Our story

ONCE UPON A TIME
THERE IS A HERBİŞİ HERBAL WORKSHOP IN ÇIRALI...

We, two lovers, Erdem and Seyran, immigrated to Çıralı in 2010 with 150 liras in our pockets.

Six months before the great migration, we took a walk on the Maden Bay Route of the Lycian Way during the holiday. On the road, we were accompanied by pine trees, thyme varieties, sage trees, chaste bushes, myrtle bushes, black-headed herbs, yavsans, mulleins, and marshmallows. We were surrounded by beautiful and healing friends. When we stopped on a hill and took a break, the view of Çıralı was under our feet from a bird's eye view. We were fascinated by the uniquely beautiful landscape we saw, and we got into a conversation about how many other varieties of medicinal plant friends we encountered on the road lived in these lands. The magnificence of nature was so inspiring that a song was even written about it and spread from word to mouth...

Our months passed with the usual struggles in the city after the holidays. You know, days in the city are similar to each other and sometimes it seems like we always wake up to the same day. On one of those similar days, something happened that changed our memories... During our walk in Çıralı, we put a few unknown roots that the pigs had scratched and left lying around in our pockets, brought them to the city and left them on the radiator, and even forgot that we had forgotten. That morning, we saw that the roots had bloomed in magnificent colors and were looking at us vividly.

Here's what happened to us that day... We came to life. Our deep desire for harmonious human existence has also been revived. Within a month, we sold our belongings, threw them away, crossed the sea of ​​criticism made by those around us about our unplanned and illogical but wholehearted decision, and moved ourselves to Çıralı. The aftermath of the story is a process of survival and adaptation and will of course be told another time. Our story today; It continues with the fact that we moved our workshop from our house at the top of the mountain to a shop in the center in 2013. That year, we managed to provide permaculture consultancy to the gardens of a man who owned a hotel and get a car in return. Thus, we had the opportunity to collect in larger areas. As our mobility increased, our courage also increased. We made a plan like this; We were going to open a shop with an ecological laundry on one side and a plant workshop on the other. Thus, we would offer people the option of giving up their passion for washing clothes with chemical detergents and poisoning the underground and above ground, which is and will be one of the biggest problems of Çıralı. We would solve our financial problems in this way and continue to transform what we collected from nature just for our own pleasure in the plant workshop section of the shop. We learned how to make natural detergent, produced all kinds of natural soap and washed the laundry with them. We met with many of the businesses and explained why we should not use chemicals. We did tons of laundry, but not enough. Only a few people out of hundreds of businesses knew or cared how serious the issue was. In the people of Çıralı; The idea that soil, sea, bird, insect, cat, dog, hedgehog, snake and many others were being poisoned always dominated. The money was hot, sweet, good, fast was good, the rest was a fly buzzing behind the curtain.

Our idea and chant of ecological laundry has exhausted us. Our plant workshop, for which we had no financial expectations, was overflowing with visitors. We closed the laundry department, but we still produce detergent and soap. Thus, we started to produce more of what we produced for ourselves and share it with people more. Then we started to package it properly, label it and sell it. This situation was quite surprising and beautiful for us. Who doesn't want to earn money doing what they love?

We collect approximately 100 types of plants from the nature of Çıralı, and we grow some plants ourselves. When collecting plants, we have an ethic of greeting the plants and asking for permission. We think we have the right to collect at most 1/3 of the plant so that they can continue their life cycle comfortably. We currently have nearly 150 products produced in the Herbişi Plant Workshop, most of which belong to this region. In addition, we evaluate honey, molasses, organically produced vegetables and products from our clean and reliable, idealist producer friends, pottery from unique masters, handicrafts, that is, herbs made by hand and heart, within Herbishi.

In our fourteen years in Çıralı, many things have changed between when we first arrived and now. The greedy claws of tourism have torn those beautiful poppies and St. John's Wort to pieces. We say that if it deteriorates so quickly, the balance will be disrupted. People change Çıralı faster than the seasons. The reeds that we walk on every day are being torn down and wires are being put around them. We don't know where the hundreds of birds that visit here will land. We tell people that we come from the future, from the cities. There will be no trees or grass in the future. Just giant gray boxes with little boxes inside the boxes. In small boxes live people with gray faces who pour their excretory systems onto each other through siphons. Outside of the boxes, tin monsters roam the roads adorned with gray carpets. Çıralı is like a fairy tale land that lives in the past... The future is repeated endlessly everywhere... Go and look at the future, what do you really want???!!!

As the herbisi plant workshop, we would like to share with you the plants we collected from Çıralı, so that if you pass by, you should look once again where you step. We are writing this so that if you ever buy a land from here, you will know how valuable friends you will lose their lives while building construction and plundering the land with diggers. These are just some of the things we know, who knows what else there is in these lands...

Sage (Salvia triloba), Mandragora (Mandragora autumnalis), Sage (Urginea mariti), Calendula (Calendula Arvensis), Horsetail (Equisetum sylvaticum), Thyme Species (Thymus vulgaris, Thymian spicata, Thymus capitatus, Thymian spicata, Thymus capitatus) , Black Basil (Lavendula stoechas), Rosemary (Rosmarinus oficinale), Myrtle (Myrtus communis), Lemon balm (Lemon balm (Lemon balm)), Eucalyptus (Eucaliptus frutictorum), St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum), St. John's wort (Fumaria officinalis), Yoghurt (Gallium aparine), Prophet's wort. flower (Centaurea cyanus), bay laurel (Laurus nobilis), hemlock (Ranunculus ficaria), wild oat (Avena fatua), lamb's ear (Rumex acetosa), verbena (Verbena officinalis), chasteberry (Vite agnus), pendant (Mentha pulegium), Dandelion (Taraxacom officinale), Wild chicory (Cichorium intybus), Poppy (Papaver rhoeas), Plantain (Plantago major), Labada (Rumex acetosa), Chickweed (Stellaria media), Cyclamen (Cyclamen coum), Molecule (Spartium junceum Linnaeus), Bozot (Marrubium parviflorum), Immortal flower (Helichrysum arenarium), Common mullein (Verbascum thapsus), Honeysuckle (Lamium album), Rosehip (Rosa canina), Marshmallow (Althaea officinalis), Hawthorn (Alkanna tinctoria), Watercress (Nasturtium officinale), Wild Corn (Veronica officinalis), Blackberry (Rubus caesius), Isolated Plant (Elytrigia repens), Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), Angelica (Angelica archangelika A. Officinalis), Purslane (Pinguicula vulgaris), Heather (Calluna vulgaris), Olive leaf (Olea europaea). ), Sumac, Boy grass, Caper, etc., etc.

In the meantime, we and our friends have grown; Gingko biloba, Echinacea (Ecinecia purpurea), Aloe vera, Sweetgrass (Stevia rebaudiana), Ground almond (Cyperus esculentus), Purple basil (Red basil), Elderberry (Sambucus ebulus), Medicinal mint (Mentha x piperita), Lemongrass and more We also evaluate many plants in our workshop. Çıralı has a nature that will host many Ayurvedic Indian plants, some plants used in Chinese medicine, some trees of Australia, Native American plants and many exotic plants. This is a sub-tropical region bursting with life everywhere.