site.btaYoung Farmers Show Visitors Importance of Clean Food

Iva and Georgi are among the participants of the initiative Guests of Tundzha, in which farms in the villages of Tundzha Municipality in Yambol Region open their doors to visitors of all ages. Both of them are in their early 30s and returned to Bulgaria from Denmark at the beginning of 2023. They decided to settle in the village of Hanovo and make their dream come true - to create a vegetable farm for regenerative agriculture and ecologically clean food called NorDig farm.

In Denmark, Georgi worked as a professional chef in Michelin star restaurants, while Iva had a profession as a landscape architect. According to them, they both made the radical change foremost out of curiosity, but also with great enthusiasm and not least "with the idea to make some change, to think outside the box", in Georgi's words. In their garden, they grow seasonal vegetables using soil-friendly technology, with no plowing, digging, processing or milling allowed. The use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers is strictly forbidden here. "We rely on growing healthy soil, so that the plants have good immunity," said Iva. "When people ask us what we are growing, I say that we take good care of the microorganisms in the soil," added Georgi with a smile. "When the soil is milled, the exact opposite happens - all the beneficial microorganisms are exposed to atmospheric conditions that they could not withstand. Microorganisms that live in depth are anaerobic, they die when we bring them to the surface", Georgi stated.

Iva added that they only sow non-hybrid, old varieties that remind them of the taste of their childhood in the village. The local climate allows them to produce so-called super foods, such as kale and chard.  According to Georgi, he takes pride in the fact that now he can make compost himself, whereas at the beginning he had to buy it. For this purpose he collects plant waste from the entire village. Natural and organic agriculture is starting to develop more and more in Bulgaria, the couple said. "My personal opinion is that within four or five years it will become the predominant part of agriculture," Georgi noted. "The yield, taste and nutritional qualities are better compared to cultivating the land in a conventional way," Iva added.

For the initiative they have prepared an experimental field for visitors, in which children can plant seeds with their help. They have also prepared many surprises, games and entertainment for the little visitors. "I think that the attitude towards nature is fundamental in upbringing, the consciousness of a child develops in a completely different way. Many of the children today, unfortunately, do not have contact with the village, they have no idea where a given vegetable comes from - whether it comes from a tree or a plant," said Iva.

According to the the couple, the initiative is extremely valuable in order to popularise this type of agriculture more. "The whole idea and mission that we have is not so much to produce and sell products. We want to tell what regenerative agriculture is, so that everyone has access to clean food", point out Iva and Georgi.