Foraging and Fowl Play

It's incredible how quickly you can learn a language when there is no option to speak English at all. After just three weeks here in Turkey, I am amazed at how much Turkish the children and I have picked up. I still rely on Google Translate a lot, especially when being given instructions (to make sure I fully understand what is being asked of me) or having deep and meaningful conversations over a cup of tea, but I find we need to use it less and less for day-to-day life and interactions. Zach ate a hot chilli pepper at dinner with Hatice this week, which was hotter than he expected (despite both Hatice and myself telling him they were very spicy) and the heat took his breath away. His little eyes started to water, he gulped and gasped for breath, then cried out "su!" meaning water, which really surprised me! Whilst gathering "mersin" (myrtle) berries one day, I could hear Beth talking to Zach around the other side of the bush saying "topla Zach, topla" which means "gather Zach, gather" - I guess she has heard Hatice saying it to us enough times when picking olives!

Myrtle berries - there is also a purple variety here, but they aren't as sweet

The myrtle berries are interesting. I'd heard of myrtle, but had no idea what it looked like or that it produced edible berries. I was intrigued when Hatice first showed us that we could eat these small, oval berries, which are mainly white with a purple-ish hue. We eagerly picked and ate them, but I was a little disappointed in the flavour, which is nice but slightly astringent. Nevertheless, we kept eating them and I took some home as I felt that the flavour might improve once cooked. Initially, I tried cooking them as a sort of stewed fruit dish to put on top of pancakes, but they didn't really soften sufficiently or taste as sweet as I hoped they might, once cooked, so I stirred the leftovers into a savoury vegetable-based dish. This is where they really came into their own! So, we have continued picking them regularly but, surprisingly, I even find that I enjoy them raw now more than I did initially - they seem to grow on you and I often find myself stuffing handfuls in my mouth rather than my bag when collecting them with the children! To be honest, the amount that actually makes it into our savoury dishes is rather measly, since Beth and Zach love eating them raw and are never willing to give me any of their stash for my cooking. We have saved some of the small seeds, and plan on taking them back to Portugal (as well as some pomegranate and grapefruit seeds) in order to try growing them on our land.

Beth chops our foraged greens (this was about 1/3 of what we'd collected)

Hatice also took us out foraging for greens this week, which was a wonderful experience. She had already shown us some wild radish leaves whilst we were gathering olives, and showed us how to cook them by boiling and draining, then smothering in lemon juice, olive oil, a little sour pomegranate sauce and some black pepper and chilli flakes. They are absolutely delicious, and no doubt incredibly nutritious. Anyhow, one day this week we went with her to collect more greens and we came back with a huge bag full of all sorts! Most of them just look like the other weeds growing on the ground, until you become familiar with the features and can begin to spot them. Beth got very good at spotting the different plants we were searching for, and would point them out for us to dig up. I recognised the look and smell of wild coriander, and asked the names of the others we collected, but they didn't really translate properly. One translated to something like camel hoof, but I've been unable to identify anything online with this name. It's funny because, prior to us foraging with Hatice, I would see her going out into the field occasionally behind our house and digging up something or another, and now I know what it was! When we got back home with our foraged goods, we washed them thoroughly outside in a huge bowl of water, then took them up to Hatice's kitchen where we chopped them up and Hatice cooked them with onion, tomato, some garlic and spices. This was all that was needed to produce the most tasty meal, which we all enjoyed tucking into with some Turkish flatbreads.

Enjoying a delicious meal, made almost entirely from our foraged greens

Despite the olive season being pretty much done and dusted, a storm blew through last weekend and managed to cover the floor with masses of olives that had still been hanging in the trees. Hatice and I were unable to resist the temptation, and set out with our buckets in hand to gather the spoils of the storm. It was very satisfying work, as the olives were great quality, easy to spot and plentiful! It's amazing how quickly one can fill a bucket when there are so many within easy reach of where you are currently working. I honestly don't think I'll ever be able to walk past an olive tree again without wanting to gather up any the olives from the floor underneath it. Whilst gathering this fresh crop of olives, I spotted a sizeable spider nearby which almost looked as if it had barnacles all over its back. I was intrigued, and called the children to have a look at it. We didn't get too close, as it looked large enough to give a nasty bite should it want to, but watched it scurrying through the undergrowth (where it was very well camouflaged) and I took a couple of photographs. Upon further investigation later that evening, I discovered that this was a female wolf spider carrying a cluster of spiderlings on her back! 

The wolf spider carrying an impressive amount of babies on her back

As well as another tortoise, this week we saw a European green toad, which decided to seek refuge under one of the little plastic diggers in front of our house. Little did it know that, around 9am every day, an industrious young fellow comes out to put these diggers to work, thereby rendering the toad's hiding place completely useless! However, luckily for the toad, Zach was delighted to find it under his digger and promptly replaced the digger in the hopes that it would stay there permanently and allow him to befriend it. It did stay there a while, but eventually decided to move on to pastures new (much to Zach's disappointment) and we haven't seen the little chap since.

The European green toad, found hiding under the blue digger

Still, we are never far from an animal to pester, I mean pet, around here and the children's attention was soon focused on a skinny young chicken who doesn't seem to hang around much with his older, plumper counterparts. They convinced Hatice to pick him (or perhaps her, I'm not entirely sure) up for them, then spent hours carrying him around the place and feeding him scavenged wheat grains, whilst Hatice and I were working hard tidying piles of wood. At a certain point, I could see neither children not chicken and, suspecting some sort of mischief (as is usually the case when they disappear and go quiet), I went to investigate and found that they had taken the chicken into the house! He had defecated on the bathroom floor, and they had him shut in the shower enclosure with a bowl of water whilst they were cleaning this mess up. I made it quite clear that he was not welcome in the house, so they brought him back outside. A little while later, I see Zach walking around with his little yellow backpack on, and a skinny little chicken head poking out of an opening in the zip! I raced over to set the poor little chap free but, to my surprise, he staunchly resisted his rescue and did not seem very grateful at all to be freed from his carrier. Eventually, I conceded that they could carry him around in the backpack as long as he seemed content to be in there, and on the condition that they wash it thoroughly should he decide to empty his bowels in there. He seemed very happy to hang out with the children for the rest of the afternoon, both in and out of the bag.

Zach and the skinny chicken, hanging out together