Tarile participante: o Romania o Italia o Germania o Lituania o Turcia o Estonia
Italia CooperativaAgricola La Villa San Sebastiano/ Italy Cooperativa Agricola La Villa/ San Sebastianois 30 years old. The start was with 70 cows‌.now they have more than 400. It is a model of rural business in the region and also in EU. We interviewdErminioPensa one of the owners of the business. 1. What was your starting point( first idea) for the farm? Starting point was 30 years ago. At the beginning we had 70 cows and we were 4 associates. 2. How long have you been developing your business? Since 30 years ago our farm continue to grow up. Now we have 400 cows. 300 of cows are Friesen cows, good for milk. They can produce 30 l of milk / day and they produce for 3-4 years. We have also 100 cows for meat from an Italian region.70 of our cows are living on mountain and the meat in this case is more expensive but have a better quality. All cows are monitorized through computer as they have a little device on their leg. Like this we can know in every moment if they are ill, if they are ready to become pregnant or how much milk they give everyday. The cows that offer a record quantity of milk get a price in sweet food( like a desert). 3. Is it a family business?Do you plan to keep it that way? It is a family business, we work only 4 people in the farm as everything is technology. The farm lay on 3 hectars. We also use 300 ha to produce food for animals. To improve the food of cows we use also olives and cotton seeds that have therol of raising the fat of milk. 4. Did you use UE funds? What kind of financial resources do you use to grow up your business? During the years we had access to EU funds. Last investment was in the biogas factory that costs more then 1 million euros but it is very usefull. 5. How do you distribute your products? To distribute our products we have our own shop inside the farm. We produce sausages and salami and othe products from meat on our own. For cheese we have a partnership with other producers and we send our milk to a factory that send us the cheese for sell. Also we organize tours for tourists and traditional meals( lunch or dinner) for groups of tourists. We have a quite big space for barbeques that are very solicitate during summer moths. 6. How do you sustain your business? Why it is considered to be sustainable? With the help of the biogas factory we can say now that we are sustainable. The factory use 20% corn and 80% shit and give us the energy we need all year round. Also we can sell some of the energy through the national network. The leftovers are used on the field being very good for the crops. 7. What are your future plans? We have now enough work to do to keep things as it is and to be profitable. We don`t have yet big future plans. 8. What would you recommend to a youngster who want to start such a business? Like in any business is very important to love what you do, to be passionate. Me, for example I love work with animals. This is why my studies at University follow this area. Now I`m better prepared to work in our farm. And for the future I think is a good opportunity for those that live in rural areas.
Il Miramonte hotel/ Tagliacozzo/ Italy Hotel IlMiramonte is one of the touristic structure in Tagliacozzo. They offer good quality services for a good price. We are speaking with Remo Grossi, the owner of this nice hotel. 1. What was your starting point for your business? 15 of may 1986 was our starting point. It is a family business, 3 members of our family living and working here. We also have 3 permanent employees and 2 periodic, during week ends. 2. Did you get any funds to develop your business? We got some funds from the local community to renovate our hotel. But it is not such a big amount of money. 3. Which part of business is more profitable? The restaurant is more profitable. The hotel have guests mainly during summer period when a lot of turist spend holidays in this region. 4. Do you have any special recipe? Our main speciality is fish. Santina recipe is Rice with scampi 5. It was different to cook for an international team? No, I tried to offer to you different plates from our region and from Italy. I hope you enjoy our meal‌.especially our pasta and pizza. I sow that for breakfast it was not so popular to eat only sweet things so we adapt and offer you also salami and cheese. 6. What would you suggest to a youngster that want to start a business in this field? This moment is not so good for restauration industry. But if you decide to start you should know that it is not an easy job and you have to love it. It means a life full of sacrifices a you have to be all time on your place and to satisfy all your customers.
Romania “La Butoaie” Boarding House On a beautiful early May day 2014, when nature charms you with the smell of flowers, we wanted to check some old sayings and we chose Voltaire who said that “Knowing how to drink wine is a science”. And, since we are from Buzau area, close to the famous vineyards on Istrita hills, together with our foreign guests within the project “Green Jobs”, we stopped at the boarding house “La Butoaie”. We were welcomed by two very kind young people, Dana and VasileRosca, the owners of the elegant boarding house. And, since we are curious to find out the story of wine and of the boarding house, we invited Mr. Rosca to answer a few questions: R.: How did the idea of the business come up?
VasileRosca: Our main occupation is viticulture. You can’t possibly have a better occupation in this area which was blessed with a soil which, although limestone , is extremely favourable to vineyards, not so much quantitatively (the production is around 8-10 t/ha), but more qualitatively. The idea of the boarding house belongs to us, this being a useful and pleasant way of valuing our activity in the field of viticulture. R.: What viticultural area do you work and when did you obtain the first wine production?
VasileRosca: At present, we work 20 hectares cultivated with grape-vine from the varieties Muscat, Feteasca, Merlot and Riesling. We obtained our first wine production in 2004. R.: What is the level of your wine production?
VasileRosca: Our annual production is between 80.000-100.000 litres of wine, according to the weather or to unpredictable situations. Usually, after a cycle of good years there is a cycle of bad years. R.: Is there a secret of Pietroasa wines?
