Mr. Şener and his wife Mrs. Saadet carefully evaluated each piece of land they found on all four sides of their house. A seed bank consisting of ancestral seeds collected from all over the world, a small greenhouse, various vegetable seedlings, fruit trees and colorful flowers... You are welcome to listen to the story of this secret garden, sir...
Living in a detached house with a garden, plucking and eating the fruit and vegetables that you plant and care for with your own hands… Opening your eyes to such a view every day and living in a clean air and falling asleep in this atmosphere… All of this is now just a dream for most of us. They are nostalgia that we can watch in movies, look at the screens and sigh, and remember with longing if we lived in such an environment… Because, as the vast majority of the country, we have to train in the concreted metropolises where we cannot breathe, at exorbitant prices, with genetically modified, fabricated products that have no taste. In the middle of such a landscape, of course, there are people who prefer natural life by defying the age and conditions. This time we are on our way to visit such a family. I say we are on the road because in big cities like Istanbul, going from one place to another is now equivalent to traveling from city to city.
It moves on the highway surrounded by skyscrapers, where we can see every shade of gray, and when our inter-city journey is over, when we arrive at the other end of Istanbul, we are greeted by a beauty that we marvel at in the middle of the city. This beauty is the detached house of the Varlık family in a small garden by the highway. Mr. Şener, the father of the Varlık family, greets us at the garden gate. Before we start our interview, we go on a long garden tour with him. Don't say how long it takes to visit a small garden. Because Mr. Şener and his wife Mrs. Saadet carefully evaluated each piece of land they found on all four sides of their house. What is not in this garden! A seed bank consisting of ancestral seeds collected from all over the world, a small greenhouse, various vegetable seedlings, fruit trees and colorful flowers... You are welcome to listen to the story of this secret garden, sir...
"I STARTED WITH THREE BAGS OF SOIL"
The Varlık family moved from Yalova to the Pendik district of Istanbul in 1997. Mr. Şener starts this business with three sacks of soil and three tomatoes given by the late Mehmet Pınarcı, their first home owner. He describes his first experiences in these words:
“Of course I have no knowledge, I don't know how to buy an armchair or how to prune leaves. Tomatoes grew and grew and became something like a big tree, but it does not bear fruit. I started researching and learning about the agricultural business when I said why not, why not.”
Then they move to the house with the garden where they live now. The fact that they live in a detached house with a garden is a great opportunity for Şener to concentrate on agriculture. “I started to find and produce seeds from right to left,” Mr. Şener says. As production increases, the seeds in his hand increase. When the seeds multiply, they begin to disperse them, and while dispersing these seeds, they are included in groups of people who are interested in ancestor seeds. His inquisitive personality drives him to research and teach. He attends İSMEK horticultural courses in order to learn the agricultural business better. Then he begins to record everything he does in his garden.
He explains the reason for this as follows:
“What you record is better placed in your subconscious. I started to see the mistakes I made by doing and recording. Thus, I had the opportunity to find the truth by trial and error method. When you find the truth, it starts to be a surplus of production. As the production increased, so did the seeds in my hand, and this time I wanted to establish a seed bank. I started researching how to make a seed bank. But while establishing this seed bank, I learned that we cannot keep the seed in the bank like gold and money. The seeds had to be regenerated. For example, it is not possible for me to grow the 750 seeds that I have under my record in 1 year. That's why I started distributing seeds for free.”
In the logic of the seed bank, in order not to spoil the seed distributed, it must be brought back to the soil, the product must be bought again, the seed must be obtained again from the purchased product, so that the seed bank will ensure its continuity. For this reason, those who receive the seeds distributed free of charge should send the seeds they produce back to Mr. Şener. However, those who buy free seeds do not return and continue to demand free seeds every year, or the people who send the seeds they produce do not give the desired yield because they receive seeds with the wrong process.
Mr. Sener, who thinks what can I do, he is developing a project called Example Garden:
“I needed to reach idealistic people who had a place for the Example Garden Project and really gave their heart to this work. There are seed exchange festivals that the municipalities invite us to. By participating in these events, we reached out to idealistic people who set their hearts on the seed business in our country and started to make exemplary garden project agreements with these people. What we call the Exemplary Garden Project is that we send seeds to these people. We ship them for free. From time to time, we visit the gardens of these people and convey information such as what to do about the production stages, how to get seeds, how to prune. At the end of the season, I buy 2/3 of the seeds they take, and I leave 1/3 to them. Since these seeds I bought are many, I ensure their distribution throughout Türkiye.”
