English

I am specializing on designing of small natural urban gardens (typically gardens of family houses) in local Czech conditions. I can suggest  you planting of species which are hardy, don’t need any maintenance and are beautiful, or even edible.

I am also  member of the organization Permakultura CS and I am interested in permaculture as a journalist; I work voluntarily as an editor of the permaculture quaterly magazine Keyhole (in Czech Klíčová dírka).

Just now, I am collecting material for my planned book on Czech and Slovak permaculturists and similar individuals and activities.  Here are two articles on interesting locations in Slovakia, translated by Jon Davis:

Pragmatic-Ethical Reasons for Bio-Vegetable Cultivation

Ján Šlinský has become famous in Slovakia and the Czech Republic for his original method of so-called AgroCircle: he grows bio-vegetables in large circles of vegetable patches and farms them by means of mechanical arms. AgroCircle however also means something more: the notion of circles of vegetable consumers that know their grower well and support one another.

 A few kilometers from Senec, Slovakia, hidden among the fields and groves of Žitný ostrov (or Rye Island) lies the natural farm of a pioneer of bio-vegetable farming Ján Šlinský. The large vegetable patches are circular in shape, immediately reminding one of the character of Soviet children's science fiction named Neznaika however, in contrast to the literature, robotic combines do not circle around the central rods but rather electrically powered arms on which the equipment is hung.

 “I first encountered circular cultivation of land as a young boy when reading about the adventures of Neznaika,” explains the readily accommodating and plain-spoken man who enjoys sharing his experiences and observations with visitors as well as spreading his life philosophy. “Following the revolution, I was already resolving specific technical problems. I wanted to eliminate waste of the soil structure and do away with internal combustion engines; agro-technical bridges with mechanical arms passing over the land under cultivation offered the most effective method.” The bridges are in use around the world but they run along rectangular fields and are far more complicated to operate than the arms of the circles. “The rows of the fields are in the shape of a spiral which eliminates the necessity to alter the settings at the end of each row,” he explains. “The machine starts to run at an outer edge and continues toward the center. Such equipment is technically simple and it is possible to assemble it even at home. At the same time, this alleviates the need for physically strenuous work.“ 

 Under socialism, Ján Šlinský worked in an agriculture cooperative as the head of a center for vegetable production and thus knows well the practices of large-scale agricultural production, about which he has many reservations. “I got to know a lot about ecological farming at that time and it made sense to me. As a practitioner, however, I knew that the replacement of herbicides by means of manual labor in agricultural production, in practice, results in an unmanageable situation with weeds and that the area from which one would earn a living is too big for a hoe.” This is why he endeavored to automate field work but in such a way that would not cause any harm to the environment.

 Bio-vegetables in the supermarket are like a prostitute

 The concept of AgroCircle however also entails a community of a grower and his costumers who know him well and who are aware of where their vegetables are grown. Ján Šlinský sells vegetables from the farmyard because, as he says, he does not have the time to spend an entire morning at the market in Bratislava and the customers have agreed among themselves that one of them would always select the goods for the entire group. “From the very beginning, I have refused to supply chain stores with vegetables for romanticized-ethical as well as practical reasons,” he says. “As a small grower, I am not very attractive for them and their conditions are unacceptable. I conceived a system that would bring about a community in which parties interested in bio-quality would have their own grower with which they would come to an agreement on advantageous conditions that would allow the grower to survive and consumers to utilize the production.”

 Ján Šlinský's farm, where he farms with his wife and son, manages to supply approximately 60 families although the interest is many times greater. He thinks highly unconventionally; he does not want to expand his farm and hire workers. He is satisfied with the way things are; he does not long for big earnings but rather has a different vision. “Part of the conception of AgroCircle is the creation of duplicable operational units, that is other farms, where growers group customers thus shouldering the risks connected to the enterprise,” he explains. “This is necessary in order to bring about the creation of other such self-contained groups. Another grower just started up on the neighboring land; we will see how it goes. I am closing my group.” In practice, this means that each customer which wants to have prerogative during fulfillment of their orders (at the moment there are 330 registered interested parties – the capacity of the farm in the optimum situation is perhaps 60) becomes a VIP consumer and contributes to the construction of the new farm in the amount of 1,000 Euro, provided as an interest-free loan with payment deferral of six years. It is thereby possible to envision operational duplication of farms within the so-called BUŠ model (BUŠ being an acronym for “Without Government Participation” in Slovak).

 A number of potential customers are balking at such an undertaking and are hesitant to commit to the financial contribution. “The farmer however carries a million times more worry than the consumer, who only sends the mail,” Ján Šlinský explains heatedly. “But I cannot send the mail 'tomorrow I want it to rain', then 'I want the sun to shine', 'may the bugs leave my field'... Still, I provide consumers with vegetables that are healthy for them and moreover that they enjoy, with taste that is incomparable with the imitations sold in supermarkets. Certain vegetables I cannot even sell in supermarkets, for instance a special type of lettuce that must be harvested in the morning and consumed by noon, but the experience is worth it!”