VasileRosca: Beyond the characteristics of each variety is the person, his respect and responsibility for the work he does. R.: And still…
VasileRosca: What matters very much is the harvesting time and then the whole process of wine producing. The later you harvest, the sweeter the wines will be. Here, grapes are only gathered in cases and everything is gathered is also processed on the same day. In the autumn, the terrace is the place from where the must that will turn into wine starts to flow. First we process white wine and then red wine. The special taste of Muscat is obtained from fermenting together with the grapes. Feteasca ferments at 28 Centigrade, for 7-8 days. After fermenting, the decanting is done, the tanks being used for storing. The cellar used for keeping wine is a copy of the traditional ones; they are very resistant cellars, with a vaulted ceiling and walls I-metre wide since the house is built above. R.: How did you purchase the equipment that you are using?
VasileRosca: Unfortunately, access to European funding is not as easy as you may believe or as others want us to believe. Because of this, we had to buy one piece of equipment at a time, the cost of these adding around 50.000 euro.
R.: Why “La Butoaie”?
VasileRosca: Obviously, it has something to do with wine and with those unusual little houses-barrels in which those who want to visit us and stay for a few days can be accommodated. In fact, all the wood objects that you see and the barrel-houses are made by me. An older passion for wood… R.: Before wine tasting, how can people interested in spending even a few pleasant hours here, at your place, find you?
VasileRosca: We have a site, http:/www.labutoaie.ro/, where we promote our place, and, with the help of a photo gallery, we try to make nature and history lovers interested and, why not, those who know how to appreciate this poem in a bottle called wine. So, you are invited to come and taste it! R.: Thank you, have a good year!
Note: Before a delicious rabbit cooked with grapes, the wine tasting included some wine varieties: Royal Feteasca White Feteasca Semidry Riesling Muscat-dry Semisweet Muscat Sweet Muscat Sweet Muscat 2008 Dry Merlot Semidry Merlot Rose-Pietroasa Variety
“Casa cu tei” An agritourism boarding house, which is part of the ANTREC circuit. It was opened by the married couple Poliana and PetrePartal in 2002. The accommodation capacity is 28 rooms, all of them equipped with bathrooms and cable TV. The boarding house provides: -a traditional restaurant-150 seats -a meeting room-50 seats -an arbour near the forest-50 seats and a veranda with a view to Sărata Valley -playground Mrs. PolianaPartal answered some of our questions: P.C.: How did you start this business? What financial resources did you have at your disposal? P.P.: The majority of the initial investment was made with European funding: FNDR, RICOOP and PHARE. All of it was meant for the tourist development of the rural areas for which we have been struggling since the beginning of our activity. It involved a great deal of work but the results were as expected. We pride on our boarding house and on what we can offer to our clients. P.C.: What kind of business is this boarding house? P.P.: It is a family business in which I am involved together with my daughters and my son-in-law. We have 18 employees from our area. We all value our work and this is visible in the fact that people always come back to us. P.C.: We understand that you also offer other services to your clients besides accommodation and meals. Which are these? P.P.: We offer sauna, massage, we have a detoxification salon and one of alternative therapy. We want to build a swimming pool with salt water in the near future which would help visitors to treat some diseases. P.C.: I know that you have actively supported the cultural life in Buzau. How did you do that? P.P.: We have organised a creation camp for Romanian painters in our boarding house for the last four years and it has been very successful. In addition, we have also thought of the young people and we have organised summer schools for children, focusing on learning crafts which are traditional in our area. These have also been successful and have lead to the development of projects to popularize folk traditions by the schools in the area. P.C.: What do you recommend tourists to visit in Buzau area? P.P.: Our area has a lot of tourist attractions which are not promoted enough. We recommend: Monteoru Spa situated at an altitude of 186 metres, it benefits from a sedative climate, being recommended to people who suffer from everyday stress. The main therapeutic factor is represented by the mineral springs, chlorosodic, magnesium, sulphurous, iodate and the sapropel medicinal mud, all of which are beneficial in case of rheumatic, gynecological and digestive diseases. Here they can see or use: the open air pools with salt water, situated in the centre of the spa, the petrol mine, which is unique in Europe, the archeological site at Pragu Hill, at Cetăţuie, the “Eye” Spring-springs which are exploited empirically and about which the local people say that would cure eye problems. In the county you can visit: The Muddy Volcanoes (Berca), the open air sculpture camp (Măgura) and Ciolanu Monastery, the wine cellars on Istriţa Hill, the areas : Năeni, Breaza, Pietroasele, Merei, which are famous for the red wine but also for the Tămâioasă variety, areas where you can also taste wine. Then, there is the Amber Museum (Colţi), the cave dwellings at Aluniş and Bozioru, the stone sculpture camp in Năieni, the One Rock Church. All of them represent tourist attractions.
P.C.: How is your offer different from the other boarding houses in the area? P.P.: Firstly, it is the attention that we give to preserving traditional gastronomy in Buzău. We support its preservation as well as the popularization of Buzău folk traditions and of folk crafts. We have traditional recipes that we carefully keep. We try to use eco or bio products from the small local producers as much as possible. We prepare many of our meat products ourselves, using recipes that we inherited from our grandparents. We pay a lot of attention to preparing jam, marmalade or natural syrup made from fruit grown locally. And we also have many recipes in which we use mushrooms that we gather ourselves from the forest and we preserve these mushrooms using traditional recipes. P.C.: Can you offer a traditional recipe? P.P.: Buzău “babic” is one of our favourite recipes. The ingredients are: pork, beef, chopped red pepper, pepper sauce, salt, and cow gut. Preparation: you cut the meat in big pieces, you add the ingredients, and you knead the mixture many times, during several days. You fill the gut without leaving air spaces, you press it with a bottle in order to make it flat and leave it to dry for a few days. P.C.: What are your future plans? P.P.: As I have already said, we want to improve our services by building a swimming pool with salt water. In order to do this, we have accessed European funding and we are waiting for the contract to be signed. We hope that next year we will be able to invite you to the pool. At the same time, we are going to continue the activity of promoting traditional gastronomy and Buzău folklore. P.C.: What are your recommendations for the young people who want to set up an agritourism boarding house? P.P.: To find out as much as possible about our traditions because they are beautiful and attractive for tourists. Agritourism has real chances to develop in our area and it would be a shame if we didn’t take advantage of this, all of us.
