ponedeljek, 14. april 2014

Minutes of the 3rd Meeting in Donji Kraljevec, Croatia


 
Grundtvig Learning Partnership Project

»Adult education strategies in making best compost and treating of manure practices in order to highlight better food quality and reduction of the nutrition losses with regards of social, initiative and entrepreneurship key competencies«

Croatian Project No.: 2013-1-SI1-GRU06-05514 4

Duration: 1. August 2013 to 31. July 2015


Minutes of the 3rd Meeting in Donji Kraljevec/Croatia, 28. - 30. March 2014

 

Partners of the project

  • Germany: Forschungsring für Biologisch-Dynamische Wirtschaftsweise e.V.
  • Denmark: Foreningen for Biodynamisk Jordbrug
  • Croatia: Centar Dr. Rudolfa Steinera
  • Slovenia: Društvo za biološko-dinamično gospodarjenje Podravje.

Day 1

Date: 28. 03. 2014

Present: Uli Johannes König, Ulrike König, Meike Oltmanns, Erik Frydenlund, Neils Jensen, Sandra Percač, Jasminka Iličić, Ivan Kosak, Drago Purgaj, Sonja Purgaj, Danijela Kocuvan, Radovan Šuman.

Topic: Welcome and introduction of the newcomers to the project

Location: Donji Kraljevec, Small conference room, Hotel Kralj

Duration: 19:00 – 21:00

Summary:

Chief of Donji Kraljevec Miljenko Horvat, welcomed us to the Rudolf Steiner's birthplace. He explained that he is also a conventional orchardist, growing apples on 30ha. He also explained that he sees the future of agriculture heading into ecological growing, as the only long term direction that enables survival.

Sandra Percač, Head of Rudolf Steiner center, reflected on development of BD in Croatia. It is still in infancy phase, with 15 small farms engaged in BD production.

R. S. Center is responsible for developing BD farming. Their task is to implement courses in Croatia , at their location in Donji Kraljevec and elsewhere, to encourage people who think the same way to connect and create working groups that might grow into Associatiations of BD farmers. The Centre is also responsible for the education of consumers BD food. She noted that around 4000 copies of Moon calendars are sold in Croatia, yet most users are not familiar with the fundamentals of BD farming, nor with compost preparations and other BD practises.

Drago Purgaj has already held several BD introductory courses in various areas of Croatia. The last course was attended by quite a few agriculture professors, so it has been adopted for their easier understanding. One of the course participant emphasised that more and more students of Agriculture are expressing curiosity about BD, and that was the initial reason for her attendancy.

Bernardina, Agronomist from Istria, presented the initiative from Istrian BD Working Group, some of which are wine growers and producers of olive oil. She shared a power point presentation about pests in olives and the difficulties caused. Due to these problems in production, they have started to look for solutions in BD farming.

Jasminka pointed out that it is very important for farmers to get answers to their questions and support with BD, since there is very little practical knowledge in Croatia. BD Association „Yarrow“, chaired by her husband Zeljko, works in Zagreb and is very active. At their farm farmers can see how things work and look in practice. Most farmers still want recipes for problems, but Jasminka pointed out that this approach alienates them from the farm: many answers are found through observations of the needs of the soil and plants. She also mentioned a co-operation with the local General Practice family doctor who is actively educating population on the importance and benefits of healthy food growing and consuming.

During the meeting, it was pointed out by Ulrike König that BD farming should not be identified with production only, since it represents GROWING. The main difference between the BD farming and agricultural production lies in the fact that manufacturing, production is a process with an end in mind, while BD farming is opened process of continuous growth.

Sandra announced that next meeting will take a place on 90th anniversary of Rudolf Steiner's course in Koberwitz.

Day 2

Date: 29. 03. 2014

Present: Uli Johannes König, Ulrike König, Meike Oltmanns, Erik Frydenlund, Neils Jensen, Sandra Percač, Jasminka Iličić, Ivan Kosak, Drago Purgaj, Sonja Purgaj, Danijela Kocuvan, Radovan Šuman.

Topic: Workshop: BD compost preparation

Location: Rudolf Steiner Center garden, Donji Kraljevec

Duration: 9:00 -13:30

Summary:

During the morning, all participants engaged in „on hand“ experience of making compost heap. Workshop was led by Dr. Uli Johannes König, who gave detailed explanations of all the important parts of the process, including the expected consistency of the good compost and its final use

Topic: influence of compost preparations and manure in fruit growing

Location: Cirkovljan, at Donja 37

Duration: 13:30 – 17:30 visit to Aronia plantation

Summary:

Robert Rezek and Bojan Dominić own 1 ha plantation aronia, organically grown and BD method applied. Row spacing is 5 m. Now the seedlings aged 1 year and a half. Left to 25 shoots per shrub to 2 m final height .

They explained how they manage the soil, when they apply compost and compost preparations and how they solve challenges with insects in BD manner.

When Alex Podolinský visited their plantation, he advised that as aronia is ruled by Mars, it required higher beds. They provided detailed explanations on the soil preparation for planting and specifics of growing near the swamp – having soil rich in humus, yet highly acidic and wet (10 -12% humus , pH 8)

Day 3

Date: 30. 03. 2014

Present: Uli Johannes König, Ulrike König, Meike Oltmanns, Erik Frydenlund, Neils Jensen, Sandra Percač, Jasminka Iličić, Ivan Kosak, Drago Purgaj, Sonja Purgaj, Danijela Kocuvan, Radovan Šuman.

Topic: Visit to Vermicompost making plant – contribution of worms to compost making

Location: Vermicompost farm, Kotoriba

Duration: 9:00 -11:00

Summary:

Ivan Kosak produces humus with 500 families of Californian worms, since 1981. Farm consists of the production and storage area. Production area is on the concrete floor, with neat rows of organic material, mainly cow manure, thet is processed by Californiain worms. Ivan explained all the phases and details of the production. After the production, compost is stored in the covered heap where it further rippenes until packaging.

Topic: Visit to BD vegetable producing farm – Soil and Compost preparations influence on food quality

Location: Farm of Jasminka and Željko Iličić , Bukovina 2, Sveti Petar Čvrstec

Duration: 12:00 -15:00

Summary:

6 ha farm was bought in 2008. In 2009 they planted 2 ha of blackberries and were interested in BD. They were visited by Alex Podolinsky in 2010 and are mentored by him since. They used green manure, ripper and BD compost preparations in order to cultivate and enrich soil. After improving the quality of the soil, they started growing vegetables, and now have the whole area of the farm under full production. They regularly use 500P and compost to work further on improving soil quality. They offer practical advice to any farmer interested in BD

Croatian Project No.: 2013-1-SI1-GRU06-05514 4

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.


 
Rudolf Steiner Center garden, Donji Kraljevec



Vermicompost farm, Kotoriba




 
Farm of Jasminka and Željko Iličić,Bukovina 2, Sveti Petar Čvrstec, Croatia

Partners of the project