Hello guys. Today I’ll tell you about our trip last weekend to Kosovo, a village in the Rhodopi mountains around 1 hour away from Plovdiv. Around 20 years ago they got the place and during the years they repaired and renovated the already existing building using natural materials. Varvara is an architect by education, but has a nation for “Earth building” as she calls it. You will hear more about her soon as we had time for a short interview with her. Their place is very beautiful and authentic as you can see from the photos we took during our visit. The colors of autumn are in full blast and the leaves look wonderful in the sun.
On Sunday morning we went there with Misha and Philip to visit them and help out with some yard work. It was not only us as another group of friends who also came to help out and in total, we were around 10 people in total which made for a merry bunch.
We had luck with the weather as it was very warm and sunny. Because we arrived first I even had a nap in the sun outside while waiting for the others to come. When everyone was present and ready we started with treating some fence posts before they were put in the ground to help them last longer. We got together and relatively quickly almost all posts were ready and put aside to dry. The sun was already down so we stopped work for the day and went to prepare for dinner. It was very warm and cozy in these old houses and it was always pleasant to gather with nice people after working together. We chatted, played some board games, and enjoyed a very tasty dinner before going to bed. We had quite a lot of work planned for the next day.
On the second during breakfast, we talked about the design of the place and they showed us a drawn plan of the land. The fence posts we treated were meant for an orchard area where fruit trees were to be planted. First, we had to decide where would the fence be located and the holes for the posts would be dug. Then we moved some of the fence posts up the hill and started digging. Unfortunately, the ground there was full of stones and even though we were 4 men with proper tools and a drilling machine it took us quite a lot of effort and time to dig out just 4 holes. We realized the stones in the ground would keep blocking the machine and all the holes needed to be dug mostly by hand. As there were nearly 100 fence posts to be placed we decided it was best to call an excavator and leave the digging to them.
After that, we finished treating the rest of the posts. We tried to figure out what else could be done while the sun was still up. We tried to make use of the light and prepare an area where some plants were to be planted. Before the end of the day, we managed to have an interview with Varvara to tell us more about her and her projects. We were all very tired from the day and we kept it short and simple. I hope you’ll be able to hear it soon if we manage to upload it later this week.
It was great meeting all these lovely new people and spending time in a wonderful place helping out. I hope to get a chance to meet them again as there is much more to discuss and do with such interesting people.