Wild boar

If you walk in the forest, you'll come across the traces and evidence of wild boar in the woods: their hoof marks in the mud or the snow, their droppings on the paths, or boar-sized tunnels through the undergrowth.  If you drive through the forest at night, there are so many of them that you'll probably catch sight of them in the headlights - they seem to be almost equally surprised to see you as you are to see them!
The boar scavenge and collect most of the forest-floor edible items, edible mushrooms, berries & edible roots. they get into the fields and ruin the crops by eating them but also by trampling over the whole field and destroying what they don't eat.

Among the village hunters there are several groups that hunt the boar on a fairly serious level, successfully killing a few each year, and since moving into the village we've been acquiring freshly killed animals on an occasional basis (generally at dead of night).  This gets processed into joints of meat, mince & sausages for us, as well as meals for the dogs.  Boar is lean, low-fat, tasty meat.
CT

trekking

Trekking in the forest has officially been recognised and ten official routes have been identified and mapped, as part of the Yalova forest strategic plan.  You can look at maps and videos of the walks here: http://yalovatrekkingparkurlari.com/TrekkingParkurlari/index.html
enjoy!
CT

Why Compost?

Making compost seems one of the primary methods for us all to do our bit towards saving the planet!  If we could all reduced the amount of waste we created by processing it into a useful product (compost), we would each be contributing to maintaining the planet and saving energy.  Nowadays, even my friends, mother, and her friends who live in flats in cities, are composting their rubbish - every little helps.
So why should we all be making compost?

• It keeps your rubbish in the kitchen more hygienic & clean - ie, not smelly and disgusting!
• You can go for longer before you have to empty the bin (good for busy lives)
• The finished product nourishes the garden
• It can be done on quite a small scale, as well as at the industrial level
• Reduces the volumes & therefore the energy used in municipal transportation

Anything biodegradable can go in the compost: ideally the target is to achieve a ratio of 1:30 Nitrogen to Carbon.  For every 1 unit of green stuff you need 30 units of brown.  Green is obvious: leaves, stems, pods.  Brown is more difficult to achieve, partly because you need so much more of it: dead leaves, bark, woody stuff, paper, ash from the wood fire, cardboard packaging etc.  The smaller it's cut up the quicker it degrades into rich dark compost (more surface area) which can go out to feed the garden.

How?
The easiest way to manage composting is the aerobic method, using air.  Any sort of container which allows air to penetrate will facilitate composting of the ingredients, but if you can get it nice and hot as well, this speeds it up.  A critical minimum volume of about 1 cubic metre seems to get best results, but composting will occur in much smaller volumes as well.  It works by employing the natural beneficial bacteria which are found in soil, and which work everywhere, making rocks into soil.  They love working in compost because the work is just so much easier!  So when you start up your composting, just add some rich brown soil/dirt/sod to the mixture as a starter, and the bacteria will start working straight away, processing the material you give them to work on.  The smaller the material, the quicker they can work (so shred your paper & cardboard) and the more air that there is, the better they reproduce, so turning the compost as often as possible is beneficial.  You can also add worms, if you want, which keep it aerated and also do lots of digesting.

We use a 3-box method like this: Fill up one cube until it's piled up, then start filling the far side.  Turn the first one into the centre, then the second one into the centre on top of it, while starting the process again.  Every 2 months or so, I am getting compost out to spread on the raised beds.
Here is another type that we're using, (this one is the Mantis brochure-picture) the drum method: you turn the drum daily, and get a barrow-full of compost after 3-4 weeks: 

And at another scale, here is a picture of composting at the municipal scale at Eco-Solutions' yard in Southampton, which I visited a couple of weeks ago: (finished product on the left)

The Composting Association, whose head-quarters are in Wellingborough, has transformed itself - take a look at www.organics-recycling.org.uk
And also at WRAP, www.wrap.org.uk
CT

Cabin Fever

The snow just keeps on coming down.   There have been a few breaks but very little in the way of a thaw, before more snow falls.   It has now been snowing for a week, with only a few days interlude from the previous snowfall.

According to weather reports this is caused by an area of high pressure,  driving cold from Siberia down and across the whole of Eastern Europe.   There is no promise of any rapid change.
Istanbul, just across the Sea of Marmara,  had its coldest day for over thirty years on Monday.
Living up on the hill,  it is surprising when you get to the bottom of the hill,  down by the sea to find there is not sign of snow there,  although because there is more wind it actually feels colder.   We can also look up to the tops of the hills around us, when it is not actually snowing of course.   The trees up there are noticeably more caked in snow and frost,  there has been no thaw at all up there.

Temperatures here,  including -10 C last night,  are like a mild spring day in comparison to conditions in the Ukraine and Serbia where night time temperatures have gone down to -37 degrees Centigrade.
Although mild cabin fever is beginning to set in,  the only thing to do is keep putting wood on the stove and work on plans for warmer days.

AG

See how they grow!

Once upon a time there were two little puppies.
They ate and they ate and they ate, until...

Firewood

Here on our Turkish hillside,  we are surrounded by deciduous woodland.   The local forestry work is carried out by the people who live in the village,  using horses for getting the timber out.   Our firewood for the house generally gets delivered by horse,  although we also get a trailer-load at the beginning of the season in the autumn.   We use two wood stoves,  one heating the living room of the shack,  the other being a range in the kitchen,  used for cooking (and warmth),  all year round.   We’re burning about 6 tons of firewood in a year,  and getting it,  chopping & stacking it,  collecting kindling,  and moving it around,  is a constant occupation.    Mike Abbott, author of “Living Wood” www.living-wood.co.uk  makes some useful remarks and suggestions about processing firewood,  most of which we have either discovered or applied:

1.  You’ll be lucky not to handle the same piece of wood at least nine times before it gets burned – our target is always to get this number down!
2.  Store the wood with an open side of the structure facing South: the drying effect of the sun more than compensates for any wetting from wind and rain.
3. Cut the wood in February when the worst of the winter is over,  but before the sap rises.
4. Split the logs a.s.a.p. to get maximum drying
5.  Have a good log storage around the wood burner for final drying.
6.  Combine your system with solar heating for hot water in summer.

Because we only moved here 3 years ago,  and that was just before a winter set in,  we’ve been on the back foot with firewood,  constantly trying to get enough to be able to store and dry it for the following year.    Burning dry wood is the target – but so far we’ve never had sufficient to be able not to use the fresh supplies  –  touch wood (!) this year we’ll have enough to keep some ready for next year.

The objective is actually to grow our own firewood, so I’ll be planting some saplings in 2012: 100 trees this year in a mixture of species.

Ponies going home, loaded with firewood

The wood shed

CT
PS: Found this exciting innovative heating system: http://www.richsoil.com/rocket-stove-mass-heater.jsp

Oh Dear!

Re think needed.       (Oh dear!  is the censored for publication version of what was actually said).