article When_ you _are looking for fresh, healthy and delicious vegetables and fruits in Turkey

 

   

    When you are looking for fresh, healthy and delicious vegetables and fruits in Turkey, roads will lead you to a large farm in Nazilli.  The owner of the farm, Pınar Kaftancıoğlu, who left his life in Istanbul and founded the Hanım pek Farm in Nazilli… Kaftancıoğlu, who says, “When you eat right, when you return to nature in every chance you get, you can easily observe changes in your life.  yourself” and village life, the story of the founding of a farm, healthy and organic living. We talked about products.

 Can you tell us a little bit about your story, what did you do before setting up the Hanım Farm pack?

 I was born in Istanbul in the year 68. Even though I tried to translate it as “I am in my late 40s”, it is impossible to hide my age anymore because I am a grandmother who loves grandchildren.  Apart from my summer excursions, I lived in Istanbul until my thirtieth year.  I left Istanbul University, which I entered at the age of sixteen, in the fourth grade.  Being a start-up mother during my university years, my son... I was married for a really short time, divorced.  Then, in the late 2000s, my daughter pak, from a long-term kinship, was born.

 What is your main profession?

 I'm a business owner.  I usually fill out surveys as an entrepreneur, and I don't have a job where I would say "This is my mood".  In my childhood, the Texas-Tom Mix business was studied, in youth I marketed silk fabrics in the summer resort market, when I was a little older, but it was a boring job in Istanbul... Something like “Pinar takes care of everything”… Titles like CEO  or CFOs were not discussed much in those years.

 What were the main moments that supported you to leave Istanbul and live on a farm in Nazilli?

 I think my baby… The usual troubles of the city, my teeth chattering in traffic, the stress, the frequency of repeating “I'll get out of here”… My target is the Aegean Sea.  It was irince, with greater precision.  I fantasized like "Let me go to irince, let me accept a stone house, six cafes, a small hotel upstairs...".  While I was researching the manufacturing system, I bought a small stone house in Ireland in 97, and the little one graduated from elementary school that year.  He struggled, "Should we enroll in that school or give it to this school", "Since schools are changing, let's change lives too. We jump and arrive at the Aegean Sea. How many hectares of land are you building?  Our plot of land is 1000 decares, about 1 million m2 is in Nazilli. This figure includes fruit orchards and olive groves. In the planting of Kars that we started a few years ago, we still have this area of ​​land. This is in the Kars-Ardahan area. There are  also the test planting that we started last year in Hatay, Amanos.There too, we have 50 decares of land, 50 thousand square meters.

 How many people currently work in agriculture?

 I'd say 120, goofy.  Packaging, fields, offices, kitchens, animal keepers… This is our consistent number of workers.  There are also seasonal workers on the farm, you know, sometimes the number can reach 200, sometimes 300.

 How was the agricultural establishment received by the villagers?

 They were a little surprised.  To be more precise, they didn't think it was likely that he would be able to walk.  I think they saw her as a woman who came from Istanbul looking for entertainment… Although at first I sent parcels to my partner and best friend, then I looked and there was a concrete request.  It can be multiplied, enlarged… I want to do this with the villagers.  I offered to set up a cooperative, they refused, if it is not successful, the debt will continue to exist.  "I'll do it myself," I said then, reluctantly.

 Do you think your initiative supports women in the village?

 Yes, he encourages women in many ways.  In other words, they notice that what they say can't be done, and that a woman can do it;  this is important.  90% of our employees are women… Apart from a really tough profession, if a woman can do a profession, the priority is hers.  Our office, packaging department, snack stand, kitchen, farm are all women…

 Those who drive the tractors, those who maintain legal accountants, and the managers are women… Each of them experiences the feeling of “I can make it”.  While this is a familiar feeling in Istanbul, it is a bit foreign... The ability of a woman to stand on her own feet and not rely on her husband by any means... There are also interactions with fellow citizens in the metropolis;  It also gives a lot of courage.  Visitors to the farm… Our girls are in a bank in Istanbul.