A visit at “Tourism Infopoint Buzau” Berca, Buzau Interview JurandaKirschner -Founder and president of APDT-
1. When was BercaInfopoint opened and with what purpose? The Tourist Information Centre in Berca-The Muddy Volcanoes, placed in a strategic point, on the way to The Muddy Volcanoes, a road with 2,000 tourists per weekend during high season, started to accommodate people from Buzau and tourists passing through in its second year of existence, starting with 1st May 2013.It was opened by our Association for Tourist development, Monteoru Renaissance, in partnership with the Town Hall in Berca. The information office offers assistance to tourists, it informs them and provides materials in connection with the tourist destinations in Buzau, local events and products, tours and tourist activities such as rafting, cycling tourism, off-road regional tours and workshops for children, cookery classes and truffles hunting. Unlike the previous year, this year the Tourist Information Centre brings something new-handmade products- which are specific to the area: painted eggs, the macramé technique (rope knitting or knotted tapestry), peasant sandals, crockets, fabrics, embroidered blouses, strong Chiojdu plum brandy, handmade jewellery etc. 2. Why did you choose this area in Buzau County? In 2011, my husband Thorsten Kirschner, of German origin, and I decided to move from Bucharest and to get involved 100% involved in promoting the tourist development of Buzau County. Before moving to Răteşti, he worked in many countries of the world for more than 10 years as a governmental counselor within the German Agency for International Development GIZ. The Association was founded by us 4 years ago under the name “Monteoru Renaissance” Association. Recently the association was renamed “Travel Buzau’ and it was moved from SarataMonteoru to Berca. What are the reasons? First of all, I am from around here and Thorsten has fallen in love with the Boyar’s Mansion in Răteşti, the only house in neobrancovenesc style in Berca that we have decided to renovate. 3. What is the mission of TravelBuzau Association? The association has the purpose of preserving the historical inheritance and promoting regional durable development in tourism , especially in Buzau and Prahova Subcarpathian area. It is a private juridical person with a nonpatrimonial purpose. 4. What can you tell us about www.travelbuzau.com? TravelBuzau.com has the role of a connecting platform between national and international tourists, local tourist guides and tourism operators in order to offer inovations and new services for the theme tours and guided tours. TravelBuzau.com is the first complete tourist offer on the Internet and the biggest online catalogue which contains tourist attractions in Buzau Area, aiming at extending and improving the offer and the tourist information all the time. Soon the portal will also be available in English, German and later, in French. TravelBuzau.com was especially conceived to be easily used on mobile phones. The travellers can access the tourist information directly (GPS locations, museum timetables, restaurant or local boarding houses addresses). The portal has a lot of interactive elements so the traveller can directly contribute to improving and developing it by inserting photos, comments and travel logs.
5. Who do you work with in order to reach your goals? Monteoru Renaissance Association works in partnership with institutions and administrations at regional, national and international level. Some representative examples can be: The Association for Promoting and Developing tourism in Brasov County, Carpathian Tourism Cluster, Terra Carpatica-F&Restaurant-Carpathian Fine Food, The Federation of Tourist Promotion Associations, ANAT, ANTREC Buzau etc. 6. Would you be interested in high schools, colleges and other education institutions to get involved in this activity of promoting the area with the help of teachers and students? Of course, we would be delighted. Unfortunately, we have not had such collaborations until now. I think that the new generation is creative enough to identify more and more ways of tourist promotion and not only. As long as we can contribute to their education, to gaining the necessary competences in order to develop, we would not hesitate. We can give an affirmative answer to your invitation to make speeches at Colegiul Economic Buzau or to have groups of students for practical training or research work here. 7. We can’t help noticing the wonderful handmade products and the promotional materials that you have exhibited here. To what extend do they sell? We don’t have so many visitors yet, but anybody who passes by obviously wants at least one souvenir. We also have some flyers, brochures, books about this area. Some of them are made on order so there are not too many copies. 8. What unusual promoting techniques have you managed to develop? We promote culinary specialities in gastronomical events. Strong Chiojdu plum brandy, Plescoi sausages, Buzau pretzels, Dealu Mare wines, Buzau truffles, water onion, Pietroasele Muscat are undoubtedly very appreciated. We have also said yes to the initiatives of the BBC to make TV shows or documentaries about local tourist objectives. 9. What do you think about projects based on the concept of green jobs? It is a new concept that deserves a lot of attention and we appreciate your intention of developing such a project. We consider that it is a good idea for the future and we think that European funding for green activities is not exploited enough.
