Talking About the Treasures of Nature on the ELLE Green Stage

Hello dear friends. In December I was invited to speak at ELLE Türkiye’s ELLE Green x Aveda event. The panel was called “Treasures of Nature”, and the conversation was led by Suzan Yurdacan, managing editor of ELLE Türkiye.

Who was on stage?

I shared the stage with actress Sedef Avcı, Bahtiyar Büyükduman, chef of the plant-based restaurant Telezzüz, and Banu Yeşilmen, chef and curator of the farm-to-table kitchen at Komşuköy. The four of us relate to nature from very different places; seeing such different stories arrive at the same point around one table did me a lot of good.

What did I talk about?

I talked about Şifa Köyü. What it means to grow with heirloom seeds and without chemicals in Şile; how keeping a seed keeps not only next year’s harvest but the memory of that soil. To me the treasure of nature is not hidden somewhere; it is the soil itself, the handful we pick up every morning when we step into the garden.

I also said this: what we call healing is rarely one big transformation. It is the small, regular contact we keep with nature. A pot of basil, five minutes of conscious breathing in the morning, a tomato picked in its season. All of them pieces of the same treasure.

Thank you

Thank you to the ELLE Türkiye team for the invitation, to Suzan Yurdacan for keeping the conversation so warm, and to everyone in the room. For conferences, panels and company events you can reach me through my speaker page.

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