From the beginning of April farms in the villages of Tundzha Municipality in Yambol region will open to visitors of all ages as part of the initiative Guests of Tundzha. In one-hour tours, guests will be able to get in touch with nature, land and agriculture in an entertaining way, said participants in an interview for BTA on Wednesday.
Desislava and Petar Petrov from the village of Galabintsi are some of the farmers participating in the initiative. Eight years ago, they chose the village in Tundzha Municipality as their home, escaping the noise of city life. "We wanted space, for our children to live in the countryside, to eat clean food," they said. The two bought a house in Galabintsi and started farming. Afterwards, they bought more abandoned houses with yards and are currently growing vegetables in greenhouses and one hectare of lands. Desislava and Petar have only two workers, but their three children, aged four, six and eight, help out.
Desislava and Petar have created a close-knit small community and are adamant that they are happy to raise their children close to the land and national traditions. The family tries to maintain and preserve the traditional Bulgarian varieties of vegetables on their farm. "We don't produce beautiful hybrid vegetables, but ugly tomatoes and crooked cucumbers," they explained, adding that only pesticide treatment "straightens up" the cucumbers. The idea of organized visits to their farm was Desislava's, and is also why they readily joined the initiative Guests of Tundzha. "People come from all over the country. They come in and pick their vegetables, while we explain to them how we farm", she said.
Desislava said that the initiative is interesting for children who have no contact with the countryside. "We include them in the whole process of the work, because they have get in touch with the land. To take a seed home, to water it, to see what will become of it," Desislava said. Petar added that it is good for the children to come and see where the food comes from, how it is produced. "Then they will become informed customers who will not buy imported vegetables in the big chains, but will know how to choose quality food," he said.
After several unsuccessful attempts the family gave up on selling their products wholesale and now rely on direct sales. Although they grow clean produce, bureaucratic requirements stop them from certifying their farm as an organic farm. "Bio labels still scare people off that the product will be expensive", concluded Petar.
/DT/
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