Lituania “DALGEDU SODYBA” After hard work day – recover one’s strength in homestead Dalgedai! The homestead for rural tourism Dalgedai is placed on a strand of the lake Vilkokshniai – comfortable and outlying place of nature, where in every time of the year natural microclimate unbind and provides new strength and energy. The infrastructure of the homestead for rural tourism is comfortable and fitted for various holidaymakers: hot bath, summerhouse on the coast of the pond, wood-smelling rooms, outdoor fireplace, summerhouses, square for children games, swimming in a lake, fishing, sport yard, boats, water bicycle, mountain bicycles, camping place… it is all You need on relaxation in a homestead of rural tourism! In ethnographic room of rural homestead You can make the home-baked bread, to know more about ancient things, about the traditions and customs of bread-baking and to felt decorations from wool. Maximum used beautiful environment of nature – it is the recreation for body and for soul. Romantic sitting on the coast of lake, active sport, crazy parties, active relax with friends, weeding eves, bachelor parties, excursions for pupils – the possibilities in homestead of Dalgedai are not limited. We had some questions to the owner of the place: 1. For how long do you run this business?
We run this business for 10 years now.
2. What are your achievements in these 10 years?
We have 3 ha of land. And we can offer 3 buildings to rent on self cateringt and also catering for those who want with traditional products. Also we have 2 pounds and 21 springs on our land. We are on the shore of a big lake and our customers can swim and go by boat.
3. Did you get European Funds?
We got only very little and we build a basketballfield. We invested most of our profit in improving our business.
4. How many people work in your business?
It’s a family business. We work only 4 people here( me, my mother and 2 others)
5. What are your main offer to your target group? Do you have something special?
Yes, we tried to fill as many expectations as possible with our offers. We have a very large target group and also we pay a lot of attention to the quality of our services.
Offers for companies: Organized events We have organize unforgettable competitions for You and Yours colleagues! Suggestion includes: Satisfying dinner Competitions according to choose theme. Themes for choosing: 1.“Run around Vilkokshnis, and learn about local nice places”;; 2.“The primer of Woodman” 3.“Where the Sweden’s have mask the gold?” Bathhouse Outdoor fireplace Resting in wood-smell rooms.
Entertainment in ethnographic room We invite you to an ethnographic room at Dalgedai homestead where you will find traditional stove for bread baking and collected ancient household utensils. We teach to separate the grains for the homemade bread baking at the traditional stove for bread baking, as well as we tell the story about bread baking from the sowing to the dough mixing and placing it into the stove, bread baking traditions, manners, show ancient household utensils, which were used for rye grinding, harvesting and threshing, you will be allowed to form the loaves of bread yourselves. After the educational lesson, anyone will be able to pick up own formed and baked loaf of bread. While waiting for baked bread, you will be able to partake ancient meals prepared in accordance with ancient traditions, to listen to stories about path of flax from the sowing till bedspreads and table covers. To see flax and linen woven as well as to see ancient household utensils, which were used for flax harvesting, braking, threshing and combing. To learn crafts on ancient weaving looms. Offers for school excursions: Bread baking for groups In ethnographic room of homestead, which includes old ancient things, we have organize the courses of bread baking for groups to 50 persons. Each person forms the loaves of bread, bakes it in an oven, and, while bread is baking, we tell You about ancient traditions of bread baking, and show for You the ancient things, with which the grain there was cut, thresh and grind. After the education each person can take the loaf of bread formed and baked by himself. Wool fulling-mill Have the Bride try anytime to spin the wad of wool with spinning wheel or to make any ornaments from the wool? In ethnographic room, at the centuries-old table, the Bride shell learn how to spin with spinning wheel, and she shell made the ornaments from wool, and she’ll can to spruce up with her own ornaments. She would learn to use the needles for fulling-mill and to make many nice things to show her husband, that she can make more things either to bake the pancakes. Program includes: Old grandmother shell teach the Bride and girls to spin the wad of wool with ancient spinning wheel. The specialist of wool fulling-mill shell tell You about the methods of wool fulling-mill, and teach You, how to make the ornaments and to decorate them (bracelets, collars or earrings and more other nice things).
