From theater to ecological agriculture. Caring for nature is an art itself, even though it would seem that agriculture is not a job for an artist. That is especially true in the country of great landscapes, tasty food and wonderful nature. Still, a country that faces numerous ecological challenges.
Petru Ababei is a stage director who founded the theater “Râşnița” in the city of Drochia, later renamed “Cupidon”. But, after many years on stage, he decided to make art in the garden too, writes AgriKlumea. He started to do ecological agriculture.
Moldova is mainly an agricultural country, with about 75 percent of its land utilized for farming and agriculture. Only recently, Moldovans have introduced initiatives to create sustainable agriculture and to enhance the competitiveness of the agro-food sector.
On the land inherited from his grandfather Tudor, the farmer grew products only for his family, relatives and friends. Now the farmer specializes in field crops such as root vegetables, beans, garlic, apple trees, quinces and walnuts. ˝ The idea to plant a walnut orchard came from the desire to leave something to the children and grandchildren, a value that will last for years, so the walnuts represent me as a producer, and the other products are more the result of creativity and curiosity. ˝
“I am very glad that people have started to realize how important it is to eat healthy. With us, the engine in this sense was our daughter Doina, who always took care of how to feed herself. When the twin grandchildren were born, we oriented ourselves even more towards natural production, but also towards the promotion of these products. In addition, we try to guide others to consume healthily, I am sure that together we can change things”.
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Unfortunately, organic farming does not mean high yields, because most of the work in the field is painstaking and manual:
“We do all the work by hand, starting from sowing to tending and harvesting the fruit at the end of the season. We don’t do anything mechanize. We do not use chemicals, chemical fertilizers or pesticides. This year we only made treatments with Bordeaux juice, which is allowed in eco agriculture. It’s hard, we still have work, but the efforts are worth it. This year, due to the drought, we obtained very small harvests, but this did not discourage us”.
The products from Petru Ababii’s garden can be bought at the Eco Local market. Do not hesitate to encourage local producers, who know how to combine pleasure, utility an sustainability.