Travel Notes

This time we will cover 2208 km and tell you how we got to five provinces in three days.
You might think this is incredible. The following story is proof of this.

Information is not just a collection of sounds and texts, it is difficult to find someone who does not want to travel in a time when the whole world is presented to the imagination and opens the eyes of the listener. It should be fun to think about what you usually hear about and leave your impressions of these meetings. And traveling on long and comfortable wheels, falling in love with their pristine nature when the landscapes and landscapes outside the window change from time to time - this is another exciting and life celebration.

Growing pistachios in Surkhandarya

The first day

According to the project "Establishment of experimental nurseries for growing almonds and pistachios in the foothills and arid areas of Surkhandarya region", the nursery areas are located in Sherabad, Zarabog and Boysun districts of Surkhandarya region. It was in this sequence that we had to visit these areas. It is almost impossible to get enough sleep before the planned departure, which is usually “with the first cocks”. Every time before a serious trip, especially to places bordering wildlife or farther than usual, I personally never sleep. Each time I spend the middle of the night in a pleasant commotion, waiting for the approaching journey, thinking, sorting out all sorts of things and equipment, collecting the “sudden need” that is possible and impossible. And usually in the early morning, the family stumbles upon my “travel bag” - a 35-liter backpack, waits for its time in the hallway, and finally sits on the owner’s back.

Before the long journey we usually try to carry out a preventive inspection of the car, and this time we stopped at the service center, showed the masters our "steel horse" - the brave Tuscan (we call our fast car Hyundai Tussan) . We looked at the masters, stopped here and there, and gave permission for our journey. And so we left later that morning than planned. At 10 o'clock we barely made it out of the city limits. It will be recalled that a day earlier, a trip to Jizzakh region, Gallaorol region, one of the areas where the agricultural project on soil conservation is planned. The trip ended with a late return to Tashkent. But that didn’t stop our navigator from finding time to stock up on fuel for our trip, and because of its practicality, our steel horse splashed about 220 gallons of gasoline (including a gas tank) into the luggage compartment. barrels and boxes and we drove with confidence, not worrying about stopping for refueling on the road.

We were on the road for a few hours, catching up on lost time. We arrived in Samarkand, had lunch and left. Our late arrival from Tashkent affected our late arrival, and it was a bit dark at night, we traveled on rural roads and still reached Termez. The glorious city of Termez is the southernmost city in the country. The name of the city, derived from the ancient Iranian language, means "place of passage." In ancient times, the Amu Darya was an important crossing point.

Pistachio in Sherabad

We spent the night in Termez and in the morning we moved to the territory of our first project, Sherabad district, to the Husnittdin Bog farm in the center of Termez. Apart from Jamshid, our driver Shuhrat and yours really came here for the first time. Our team came here in the spring of 2013 to see how the pistachio and almond seedlings planted by the farmer took root in the mountains. A total of 11 hectares of arid slopes near the farms have been planted for nurseries. The survival rate of pistachio was about 60% and the survival rate of almonds was unfortunately low. He said that if almond seedlings are planted and grafted at the age of 3-4, the young seedlings should be transplanted and grafted after the stems have reached a certain size.

The slope of the future pistachio garden

For natural irrigation of seedlings, he built small drainage basins on the slope with a capacity of up to 1 ton, in which sediments accumulate, and then this water is used to irrigate the seedlings. There, on a slope, he builds a larger vessel, in which, in addition to collecting rainwater, it will be possible to bring and pour water from the ditch and well. Irrigation from water basins is done by injecting water directly into the seedlings and a side bag to collect precipitation and moisture directly into the seedlings. In the fields, V-shaped ditches are carved at the top of the seedlings, along which there should be precipitation, theoretically, precipitation. drainage and leakage into seedlings.

The Experience of Rain Farmers p the funnel shows that the plowed land absorbs water worse than the untouched part of the land at all. In other words, untouched soil has a specific vascular structure that absorbs the surface flow of water well, while at the same time disturbing the soil structure created by human nature by plowing the land. Therefore, no matter how paradoxical it may seem, traditional farming with centuries-old plowing techniques is a deadly, inefficient, and expensive technology. Therefore, we often see that heavy rains wash away crops and accelerate the process of water erosion, and in the foothills, they lead to the destruction of large areas of crops. Without leaving the pages of our site, you can learn about the protection of agriculture and how invisible but very important processes take place in the soil.

This can contribute to water erosion of the soil, and with such irrigation the water loses much of its original volume for elemental evaporation. But as the farmer himself said, it is better to use drip irrigation because this technology saves the land from growing erosion and subsequent degradation in addition to saving a lot of water. The farmer understood from personal experience and, feeling the lack of water, decided to use drip irrigation technology, which he was convinced of. We, in turn, presented the contacts of our "drop pioneer" Baltaboyev Abdulvahid from faraway Namangan.