GOING TO SCHOOLS FOR FREE EDUCATION
The seed bank is not enough for the Example Garden project, Mr. Şener. He worries that grown-ups look at this business with business. The main problem is that our country has become foreign-dependent due to the wrong agricultural policies and the ignorance of our people about agriculture. Şener, who sees the recipe for salvation in future generations and in education, goes to schools for free education.
However, he is troubled by the fact that the economy is tied to this issue:
“Because I live in the Istanbul region, I visit schools and give free education. Our aim here is to make our children love natural agriculture. In recent years, this has become impossible due to economic conditions. Because fuel and fertilizer prices have increased a lot. I take my materials at the schools I go to and meet them out of my own pocket. But now I can't afford them due to economic conditions. Due to economic conditions, idealistic people began to decrease. Although it is forbidden to sell seeds, we see that people in the groups dealing with ancestral seeds started to sell seeds. Things are starting to get out of hand now. There are people like me who are passionate about this business. We need to be found and supported. What is this support? Soil support can be given to us. Because this work does not happen in every soil, special mixtures are needed, the soil taken needs to be sieved and manure is needed. It has water costs and other costs…”
Şener explains that he has to make a great effort in order to complete all these studies, that he does not expect a reward, that he continues to work in an amateur way:
“I leave the house at six thirty in the morning, go to work and come home at seven in the evening. At fifteen minutes tea time, I prepare seed packets, write seed labels. I have no rest. I deal with the garden until the evening prayer, I do its maintenance, storage and watering. When the evening adhan is called, we pray and eat our meal. After that, we prepare the seed packets. And we don't charge for it. I am doing this as an amateur. And I am trying to instill this in our country without expecting anything in return. I'm trying to be a drop in the lake. I believe I have multiplied that one drop in the past ten years. I reached many people across Türkiye and helped them reach them. First, I thought that I should be an exemplary person so that people would look at me and know that I want to do what you did. This is not commercial, always voluntarily. For example, I hold the meetings and seed exchange events free of charge, and cover the expenses out of my own pocket.”
A HUGE TEAM OF TWO
The Varlık family is a huge team consisting of Mr. Şener and his wife Mrs. Saadet. Mr. Şener is researching, planting and determining. His wife, Mrs. Saadet, cooks, prepares and presents the products produced… So much so that many different recipes emerge. Have you ever heard of deep-frying or stuffing tree okra? I guess most of you haven't even heard of tree okra. Have you eaten the stuffed oyster squash? What about pickled Vietnamese cucumbers, which can grow a full nine inches?
Mrs. Saadet tells us how she found these interesting recipes:
“My wife gave me two of the tree okra. I cut it off, washed it well, cleaned it, stuffed it and cooked it with the stuffing. I also tried a dish from oyster squash. We tried it stuffed just like zucchini. I try such things and new recipes come up. We come up with different recipes in the kitchen by saying what can I do. I tried the pickled Vietnamese cucumber, but I haven't tried the food yet.”
Mr. Şener intervenes and says, “A moderator friend, Mr. Hasan Hüseyin, tried his wife's meal, but he can't finish it by telling him. Since we always have a passion for buying seeds, we often invest in seeds, so we do not have a chance to eat them.” says.
Mrs. Saadet continues:
“I make my own pickles anyway. I also tried pickles from vietnamese cucumbers, it was nice and liked. When my wife goes to festivals, we take them to have them tried. They like it. Since we grow it ourselves in the garden, we have a lot of work in the kitchen. In the summer, we make our own canned tomato juices.”
Şener emphasizes that gardening is a team job, but he receives the greatest support from his wife:
“My wife has been very helpful to me. I'd be lying if I said no. Here, we make the garden together, we do the planting of seedlings, the hoe, weeding, etc. together. Even my mother-in-law helps us from her seat when she comes. My little grandson comes and does gardening with us. But mostly with my wife.”