Carob House came to life from the strong urge to reconcile with nature and go back to basics: farming the land and growing our own food. We wanted to reconnect with our roots and revive our ancestors’ wisdom in cultivating tasty, nutritious food in harmony with nature.

Afterall, food is an essential facet of culture and what we eat is important – not only does it feed our bodies but food also nourishes our souls. We believe clean food should be widely available in the community as people seek to regain control of the source and quality that goes into their bodies. Yearning for change, and now demanding transparency, connection and realness in the foods we eat.

In this spirit, we have set sail to cultivate a soil-rich farm where plants, animals, insects and people all thrive together, and create a collective kitchen and food hub where the freshest and tastiest crops come together to fuel up our zeal for cooking and celebrate nutritious foods.

We can’t do it alone and therefore Carob House connects with fellow farmers and artisan producers who share our ethos ensuring that the food supply is consistent with the quality we desire. Our biggest hope is to help channel nature’s nourishment to your body and soul and form a community that holds the utmost respect for nature.

Welcome to Nature’s tribe, welcome to Carob House!

“In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.” Aristotle

Born and raised in western outskirts of Amman, Jordan, I witnessed the population boom since the early 90’s and the city encroachment over its countryside that once grew much of our essential foods. Those open fields of wheat that I recall playing in as a child have long been gone.

With a love for nature and adventure, I spent most of my late 20’s and 30’s exploring the backcountry and the wadis of Jordan while founding Terhaal Adventures, one of Jordan’s leading adventure tour operators. Throughout my travels I developed a strong awareness and appreciation for our rural heritage, which our modern ways of life allowed us to forget. At age of 40, I woke up to a new sense of purpose: a strong calling to go back to the land and grow my family’s own food.

So I took interest in a little olive farm in Madaba. And like so many farms in the country, this one relied on one crop and sparse rain, and struggled to be feasible. It didn’t take much research to realize that we’ve been so passive in our farming approach: water is scarce yet we used no rain harvest, soil is degraded, yet we did nothing to heal it, native plant species are being diminished, and yet we did nothing to preserve their seeds.  We simply did nothing to cope with climate change and accepted the common belief that farming is simply not viable anymore.

Throughout my research I quickly came to realize how damaging industrial farming has been, not only to our environment, but also to our rural economies. The shortage of water is surely a big issue, but the bigger issue turned out to be the harmful practices that farmers have been forced to follow for so many years that resulted in the degradation of our agricultural land. I also grew weary of the manipulative power of many global corporations which have been feeding our heedless consumerism and exploiting farmers and their landscapes for decades, offering nothing but modern world slavery, in return.

My personal pursuit has led me to the world of natural farming where I found clear solutions to our challenges. I quickly developed interest in regenerative agriculture and permaculture and started seeking the application of their principles that stresses crop diversity, soil health, animal welfare, and energy preservation.  I learnt that mimicking nature in the way we farm is not only the sustainable approach out there, but also the way for better yields and profit. And I thought to myself, if there is any sense left in this world then one must be able to produce natural foods, be nourished by the product as well as the process and make a good living out of it.

Slowly I started putting my humble day dreams into action, farming and making foods to enjoy and share. I thought it was essential to innovate a business model that is based on the ethos of cooperation, diversity and inclusion, the way our farming societies lived for thousands of years. So I created CAROB to be the linking point and the mediator.

Rakan Mehyar

Carob is a holistic grassroot initiative aiming to reimagine the way food is produced and consumed in Jordan by engaging communities in inspiring food experiences, from farm to table.

We believe that nutritious food should be widely available in the community. Afterall, our resilience and true security primarily depend on our ability to supply our needs of nutrition, locally, in harmony with natural systems. 

At Carob, we’ve embarked on a mission to innovate a green model of local food production, and build a community of environmentally conscious farmers, food artisans, cooks, and consumers who come together to celebrate nourishing foods and spread the word of harmony and abundance.

Our prime goal is to learn by doing, share the knowledge and educate as many people as possible, to hopefully witness a growing community of enlightened people who will be able to make a tangible change and protect our children’s right to a healthy food environment.

We are all part of an interconnected food web and most of our lives revolve around food. How we do things matter, and each one of us has an impact, no matter how small.

We are a community of conscious humans, farmers, gardeners, food artisans, cooks and food enthusiasts who come together to celebrate nourishing foods and spread the word of harmony and abundance.

Give us a shout  to explore how you can be part of our collaborative community.

And make sure you engage with us on our social media channel: @carob.house and @carob.farms.