A Few Firsts

• 1- My first time staying overnight this year.

• 2 -My first trip outside Ankara in my car – I now own Oktay’s, and he has a slightly newer one: I just wanted to be able to come to Güneşköy… whenever I want, for as long as I want *

• 3- My first time gathering Colorado beetles-grubs-eggs from aubergine/eggplant leaves

• 4- First Internet access at Güneşköy

• 5- My first time watching a 40m tall crane being dismantled

A week ago I was given 14 days to register the car I have been driving for 8 years in my name (Ruhsat in English is ?licence-logbook-permit-certificate? Never having owned a car before, I have never needed the English term…) – simplest done at the local police station in Elmadağ (a smile, no queue). I arrived at Guneskoy around 10.30; hot!

Colorado beetles do not just like potatoes. I had helped collect them from our potato plants 12 days ago. This time I was asked to harvest them from the aubergine plants – 11 rows done, 5 left for tomorrow. Ladybirds are out looking for “yellow caviar” – the geometrically packed beetle eggs. We harvest for our chickens; they peck them up with relish!

The magic of staying overnight: being on the land when the sun sets and evening noises strengthen in the deepening darkness **. I also heard the characteristic purring of the üveyik Streptopelia turtur at 5.40, before the sun touched the land. As the scorching heat dropped to a pleasant temperature, a local farmer dropped by for tea and a chat. In the distance, music and shots came from wedding celebrations – the summer season has started.

We have sour cherries and mulberries, as well as plenty of cucumbers, etc. For the first time: celery stalks (not yet root) For those of you new to Güneşköy: a photo of our 500m2 greenhouse, and a view towards the nearest village (Hisarköy)

Getting drinking water from our nearest fountain, I discovered I could get internet information – though phone access is limited to certain places at Güneşköy, we had not hoped to have internet access. Good in emergencies.

The 40m tall crane lifting materials to V10 and V11 had been shifting on not-so-stable ground (where we had built our first building, of mud brick). The banging and shouting of workers had been more than usual, then a loud “Tamam, oldu!”… and the main boom was swinging separated from the crane.

Then the weights, and the shorter arm were lifted down; eventually the crane too was dismantled…

* A week ago I met a friend’s 8 year old for the first time; we had a great time (with a giant snail, among other things). When she left, she asked me what I would wish for so she could wish for me when visiting Rome… “Going to Güneşköy more often”. Thank you Bilge for triggering thoughts.

**though Güneşköy is now never in total darkness: control panels, outdoor lights, night lights to deter worms from wandering… and the lights from the construction of the Ankara-Sivas high speed train viaduct that cuts our land in half.