Many were skeptical about Pini Elmakayes’ scheme, but Ramat HaNegev Regional Council agronomists lent their expertise to the bereaved uncle.

Cherries aren’t supposed to grow in a hot desert. Children aren’t supposed to die in car crashes.

But Pini Elmakayes’ nephew, Liel, was killed in a road accident at age 13, six years ago.

Elmakayes commemorated that unthinkable event with an unthinkable agricultural feat: To preserve and continue Liel’s memory, he planted cherry trees in the sunbaked soil of his farm in Mitzpeh Ramon, a town in Israel’s southern Negev Desert.