Tu BiShvat, the New Year of the Trees, is a day that traces its celebratory origins back to the Mishnah. Back then, it was a day marking the end of one “fiscal year” for the trees and the beginning of the next. That is, for the purpose of tithing, all fruit that ripened before Tu BiShvat belonged to the prior year; all that ripened after Tu BiShvat belonged to the following year. 

Today, Tu BiShvat has become a day of environmental appreciation and care. Many communities now celebrate a Tu BiShvat seder. Here is one example from Exploring Judaism.

Often, we talk about how food goes from farm to fork, from topsoil to table, how we can make our food system more earth-friendly, and how we can minimize or even eliminate food waste—especially in an era of our neighbors’ food insecurity. This is all very important and should be part of our regular discourse.

But this Tu BiShvat, let’s talk about more. Let’s talk about how food can go from fork to farm, from table to topsoil—or more precisely, from table to yard or balcony or even windowsills. Not as compost, but as seeds creating the next generation of edibles.

Let us imagine a Tu BiShvat plant-based seder in which we salvage the seeds of the foods we eat and plant them … either immediately or eventually.

Imagine if this Tu BiShvat we can be growers, gardeners, or better yet, “guardeners”—people who work and protect and make the land around us fertile, just as Genesis 2:10 urges us to do: “God put the human in the garden to till it and guard and protect it.”

At our Tu BiShvat dinner tables this year, let’s serve foods whose seeds we can harvest and plant: tomatoes, peppers, raw sunflower seeds, butternut squash, zucchini, peach, apple, pear, strawberries. 

The seeds of the first five can be planted right away; the last four need “stratification”—meaning they need several months of cold before planting. More about that later.

To begin: 

1. Choose the foods that suit you best. 
2. Harvest their seeds, then prepare the edible parts any way you wish.
3. Place the harvested seeds, cleaned and air-dried, in labeled dishes as centerpieces on the table. (You can find guides to harvesting and drying seeds online.)
4. Set the table with festive ware. 

When everyone is gathered around the table, begin your Tu BiShvat “kiddush” with this blessing from Ezekiel:

I will make the lands and the environs of My hill a blessing: I will send down the rain in its season, rains that bring blessing. 

The trees of the field shall yield their fruit and the land shall yield its produce. (Ezekiel 34:26-27)

Take a moment to speak about the provenance of the wine and bread, or other foods you are about to enjoy, to remind your family and guests that all food comes with its own story. Tell them what you can of the land, the farmers and farmhands, the bakers and makers that created what you are about to drink and eat. All of those thoughts are embedded in the simple words of the blessings we recite before eating and drinking.

At an appropriate time during the meal (when the food has been distributed and the initial waves of satiation are setting in), read the following excerpt from A.D. Gordon, an early 20^th century influential Zionist thinker, leader, and farmer in Israel. 

“We are returning to nature. But not as servants or masters. Nor as tourists or as scientists… Instead we are active partners… we have come to join with nature in life and productivity. Even more so, we have come to be unified with nature in harmonious unity: the human and nature are one… From now on, we will have a direct, soulful deep relationship with every clod of earth, every stone and rock, every plant and tree, and every animal and insect as we do with the heavens. We are siblings with the hosts of the heavens; we are partners in the life of the world, the suffering of the world, the  music of the world, the creativity of the world, the thoughts of the world.” (from The Nation and Labor, 1911) 

Ask the assembled to reflect on Gordon, guided by these questions: 

• What do you feel when you hear these words? 
• Is Gordon’s vision your reality? Your aspiration? 
• How could inhabiting this spiritual space respond to the environmental traumas we experience today?
• How can we better live into Gordon’s vision of this soulful relationship with nature?

Toward the end of the meal, place seed envelopes on the table, and invite everyone to take some seeds to plant. (Have a pen ready so the envelopes can be marked, indicating the seeds inside them!)

For those seeds that are ready to be planted right away, plant them in a seed tray or a paper egg carton in starting soil. Keep them moist but not overly so. You should see some action within two weeks.

For those seeds that need stratification—that is, those that need several months of cold before they are ready to sprout—put them in an air-tight container with a bit of moist soil, or a damp paper towel and place them in the refrigerator for three months. They should then be ready to be planted, either in starter pots or in a protected place in your yard, come the beginning of summer. (For more precise information about stratifying and planting your particular seeds or pits, check the internet or consult a trusted “guardener.”)

If you wish, bolster the gift of these seeds from foods you just ate with those of fast-growing herbs such as chives, cilantro, dill, parsley, oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme. Planted indoors on Tu BiShvat, these herbs might be ready to be picked and used at your Passover seder.