Four Generations, One Roof

September 18, 2022

Older couple with a small grandson in the garden of the Tsiskari guesthouse, Machakhela National Park, Georgia — Four generations under one roof, and most of what's on the table grows thirty metres away.

Day one hundred and twenty-four, Georgia. A farm in the mountains of the Machakhela National Park, near the Black Sea. Batumi, the nearest town of any size, is thirty kilometres and an hour away. I am staying at the Tsiskari guest house with the Khinkiladze family.

Dural, the head of the house, is a park ranger. At dinner it is a matter of honour to raise a glass to good health and a long life. Pati, his wife, cooks. The table carries plates and bowls of several different things at once, with bread and side dishes, and everyone eats what they like the look of. Most of it was grown thirty metres away.

Four generations live under this roof: grandchildren, parents, grandparents, and the great-grandmother.

The stove roars. At night the jackals call in the valley. In the morning the sun comes up into a clear sky and warms the ground, and the bees start, and the cows say what they have to say.

This family works hard, in the fields and in the woods. So do we, in our offices and our supermarkets. There is one difference, and it is not a small one.

Up here nobody tells you how to build your house.

Tsiskari guesthouse of the Khinkiladze family with veranda, washing line and parked cars in Machakhela, Georgia — Batumi is thirty kilometres away, which up here means an hour by car.

Elderly man with a cigarette, checked shirt and green knitted vest in the garden of Tsiskari guesthouse — At dinner it is a point of honour to drink to good health and a long life.

Small boy in a blue knitted jumper holding a purple aster in the garden of Tsiskari guesthouse, Georgia — The youngest of the four generations, with a flower from the garden.

Two men repairing an orange chainsaw outside Tsiskari guesthouse in Machakhela, Georgia — Work here happens in the fields and the forest, so the saw has to run.

Firewood stacked under a wooden roof, a mossy shed and mountains behind, in Machakhela, Georgia — Firewood up to the rafters, and the forest starts right behind the shed.

Wooden veranda with red peppers drying beside a mossy shed, the mountains of Machakhela beyond — Most of what reaches the table here grew thirty metres away.

The Khinkiladze family, four generations, sitting together on a sofa at Tsiskari guesthouse, Georgia — Grandchild, parents, grandparents and great-grandmother, all under one roof.

Burning logs and glowing embers in the fire at Tsiskari guesthouse in Machakhela, Georgia — Jackals call in the valley at night; inside, the wood crackles.