A NICE BIT OF WOOD
Let’s start our story by travelling back in time. It’s a spring morning in 1767, and the winds of change are gently buffeting the mighty Ottoman Empire. Ibrahim, a young goat herder, isn’t aware that the empire has slowly started to disintegrate around him but he does feel a change in the air.
He can see that heavy snow still glistens on the peak of Samdi the mountain that rears some 4,000m above him and his goats. But today, here in the foothills of the Zagros range, there’s a warmth on his cheek. A sun-fuelled breeze that marks the end of winter and the beginning of much warmer days ahead.
Ibrahim has climbed higher than usual, his goats scrabbling on the stony ground to find something to eat. Here and there are small patches of new growth but they are few and far between.
Just above him, a lone seedling is also feeling the warmth of the spring sunshine. It’s an embryonic Persian Walnut tree that will be lucky to survive the ravages of intense cold, searing heat and the sharp teeth of