Other events The Stork fiesta, Bloveshchy. In ethnographic room of homestead „Dalgedai“ at the bread baking oven. The 23rd of March. Approximately this day is the day of returning of Storks to Lithuania. The Stork can dissipate the last ice of winter. We invite groups (to 60 persons) to meet the spring and to dissipate the last winter cold in a homestead “Dalgedai” near the beautiful lake of Vilkoksnis, district Trakai. In ethnographic room, near the bread baking oven, we’ll form the cakes of the Storks and we’ll bake them in oven. While cakes will bake, You could listen the story about the Stork fiest, what it means for our antecedents, what was the traditions, manners and divinations on this holiday. After the cakes baking, we will try them with a grass tea. The Easter grandmother regale in ethnographic room of homestead “Dalgedai”: Most of us celebrate the Easter every year. What we know about the importance of this holiday? In ethnographic room of the homestead of “Dalgedai” we’ll tell You, what is Easter holiday, what are traditions and manners of this holiday, and what it means for our ancestry. We will mottle domestic eggs using ancient methods: with onion-skin and wax. We will test the regale of Easter grandmother with a grass tea, and what regale she left at this time, You can see only if You are ready to visit the homestead “Dalgedai”. In the yard we will roll Easter eggs, and will play ancient games. Cowherd meals There is the large outdoor fireplace. When the group of people comes and seats around the fireplace with a fire, we will tell them about the cowherds, who they are, what they were doing, what animals were grazing and for what purpose, and where. What was the manners and traditions in that time. What ancient games there was played, and what songs there was singed, and what meals they were use. The ancient games are played after the story is finished (4-5 games depending on a mood of a group). After the games are finished, we will bake the cowherd meals on a fire. Everybody gets a wood spit and bakes for himself (like ancient cowherds) cracklings, potatoes and also sausages, because the meals of cowherds are not very satisfying. The drink is a grass tea. We regale You with a home-baked bread, which is baked in a homestead oven. Such program duration is about 2-3 hours. After educational lesson You can stay in homestead area longer. If weather is good, You can swim in a lake, and also, if You want, You can make an excursion to the nearest mound of Zhukliai. There is the children game place in homestead area, also WC and places for hand washing are arranged. Offers for two: Romantic weekend Lose touch with commonness, and feel happy to be together. You can choose: Sleeping in a comfortable wood-smell room; Sparkling wine in a room; Romantic walking; Outdoor fireplace; Late departure (15 hour) ; Active weekend Romantic swimming by boat for two persons: Swimming by boat – 3 hours; Using of the outdoor fireplace near the lake;
Offers for families: Quiet relaxation Run from routine, and spend your time together pleasantly and without any brooding.You can choose: 2 sleeping in a room for family with wod-smell; Arrival presents for children; Children playing area; Riding on bicycles; Free of charge usage of outdoor fireplace; Late departure (15 hour). Active relaxation Especially for Your family: Excursion with guide to Trakai. Excursion on bicycles with guide through the locality, visiting important places ; Riding in a horse dragging cart . Recreation with friends: Let’s relax in nature Happily rage with real friends.You can choose: Sleeping in wood-smell rooms; Bathhouse; Free of charge car places; Swimming on a boat; Fishing in ponds and lake; Using of outdoor fireplace. Active relaxation in a friends’team specially for Yours friends’ team: Excursion on bicycles with guide through localities, visiting important places; Excursion on bicycles with guide through localities, visiting important places ; Excursion on a boats through the Vilkoksnis lake with various tasks ; Happy riding in a horse dragging cart. Offer for weddings Wedding Entrust Your holiday for us! We suggest: The large wood-smell hall; 13 rooms (all rooms are equipped with WC); Beautiful meals and service at party time; For hen-parties Baking of Bride’s bread In ethnographic room of homestead, which includes old ancient things, the Bride will have to keep out the true tests! Formatting of palatable home-baked bread loaves and decorating them on a peel (according to the ancient ritual), and baking the bread in an oven; The Bride should be introduced about the ancient traditions, customs, which must know every Bride before wedding; The Bride should must to learn weave catches with weaving machines and to spin the wad of flax wit spinning wheel; She will try her strength on a grinding the grain with the ancient quern. The Bride will learn and will try what she must know about home works. The baked bread would be nicely packed and presented to You as flashback.
The last fling of Bride: from bread baking to maidenly running on the mound The program includes: Baking of the family bread. The future Bride forms the first in her life bread loaf on the peel, decorates it with an ears of ryes, for the reason, that the family never lack the bread. Girls follows the Bride, and forms its own bread loaves, and bakes them in oven. Presentation of manners, traditions and the stories. In that time, while bread bake (about 1 hour and 15 minutes), we have seat around the centuries-old table and have listen the story, how in ancient times home-baked bread was made, what was the male and female works, what was the ancient manners and traditions. What work had to make married people? How look out the matchmakings and weeding. What common life was waiting them‌ and more other interesting true-life histories? Task for the Bride: Spinning of the flax wad with a spinning wheel, cutting with an ancient cutter, clothes washing with an ancient washing grater; Sailing by boat to the mound; The task on the mound; Returning home by boat, passing the crowns with greetings. Wool fulling-mill Have the Bride try anytime to spin the wad of wool with spinning wheel or to make any ornaments from the wool? In ethnographic room, at the centuries-old table, the Bride shell learn how to spin with spinning wheel, and she shell made the ornaments from wool, and she’ll can to spruce up with her own ornaments. She would learn to use the needles for fulling-mill and to make many nice things to show her husband, that she can make more things either to bake the pancakes. Program includes: Old grandmother shell teach the Bride and girls to spin the wad of wool with ancient spinning wheel. The specialist of wool fulling-mill shell tell You about the methods of wool fulling-mill, and teach You, how to make the ornaments and to decorate them (bracelets, collars or earrings and more other nice things). For bachelor parties Crazy bachelor party Real testing of groom in rural homestead for preparing to life tests. Program: Male jobs; Story about matchmaking manners; March for groom testing; Table jobs; Tasks at the fireplace. Rent of places for camper-cars and tents A campsite a fenced, well-lightened area for your camper-cars or tents. Power supply panels and water supply systems are available within the campsite. We do all our best to make your rest comfortable: you are welcome to use WC, lavatory, showers, outside fire-places, self-service kitchen. You will have an opportunity to rent grill equipment, tents, mattresses, bicycles, boats, pedalo or skies and sledges in a winter period. Children will surely enjoy a play-ground and swing.
