In an interview for "Hristo Botev" channel of the Bulgarian National Radio, people with different professions told us how they keep contact with the land and survive thanks to it. These are stories of ordinary people. However, they are quite remarkable, because they tell us how we can be more useful to ourselves and others, to be better and happier people, even if with little money in a year like this.

The number of people who value clean food is growing. When we grow plants without chemicals, they themselves develop antiparasitic substances and we also receive these substances when we consume them. Thus, our fruits and vegetables are twice healthier”, says young Bulgarian gardener Tihomir Traikov from the town of Polski Trambesh (Central North Bulgaria). For several years now, he has been supplying his clients with the so-called "seasonal baskets", containing all seasonal vegetables produced in his garden:

"I failed to grow only two out of all 60 crops I planted this year, but I immediately replaced them with other plants. I do the same when a hailstorm destroys my crops –I remove the damaged crops and plant new ones. I use only natural methods and fertilize the crops only with fermented nettle substance. The nettle soaks in water for 28 days. Then I put it in clean water and dilute the whole substance. You have to make sure soil exhaustion is avoided and enrich the soil with bacteria each year. Chemical spraying kills bacteria and the soil becomes less fertile. Good bacteria do not live in a poisoned environment. Now we grow lettuce, onions, garlic, leeks, spinach and rocket in our greenhouses to keep ourselves busy during the long winter months.

“Working in the garden is the best occupational therapy both for people with problems and for healthy people. There is nothing better than the contact with the land”– Milena Boeva from Sofia says.

"We can take care of other people while we cultivate the land and everything can be combined in one place. We named our garden "Inspiration". Thus, we created the first Center for Protected Employment this year under a project of the Agency for People with Disabilities. 15 people with permanent and multiple disabilities work there. They signed half-time employment contracts and work 4 hours a day. The project will last for 18 months and can be extended further. Our goal is to secure permanent employment for these people. I am very surprised by the results achieved in such a short period of time. In the beginning, our people didn't even know how tomatoes are grown, but now we have ready-made products and canned food for the winter. We have a permanent charity bazaar where we sell jams, syrups, dried fruits and Christmas decorations. The best thing is that these people feel useful, needed and valued for their work. Our garden is located in Bozhurishte residential district behind Eagles Park. Once, there was a military school there, by the municipality gave us 1 hectare of land and the adjacent huge building free of charge. Our long-term goal is to renovate this unusable 2,000 square-meter building and turn in into the first large rehabilitation complex for people with disabilities in Bulgaria.”

The third story is about the village as a type of bridge between past, present and future. The story comes from the village of Zdravets located near the coastal city of Varna, but is indicative of many villages in Bulgaria. Snezhana Karayancheva and her family settled in this Bulgarian village 10 years ago. "I used to be a teacher, but the land attracted me strongly and I created my “Overgrown Farm", Snezhana said. It becomes a kind of seed bank and distributor of seeds of old varieties that are disappearing in Bulgaria. This year was no different from other years, except for the fact that the farm managed to plant successfully 100-year-old tomato seeds, handed over as a family relic to a family from Dobrich.

“We grow 200 plant varieties, and we manage to store the seeds of the vegetable varieties that were planted years ago. We exchange such varieties with other people. First we plant them in our garden and then we offer them to people as planting material. In my view, urban people live in great delusion. They think that it is very difficult to live in a village, that you do not have a social life and you are isolated from other people, but this is not true at all. Despite the misconceptions, more and more people have been choosing the village recently”.

Several young families have gradually settled in Zdravets and now around 20 children live in this Bulgarian village. Snezhana is happy with this fact, because a community in which her children can grow is created.

Compiled by: Gergana Mancheva

English version: Kostadin Atanasov

Photos: BGNES and library