Training, informing and learning about good practices is one of the important activities of the Association for Rural Development Laz from Jablaniška dolina. During the winter, we prepared several workshops in the field of gardening, healthy food and local cuisine, which were very well attended. On Saturday, March 22, 2014, we went to Poljanska dolina, where we had something to see and experience.
First, we stopped in the old part of Škofja Loka and visited the DUO Handicraft Center (domestic and artificial crafts). The ethnologist welcomed us and presented us with a European project, within the framework of which they arranged a very pleasant space, where artisans from Loška create, teach, exhibit and also sell their products. We continued our journey to Poljanska dolina, where we visited farms that successfully developed complementary activities, such as milling and baking bread in a bread oven, cheesemaking, pickling cabbage, baking bread and pastries in the traditional way. It’s a good thing that our bus was a little shorter, that we managed to get to the ravines and hills, in which farmers persist on the land by farming in combination with complementary activities.
All our hosts who succeeded had three important things in common. ‘We don’t complain’, they said, but we see all obstacles as a fact that we cannot change, so we tackle obstacles with persistence and positivism, and we have overcome all the problems. Even with connecting in the valley, with mutual cooperation in promotion, marketing, acceptance of groups – competition is a good thing, they say, because it is enough for everyone if there is no ‘fovshia’. So at Pustotnikova Sirnica in Gorenja vas, we were able to buy not only their products, but also from other farmers from Poljanska dolina. The third characteristic we noticed was the involvement of young people in working on farms. They sovereignly presented the farms and activities of farms to us and specifically pointed out their gratitude to their parents for offering them the opportunity to work or Employment on the farm. After their studies, they recognized the potential that a market-oriented farm can offer for a good life, and with their expertise, they upgraded the vision of the farms.
Some market routes, which are difficult for our farms to go hand in hand, were referred to as completely simple and self-evident solutions. For example, that they regularly deliver local food, bread, cabbage, yogurts,… to kindergartens, schools, to the home corners of agricultural cooperative shops. Large stores do not sell their products, as a low price is more important than quality, so everyone sells directly to end customers at markets, fairs, events and, of course, in their backyard. It was encouraging to hear that the demand exceeds the supply and that it is also wise that the expansion of production or to stop the production of domestic products so that they can still ensure the quality within their family, which customers who appreciate domestic food also expect.
We ended the day at a tourist farm, where a hayloft was glazed for a common area and accommodation was arranged for children who come to a kindergarten or school in nature. Other visitors from all over can also find them online. They served us house goodies from their own and the barn.
It’s a good thing that it was already dark when we returned to the Jablanica valley, because the neighbors would be amazed at which promised ‘shopping’ country we are coming back from. We had our hands full with goodies from the farms. These practices were really good, both professionally and gastronomic.