Visit at �Panavas Farm� Salkiniku, Lithuania INTERVIEW JurgitaPanaviene and MindaugasPanavas
Jurgita and Mindaugas gave up their life in Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, 20 years ago and they bought a property at about 40 kilometers in an area surrounded by forests and lakes. They own a property of 3 hectares, an old house in which they lived initially and a new house, built before. Their farm is a good example of sustainable development, based permanently on ecological agriculture. 1. Why did you choose exactly this area in Lithuania? Because it is not far from Vilnius but it offers the peace we need. We are surrounded by lakes and forests and, in this way, Jurgita can pick up medicinal plants that she uses to prepare her types of tea. 2. How did you develop your business in these 20 years? We started with growing plants on the 3 hectares that we own. We grow the necessary grains for feeding the animals and also fruit and vegetables for our personal need. In time, slowly, we added a new element to our activity. We have 20 beehives which offer us the honey which is necessary for our needs but also for sale. We have arranged a pond where you can go fishing for crucian carp. And we can guarantee that no one will leave without catching at least one fish. We have hens for meat and we are proud to have demand to export in Malta. We have about 100 chickens at any time, chicken (for meat) which grow ready to consume in two months. Three years ago we started a business with rabbits which is going very well. We have the necessary space that they need; 100 to 200 rabbits of all ages. They are Californian rabbits, adapted to live in small spaces. Due to the fact that they are only fed with natural products, there is a big demand for rabbits. 3. I know that Jurgita is also involved in picking medicinal plants. To what extent have you developed this side of your activity? Jurgita has studied and picked a lot of traditional recipes based on medicinal plants. She picks most of the necessary plants from the forest and the field. With their help, she prepares infusions which are very good for the body (Pay attention! She uses 3,5,7,9 plants so that they give the best results). She also prepares different tinctures used for certain illnesses.
4. Can you share a few secrets about picking medicinal plants? When we want to dry plants in order to use them for a longer period of time, they must be picked on a Saturday, until 12 o’clock and during a period with full moon. When the moon is decreasing the roots must be picked. 5. How do you promote your activity? How do you sell your products? People already know us and come to us to buy products because we offer the certainty of the fact that they are really ecological. We haven’t used any promotion methods so far, it wasn’t necessary. The promotion made by word of mouth, from one person to another is, in our case, the most efficient. 6. Can you share an infusion recipe with us? You put in hot water the next plants: marigold, leaves of black gooseberry bush, mint, leaves of grape-vine, chamomile, melissa, lavender. It is an infusion that relaxes, calms you down, and relieves stress. 7. What future plans do you have? We want to develop into an agro touristic boarding house. We have the space, the surroundings are beautiful, and we have food from our own production, enough to ensure catering too. It is a plan that we have been thinking about for a long time and that we hope to be able to put into practice. 8. Jurgita is also a good cook. Can you share a recipe? Draugiste or the friendship cake Ingredients: Butter/margarine-500 grams Sugar-100/150 grams Vanilla Baking soda 4 whisked eggs You mix all the ingredients together. You add flour enough to make dough which is easily spread. You divide the dough into two. One half is put into the griddle. You put it into the preheated oven for 5-10 minutes. You take it out of the oven. You add jam and fresh cheese mixed with 2 eggs and sugar (to taste). You mix everything until the mixture looks like cream. The other half is put above. You oil it with yolk. You put it in the oven until it gets golden.
Germania Visit at “Museum Specken” Bad Zwischenahn, Germany 1.Where is this traditional place located? In north-western Germany, nestling in the wide, park-like landscape of Ammerland, is the officially recognised moor spa town of Bad Zwischenahn. 2.What is the specific for this Museum? There are several important items here collected during time : national costumes, old tools used in agriculture, folkloric articles, archaic carriages. 3.What is special about this place besides of being a well-known touristic objective? This is the place where as a child I was send by my mother to buy coffee of high quality.The source for the coffe beans is Bremen, near our town.It’s very famous today also.You should visit it.Now in the museum we have kept the most important pieces of equipment used in the past for roasting, grounding and packaging coffee.The interesting thing is that the coffee was too expensive and rare so in former times people were coming here using these machines for corn, which was an alternative to coffee for them.We are very proud of a few very old ovens that you can see displayed here. 4.How was the coffee transported from Bremen back then? The coffe was brought by train in sacks made of jute or hemp in order to be resistant.From the station the bags were transported here using traditional carriages. 5.Do you think this amazing collection you have here is of interest for people? We don’t have so many visits, but we are positive that we need to promote the past activities to the new generations.They have to realize that agricultural field has always been valued as the basic occupation and can become profitable nowadays too. Visit at MuseumskroogSpecken” Bad Zwischenahn, Germany 1.How come you decided to start this business? Well, being a local, I really wanted to find a way of staying around.It’s true that most of the population is mid-aged and have jobs out of town in Bremen or Hannover.As this is a spa area, I knew that restaurants cand be at help especially during summertime so I thought of a restauration business. 2.Was it hard or risky? Yes, you can say that.Evey time you come up with a new idea people don’t encourage you that much.But with a little effort and determination I renovated the place but I kept the cosy atmosphere as I dreamed of a rustic choice for having a meal.Now I have loyal costumers. 3.What was the biggest obstacle for you? Well, you should know that this restaurant was rearranged based on an old castle.It was a little hard to write a project and get it approved, also with the renovation and redecoration but it was worthed.as people like the new design very much.We kept the natural texture of the oak girders as a link between the past and the present. 4.What do you recommend young entrepreneurs? To be well informed, to find a good business idea that can keep your enthusiasm at a high level every day and to apply it knowing that without a lot of effort no dream can come true.
