We went to farm in Doganca village

Our good friend Erbay invited us to visit his village in the mountains East of us. It was one and a half hours away and quite windy. His grandfather bought the farm many years ago and he and his 4 siblings were all brought up there, sleeping in the kitchen with their parents sleeping in another room.

Rustic does not even begin to describe the house and we felt very lucky to see how remote farmers live and work.


On the way, the mountains were snowy in the distance, just magnificent!







All shoes are left outside as is typical in Turkey. Carpets throughout the various rooms that have been added on over the years. This is a cooking stove which is also used as a heater for the livingroom. We saw soup and chicken being made on it for our lunch.






Erbay made small fish (not sardines) for our meal in the real kitchen at the back of the house.








Some of what they produce: potatoes, onions, oranges, lemons, walnuts, almonds, cherries, chili and more!



















The day before, Mom and daughter in law Dilek made lavash. Similar to a tortilla but paper thin and honestly, pretty tasteless. One each was given to each of us at lunch.









Here we are with the family - the tall one is our friend Erbay with his wife behind him. The other guys are cousins.









It is very cute, as you enter and as you leave is a welcome and a goodbye sign - bye bye is gula gula.










OBSERVATIONS:

The bathroom was really crude, a toilet without a toilet seat (OMG). It was designed so that there was perhaps 2 inches space between toilet and a wall.

Everyone eats from the same serving dish with their own utensils meaning one rice dish and we all just use our spoon to go from dish to mouth. Such a wonderful meal - chicken with potatoes, fish, cabbage salad, rice.


There must be no garbage pickup, This farm is really remote and very high in the mountains, so I was distressed to see trash all around the yard.


Two brothers have divvied up the orchards and each is responsible for his part in pruning, harvesting and general upkeep. Erbay says that if he were independently wealthy, he would prefer this life to being in the city. He just got married a month ago and his wife is bored in the mountains. They are there temporarily since he has a restaurant, he is just waiting for the tourist season to begin.

Which brings me to the last observation: many hotels, restaurants and stores simply close down completely in the off season. It is bizarre to see a huge hotel silent.

So far, we are loving our life here!