The village's annual cycle in the 1022 m continental climate of the Karaman plain — sowing, harvest, shearing, lambing and seasonal customs.
This month
**6 May Hıdrellez** — summer season begins, the second half of the farmer's year
🌾 Agriculture
🐑 Livestock
🏘 Village life
The region's conditions
Mesudiye village lies on the north-western edge of the Karaman plain, in a continental-climate zone at 1,022 metres above sea level. Summers are hot and dry, winters cold and snowy; the annual rainfall concentrates in spring and autumn.
The village has 90,485 decares of farmland; the main crops are wheat, barley, sugar beet, maize and sunflower. On the livestock side, as of 2025 the village holds 415 cattle, 2,754 sheep and 817 goats.
The Mesudiye Irrigation Cooperative, founded in 1973, is the foundation of the region's organised water system. The drip irrigation that arrived in the early 2000s under the leadership of Sezgin Özşahines significantly raised maize and sunflower yields, especially during the July–August drought.
The traditional calendar
In the Anatolian folk calendar the year is divided into two main periods: Kasım (winter, 8 November–6 May) and Hıdrellez (summer, 6 May–8 November). Every task of farming and animal husbandry is carried out according to this cycle.
8 November — 6 May
Winter season. End of the farming season, livestock moved into barns. The first half of the folk-calendar year.
End of autumn, first frosts, livestock taken into pens
The coldest period (22 December–30 January). Wheat fields under snow.
31 January–16 March. The cold softens, snowmelt begins.
17 March–6 May. The transition to spring, preparation of the first seeds.
6 May — 8 November
Summer season. The beginning of the farmer's season, counted as the second new year in the folk calendar. From this day on, farmers traditionally hire six-month seasonal workers (yanaşma).
Throughout the year
Mid-Zemheri — the coldest days
🐑 Livestock
🏘 Village life
End of Zemheri — start of Hamsin
🌾 Agriculture
🐑 Livestock
🏘 Village life
End of Hamsin — Nevruz (21 March, the start of spring)
🌾 Agriculture
🐑 Livestock
🏘 Village life
Sayılı günler — spring in full
🌾 Agriculture
🐑 Livestock
**6 May Hıdrellez** — summer season begins, the second half of the farmer's year
🌾 Agriculture
🐑 Livestock
🏘 Village life
Start of summer — the heat rises
🌾 Agriculture
🐑 Livestock
🏘 Village life
Peak of the summer heat — eyyam-ı bahur (23 July–5 August, the hottest)
🌾 Agriculture
🐑 Livestock
🏘 Village life
Late-summer heat — end of eyyam-ı bahur
🌾 Agriculture
🐑 Livestock
🏘 Village life
Start of autumn — the weather begins to cool
🌾 Agriculture
🐑 Livestock
🏘 Village life
Autumn — cold weather approaching
🌾 Agriculture
🐑 Livestock
🏘 Village life
**8 November — Kasım sets in**. According to the folk calendar, the start of winter and the official end of the farmer's season.
🌾 Agriculture
🐑 Livestock
🏘 Village life
Kasım continues, **on 22 December Zemheri begins** — the coldest 45 days
🐑 Livestock
🏘 Village life
Specific to Mesudiye
Drip irrigation, brought to the village in the early 2000s under the leadership of Sezgin Özşahines, significantly raised maize and sunflower yields. In the past, the July–August drought used to threaten these crops.
Related pageThe Mesudiye Irrigation Cooperative, founded in 1973, was critical to the region's organised irrigation system. Its location on the edge of the Konya–Baghdad railway line made the supply of water easier.
Related pageAs of 2025, Mesudiye has 415 cattle, 2,754 sheep and 817 goats. The village holds small livestock at exactly ten times its human population (415) — a density that shows traditional animal husbandry is still the economic foundation.
Related pageThe 1928–1934 Central Anatolian drought (researched by Türkeş) drove Mesudiye down to 244 people in the 1935 census. That memory lies at the root of the strong local support for water retention and drip-irrigation investments.
Related pageThe village was once predominantly a wheat-barley and livestock economy. In the 1980–2000 period sugar beet (tied to Konya Şeker) came to the fore, and after 2000 maize and sunflower. Beet sowing continues to this day but is limited by the quota system.
Related pageA guide to nature
The village elders made their work decisions not by the calendar, but by reading the signs of nature.
Return of the storks
End of MarchSpring has come — time to work the soil
Snowmelt
Mid-MarchField work can begin
The Hıdrellez rain
Around 6 MayThe rain of abundance — critical for the heading of the wheat
The first barley threshing
Mid-JuneThe wheat harvest is 1–2 weeks away
Flocks of starlings
End of SeptemberAutumn has begun — harvest time
Gatherings of crows
End of NovemberWinter is coming — take the flocks into the barn
Snow lingering on the fields
December–FebruaryWheat fields under the snow — the snowmelt is abundance for the soil