Zsolt is a 29-year old farmer from the county of Mures. A globe-trotter, he travelled in Hungary and Germany before coming back ‘home’.  He is starting a permaculture garden and wants to join the Webkamra project.

 

 

 

Why did you want to start a permaculture garden?

My parents and grandparents used to grow their garden but I wasn’t helping them much in the garden. I discovered permaculture in Berlin, from someone I met there. When he told me about, I though “This is what I want to do!” Then I started to watch a lot of tutorials in the internet and went to workshops.

 

What is permaculture exactly?

Permaculture, it’s different from the traditional way to grow things, even if, somehow, it can be really similar to it. The way my parents and grandparents grew was basically monoculture. In 1m², they grow one kind of plant, and they take out everything from the garden, leaving that 1m² empty. In permaculture, I try to associate different kind of vegetables that can help each other to grow, and  I always leave something, some seeds or crops that fell on the soil and grow the following year, right on the same place your plant them first.

I will also get ducks and birds, because I don’t want to use any pesticides. The ducks are my chemicals: they eat the snails and the slums that harm the trees and the food.

 

What do you like the most when you garden?

I like the most when I plant something and when I see it’s coming out. It changes every day. I will go out in the garden tomorrow and it would look different than yesterday. It’s never boring: it’s a process. I like observing the process. And, I like the whole thing together: my dog, the pigeons, and the vegetables. I will have yellow tomatoes, onions, carrots, but also berries, spices, and some special eggplants that are not really used here. I will try to grow some medicinal plants and to have a mushroom field too. Gardening is always about trying and experimenting new things.

 

Why did you want to join Webkamra?

I heard of this kind of initiative last year in Berlin, and I really liked the idea of supporting cheap, good quality and affordable vegetables. In some case, this affordable price can be balanced with some help from the buyer. Hopefully, Webkamara will get to the level of CSA and ASAT initiatives which are already based in bigger cities.

 

Interview conducted by Emilie Grard

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