 He despises the products offered in supermarkets. “Bio-vegetables in a supermarket, especially those shipped across the globe from as far away as China or New Zealand, are like a prostitute in a nun's habit,” he professes. “From a distance they indeed look fine but close up you see that it is a prostitute. Bio-vegetables make sense when they are grown locally and the grower and the customers know each other personally. Various horrors of the world today are only happening because all activities are anonymous. On the other hand, within the AgroCircle system, consumers know their farmer personally and also interject money into the system. I always say that the character of a person becomes evident when life and money are concerned. At the same time, customers get their investment back in six years and they are assured of the supply of quality fresh vegetables.”

 As we were parting, Ján Šlinský wrapped up for me a huge plastic bag of paprika, chili, zucchini and basil. He refused money. “I am giving you the first batch of AgroCircle vegetables free of charge so that you will quickly develop an addiction. This is reputedly how drug dealers work,” he says.

 

 

Three Days in an Actual Eco-village

 Last July I spent a weekend in Zaježová, which is the only truly functioning eco-village in what used to be Czechoslovakia. It is a community of people who share similar ideals and way of life, while striving to create a model of a sustainable village.

 South of Zvolen, in the mountains of Javorie, the view you get is one of a green countryside covered with deciduous forests, fruit orchards and a number of scattered farmhouses, called “lazy” in Slovak. (I have to admit that I have only now discovered the meaning of the word “lazy”. Travelling with me is Sára, a young Slovak woman, who currently lives in Prague and who knows many people in Zaježová although she has only been in contact with them by email. And so she is looking forward to finally meeting them in person. What is great about having her with me is that she can answer any language questions I may have.)

 We call Alenka Mojzešová, a local who will be putting us up for the night, and we look for the road that leads to her house. We have to drive down into the forest and cross a rather wide brook – which makes me a bit nervous. (Two days later, when it starts raining, Alenka tells me that I should park my car back on the road before the water level rises, and she likewise does with her sub-compact car.) Alenka is an ethereal, esoterically-oriented, gray-haired lady, who greets us along with her barking dog Woof, with her long skirt wading in the grass. She leads us to a well, telling us that this is where we can enjoy our morning wash – I become a bit startled, but as it turns out, there is a bathroom in the house although there is no hot water. What she probably meant was that we can enjoy the spiritual beauty of having a morning wash at a forest well. (For many environmental activities, a well is actually the only source of water for drinking, washing and all other purposes and so what she said was not really that strange. However, I am a salon environmentalist and I do have a problem with this.)

 The country home is very charming, full of lovely nooks, colorful rugs and wonderfully unique wooden door handles. We are to sleep in a small room which is almost entirely dark – there is only a small window, a beautiful stove furnace and a wooden meditation platform. Sára wants to sleep in the hay in the attic; I stay in the small room alone. The toilet is in the back yard – it is a dry toilet and its door is far from being in a state of repair. Alenka has been living here by herself for several years and she complains that it is difficult not having a man around – there are a lot of things around the house that need doing. Alenka, however, is a spiritual being and here she is in close contact with nature, which is something she values deeply. She is a biologist by trade and worked in a botanical garden in Bratislava – lovely flowerbeds surround her country home.

 On a tract of land at the edge of the forest, there are two horses – a brown one and a white one – that Alenka has borrowed for grazing. Everything is calm and peaceful and the faint sound of cow bells ringing from afar can be heard. In the evening we sit in the garden and drink sage tea.

 On the following day, we visit one of the centers of life in this area, the Polomy farmhouse, which has recently been remodeled into a modern and trendy eco-center: the facades are made of clay, the roofs are made of reed and all around there are prototypical permaculture seedbeds (this means that everything grows together and the whole thing looks like a disorganized clutter). The interiors of the building are very clean and modern with tiled bathrooms and showers. In front of the house, there are a number of cars from all over Slovakia. A workshop entitled “Path of the Woman” is currently under way inside. We can hear the participants signing and dancing. Hm, as a salon environmentalist, I certainly appreciate this wonderfully equipped accommodation.

 We have a seat at the newly opened tea-house that is run by Sára’s childhood friend (she actually knows this one personally although they have not seen each other for many years). I order an espresso, which provides a pleasant change from all that herbal tea I have been drinking. We amuse ourselves with a philosophical discussion about the possibilities of an impeding global ecological disaster and whether it would be helpful if the spiritual level of mankind would increase.

 Afterwards, Sára and I take a hike on a forest trail up to the mountain valley below the peak of Sekier Mountain, where stands a farmhouse of the same name. This is where the entire local alternative movement began in the mid-1990s, when the buildings were bought by the non-profit organization Society for Harmonious Living (Pospolitosť pre harmonický život – later referred to as PHŽ) and the members of the organization tried to live a truly communal life, sharing everything among themselves. Gradually, the group split into individual families that bought houses in Zaježová. However, Sekier remains the cornerstone of the Society and young people come here to try living humble lives in the community. They take part in the projects of the PHŽ, they grow their own vegetables, raise and milk goats, build ecological buildings and also have to stock up on the firewood they need for heating and cooking.

