A Vilnius resident brought a foreigner to Lithuania: he has something to say to others

But mostly from the beginning: Kristina and Diego’s friendship began in 2011 in the Peruvian capital, Lima, where Kristina traveled voluntarily and Diego was a student of National Agricultural Sciences from Lima at the time. When Kristina came to tour the university, a friendship developed, they told news portal tv3.lt.

They talked about the farm from the first meeting.

Kristina says that the second time they met really only happened in 2014: they have been friends for 3 years, since then they started to leave once or twice a year until Diego made a surprise in 2016.

“In 2016, Diego surprised me, he visited me in Brussels and prayed. In 2017, we got married in Peru and moved to Belgium, ”said Kristina.

While living in Brussels, Kristina did diplomatic work and Diego volunteered extensively, then worked for a non-governmental organization. This continued until his son Feliksas Vytis saw the world. It is one of the reasons why the family made the decision to settle in Lithuania.

“It just came to our knowledge then. It took me a long time because I wanted to do many things in Peru, Kristina wanted to do many things in Lithuania. We talked for many months. I had a job in Peru, but I thought, ‘Why not? We’ll see how. We will succeed ”, Diego recalls the decision to settle in Lithuania.

Therefore, the family eventually returned to Lithuania and settled in Vilnius. However, the couple of years I spent in Belgium and the abundance of community gardens provided knowledge about agriculture.

The couple talked about the dream of having a farm one day during the first meeting: Kristina spent the summer in a village where she helped her grandparents take care of the gardens, as well as Diego: Peru’s father has a mango farm and his Grandmother, who lives in a small town, is also a farmer.

“When we met, we talked about wanting to become farmers. When we moved to Brussels together, we moved to an apartment with a large terrace and Kristina realized that she could grow flowers, vegetables and learn how to grow food here.

So we started to think that we would soon travel to Lithuania, we have many plans there, but one of them is to set up a farm, so we have to study. There are many lessons to learn before sowing seeds, many YouTube videos to watch, many books to read and many people to follow on Instagram to understand what it means to have your own farm, “said the interlocutor.

Buying land does not risk

After returning to Lithuania, the search for the plot began. True, first of all, the family traveled to the Alytus district to see the lands that Kristina inherited from her ancestors, unfortunately, the distance was too great – her family and friends lived in Vilnius:

“We decided we needed to find a place closer to Vilnius, so we started looking and found the place where we are now located. It was September, winter was approaching, so we decided to find a place for the farm near Vilnius and set a date. in which we would have two or three weeks to find a plot and sign a lease. We visited several places, but I liked the most where we are located: there is a lake and a forest nearby. “

The desire to have our own freshly boiled farm and now for the second year in a row vegetables are grown here, as well as some berry bushes. They say that now they would grow fruit trees if the land had them, but that they would rent them: it is too risky to invest money in someone who does not know if they will be successful.

“It is always difficult to buy land, especially for foreigners and young couples who are new to agriculture and have no experience. You invest a lot of money and you do not know if you will do well in agriculture, you do not know if the business will be successful or not. We decided not to risk it and rent the land, ”said the man.

There was a lot of work to start growing vegetables: it was necessary to prepare the soil, reduce its acidity and dig the beds. Everything here was done by hand, Diego smiles that even the shattered floor was loosened when he picked up a fork.

Diego now remembers with a smile that when he first arrived at the farm, he slept in a tent, but he was not afraid of it, he always loved camping, so it did not scare him. On the contrary, it provided joy. It is true that now the night already allows the cabin on wheels.

“At first I slept in a tent when Kristina and Felix slept in a warm, comfortable and soft bed in the city. I decided to sleep in a tent because it was the only option at the time. There was no house, no electricity, no water, just a grassy plot.

Now that we have a mobile home, Felix and Kristina can also spend a few nights on the farm. That was not possible last year and now we have electricity and water. Although I have a tent in the house, I do feel nostalgic ”, laughs D. Valencia.

Vegetables are purchased by subscription

Now the farm grows a variety of vegetables: lettuce, onion, zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes and much more. You won’t find chemistry on this farm with light – Kristina jokes that the only chemical here is a mosquito repellent, but she doesn’t use it either. Diego adds that the soil is enriched with compost, chicken manure, and dolomite dust, because the soil here is acidic.

“One of the reasons we wanted our farm was that we had a baby and we wanted to make sure we gave him healthy, natural, fertilizer-free food. It’s not like we just grow food for customers: we eat it ourselves, our son eats it. , so they don’t even talk about chemistry.

Sometimes it is difficult when pests attack. Last year we had very nice Chinese strongholds, but they were attacked by aphids. This is life “We don’t use anything to protect the plants, and sometimes it happens,” said the interlocutor.

The family does not go to the market with their produce, but instead loads everything into the car and delivers fresh produce to customers at the door; it all happens by subscription and people choose how often they want to get fresh vegetables.

“It just came to our knowledge then. The clients of our farm can subscribe and receive packages of vegetables at home every week or every two weeks for a month or the entire season. On the agreed day, we deliver fresh vegetables from our farm”, he explained Kristina.

Kristina says that she feels that people are extremely comfortable and need that service. It is true that those who want to harvest themselves can agree in advance and come. Also, the family tries to tailor each customer order basket according to what they like and always try to add something extra, like their own infusion of hand-picked herbs or pet eggs.

Invites to visit and see closely

Although everyone who participates in the program receives their order at home, Diego and Kristina assure them that the most important thing for them is not to sell products, but to build a community, so encourage everyone to visit the farm: build trust, people can see and see the freshness of the products, ask questions:

“We want to meet all buyers so that they are part of our economy. We always talk about what their expectations are, what they like and what they don’t. For example, last year we grew chicory, but unfortunately Lithuanians don’t like it. Last year green peas were very popular, this year we grow more. We try to take into account what members of our program like and what we want us to grow. “

When asked which people come to the farm, they both notice that they all come for a different purpose. Some want to escape the hustle and bustle of the city, others want to get their hands on the ground, and for those who have children, this is a great way to educate them and show them how to grow vegetables.

“Last year, during the farm’s first birthday, Diego organized a big party and one of the activities was planting garlic. We harvested, the garlic grew big and beautiful, it was a lot of fun for people to contribute to the process. Many clients live in the city, so there is no place to grow their own vegetables, so our farm is a kind of opportunity for them to grow something, ”said K. Milkeraitytė.

People come here not only to work, sometimes everyone travels together to the forest or the lake, enjoying food in a friendly way. In addition to all that, this year Diego thought of hiring interns to help out on the farm and learn. Kristina laughs and says that the man prepares the material for each meeting and does his homework.

When asked if they would like to expand the farm in the future, they both smile; so far, they are gradually planting something new, but they are not free to do what they want:

“The point is that we farm on leased land, so we can’t plant fruit trees, it’s not our land. However, this year we planted raspberries, strawberries and we hope to have berries next year and be able to offer them to customers. Maybe one day we will have our own land and can plant fruit trees there. “