, and it wasn't mold, after all. The avocado seed had rooted! Seeing as it had been weeks and all the pit had done was put forth a tiny root, the Internet was still a Big Stinky Liar about "sprouting within a few days." But still, this was progress.

For weeks, we watched the avocado root grow and grow and grow, and eventually I was brave enough to guess that the avocado pit might actually even sprout one day, maybe when... 

And the proverbial penny finally dropped. 

We only buy avocados (or get them from my boss's farm) when they're in season, namely during the winter. That means we've only ever tried to grow these things in (wait for it)... The winter. Plants sprout in (say it with me, class!)... The spring. 

Maybe that's why on the Internet, where people keep their houses all nice and toasty year-round, avocado seeds sprout willy-nilly. But we rarely keep house much warmer than the ambient temperature. 

(We're one of those, "if you're cold, put on a sweater; if you're still cold, put on a pair of long johns"-type families.)

Since this particular avocado seed is in its natural habitat (yes, avocado trees like growing outdoors in Rehovot), one might expect that this particular avocado seed will behave naturally. 

I may be an ignorant city girl, but I am aware that in Nature, stuff sprouts in the spring. And having a solid Jewish education, I know that Winter is for sleeping and rooting and gathering strength, and Spring is for waking and ascending and growing. I know that planting is a metaphor for faith, and both require letting go and having patience. 

So an unusually cold Purim passed, with the only changes in the avocado pit being below the surface, as its roots continued to grow. And sure enough, as we approached the season of Pesach, which is both חג האביב [The Holiday of Spring] and the Holiday of Emunah [faith], our avocado seed finally sprouted.

Right on time.