Time keeps on passing... as it will for eternity. It's 22 years since we went to collect the deeds to the three parcels of land that have formed Güneşköy. I was drawn to nature, in those days I couldn't read the signs and signals that were there. I looked and could see, but not make connections with meanings meaningful to the plants that support animal life, the creatures that draw attention while plants remain unnoticed in the background...
On the way out we picked up Elif, 12 tomorrow. My fewer visits, and her increasing school work have meant we rarely get to spend time on the land together. The interaction, being able to be in the same space and what the other is experiencing allow us to share what we notice, interpretations, priorities, connections. In her 12 years she is familiar with some of my approaches and values.
As we drove up from Elmadağ to the highest point at 1005m, some new construction peaked up for a moment along the ridge. "Arab Houses" was all she knows. As the road dropped down, we passed the black box "luxury villas"; unsold for years, one is now being cared for, the front wall being cleared... Once we'd turned onto the dirt track towards Güneşköy, the track had changed! Someone has build a small house next to his field, rerouting the track above then dropping back to the old way.
Arriving rather late at Güneşköy, we needed water. The three of us walked down to turn the lever. Only 20 minutes (otherwise the tanks would overflow, damaging the channels dug 2 years ago), so we decided to hang around in the shade of the fruit trees planted in 2007. "Can I have a magnifying glass? How fast they move! Look at those stripes!". I learned a new name for an earwig - lots of them around now - locally called Çatalavrat.
Roasting midday heat lasts about 4 hours, too hot to do anything much. Inside the Sera (glasshouse), it's even hotter, except in the cool dark kitchen. The open, shaded pergola is ideal. Hot, but airy. Plenty of time to chat... "Güneşköy + Who?" Elif immediately says CELAL, recognition for the person who kept Güneşköy going, while those who legally own it wrangle over decisions. Time for art; I get out pens and water colours, and start sketching grasses,then Elif's leaves draw me to try something different.
Lavender needs trimming every year. Chop, chop, chop... until our hands blistered. We've not even done half, and there's more round the back.
This white spider on lavender is a crab spider, possibly of the Thomisus genus. The bright white triangular abdomen and and bold front two pairs of legs are characteristic.
When the day cooled, we took Elif to Çiftlik. The water there comes down "from the mountain"; now it is on a meter, after a tank do stabilise flow. Are the pipes the same diameter? Which leaves the tank first? Points to be sorted... In the last light of the day, Elif and I climb up above the small cluster of houses that moved away from the original Hisarköy decades ago, to have more room to their heards of animals. In the dry summer vegetation, the bare earth of the well trodden paths are easy to follow. Past the cave, up a steep slope, beyond to a hilltop. Down below, Güneşköy's Mandala strawbale building rests quietly in its 15th summer. I realise how long I need to tune into being here, allowing for the transition into another way of being. Day visits leave me hungry, not having reached the balance I can find. Seda, generous as always; your apricots are delicious
We were going to spend our first night at Güneşköy, under the stars. But the wedding season has started!. Our second evening, Seda was going to a wedding; plans had to change... It is a busy time of year, the barley harvest in full swing. The workers hadn't come back by 10pm; tea was ready for them. We needed an early night as we were going to be up at 5.30am - before the heat gets too oppressive. We literally hit the sack and I woke naturally when daylight had already wiped out the darkness. Through the net curtains, the angle of the viaduct is just about to be highlighted by the sun. It's easy to find Güneşköy: simply follow the viaduct! By the way, why are the trains now going more slowly? There is a problem on the line at Sorgun (in Yozgat), but what about our pillars? İnşallah they are up to standards!
The first rays of the rising sun strike the translucent spheres of Scabiosa rotata seed heads (traditionally used to treat scabies). Now reassigned from Dipsicaceae to Caprofoliaceae (honeyscukle family) family, Scabiosa rotata flowers are less conspicuous that their seed head, which as each seed develops and seeks its space on the stalk, results in a sphere of units waiting to mature. Each seed will take off in the wind when dry enough to split from its base. It is here that Duygu starts to film.
Plants have been heavily hit this first half year. To illustrate this, here is a single photo, Viper's Bugloss (Echium italicum; yes the fruit does resemble a snake head. The same snake is referred to in the plant's Turkish vernacular name: Engerek Otu - Viper grass) Of the Boraginaceae, the densely bristled plant can easily grow to a meter tall, with a thick rosette of leaves close to the ground. . This one is small, thin in leaf mass and gone to seed far too early. In previous years they flowered until November. In two decades, I have never seen one this weak and underdeveloped in July. Challenged in conditions different from those it had evolved to respond to, it must have resorted to alternative ways, cutting corners in its grown to ensure that some way seek for the next generation. Other plants that stood out: Vaccaria (inek otu) has flourished on land that was dug up to make terraces, but has dried out a month early. Horned poppy seed heads are short, with few seeds. I can't remember one with so few seeds that they are in a line, like peas in a pod; normally they're more crowded, zigzagging to fit in. With so few flowers flowering, how will pollinators survive the summer? Duygu, wandering the land while you record, I explain what I show you, why I am stopping here and not somewhere else. With you, I need to find words to explain: I'd not do this alone. Finding words triggers new connections in my mind, so I discover more connections. An approach to be developed...
