[Avodah] shemitta

[mkopinsky at gmail.com]

On 5/15/07, Dr. Josh Backon <backon at vms.huji.ac.il> wrote:
>
> >I am surprised that there hasn't much discussion of the shemitta year
> coming
> >up soon. In Israel the various pages distributed on shabbat had a detailed
> >discussion of the issue. Basically there are 3 approaches to the issue:
>
>
> Actually there is the technological breakthrough just pioneered by
> an Israeli farmer last month. For Shmitta, the rabbanut OK'd use of
> coconut bark as a planting medium for vegetables (instead of placing
> the seeds into the ground). As an added benefit, much less fertilizer
> is needed and the bark is biodegradable.
>

I don't understand.  The bark will be placed in above-ground trays of some
sort and filled with soil, and the seeds placed there?  Or the bark will
be used instead of soil?

KT,
Michael