Istanbul’s farmers at work: Gardens filled with history
It is possible to eat the delicious and lively salads of Istanbul, fresh dill and lettuce. The variety of tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, arugula, and greens grown by urban farmers at the foot of the Istanbul Walls is another. In addition, because it catches up with themselves, it reaches consumers at a much more affordable price than people outside the city. We are the city-dweller, visiting the bostans of Istanbul, and guessing the story of the urban farmers here.
ISTANBUL’S FAMOUS PLANT
- In an Istanbul, there were 1200 vegetable gardens, from Tuz to Anadolu Feneri on the Anatolian side, and 1200 on the European side, as much as 1200 Rumeli Feneri. Even the bostans that have been going on since the Ottomans had famous ones. Like Arnavutköy strawberry, Çengelköy cucumber, Yedikule lettuce. Nowadays, there are two surviving orchards with their history. As Yeni Şafak Pazar this week, we aim to exhibit our route to two historical orchards, the oldest son of Istanbul.
- Our First Stop; The Yedikule Gardens, which were built during the Byzantine period and located right next to the walls of Istanbul and used as an agricultural area next to it. The history of the Land Walls, accepted by UNESCO in 1985, is a heritage that has been passed down from generation to generation with these bostans, pooling and construction system and knowledge. You can see Yedikule Gardens on the walls along the way from Zeytinburnu Belgradkapi to Mevlanakapi. Our second stop is the five-century-old Piyalepaşa Garden in Kasımpaşa, in the heart of Istanbul. The 16th mosque, which is adjacent to Piyale, can be reached about the Bostanpaşa Mosque, which is estimated to be at least 450. From Yedikule to Piyalepaşa, we talked to our gardeners who test and beautify the last remaining historical orchards of Istanbul and belong to 1500 years of education.
The new generation is not engaged in farming
This time, Ahmet Kaplan’s breath is in the garden of Dursun Kaplan, whose walls follow the old Kozlu Cemetery. Kaplan is someone from Kastamonu, who is the children after the Greeks and Albanians and is located on the orchard roads. “At the end of the day, we are farmers in Istanbul,” says Kaplan, who has been farming for 30 years. He sells them in the neighborhoods of Esenler and Bayrampaşa, where he cultivates, harvests and grows in his own local orchard of the week. Saying, “Farming is very good if you can sell it from those who grow it in Istanbul,” Kaplan said, and we are talking about farmers in Istanbul and their uses. It’s hard to say that gardening is like a baby created by a heater and growing up, you take care of tiger grass, medicine, breeding, watering like a baby with a head. He says that the hardest part of planning farming in Istanbul is not being able to use large tractors and not finding workers to work in the garden. Saying, “We are the last generation, it will be very difficult for the farmer to gather here,” Kaplan said, “My children are those who do not like this job. Even normal uses do not come to the garden. The new generation is not engaged in farming,” he says.
I sell my vegetables both fresher and more affordable
- We pass by Ahmet Kaplan’s garden a lot. We pass to Şerafettin Yılmazcan’s garden. Yılmazcan, who has been farming since 1993, said, “When I first started here, it was empty. There were only horses. I was in a garden near here too. I brought and drove a tractor here. Afterwards, I applied to the municipality and I am thinking of starting”, and we are explaining how he started farming. Saying, “I have been here since the youth field,” Yılmazcan said, “Unfortunately, there will be no farming after me. They never exist. I am thinking of transferring it after I retire,” he says. Yılmazcan, who grows a lot of things in his garden, says that we are not very special and he grows Afghanistan gangana vegetables a lot. He says that he sells the products grown by Yılmazcans in Unkapanı neighborhood markets of the week, he says that he sells them not only fresh but also more affordable. There is no time to “dream fruit and vegetables”, but we eat the ones in the garden, more people, it’s fresher”. Saying that gardening is a very heavy profession, Yılmazcan said, “The temperature decreases when it exceeds 30 degrees. Compared to the village. farming is of course more comfortable. “But Istanbul is technically more comfortable. Irrigation engines are more and more beautiful with cultivating engines,” he says, adding that it will be designed to be used to stay in a history.
We do not use any medicine in our plant.
