Mashhad - Pedar's Farm

Pedar's farm: (Pedar means Father). We got up early today and went (before the heat) to Nikoo's father's farm. Pedar has worked a farm in addition to his anesthesiologist practice for twenty years. Nikoo remembers swimming in the irrigation ponds and watching the fruit grow. There are two farms; one is a single acre and grows beans, flowers, salad greens (sabzee), and grapes and one is larger at 250 acres growing wheat, apples (a special variety from central Iran, smaller in size, green but taste like golden apples), plumbs, quince, peaches and nuts. This larger farm is the basis for a very sad story. Pedar has worked this farm for ten years, planting and building infrastructure for its long term health. At the time of the revolution, the people that worked the farm, simply occupied the land with little recompense to the man that was its steward. It is hard for an American to understand how this works, but once the squatters take over, the lives of landowners would be at stake if their rights were pursued in court or otherwise.

The farther you go from the center of the city, the more colorful the clothing becomes. In the villages, the colors are brilliant, and shinny enough to recognize a particular person from 1/2 mile distance. The villagers only real resource is the land they farm (and do not own), this may keep them fed, but other than this, the poverty is extreme. Houses are out of a simple mud brick and the only possessions I saw were clothing and an occasional motorbike. Many of these villagers are Afghanistan rebels from the Russian invasion a decade ago.

On our trip, we came within a hundred miles of the Turkmenistan border and the mountains that divide the territories appear like a massive range or brown dirt. Wheat fields and fruit trees orchards reach to the foothills but are quickly replaced with barren land to the mountain peaks.

Comments: Perhaps everyone should marry someone from another county. This has been so eye-opening and full of love that I am near tears many times a day. Along with the beauty, you can't imagine such heartache mixed in. Homes need to be bolted shut when unoccupied or at night, exterior walls are very high and sport a purposely uninteresting appearance; specifically to discourage burglary. I do not know about other homes, but this house opens up to wall-to-wall marble floors dotted with magnificent Persian carpets, original paintings, and Louie the 14th furniture; not to mention two very loving parents.