Hello all,
For today’s post we have with us Lyubomir Durankev “Lyubo”, another member of Green School Village (GSV) association with whom I had the pleasure to share some time in Tramonti, Italy during our Permaculture Design Course (PDC) last October. We had a short stay at his place and we had to make the interview in the car on the way back, so here it is a summary of our conversation. If you want to listen to the full conversation, please click below:
For some years already, he had been dreaming about quitting the city life and move to a greener and fresher place. His dream was to create a Garden of Eden, a fruit forest surrounded by meadows with a nice view and it started coming true when he bought the property in 2017 in a town around one hour away from Sofia. At the beggining he had a lot of work to do, starting by cleaning the field to give space to plant what he wanted and removing undesired species.
Chesnuts are his passion, what he also combines with some persimons, almonds, apple, pears, apricots, many berries like goose berries, black berries also some nectarines and recently he ordered some kiwis that can climb on oaks and elms. There is still a lot of work to be done but a good thing is that he is not starting from zero in an empty land, so there is some structural basis already with some trees and plants as well as some buildings that he wants to restore/rebuild.
When I asked him about how does he choose what to plant, he told me that it is necessary to love what you are planting and to keep in mind what you like to eat. In his case, he likes chesnuts since they provide carbs, are a source of food and they fall on the ground so they are very convenient to collect. There are some chesnut trees around in the area and that is why he decided to plant them, since they could have a good future. His design idea consists on a canopee of chesnuts and then adding some shrubs along the contours to bring water in the drier zones. His place has access to tap water that he uses to irrigate the field for now and there used to be a small spring that sadly was dried by his neighbour in order to take care of his sheep. However, it is not always bad since the sheep can be a source of manure and some rotten hay can provide mulch for his garden.
Lyubo has always wanted to quit city life for some years but he did not have the funds to have a quick change so he is going through a smooth transition that is possible since the land is close to the city. Even though he took small steps, it was very important to start somwhere, and have in mind that it is not always possible to quit city life completely and all of a sudden. His dream is to built his permanent house there in his property, with a lot of natural light, and with an energy efficient system that does not require excesive heating in winter nor cooling in summer. He plans to rebuild and redesign the existing houses since restoring all of them is very expensive and would not provide the desired results. He dreams of the day when he will wake up and step out to he garden with a cup of coffee in one hand and scissors on the other to prune his garden while enjoying the nature, the fresh air and the amazing view.
Now in winter the garden was dry but, as the land is still being developed, lots of work need to be done during this time. For example, Lyubo needs to plant, to prune trees like some oaks so he can remove lower branches to shape them as trees instead of bushes so there is space to walk around and plant other trees. After pruning, there comes grafting that can go until early spring. There are many trees that can be grafted, like apples, pears, cherries, wild cherries, etc. He likes to graft species and experiment with the results, what allows him to understand better his land and the climatic conditions of his farm. Grafting is an ancient technique that consists in putting one or more plants (scions) into another one (rootstock) to take advantage of the properties of each one. For example, it allows to grow more attractive and tasty fruits in a stronger variety. There are compatibility charts that help people know which plants are a good match and what can be the expected results. For planting he tries different approaches, some trees come from the nursery while for pear and apple, for example, he had used seeds instead, which also provides him with branches for grafting.
Lyubo keeps working having in mind the contour lines of his land to create new rows, he also keeps mulching and, now that the soil is moist, it becomes easier to remove undesired plants, what is not possible in summer when the soil is dry. Now after some years, he knows how the land behaves through all four seasons, so he has learnt better where to plant, which plants are good for that place, which areas need more water and which other need to be drain. As we were there in the beggining of december and I could not see the place in full bloom, he shared with me some of his photographic register that he has since the beggining so it helps him to better keep track of the progress. It is also worth mentioning the importance of observing which animals visit the place and how is the interaction with both the new plants and the already existing ones. Below you can see some of his pictures, including the landscape, some of the harvest and some animals found in the farm.
The whole concept is still under development and the idea of the land’s design is growing and changing: it is something alive. He aims to get a forest ecosystem in the future so he keeps filling empty spaces between plants. His passion are the chesnuts and even though it is hard to imagine how it will look like in 10 years, Lyubo expects that these amazing trees will grow well and shape the main grid of the orchard and be the older generation of a full forest ecosystem.
For everyone who wants to start this lifestyle, he suggests them to start planting some seeds, to get closer to the land as it is a kind of meditation. Just keep going, don’t give up and you will be rewarded in some time, maybe not immediately but just for the feeling of growing plants and the sensation of being in nature and creating life. This is an amazing feeling for a city person like us. Do not hesitate guys, take the first step and get closer to the earth!
It was great to visit his place and to see how the project is evolving. I hope we will have the chance to follow his updates and the progress.
Thanks for reading and talk to you soon !
Juliana