Visit at the nursery Bonk from Bad Zwischenahn - your green diamond in Ammerland 1.What type of business do you have? Is a family business based on a powerful hobby of mine. 2.What is the main activity? Growing trees which are rare or have a specific way of taking care of.We also export them abroad. 3. What is your competitive advantage? We shape them in the most creative ways.We anticipate our costumers needs or we respond to our clients orders. 4.Can you name some types of your products?
Hand crafted topiaries
Bonsai shapes
characterful solitary trees Prices range from 1000 euros to tens of them. 5.How can you transport big trees after you grow them in the size your costumer wants? Well, there are ingineered methods to deliver such tall trees.We dig a hole of 1 m diameter around the tree and we extract it not to damage the roots in the same day of travel.We only transport trees one by one because they have few tones each.So, we place it in the truck and, for exemple, it takes 4 hours to arrive safely to Hannover.Finally, we plant it in the same kind of hole at the destination.The new owner receive professional advice to take care of the tree as it can cost thousands of euros. 6.We can realize the transportation is very important.Do you have your own fleet for delivery? No, but we work with powerful and very reliable long-term partner trucking companies from home and abroad.This has the advantage that the pricing for the customer is always transparent. 7.How old is the nursery business and what do you plan for the future? The nursery Bonk - your green diamond in Ammerland is run by the second generation.We employ more than 70 hectares of nursery area and we have 25 highly motivated employees.We desire to expand the market abroad more to promote landscape design and, as a result, increase our portofolio of clients and our income. 8.What state of involvement does a young entrepreneur have to have to start such business? One can practice this green job only if he/she admits that most of the time is spend in the nursery.Forexemple, my house is placed here, in the nursery, where I live with my wife and children.They also have to be very creative, hardworking and passionate.It requires lifelong learning in landscapearchitecture and also economic knowledge.
Study trip to “FischereiRabben” (interview with the Fisherman near Lake Zwischenahn) 1.When did you decide that you want to become a fisherman? This is a family business and it was held by a lor of generations so far.Actually, I am a technician, but I decided to keep the tradition.This activity was very appreciated in the past and it’s one of the things that raised my consciousness for being active in the field.Another reason is that my mother was the first successful woman in fishing some timesago.She even won diplomas and prizes in such competitions. 2.What kind of fish do you have? Several types, but the biggest demand is for salmon, trout, eel (scaleless,snakelikefish) etc.The last one is typical for this area.You can buy it fresh, fillet or smoked. 3.How hard is nowadays to be a fisherman? It’s very hard from different points of view.Firstly, you need money and time to develope the business.I stay here near the lake along with my family.My house is „my office”.Secondly, you cannot find people to do this work, as it requires physical abillitiesmostly.Thirdly, the schedule is sometimes difficult to adapt to.Forexemple, the eel is a special fish that can be caught only during night. 4. How did you succeded in sustaining your family business? At some point I stopped the activity because it wasn’t that profitable and I went to work abroad as a technician.This is how I have saved some money.We also opened a rustical restaurant besides direct selling. 5.Do you think you earn enough money?Is is worthed, efficient considering the amount of work you have to do? Well, I think there are a lot of obstacles, especially financial ones, and if you aren’t passionate about it you won’t find motivation to continue. 6.What prices do you practice? For a quantity of 1000 g of product, depending on the fish type, the consumer can pay from 2 – 8 euros. 7.In which way did you try to solve the problems you came across? I applied for some EU funds but the process to get the money is very slow.I couldn’t give up now because at some point I invested my own money to make it work.But, unfortunetely, I have been waiting for the reimbursement for 3 years so far.It’s quite discouraging. 8.What is your future plans? I will definitely keep on running the family business and i will also try to involve the local authorities convincing them that this kind of traditional green job can help at touristic development and not only.The good news is that we can balance the bank account during summer because this place is loved for the people here, the first choice for them to spend a nice sunny day in the open. 9.What would you do if you had the chance to begin all over again? To be very honest, I would choose to be a TV technician.
Lunch at café/restaurant “Pankokencafe” (interview with the young female owner) 1.What is the concept of this café? We thought of a small inexpensive restaurant or coffeebar,servinglightmealsandrefreshments, in a cosyambient.We collected traditional old items like sofas, wooden baroque tables, chic lampshades and we created a homyatmophere for our clients.This is our family business concept. 2.Why did you choose this place for the restaurant?It’s quite far from the town. We had another place once, but we change it because it wasn’t a good choice and it didn’t fit the new concept.We wanted it to be like an „oasis” for those passing by.Now, as you can see, is directly near the most importing cycleway in the district.This spot also helped in terms of promotion or marketing. 3.What do you serve here? The interesting thing of this place is that here you can taste various types of pancakes based on special unique homemade recepies.Each culinary desire is fulfilled by my mother, aunt, whoever is available during the day here with me. 4.We noticed that you have hanged a lot of surrealist paintings on the walls.What was the idea? Yes.We wanted to promote also the local artists and we agreed to do this.As the clients coming here are interested in buying them, we give them the phonenumber of the owners and they can negociate personally the price.We don’t charge any fee for that. 5.How long have you been taking care of this business? Actually, today (28th of October 2014) we celebrate 2 years so far.We are proud of that.It wasn’t easy to fight for a good position on the market.Now we have faithful costumers.Some of them only pass by to take away the food they ordered by phone. 6.Is it a profitable business?How did you manage to sustain it financially? It was not easy because we didn’t want to contract a bank loan even though we needed it for startup.We used only our money and that’s why the developement wasn’t that big.But we manage because we are not running a big business family.In the future, we shall think about it if necessary. 7.Is it a seasonable or permanent occupation? Unfortunetely, we usually close during winter.The problem is we don’t have an integrated heating system here and it’s not worthed going on with the activity.This is an important issue we have to deal as soon as possible, but we still lack the amount of money to invest in it. 8.Are you happy with your work? As long as you have people with the same motivation around everything becomes easier.I am happy that I can offer a pleasant few hours to our clients and that one of my dreams cametrue.In conclusion, dispite the fact that you are young, don’t ever give up!
