Mar 3, 2016 2 min read

Jeannine Kiger, the guest speaker at the Town and Country Garden Club’s February meeting, displayed several items brought back from a healing mission trip to Israel, a country which was defined as semi-arid.

Rain only falls between November and April with uneven distribution. To reduce water consumption for agriculture, water saving is critical. The country has eight major and several small-to-medium-sized companies producing irrigation and filtration equipment.

Flowers are Israel’s leading agricultural export. The expertise of the farmers backed by private and government research and development and field surface supervisors, contribute to the high quality and wide variety of more than 100 flowers.

These include cut flowers such as roses, zypsophilia, carnations, solidago, limonium, gerbers, anemones and ornamental plants. Beekeepers bring in hives then remove them after pollination occurs. The varieties include summer flowers from Europe, acclimated so that they can be picked and exported during Europe’s winter season.

In recent years, production of flowers rose to around 1.4 billion a year. Club members had a rare opportunity to view artifacts of Israel and learn its methods of growing flowers in an arid region.

Kiger was on mission trips to Israel, Chile and Columbia. Her business Outstanding Bodywork Therapy is located in Waynesburg.

She is an Integrative Health Practitioner and Soft Tissue Manipulation Expert and has 26 years of ongoing continuing education from various educational institutions.