Cats, Goats and a Tortoise

This past week has been very enjoyable here in rural Turkey. We have been looking after Fatih’s cat, Hamur, since he has gone on holiday to Istanbul to see his in-laws for the week, and Hatice and Muammer don’t let the cats sleep inside at night. I was very happy to agree to look after Hamur, as Fatih and his family have been so good to us; it is nice to be able to give something back. Hamur is actually very easy to look after, since he is out most of the day, and then will meow at the window at night when he wants to come in to sleep by the fire. However, he does have the slightly irritating habit of coming to wake us up in the morning with his meowing; usually between 6 and 7am. I now just let him into the bedroom, and he is happy to come and snuggle on the bed, which is very sweet. The first day I did that, he lay down between Beth and Zach, with Zach still being asleep and completely unaware. The room was dark, and when Zach awoke some time later and rolled over, he exclaimed “what’s this hairy thing?!”, which made Beth and I crack up with laughter!

My evening companion; not as interesting to talk to as Alex, but gives good cuddles!

What is also very sweet is that he and the other cat (which the family simply call “kedi”, meaning cat, and my children call “Super Meowsers” for some unknown reason) join us when we go for walks in the forest. They, and one of the dogs, always follow as soon as we leave the property so there is always an entourage, which is rather nice. We’ve been for a lot of walks in the forest this week, both with and without Hatice. On one of the walks without Hatice, Super Meowsers didn’t come so it was just us, the dog (which we call Granny) and Hamur. Hamur was dragging his feet a bit, so the children and I carried on, assuming he would hang around and wait for us to come back (my cat, Mishka, used to do this on walks). However, a little further on, we could hear a pitiful meow from within the forest, and we realised it was Hamur trying to find us! Poor cat! So, we turned back and called, and gradually the meow got closer to us. Eventually, he popped out of the trees and we made sure we waited for him from then onwards. I can’t imagine Fatih would be very pleased if we lost his beloved cat on a walk in the forest!

A walk in the forest with Hamur on the left and Super Meowsers on the right 

Every time we go for a walk, we collect tree bark and pine cones, which are useful for the wood burning stove, as both light easily and burn well. It’s quite nice, actually, to always be going with a purpose, exploring new tracks each time we go. We have seen lots of evidence of wild boar digging around, as well as a lot of empty shotgun cartridges. We hear the shooting quite a lot during the day - in a way, it is a shame, as they shoot the boar to keep the numbers down but do not eat them, due to it being forbidden by Islam! I guess the local lynx and fox population are grateful, at least. We also, completely unexpectedly, saw a tortoise crossing our path in the forest a few days ago! I had no idea that they were native to Turkey or, for that matter, that they could scuttle along so fast! I probably wouldn’t have even noticed it, as it was very well camouflaged against the forest floor, but Hatice spotted it and pointed it out to us.

Getting a photo with the tortoise was not so easy; he was fast!

Back on the farm, we have settled into a nice routine of sorts; we tend to do breakfast, washing, cleaning and home school first thing in the morning, then invariably get invited around to Hatice’s for tea (and usually some kind of snack) late morning. We then help out Hatice in the afternoon, with whatever task she happens to be doing. I’ve helped her pruning fruit trees, rose bushes, planting new trees, general clearing and cleaning around the farm, and dragging larger lengths of chopped up firewood down from the forest. The rose bush pruning was one of the scariest experiences of my life. It was carried out in a rather frantic way, whereby Hatice would tell me where to cut, I would reach up (I am quite a few inches taller than her) and cut wherever necessary with secateurs. She would then use her little pruning saw to catch and drag the cut section of entwined rose bush out from wherever it was tangled, often pulling attached branches towards us both, and then drag it towards an area of dead hedge at the end of the garden. Space was tight, neither of us had gloves, and there were spiky branches flying everywhere! I got a fair few scratches during the process, and was mighty glad when we had finished that job and moved on to pruning the pomegranate trees instead.

Having fun with a bonfire, after clearing some land

Hatice and Muammer also took us to their orange grove one day this week, where we helped to clear the ground and collect fruit, whilst Muammer was pruning the trees. Muammer encouraged me to fill two huge bags full of fruit for myself and the children, so we came home absolutely loaded with oranges and grapefruit! I wasn’t overly excited about having quite so many grapefruit (the children went mad and picked masses of them) since they looked like the standard yellow ones we get in the UK, which are quite sour. I tend to prefer pink or red grapefruit. However, upon peeling one (which was much easier than I expected) I saw the flesh was a light pink colour and it was absolutely delicious! After the orange grove, we visited a load of polytunnels where Muammer and his brother grow bell peppers. There, we were pulling out masses of weeds from between the lines of peppers and stuffing them into a bag for the goats back at home to eat. Once we had filled two huge bags, Hatice beckoned me into a polytunnel and gestured for me to pick some peppers and hide them in my top. She didn’t seem to want Muammer to see, and was telling me to be quick, pick about ten and keep them hidden. To be honest, it was all rather stressful for me, as I felt sure Muammer would notice the bulging pile of what could only be peppers hidden in my top, and I didn’t want him to think I was stealing from his farm! However, Hatice was very insistent, so I did as I was told and tried my best to hide them until I could put them in a bag in the car. I get the feeling Muammer knows that Hatice takes a few peppers when they go there (I mean, how could he not, given her top was bulging with them and he must then eat them at home with her) but perhaps doesn’t want to know and turns a blind eye, due to the fact that they belong to both him and his brother.

Our haul of oranges, grapefruit and peppers!

At around 5pm every day, the goats get brought back down from the mountain by Muammer (who often spends the afternoons up there with them, so they can graze further afield) and are then given some corn from buckets, before being herded into their shed for the night. This is always an amusing time of day, as the goats rarely go straight to the shed and instead run around the place making a last ditch attempt to find anything they can to eat, before going to bed. The children enjoy helping to herd them into the shed, as do I if I am not busy preparing dinner. We all have learned the "ktche" noise used to spur them on, which is quite appropriate because the word for goat in Turkish is keçi, which is pronounced "kitcheh". If I am not out helping, I often hear the children in fits of laughter as the goats misbehave and make a nuisance of themselves. Perhaps the funniest for them was when I had the front door propped open, and a cheeky goat came into the kitchen! They found that absolutely hilarious, as I'm sure you can imagine! I chased that naughty keçi out of my kitchen with a “ktche” and went back to my cooking with a smile on my face as the goat capered off in completely the opposite direction to the shed.

A beautiful sunset, enjoyed with Hatice from the hill just above our house,
whilst picking wild oregano for dinner