Woman turns waste-yard to lavender garden
ADANA
A woman in the southern province of Adana has converted a five-decare waste-yard into a lavender garden with an award-winning project within a year.
The garden has become a hotspot for the locals and international visitors.
“We host people from Adana and the neighboring provinces. We even have followers from abroad,” said Yeliz Tok, a housewife and a mother of two.
When her husband lost his job in 2016, Yeliz Tok started looking for ways to earn money and with her sister’s advice, she applied to the project called “Young Women Entrepreneurs Get Stronger in Agriculture” led by the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry.
“I had no idea about agriculture when I applied. After a 10-day course, I had to present a project. I loved lavenders so much. So, I presented a project about lavenders.”
After this, she started cleaning her husband’s five decares of land, which was a waste-yard, in the Seyhan district.
“My sister died at that time. So, to keep her memory alive, I went on and turned the useless land into a lavender garden in a year,” said Tok to the state-run Anadolu Agency.
The award-winning project, which was once a hobby, is now a source of income for the family.
“We sell flowers, we dry them. We do degreasing. Lately, we opened the garden for tourism. We welcome our clients to our breakfast hall,” added the ex-housewife, the new entrepreneur.