 At the moment there are just three inhabitants at Sekier – a couple from North Moravia, Honza and Míša, and Marek, who comes from Bratislava. They explain to us that they are currently building a coop for their hens, as many were eaten by a pine-marten. We take a tour of the farmhouse. It is beautiful, having belonged to a rich farmer, and the interior is just as it once used to be – the stove furnace, the loom, the original furniture, etc. Among the animals are goats, cats and an entire litter of puppies born to their vagabond mother.

 From Sekier, we continue further uphill through the forest to the center for natural building and construction called Brána (the Gate). A workshop is currently under way, attended by about twenty people from around the world who are building a house using clay and straw. The wooden construction is ready and the participants are treading the construction mud with their bare feet, digging up clay and applying it onto the straw. They are building a guest house – for the time being, the builders have to live in a military tent.

 Next on our itinerary is a visit to one of the founders of the PHŽ, Mirec Kašiak, who has been living here with his wife since 1995 and who has had four sons born here. He may tell us more about the history of this community and about the way it works.

 Mirec Kašiak lives in a semi-completed house made of natural materials – wood, clay and straw. He tells us how the newcomers during the first couple of years were disappointed by the communal life at Sekier. It was not the humble life they objected to, what was worse was how to confront issues regarding the common space, how not to suffer from lack of privacy and how not to succumb to cabin fever and the idiosyncrasies of others (well, he did not actually use those exact words, but this is how I imagine it). The group split into individual families that bought houses in Zaježová. They settled down and had kids – and eventually they started to cooperate with each other again. They organized events for their children, continued coming up with ideas for interest groups and so on.

 “For instance, we run a food bank here; about 30 people are involved in it,” he says. It is a communal food warehouse containing, for example, legumes, couscous, buckwheat, environmentally-friendly detergents and other things that do not spoil. The newcomers buy large packages in order to limit the amount of unnecessary packaging and to save money. Everybody has their own account, they can come at any time, take as much as they need and write it off their account. Once the account balance reaches zero, they put money in the jar located in the storage room. They also have a one-class school in Zaježová, run thanks to the enthusiasm and voluntary work of the parents. "We didn't want to have to drive our kids too far to school," says Mirec Kašiak. "We try to keep the operating costs of the school to a minimum and, except for the teacher, we do not really pay anyone. We do everything ourselves – the management, the financing, the cleaning and we also teach some of the subjects ourselves; I, for example, teach English and a few other classes. We divide the workload equally among ourselves."

 Shortly after the year 2000, they tried introducing the LETS, Local Exchange Trade System, which is a barter exchange system modeled after a primitive communal system that is often used in the world of enthusiast permaculturalists and ecologists. “For some time the LETS worked rather well and it was quite interesting,” says Mirec Kašiak, “but it turned out that our production capabilities were too low to make it worth exchanging our produce in this manner – the families were producing very little surpluses in their gardens." For this reason, they decided to stick with the traditional village practice in which the neighbors simply distribute and exchange their surpluses without keeping special records regarding what was given to whom. "And regarding mutual assistance, for instance, in construction, it turned out that we still needed money and that we still needed to be connected to the financial system, particularly so if people have their own families to provide for. It is simply easier and more advantageous for us to pay the local part-time workers from Zaježová in cash rather than in LETS points. The LETS was also based on a system in which all work had the same value in terms of LETS points although this was not the actual case and some people started to have a problem with it. That is why we decided to devote our time to more important issues."

 In the evening, we were joined at Alenka's by three of the eight members of the local literary club called Sněžné ženy (Snow Women - not only is the name of their group poetic, it is also the female counterpart to Bigfoot). We talked about writing and life in general and at the end, Alenka projected from the computer a screening of Pride and Prejudice starring Keira Knightley with Czech subtitles onto to white wall of the room.

 And now, an extract of what Alenka had to say to me into my dictaphone.

 “I was living in Bratislava for 17 years, but all the time the decision to move to the country was growing in me. I had a great job in the botanical garden but still I felt drawn towards greater freedom. Eventually, my boyfriend moved here to Zaježová and I would come here to visit him – gradually, visits became no longer enough. I came here with the fundamental need for spiritual experience. I intuitively knew that I had to go and live outside of civilization if I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of the laws that govern our universe. I wanted to become an integral part of those laws and to feel that I am a part of the universe, and that it is not the other way round – that the universe is not just a sub-component of our world. Every animal knows exactly how it is supposed to act in nature, when to do things they need to do, what to eat... I wanted to find the essence of what functions inside me. My boyfriend Vlado devoted his time to spiritual matters and our whole life was structured in a way that was very different from that of ordinary people. However, our otherness was not strange at all for the people who are our neighbors here and it was not a problem for them in any way. I felt acceptance and kinship.”