The First Lavender Harvest Festival organized by Seferihisar Municipality in Turgut village celebrated with great joy.
The lavenders planted in 2015 in Turgut village to promote the lavender as an alternative product to traditional products were ready to be harvested. The harvest was made along the celebrations joined by Seferihisar Mayor Tunç Soyer, Former Ministry of Finance Zekeriya Temizel and thousands of guests.
The festival on Saturday 18th June started with the harvest continued with introductions for soap and lavender oil making. The guests were served lavender tea and trays for the farmers market placed around the festival area. After the festival there was the feast dinner organized by the Municipality.
MAYOR SOYER: ALTERNATIVE FARMING IS POSSIBLE
Seferihisar Mayor Tunç Soyer made a speech at the festival: "We believe that alternative farming is possible. It is heart-breaking to witness the destruction of tangerine trees for the sake of construction and the decrease in rural population. We decided to make a change. We made improvements on irrigation systems such as installing filters, planted seeds of local and rare plants such as wheat varieties, providing lectures for good farming practices and growing alternative products like levander. We would like to prove that alternative farming is possible. The levander seeds planted in Turgut village were brought from Isparta. This plant is generally planted in Mediterannean region, but the soil and climate conditions of the Aegean Turkey is also suitable for the plant, it is also possible to have to harvests a year. A lot of things changed in Seferihisar, and will continue changing as you might witness.
THE LAND OF THE MUNICIPALTY WILL TURN INTO GRASSLANDS
Just after the harvest, a protocol has been signed by Seferihisar Municipality, Tema President Deniz Ataç and Öztüre Chairman of the Board Nezih Öztüre on rehabilitating a 46 acres land as grasslands for to raising livestock. The new grasslands will be planned to home at least 200 animals. The project was initiated by TEMA Foundations and sponsored by Öztüre Group of Companies.
The day ended with a concert given by "Music for Piece Foundation”, which is founded for implementing free music education for as many kids as possible. The orchestra is directed by two musicians from Guatemala and Venezuela, travels all around Turkey. The orchestra is planned to perform in Seferihisar soon with the child musicians from Turgut village.