Surkhandarya is the southernmost region of the country, bordering Turkmenistan in the southwest and Afghanistan in the south and, of course, it is very hot there. Husnittdin also has a beautiful garden of 2.5 acres and has spent a long stormy life with all possible and wonderful fruit trees, vegetables and more. Surprisingly, it was a type of North American coconut many years ago (which, according to him, is a relative of our walnut), called Pecan coconut. This North American guest has an interesting walnut fruit that is very reminiscent of a young cotton snail, and the kernel-nut resembles a walnut kernel, only slightly elongated in shape. They say the tree can grow from 60 feet to 100 feet in length. The heat is a boon for many thermophilic plants, and that’s probably why the sweetest and world-famous Sherabad pomegranates (I’m not afraid of that word) grow there. Pomegranate is actually a berry. The ripe seeds of the local pomegranate are very large and very sweet. Pomegranate bitter and cake peels are also used by inquisitive and observant folk healers. Decoction of pomegranate peel is an astringent, astringent liquid, it is an excellent folk remedy for poisoning and frequent visits to the bathroom. It is also very convenient and very important for a traveler who forgets the first aid kit at home and moves independently from one end of the country to another, undergoing various tests and adventures of the gastrointestinal tract microflora.

Sherabad gardener and its fruits

On the same farm in 2011, under our program, we helped to install a water wheel or a "spiral wheel". If there is water in an irrigated ditch near the gardens, this wheel will work well and help irrigate Husnittdin's garden. The peculiarity of this simple engineering invention is that the spiral wheel can lift water above the level of the water source itself, while using the available energy - water flow energy, it does not consume a single drop of fuel. This time, given the late fall, there was no water in the ditch, the irrigation season was over, and the quadruped was lying on the grass next to the ditch, waiting for the next season.

After reviewing the pistachios in Sherabad, we decided to refresh ourselves a bit, in fact, we hadn’t even had breakfast before. My companions bought grapes and a flat cake, by the way, it “sounds so delicious like a pair duet”. By the way, I was fooled by the local samsa that the young man was selling from the oven on the way. The samsa was big enough that it wouldn’t even fit in your palm and was incredibly delicious. At the time, I had tasted the most champion local samsa, and I didn’t know how much I had made a mistake with such early conclusions. I was convinced of this later, on the same trip, filling my travel and gastronomic baggage and collecting another “fork and knife” on the country’s gastronomic map. A story about it awaits you later. That's why. We continued to eat mega-samsa and raisins with flatbread in the car as time flowed incessantly like grape juice or samsa juice between our fingers and we were forced to continue our journey. National fast food - After samsa, I also tasted the local grapes with flatbread. It was so delicious two, something seemed familiar to me, and memories of the distant past, of a flawless childhood ...

Pistachio in Zarabag

After Sherabad, we went to the next destination - the village of Red Apple in Zarbog district. Minor aka lives and works there. He has 15 hectares of arable land at his disposal. The whole plot on the slope is surrounded by wire and divided into upper and lower parts, which are separated by a road, a terrace crossing the slope. In 2012, he planted pistachios and almonds, and later peas in some parts of the corridor. The farmer planted his garden well according to the recommended planting scheme. He only complained that it was too dry this year and used two tanks of water for irrigation. The last time it rained was on April 27, and not a drop of rain fell from the sky after that. But it seems a paradox that, despite all the intrigues of the climate, its survival rate is very good, and given such conditions (he, of course, watered the seedlings, brought water on the donkey) - drought, pistachios. planted by, according to him, they have taken root at least 70 per cent, and almonds are also well-developed in these lands, and have "declared their rights" by taking about the same amount of roots. With all this, more seedlings took root in the lower part of the plot and they developed much better than in the upper part of the plantation. He said he plans to fill and plant 30 percent of the missing seedlings next year and has already ordered 2,000 seedlings. Another important aspect of this success is that Minor aka has carefully surrounded his plantation so that cattle do not enter and the seedlings grow safely, otherwise any ungulate will eat such juicy leaves for the sweet heart.

Pistachio is still a wonderful plant. The heat is hot all around, the leaves are dense, fleshy and cool. The pistachio is a great example of incredible vitality and flexibility.

However, Minor aka concluded that in order for irrigation to be effective, the land must be plowed for planting. He said that he recently bought 5 kg of pistachios and wanted to plant more on top of the ground. But now he wants to drive and make the beds. He has his own GAZ-66 car and he wants to use it for this purpose. For irrigation, he uses a 1.5-ton barrel, takes water to it, drags it and passes it through the bed - to the seedlings. Otherwise, there is no other way, he says.