This time, we turn our route to Piyalepaşa Garden, located in Kasımpaşa in the heart of Istanbul, right next to the five-century-old Piyalepaşa Mosque, one of the most beautiful of Mimar Sinan. 15. The mosque in which Yalelepaşa was brought up to the mosque to meet its expenses is for very old times, as Piyalepaşa is thought to be much older than the one in Piyalepaşa. The 450-year-old historical garden stands from school and education. On the other hand, 67 Mehmet Özal is the sole owner of the vegetable gardens that give income to the mosque that saves 16. Özal is driving the garden with his son and wife. Özal, who has been a farmer for years, said, “Farming is our father’s profession. We were dealing in the village, then you will start the game. Piyalepaşa has been used as a garden for 450 years, and we have been here for 13 years, he says. Even though the rows are a little longer than the garden due to his discomfort, he and his son are currently walking in the garden. Özal is one of those who can be reached as far as possible; It grows curly, eggplant, beans, kale, chard, arugula, cress, purslane, and white cabbage, blackberry, plum and mulberry. Afterwards, those sold in the market, Özal exhibits their neighborhoods in retail as wholesalers. Saying that they cannot grow the plants while they are growing, Özal says, “They will not be able to use the plants. This is how it becomes older.” very nice to use, keeping up and growing in a revised, natural way with pleasure.
Fresh products, by-products
- This time, start chatting with the smells of Arnavut, Ömer Ağuşlar, like a place consisting of two-day-old stools. To start with “Doing this profession since the age of 50”. “There’s fresh air here and no one else’s business. Our grandfathers and fathers did this. He came from father to son,” she says. Aguslar grows a variety of fresh varieties. Aguslar, who grows sorrel, mint, purslane, hazelnut radish, basil, kale, and chard, said, “Their interests here are freshness. But it will be a day bought from the market. It’s touching. It’s not like a garden. If from the kitchen and juice. You are the beginning to wash it, it is eaten fresh for the first time on the table,” he says. They live in Bayrampaşa, Esenler, Bağcılar and Güngören neighborhood markets for their own crops, harvested and grown in Aguslar. Aguslar said, “Nettle is not found in normal gardens, but it is in our gardens. We collect for those who need it, we make it,” he says. Emphasizing that the prices should be told more appropriately, Aguslar emphasizes that he does not allow opportunism. “The markets came here because we sell curly hair for 5 liras. We do not have an eye for abundance for a few,” he says.
Children meet agriculture in Yedikule Garden
When Fatih Municipality was alive in 2020, children met agriculture in Yedikule Gardens. On the one hand, children receive education at all stages in the world and on the other hand, their environmental and nature awareness develops. Making children love agriculture and being in nature, develops fruits and vegetables in the garden. Children also spend time in agriculture. In addition, they can make a reservation in the garden with a camellia area and have a free picnic here. In the gardening course for children to contribute to their socialization and personal development. In the garden; women naturally experience how to care for plants and elephants, how to treat sick plants. At the end of the gardening course, a terrarium workshop is held at a discount. In the plant hospital in the garden; The sick, the aesthetic, the vitality is also improved free of charge by the interior design.
We grow the most organic products
- Our first station is an entrance that smells of history. Built in the Byzantine period and located right next to the city walls of Istanbul, it is famous for its lettuce, the ones used as agricultural areas and the rest of them. Yedikule Gardens, whose history goes back much more than Piyalepaşa Garden, now has twenty-nine gardens. Breeding with the Dursun Kaplan family, who is the owner of these gardens and who is the Tower Bostancılar Association, who can finish the zest that he has cultivated and grown, is a business farming holiday for 30 grandfathers. “Taking my grandfather before me, farming passed from my grandfather to my father and from my father to me,” he says. For 30 years, Kaplan has been growing a variety of fruits and vegetables according to the seasons in the garden of the 15,600-year-old Yedikule Walls for the residents of Istanbul. in the spring; Kaplan, who grows black cabbage, chard, curly and arugula, currently; purslane, basil, thyme, coriander and seasoning. He says that since lamb’s ear was grown in his orchards before, now you need more and he will grow it. Kaplan, who raises us organically and openly to the public, which he grows in his garden, says, “We are trying to sell and grow the most beautiful and most organic ones so that our people prefer us.” Kaplan, whose products he grows here are also transferred to the local marketers for wholesale. Hoeing, planting and seedlings are sure to be very difficult. “Unfortunately, he’s going to pass out after me,” Kaplan said, “so he reproaches a little.”
- “To be a farmer in the city or to be a farmer in the village?” To our question, we cultivate, reap and grow in the village, we do not have eyes, but we can evaluate what we have grown here. You cultivate, mow and consume yourself in the village. Here, you sell the best.” Expressing that he is happy to have gardens with fortifications, Kaplan says, “You are very happy both in time and in the sun.” Saying that the walls and the garden are a whole, Kaplan said, “The two are together. There is no garden without walls, no walls without a garden. Both are one date. He refers to the show “Do not attribute meaning to the walls because you remove the orchards from here” and says that Yedikule Walls and Yedikule Gardens are understood together.