Medine Mamedoğlu

 

MARDİN –Planting season begins on the Mount Bagok, where is known as having fertile lands and gardens with a thousand kinds of fruits and vegetables. Even though it is bombed every year, it is the means of living for tens of villages.

 

Akarsu (Stilile) village of Mardin’s Nusaybin district located on the Mount Bagok foothills is known for its orchards and gardens. The villagers never leave their village even though the mountain is burned every year under the excuse “clashes”. Following the arrival of the spring, the villagers begin to plant in the village, where each family has a garden.

 

‘I come to the field in the morning and return in the evening’

 

Fehima Batu is planting beans on the Mount Bagok foothills and she is one of the people planting vegetables every year. Fatima began to talk about the planting, “We plant vegetables every year. We plant, water and harvest them. I come to the field with my daughter in the morning and we return in the evening. First we loosen the soil and then plant the beans. After that we water it. Most of the people living here live like that and all of them have gardens. We don’t just plant beans we also plant other vegetables.”

 

‘We will never leave Bagok’

 

 Fatima looked at the mountain burned last year and she said, “They burn here (the mountain) every year. But it renews itself in the spring. We will never leave Bagok like the trees never leave it. The soil of the Bagok is fertile soil and we just buy a few things from outside of the village. We grow all fruits and vegetables like watermelon, grapes and pomegranates. I like being engaged in soil and nature. My daughter, my husband and I come to here almost every day and we plant vegetables. We will plant tomato and eggplant after the beans. We plant what we need for keeping living not for selling.”