Sometimes it is interesting to observe how a person develops technology on their own land in different and often difficult conditions. Here, in our view, in the arid conditions of the south of the country, perhaps the foundations of arid farming are being laid, and local farmers are able to work with their sometimes incredible hard work and perseverance, and prove that it is necessary. so take care of your land and wet nurse. After all, there is no bad land, the land is alive everywhere, you just have to live in it properly and treat it. Our hero is very interested in creating a plantation, and it shows how ready he is to use a machine as a tractor for plowing. She works alone and of course it is very hard for her and we can only wish her health, strength and the blessings of Mother Nature. Time goes by and soon a good garden appears here, and then people remember Minor aka with kind words and, of course, come to respect him and help him. After all, not everyone sees the beginning of the small - the big. Convinced that Minor's work was going well, we took pictures of ourselves and a few shots of the mountain landscape with pistachio seedlings against the backdrop of the mountains, said goodbye to him, and headed back down the road. We had to see the greenhouse.

Minor aka with young pistachios

ESOT is an energy efficient solar greenhouse

This is the name of one of the nine greenhouses being built under a joint project of PMGEF, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Uzbekistan and the PROON Development Program "Uzbekistan Business Forum". The greenhouse is being built on the site of a farm in the village of Kozi Tulakov, which had a frame and walls when we visited.

Solar energy-efficient greenhouse facing south (excluding cows)

During our visit we had to make a thermal blanket and prepare for the winter tests. Hopefully, this greenhouse has survived the winter as well as the others. We talked to the owner of the greenhouse about the technology of making thermal blankets and the timing of the start of the greenhouse. We took a few photos of the greenhouse, then we all drank delicious well water together, thanked the owner, said goodbye to him, and continued on our way. There were three more places to visit until the evening.

Q izil tash

I talked about an ambitious idea at the beginning of my story. So, the author of the idea is Erkin Kuchkeldiev. He is a very energetic and purposeful man. He wrote to us in the program about the idea of building a micro hydropower plant for the local population. During the day we called him and immediately agreed to meet on the spot. The name of the meeting place is known among the locals as "Red Rock". In fact, there is a small ridge along the road that turns into a stone wall from right to left. This stone, according to Erkin Kuchkeldiev, is a visiting card of these places. The stone is indeed bright red in color, and on its vertical wall there are dimples in rows similar to writing, as if someone had written a text in a language similar to Sanskrit. There are five villages around Krasnaya Kaya. According to the project, the electricity generated by the micro-hydropower plant will be used for the mill, which will allow the local population to grind grain.

For the operation of the micro-hydropower plant, it is planned to use water from the small Punjab River, which flows through it throughout the year and its level does not change at the same time. This river is a unique creation of nature. Water flowing in the underground layers washes away millennial salt deposits and is therefore salty and, oddly enough, even hot in October. Deceived, I dived into a small natural waterfall not far from us. The water is really salty, and according to locals and Erkin himself, it has healing properties, healing skin diseases and wounds. SANIIRI laboratory staff analyzed the water chemically. After desalination, the river water is suitable for drinking.

The river is a salt bank

Erkin Kuchkeldiev leases 90 hectares of low-yielding and unused land in the upper reaches of the hill, including the slopes and part of the river valley. In addition to building a micro-hydropower plant, Kuchkeldiev plans to plant pistachios on most of his land.

He still has a lot of interesting ideas and plans and he has already started implementing some of them. But that’s a completely different story.

We were crossing the river. We looked at the old school "classrooms" - the hollows of old plane trees. And they saw the holy fish.

Pistachio in the neck

Our third pistachio was in Boysun district and we drove until the end of the day. We walked through the village of Rabot, then ran for another half hour along the foothills, and finally arrived here almost in the evening. The plot was 10 acres of dry land not far from the future road, the construction of which is now proceeding at a rapid pace. In 2013, 2,080 pistachio seedlings were planted on 10 hectares. According to the farmer, although irrigation is done frequently, the survival rate of seedlings here is slightly lower than in the previous plantation. It should be noted that a high voltage line passes near the seedlings, and it is likely that the available electric field will simply oppress the young seedlings. However, despite the unfavorable environment, the pistachio survival rate in this area is 70%.

Young pistachio in Boysun

By the time we got back from the last run, it was already too late. The dark night covered the valleys and hills like a lazy cat, and with the hot breeze, the stove cracked somewhere and raised the peculiar smell of firewood burning in the house. We were overwhelmed by a surprising sense of calm and sweet fatigue spread in the muscles, but it was still too early to rest because the issue of overnight stays still had to be resolved. We had a choice, either to return to Termez for the night or to go to Karshi. It was decided to continue our first day in the evening.

To be continued.