Winter Is Coming… To Türkiye

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Tuesday 24 September, 2013 by Uncle Spike

We are both avid fans of the epic TV series, Game of Thrones, based on the novels by George R R Martin. My wife studied English Literature up to her masters, so naturally she also loves delving into the books, having read most of them in both English and Turkish. I often hear her on the phone to my brother-in-law (another bookworm and film nut), comparing the written plots to those portrayed in the films. Me? Nope, my literature studies stopped at 16 with Macbeth, but I do enjoy watching the series all the same  🙂 

However, I hate to disappoint, but this post is actually related to Winter Is Coming here, in southwest Turkey, and how my life changes with the seasons.

As the thermometer heads down towards 30 (86F) most days and below 20 (68F) at night (at last), it got me starting to think about winter…

For those readers who reside in cooler climes, you may be forgiven for those criminal thoughts I know you are thinking about me at this time, but c’mon guys, all things are relative.

After 4 months of excessive dry heat, the thought of seeing some clouds in the sky, splashing around the farm in lots of rain, wearing socks, digging out my few jackets and even using a duvet at night are quite attractive features of our winter.

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MULTIPLE RAINBOWS – FOTO FROM BEDROOM BALCONY

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The jobs on the farm will change too, with log chopping and coal sack hauling replacing the end of day chores of watering all the veggies and plants ritually every evening just to keep them alive.

I also can forget about opening all the windows and doors at dusk to cool the house at night. And another thing, no more scheduling the big artesian to pump up some 60 tonnes of cool mountain fresh water every Thursday night from an underground river 121 metres (390 ft) below the farm to feed the drip pipe irrigation throughout the orchard.

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LOW CLOUDS REGULARLY HIDE OUR MOUNTAINS

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Winter is also a time when I can crack on with building jobs, such as welding or concrete mixing, without pouring in sweat 18 seconds after starting…. yes, the season is starting to change slowly, and personally I love autumn and winter here.

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5000m OF IRRIGATION PIPES ROLLED UP FOR WINTER

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The hard part is the on the muscles, as winter also means harvest time for the olives (Nov-Dec) and clementine, lemons and oranges from November through till the back end of January

It’s also a time for chopping trees, pruning back hedges, moving rocks, clearing undergrowth and having a general tidy up. So I get reunited with my chainsaw, long ropes, bow-saw and triple ladders for a while 🙂

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BONFIRES ARE ONLY POSSIBLE DURING WINTER DUE TO FIRE RISKS

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CANT AFFORD A TRACTOR – BUT WHO NEEDS ONE !

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TIME FOR A SPOT OF TREE TRIMMING – AND I USED TO HATE HEIGHTS TOO !

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CHAINSAW MASSACRE TIME AGAIN

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WHO NEEDS A GYM..?

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The last chore of the season tends to be replacing any trees that have died off over the long hot summer months. Again, surprise surprise, it’s very good exercise with our ground being so rocky at the base of the mountains.

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DON’T KNOW HOW MANY STEEL LONG PICKS I’VE GONE THROUGH

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TREE PLANTING IS ALWAYS FUN WITH THE ROCKS WE HAVE

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Other times it rains here, and when it does, boy does it rain! But in reality we only get an hour or two of rain in one go, then we revert back to sunshine for a couple of days. Long days of grey drizzly rain one after another are virtually unheard of – thankfully!

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AUNTY SPIKE INSPECTING THE DROWNED VEGGIE PATCH

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THE ‘DRY’ RIVER BED COMES TO LIFE ALL OF A SUDDEN

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EVERY YEAR THE RAINS HIT THE LOCAL TOWN TOO

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THE NEAREST WE HAD TO SNOW… ONCE – NAH, DIDNT LIKE IT   😦

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So that gives you a taster about winter farm life in what is predominantly one of the hottest places around. With summer days always over 40 (105F), I love the winters here, the variety of the weather especially, even if it means a few months of hard labour!!

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