Kapadokya Ranch, part. 2, what if ?, 1/12/2021, Steppe FM
We spent about ten days taking care of the ranch with Rifat (the only employee of the farm). Little by little, we get used to the routine on the farm. Early in the morning, before 8 am, we have to go and milk the goats. Out of about 15 animals, only 5 are suckling. They have to be separated from the herd and attached to the manual milking machines. In fact, they know their place and as soon as the gate is opened, they run to their wooden milking structure that only needs to be closed again. Milking takes half an hour, then, once the herd has been fed and the henhouse opened, you can go home and have breakfast with 1.5L of milk under your arm in the unimaginable troglodyte house.
With the milk, we prepare the cheese, which is quite simple and in only two steps: 30 min with a spoon of the whey of the day before, then 24 hours with rennet. The next day, we can separate the solid fresh cheese that has aggregated and the whey. The cheese is put in a mold and then begins the refining period, which is more or less long, during which it is necessary to play with the parameters: temperature and humidity.
The twenty horses must also be fed, cleaned and taken to graze in the valleys a few miles from the farm. They come back by themselves at nightfall. While waiting for their return, we have to prepare the evening food for all the animals, to turn over half a ton of grape must to dry it in the sun (it will serve as a food supplement for the animals during the winter).
And then, Hélène and Nico left us one of the horses, Shafak, so that we could train to ride every day. Shafak is a small mare of a little more than one meter fifty in the withers. Every other afternoon, we take turns saddling her and riding her. We walk in the area, the place is incredible and on horseback it is even better. To descend the apics formed by the volcanic concretions, to trot or to gallop in the yellowed valleys and bordered of ochre crests, to follow with the step the course of a brook, to go up a hill and to find itself in front of a canyon dug of troglodytes houses and pigeon houses, to make pauses to let Shafak stuff itself with apple...
Cappadocia, an immense and magnificent region scarred by canyons and volcanic ridges, with in the middle a small man on the back of a small horse, followed by six or seven dogs, sailing wherever he wants. A brilliant freedom reflected on the reddening cliffs of the setting sun. The steady breath of the horse at the walk, the deep breaths of the horse at the gallop and the legs on fire to cushion the movement.
Each day one feels more and more at ease. The trot was unpleasant the first few times and the canter unbalanced us forward. But after some afternoon sessions we get used to the rhythm of the horse and we quickly look for the different paces to train, to feel the horse rolling under us, to ride towards the canyon in the distance...
We also take advantage of this week to buy new shoes, the old ones have the sole which comes off more and more. That makes a big hole in the budget but it is not as if we had any other choice. We decide to make their first time by visiting the red valley. Rifat drops us by car in Ortanishar around 8 am, we go along the road until entering the "red valley". It is a set of several small valleys below a huge plateau stratified horizontally. We have the chance to be in off-peak period, there is almost nobody. We wander on the steep paths, we visit some incredible caves dug by the man, we enter the troglodyte churches, we even spend two hours climbing in one of these caves. The objective: to make the whole turn without setting a foot on the ground. At the end, with our forearms bruised and our shoes full of crumbling rock (proof that it's not a good idea to climb on soft rock), we go for a tea in the only cave-bar in the valley. We are absolutely alone with the view for a nice 15 minutes. Then a French couple comes and sits down nearby. We meet Marie and Akim, two 28 years old. They are on a bicycle and have also crossed Europe to reach Turkey. They travel with two dogs, Moustache and Pancho, both a little smaller than our national Jehol. We talk to them about the ranch and about coming to see us when Hélène and Nico are back.
One morning, Jehol limps. His limp is much more important than when he has a thorn under his leg. When we examined him, we discovered an infected bite on his elbow. He must have received it during one of the games that got a little out of hand with the other dogs on the farm. We clean the wound with an antiseptic and let us wait to see if the wound resorbs by itself by isolating it in the tack room. The day after, his paw is even more swollen, we decide to give him anti-inflammatories and some antibios. In two days the swelling disappears and the wound is almost closed. He doesn't limp at all anymore, and surprisingly, when we release him with the other dogs he seems much more accepted. After the ordeal of the bite, Jehol is now part of the Kapadokya Ranch pack.
The week follows its course, we take care of the animals and are more and more confident on the back of a horse. Hélène, Nico and Pablo come back on Sunday evening. The next day Marie, Akim and their two dogs arrive for lunch. They decide to stay a few days here. We start again the works to prepare the winter (wood cutting, ditches along the road, reinforcement of the tunnels with lime...).
In parallel we try to prepare the continuation of the journey... We imagine different options, dig in all directions but the more we look the more we find ourselves in front of sealed doors. Winter is approaching and with it the Covid is changing and becoming more and more threatening. We could go to Iran but Turkmenistan remains closed, we could go to Georgia but Russia has only opened its air borders. Moreover Azerbaijan closes its land borders, Kazakhstan has its borders closed to tourism, only Uzbekistan is open by air but from there we could not go to Kyrgyzstan whose land borders are closed. Otherwise, we could fly directly to Kyrgyzstan but what would we do there in the middle of winter?
Little by little, a new plan germinates in our head. What if we stayed in Turkey? This idea makes its way in our mind but also in Akim and Marie's. We will manage to get a residence permit in Turkey and then we will go down to the south, towards Antalya, where it is warmer. Four Frenchmen with three dogs in the south of Turkey to spend the winter, it sounds pretty good. Especially since we plan to buy two pack horses and walk along the south coast towards Izmir.
We just have to get the papers, and to organize the purchase of the horses, the itinerary and the necessary equipment...
And if ?
Four Frenchmen, three dogs and two horses on the Mediterranean coast during the winter... It would look like the beginning of a beautiful adventure!
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