With your wife and four children, you run an organic farm in Decna Selo, twice or more times a week you sell organically produced vegetables and berries from your farm at the Central Ljubljana Market; is a decision for such a lifestyle...
With your wife and four children, you run an organic farm in Decna Selo, twice or more times a week you sell organically produced vegetables and berries from your farm at the Central Ljubljana Market; is choosing such a lifestyle a commitment or a necessity?
It is about the satisfaction of doing or doing something good. On the one hand, by maintaining a certain natural balance on the 33H soil without major interventions, on the other hand, so that we can offer a healthy crop to others, especially to those who value such crops. Both together also enable me to survive, which is even better.
How much does modern organic food production have in common with ancient folk wisdom?
A lot. I always believe more in old folk wisdom, especially those related to the moon and various herbal preparations. It is very important, for example, that we harvest the fruits for the seed on the right day and that we also sow or plant and also harvest it on the day that is written for a certain culture on the lunar calendar. Nature itself maintains the balance, as generations before us have observed. She also takes care of various predators that threaten pests, such as ladybugs that eat aphids.
Where did you and your wife acquire knowledge?
We both come from traditional farms. We mostly gathered our knowledge at home through experience, but also on various excursions in Slovenia and abroad. Now people who are interested in such cultivation come to us for educational excursions, many of them are school children from the smallest to the largest. Sometimes I am even invited as a lecturer.
Do we recognize organic products by their ugly appearance?
Even organic produce can be as beautiful or prettier than conventionally grown produce. At the beginning of my marketing, I had quite a few problems because of this, because the products were too beautiful for some customers, but when they tried these products, they began to believe. Crops especially shine in greenhouses because they are not soiled by rain and air.
The Central Market is a city in miniature; what part of it most often stops at you?
Intelligent people is probably the best term for those who live eco. Those who respect non-aggressive food production and who know that long-term health makes sense to think about are my visitors. These are mostly middle-aged people with small children, there are a little less students and pensioners. The oldest spouses are 94 and 97 years old. Even the former president of the country, Janez Drnovšek, various film actors, ambassadors and quite ordinary people have shopped with me.
You constantly exchange the urban environment with the countryside; would you move to the city?
The city has its charms and attractions, but the village has a certain element of freedom that the city doesn't have, so you couldn't live between concrete and walls. On the other hand, I wouldn't even increase the farm, despite the fact that the demand for organic products is relatively high, because that would land me in the office and in the car. That's not for me. I have to be in contact with work and people when I sell them products from the farm.
Can every terrace, even in the city center, become an eco-farm?
If I lived in the city, I would have an organic terrace in such a way that I would grow quite a lot of vegetables on the balcony in pots, of course in an organic way, but I would have to put up with the city air. By the way, not long ago I heard this on the radio that there is just such a case in one settlement in Germany.
Are the trends in the organic part of the market changing?
Eco as a way of life encompasses a holistic lifestyle, so in this part of the market you can find more products every day, which are also processed into different products. Various baked goods, teas, herbs, spreads, etc. are eco-friendly. Even a local doctor can be found among us. Such a market is an opportunity even for very small farmers, you just have to have an idea.
Do you ever go grocery shopping?
We don't grow everything on the farm, so from time to time, especially my wife, we go instead to the "garden" among the store shelves. Juices, vegetables, pickled salads, various jams from forest and garden fruits never end up in the basket, because we make them at home. Even when we shop in a grocery store, we stop most of the time between the organic shelves.