The Dry Lake, dug in 2008, then expanded some years later, was sited to gather water descending from the plateau above, either side of the rocky mass on Güneşköy's Northern border. Neither gulley has ever had running water; they only come to life after heavy rains. Often rainfall is sudden; running off the slopes above us, rain water fills the gorges with powerful currents, strong enough to clear a large dry thorny bush from the Canyon (dug by water rushing down from the eastern gulley. The western gulley had sometimes delivered water into the Dry Lake, carving a few shallow dents in the edge of the hollow. However, 18 months ago, soil blocked all previous tracks. How have these deep gauges appeared? Follow the trace upwards...to a hole: not a mouse hole. Water has cut itself a path under the new soil, a tunnel opening up near the Dry Lake. Water will - sooner or later - find its way.
To the north west of the Dry Lake, a new thicket of Paliurus spina christi has appeared. Last year flash flooding from the western gulley, finding its usual path blocked by soil, had rushed downhill on top of the fresh soil, nearly reaching the strawbale Mandala building. This could have washed away seeds, and without seeping into the ground it would have left the soil dry. Then the waters found their way into the soil... What is still unclear is why Jerusalem thorn has been this successful? Why have other plants not been able to take advantage of the softer soil? I still hope to hear of someone who has managed to grow Paliurus where they wanted. Come back in 5 years to see what species are interacting here.
With daily temperatures in the upper 30s Celsius (90s Farenheit), water is vital - literally bringing life. Water from the pond above the glasshouse had irrigated 12 000 meters square during the 15 years vegetables were produced and distributed to vegetable box members. For over a year it has remained dry, higher level depots being used for irrigating trees to be planted at higher levels on the poor quality earth filling between 8th and 10th pillar. It took two of us to turn the valve but it was worth it. The banks were so dry, it filled in 3 hours; by the next morning, the level had dropped over 60cm; time for another top up. This will benefit not only animals and plants in the pond itself, but also those such as the almond trees planted beneath, with more humid soil. We spent our second night at Güneşköy, under the stars. In the dark, calm abundance and depth envelops us. Listening to the quietness, we hear movements, while some are felt; no visual distractions. Duygu and I finally have time to sit and listen to each other and ourselves; hearing deeper, we slip into a conversation that connects feelings and meaning, hopes and doubts.
Some creatures can get confused in human environments, having to spend much energy in trying to return "outside". Having drifted into the kitchen, this butterfly was looking for a way out. Light and air flow through the netting, designed to keep insects outside. Place a glass over it, a paper to cover the mouth of the glass... and it was free outside. In the evening a sparrow - unused to humans in the lsst 2 years - was attracted by a light in Room 3. In its panick, it banged into the walls, so I backed off and turned on the light. In the dark it was able to find its way out.
In 2016, the western terraces were shaped from 10 000 tons of alluvial soil excavated for the foundations of the viaducts' 14th and 15th pillars, either side of the Balaban - at times a dry river bed, later a powerful flow that occasionally floods over into flelds on either side. The lowest terrace is 2 meters just above the dirt track (at the 807m altitude). When did the Ailantus first appear next to the road? This has been spreading through suckers, which in the lights fresh soil have grown well. Now trees are appearing on the terrace itself. Whether originating from suckers or seeds, their rapid grown and consolidation is concerning: this species will out-compete most known species.
Rather than the obvious passing of daytime shadows across the landscape, at night the passing of time is marked by the unobtrusive progression of stars in the sky. Seen only if one looks, the signs need to be decoded. The pressure of time dissolves. By 10pm we are lying on our tables, Duygu directly under the stars and more sheltered from the wind, I'm under the pergola's loosely woven shading fabric; fewer stars, but translucent enough to see one shoot eastwards toward the viaduct. Light pollution from the west (elmadağ, or Ankara?) faintly lights the vertical surfaces, contrasting against the dark stripes of the unlit undersides. The stillness is a blank space for sounds to travel further, clearer. Silence until an owl hoots, a moment later another echoes, then they continue for a while. Later... somewhere in the valley a dog barks; others reply from a distance away. Greetings, or warnings: What might they be sharing? The warm air quivers, a faint breeze strokes my cheek. Somewhere in a field, a harvester is at work, its motor churning in the night. Air circulates well in the pergola, vine leaves dancing against the city's reflected light. 3am: my mind is still wide awake, busy decoding signs of night activity. I moved to Room3. I need some rest. Only 3 hours until sparrow activity wakes me again.
The strong scented mauve flowers on their square stalks (a characteristic of members of the Lamiaceae) grows as we cut cut cut the thick clumps of lavendar. .... A well needed break, with watermelon and iced water. There will be plenty of lavender to continue feeding any creatures that need or fancy it. Food: bread, cheese, and chutney! Never has a pot of spiced apricot chutney disappeared so quickly; Duygu I'll give you the recipe.
How much is alive on/in the "unused land" as it was described at the recent annual general meeting! I only took photos of some of the creatures. This spider posed when I wanted to take a photo. Other animals can move so fast, one being Lacerta viridis, the 25 cm long green lizard (I'd seen some over 15 years ago). Above the Dry Lake we saw a fox.