Hazelnuts

When most Americans think “hazelnut,” it’s in the singular and is a delicious flavoring for coffee. When Zaqatalians think “hazelnut,” it’s findig, a bounteous nut crop that’s wonderful for eating and profitable for selling.

            Azerbaijan is the world’s 4^th most hazelnut producing country, behind Turkey, Italy, and the US. Zaqatala and its neighboring regions along the Caucus mountains are where you’ll find the most findig in Azerbaijan. As you drive up the major highway, you will see groves of the short tree that consists of many long shoots all originating from the base. My host family has about 10 trees in our yard on the way to the outhouse, and about 50 trees in the Soviet-allotted family plot, a 15 minute walk away.

Trees and fallen cobs in our yard.

            Late summer is harvesting season, and here in Muxax we like to do it the old fashioned way. Gather up willing members of the family, pack a lunch (including a big thermos of hot tea), bring your buckets and sacks, and head out to the grove. Get a man, or the strongest member of your company, to shake the branches and get all the ready nuts in their cobs to blanket the ground. Drop to your knees or haunches, and pick, pick, pick. When your bucket’s full, empty it to a sack, and repeat until there’s no more left to pick. (My host mom calculated they get about 8 kilos (17.6 pounds) of cleaned nut from each tree.) Find somebody with a truck to take the sacks back home. Pour out the bags in a covered area. Start to husk the nuts out of their cobs by hand, or use the husking machine and pay its rental fee with a percentage of the nuts (4%). As you will not likely finish all this in one day, remember to churn the pile of nuts and cobs with a pitchfork at least once a day or the nuts could rot from moisture. Sell as many nuts as you think you won’t use till next season. Consider the baklava, kete, and other sweets you’ll bake, the party mix you’ll toast, and the bags you’ll give away as gifts to out-of-towners. You can sell at numerous shops around the village and roadside buyers. This year you’ll fetch 1.30-1.50 manat a kilo ($2.86 a pound). My host moms sold 90 kilos, my neighbors around 300. To get perspective, my host mom made a little over her monthly salary from the nuts.

 Pile of uncleaned nuts under the loft

When I went to harvest hazelnuts it rained after just two hours of working. 

            Whether you know them better in Nutella, Sokki Mokki, Ferrero Rocher, or Tutku, there’s nothing better than a fresh hazelnut picked off the ground, and cracked open with your teeth. Try it if you get a chance. 

For this blog post, I'd like to share a Peace Corp Volunteer profile I wrote up for the Southeast Regional Office recruitment. I put a lot of thought into it and think it sums up how I'm feeling right now.

1)                What one particular experience/moment highlights your Peace Corps service? 

I also love to hear poignant tales about volunteers’ where they have an epiphany, or when all their hard work pays off, or a local does something exceptionally kind. I’ve experienced all these things, but when I reflect on my 23 months, no one moment shines above the others. I am very happy here, don’t get me wrong, but also don’t go into Peace Corps expecting one breathtaking moment to sweep you off your feet. 

2)                How have your values shifted, if at all? 

My values are now a solid blend of American and Azerbaijani, modern and traditional. I now have the mindset that family is one’s roots and the building block of societies. I’ve focused my future plans around my family, rather than spending too much time on friends or acquaintances. I’ve always had the conviction that money isn’t important, but now I’ve lived a life with little money and seen how much farther kindness, generosity, good manners, respect, reputation, and relationships can take you. Americans tend to think that if they’re throwing dollars around for a good or service, they can behave however they want.

3)    What have you accomplished for the people in your country?

“Accomplished” is a strong word. It implies tangible results and touching stories about people whose lives have been changed by something I did. Accomplishing is something Peace Corps hopes for us to do, but it is the most difficult thing to do in your service. Without a counterpart (local who you work with) who is super inspired and resolute, accomplishing anything takes immense personal strength and effort. I’ve “accomplished” setting a good model as a young woman. I’ve “accomplished” representing the USA in a positive and humble way. I’ve “accomplished” giving people hope that there is more to this world than they can see.

Also, I have written a grant for an English Resource Cabinet, providing our school with laptops, books, and other materials for diversified learning. InshAllah (God willing) children who are usually “swept under the rug” academically, will have a chance to learn and thusly improve their quality of life.

4)                Have you made local friends?  Share a ‘friendship’ moment. 

I get a little teary already thinking about having to leave my Azerbaijani friends. I have two friends in particular who I’m very close to; we meet every week for conversation club and no topic is off limits. We talk about news and politics, science and religion, dating, relationships, and family. I’ve probably learned more from them than they from me. We walk around town and get lunch at our favorite cafes or ice cream from a market, in a country where most women are encouraged to stay in the home.

5)                What local customs drive you crazy? 

The “fact” that every ache or illness is due to the person being, or having contact with something, cold. “Oh, Kaylee, your throat is sore cause you drank that cold water a few days ago; don’t sit near the fan, you’re going to get ill; you took a bath with cool water? Are you crazy?!”

6)                How does technology fit into your experience? 

I imagine that Peace Corps service must be so psychologically taxing for those without internet (or telephone) access. Not knowing how your loved ones are doing, or what is going on with them; lack of enjoying your own culture’s language and arts; plus simple boredom could have tolls on one’s mental health. I imagine that relationships would fade without Skype or Facebook (although I have learned that PC service shows you the friends you’ll keep forever). Technology is especially important to me because my boyfriend, now actually my fiancée, and I have not only survived 2 years of internationally-distant communication, but have gained levels of closeness and trust that perhaps would not have happened without my PC experience.

7)           Why should more Americans apply for PC service? 

It makes you a better-rounded person. It gives you a set of eyes and a heart on the other side of the globe. You break from the world of “America” and lose the distortions you developed while growing up. Physically, it makes you need less stuff and less luxury. It increases your patience and ability to see the potential in people.

8)                Describe your village site….in detail: what is attractive / difficult about it? 

My village actually is considered to be attractive among Azerbaijanis and PCVs. It’s set alongside the foot of a mountain in the Greater Caucasus range. There are former rivers with long exposed beds through which a tenacious stream still manages to run despite many years of poor resource management and major pollution. Trash is littered everywhere along the stony streets and the acrid smell of more trash burning rises in smoke behind tall stone and mud walls that surround every yard. Fruit and nut trees grow everywhere, including blackberry brambles and hazelnut groves. I’m often invited to tea if a family spots me walking past, but usually I’m in a hurry to catch the bus or a taxi to town, just 15-20 minutes away.

9)                How will you move your service forward upon your return to the US? 

Although I do not work with agriculture in Azerbaijan, I want to use the interpersonal and community development skills I have strengthened here to pursue a career in gardening. Keeping up with Peace Corps’s Third Main Goal, to inform Americans about my host country, I’d love to do presentations in classrooms or libraries or clubs, or whoever will have me, about Azerbaijan, the gorgeous and fascinating country that no one knew existed.