 When they meet and meet their colleagues on the board of directors, who are managers of a large company, who pilots and flies planes or who have come to very important positions in Ankara's bureaucracy;  They get a great boost when they hear how important their profession, which they consider simple in themselves, is in essence.  “He was successful, so did I;  the girls here can say, "he did it and I did it".  They realized that they were not much different from each other.

 This is an important experience for both parties.  What variety of vegetables do you produce on the farm?

 Everything you can grow in Nazilli, Kars and Amanos… In other words, we grow all the vegetables, fruits and cereals you can think of, apart from things like pepinos, avocados.

 What animals are on the farm?

 We have about 100 cows, half the number of cows, some sheep/goats, and hundreds of chickens.  In addition, we have nearly 80 dogs in what I call a “private protected area” zone that I created, nearly 100 cats roaming around the village and eating their food with us, peacocks roaming around looking for “color or breed”, and  four horses.

 Do you benefit from animal milk and meat?

 We have a fully licensed milking area and dairy company on the farm.  We produce all the dairy products we want here.  Unfortunately, I'm a really strict animal lover.  I haven't slaughtered my animals since the beginning… They live, they die, we call the cows for scooping and dig graves and bury them.  Even if chickens are cut from eggs, they continue to live, grow old and sick.  We lost most of them in the basket between going and coming to the vet... It's a little crazy for me.  I infected the little boy and girl too.

 What other products can we get in the Hanım Farm pack?

 Nuts, finished products such as jams, dried fruit and vegetables, breads, dry confectionery products, soaps, even the wooden box spoons that we carve experts make here… Simply put, anything you can think of.  We have no meat.

 How is the product packaged and shipped?  Aren't they damaged on the road because no additives are applied?

 We do not ship perishable products.  In addition, we make simple cold chains using foam boxes and ice, and we can even ship dairy products on the hottest days of the year.  Vegetables, fruits, in protected and clean boxes;  It came wrapped in paper.

 Our jars are made of glass.  Are organic products really needed for healthy living today?

 The important thing is that we can go back to Anatolian agriculture, concrete agriculture, concrete food.  It's a dilemma of intent, first of all, I've never used the word organic, I think it's completely emptied.  There are also a lot of confused terms there… Organic farming means;  become accredited to certification bodies, pay a lot of money, plant imported seeds advised by them, apply imported fertilizers advised by them, pass inspections and receive organic farming certificates.  However, when people say “organic”, they are looking for clean farming made with real Anatolian seeds without pesticides, interventions, from their childhood and motherhood.  Farm like my parents.  That's what we do.  I've always said that this is also very much needed.  Things like agriculture, nutrition, and digestive methods were compiled and coded by natural craftsmanship over thousands of years, including human hands,

 How do healthy living GMO products affect us?

 Of course, those who eat GMO vegetables and eat authentic agricultural produce don't drink the elixir of immortality… However, your quality of life changes significantly, your old age changes… I don't intend to mess up the world, but I have a goal to spend the last years of my life.  in peace, not in the hospital room, but among my grandchildren.  When you eat right and avoid pollution as much as you can;  When you return to nature at every opportunity you get, you will easily notice changes in yourself.  It's not just about nutrition;  all lifestyle...

 Internationally, where is Turkey in the world in organic farming?

 We're not in a bad area;  We are in trouble ourselves.  For example, Europeans buy goods from us, the greenhouses are different, the fields are different, and the products are different.  She puts her own fruit in her fruit, using no pesticides or synthetic fertilizers... The commodity is really worth the money, and the quality is really high.  It grows in our land.  When you look inside, the lack of control, the love of making money in a short amount of time... I believe that if we spread concrete agriculture in this country, Turkey could feed all of Europe.  If we pursued the points that belonged to us, not the assembly industry, and the best professions we did, we would be rich...