Traditional winter preparations have begun in Aydın.

As the weather begins to cool down in Aydın, which is among the mildest provinces in Turkey, villagers have started to worry about firewood. Particularly in rural areas, citizens have begun to transport firewood obtained from trees pruned in their fields and gardens using horses, donkeys, and mules.
With the approach of winter, Muhammet Zeybek, one of the citizens who earns his living by transporting goods with mules in Aydın’s Köşk district, stated that they have started the firewood transportation process and that business is quite busy. Zeybek indicated that since not everyone has their own pack animal, transporting goods with mules has become a job opportunity in the villages. “The weather has started to cool down, and our work has picked up. Right now, I am giving appointments for those who want to transport wood for five weeks later. We work for a daily wage of 2,500 TL. If the wood is from us, we charge 1,250 TL for a mule trip in exchange for a load of wood. Thank God, business is quite good,” he said, adding that heating in Aydın’s mountain villages is still carried out using the old system.
“In mountain villages, mules have become a source of livelihood.”
Muhammet Zeybek pointed out that there is a livelihood for everyone who wants to live and work in Aydın’s mountain villages. “For various reasons, we couldn’t go to school, and we also didn’t have a profession by going to the industry. Staying in the village, I started to earn my living by buying a pair of mules and using them for transportation. When I started doing this job as a profession, the local citizens named my business ‘Naimoğlu Transport.’ Now, I do transportation work with my mules in every season of the year. We both help the citizens and, thank God, we earn quite well. However, I am having difficulty keeping up with the work alone,” he concluded.