Study trip to “Farm Ahlers” 1.What kind of economic activity do you develop here? This is our farm, the place we live and work also.We want to take it from self-comsumption to a family business because we have a lot of space and material resources to handle.So, here we are renting rooms, selling homemade products to our clients and teach kids how to ride a horse. 2.What was the concept you had in mind when you started this business? Well, there has always been a demand for families with children to spend the holidays or part of it in an open space.Kids are very fond of animals, playing in the garden, feeding the birds etc.And parents think that it’s the perfect place to bring them here for at least a week to stay healthy and become familiar with the life of farmers.As they don’t have such kind of properties they choose us. 3.What kind of animals do you have here? Along with a flock of chicken and some pigs, we breed horses and cows for milk and meat.We often make contracts with slauther houses or other factories.Nevertheless, there are people visiting us weekly to buy milk for their family in small quantity.We are also protected by ower nice dogs . 4.You said something about teaching children how to ride horses? Yes, our daughter has this passion and we decided that we could give this joy to other children also.The cost is 10 euros/hour.Every child that comes here has it’s own colt (pony, a male/female horse under the age of four), give him/her a name, takes care of him/her.Parents are very enthusiastic because their children are having fun and doing an exclusive sport also (equitation), becoming more responsible on the way because after each session they have to comb the horse and clean the place before heading home. Another thing that is appreciated by the people is that we accept horses from the locals to use them in the activity as a gift/donation whenever they cannot keep them anymore for various reasons.They are very happy because they don’t have to feel bad because of the situation.You know, between a horse and its owner a very strong bond develops in time that you can’t ignore/forget for the rest of your life. 5.What about direct selling? Our son is in charge of this.We have here a little grocery store where you can find fresh vegetables and fruits, jars of homemade products like jam, traditional salads, mixtures of different steamed vegetables etc.We don’t produce them all here.We have a garden and we sell tomatos for exemple but we complete the supply with our associates line of goods.It’s a cooperative work we have here and we promote the producers in the area. 6.What about accommodation? As i said, we rent rooms especially for families.Half of the house we use for us, half of it is for agrotourism.This means that the members of the families accommodated here (60 euros/night/double room) have chores for the day helping us with the daily activity. 7.What competitors do you have on the market? Well, there is a new kind of “rural entertainment” which is very popular for families here also.I’m talking about a practical exercise called swin/farmer golf, a new offer in the touristic sector, often managed by farm cafés and rural restaurants.You can find more accessing this link www.swingolf-ammerland.de 8.Do you have some advice for those who want to start such business? This is a physical activity.Also it requires team work and most of the time you have to wake up very early in the morning.You have to love animals to take care of them always.Don’t aim only the profit because you won’t succed.And also it can be risky because animals can catch unexpected illnesses.In this activity as in agriculture field also, luck has it’s important place.Bevigilant!Otherwise, it can give you a lot of satisfaction!
Turcia ChickenFarm Our firsttravelafter arrivingin the city ofBalikesirthe first dayafterwemadecomfortable at thehoteland I beganto know therest of the groupwasayoungfermădethe outskirts, insatulAkcaloren. A farmthatat firstI thought wasold fashionedbutwe foundenteringinaunutru actuallyrealize thatwe are wrong,all chickenswerescrumptiousfoodşiadăpostconditions. Aftera brief overview ofthe businessownerroleweenteredand startedto ask questions: 1. When startingthis business? -This farmismore thana family businessand westarted businessin 2000. 2. Howchickenyouinthis farm? Howyoucare forthem? -Around9,500chickensthat havenon-stop forfood and waterconditionsaresomereally good, try to maintainanacceptable temperaturechickens, neither too hotnor too coldso you havepartofnormal growth. 3. Whyusechickens fromthe farm? -Absolutelyallofthis farmchickensformeatareaftera contractafter theydeveiniadulţiwillarrive atmeat plantsif productionqualityis ourfactoryrenewscontractwith us,wecontractfactorycurrentlybeing-thefarm20kmaway. 4. What doesa chicken"adult"? -A chicken becomes an adultafter 45 days, andisreadyto cut. 5. I assumethat you aresubject to certaincontrolsare andwhatI presume? -Wereally theperiodic inspections, ourchickensaremeant consumptionby the populationandeverything must beperfect, veterinarydoctorscheckchickensbefore sending themto thefactoryandgive usapprovalthatmaybecut, and the conditions under whichgovernment unitsraisechickens. 6. Chicksthatare intendedandincreasing itsexports toEuropeor just forTurkeyand the Asiandistribution? -IDoexport to Europe,not becausewewantitbut becausethe principles on whichEU Member Statesgotrybanningcooperation withcountries thatdo notbelong to thisunion. 7. Apart fromthis farmengaging inother activities? - Other activities? Yes, in addition to producingpoultrymeat we also produce eggs.