farm

Salanova lettuce

I met the Heroes of Responsible Dining at spring time. They are a group of four friends and a couple of volunteers who believe that saving the environment can be fun! With the Heroes of Responsible Dining initiative they aim to promote responsible choices when eating out or at home. The campaign is organized by the Hungarian non-profit organization Ökológiai Evolúció Alapítvány.

They started a new campaing a few weeks ago about getting to know more and shaking hands with your farmer. Knowing your farmer isn’t about distance, it’s about relationships. Talk to them at the local farmers market, ask them about the vegetables and fruits – where they are from and how they are grown/produced. This is a great way to find out their growing practices and policies.

Thanks to this campaing I had the opportunity to visit one of my favourite organic farmers, Mátyás Nemes and his family in Fülöpjakab. Hungary. It was educational and so much fun for me and I really feel like I get so much out of meeting my favourite farmer and visiting his farm. On the farm horticultural activities are carried out all the year round, by applying the methods of vegetative growing in green-houses of foil with minimum heating, and cold forcing of the plants in green-houses of foil. Hardy plants are grown on the fields from early spring to late autumn. Some 70-80 plant varieties are produced in a year, mostly for sale on the market of organic products.

Know your farmer, know your food!

Mangalica breeding at a nearby farm (mangalica is an indigenous species of pig in Hungary)

Ganoderma lucidum mushroom at a nearby farm

Purple Salanova lettuce (my favourite)

More lettuces…

Kale heaven!

Baking bread was the high point of the visit!

Vegetarian Hungarian bean goulash

The boss 🙂

I posted my latest weekend crumbs back in June. It is high time for a new one. I took a lot of (surprisingly) photos this past weekend.

Saturday morning I took a friend of mine to the organic farmers market. I walked around with her because it was her first time at the market. Early morning the weather was sunny but the fall air was crisp and cool. We loved to breathe it in as much as we could! After the market she invited me for a snack at a close bakery.

In the afternoon I baked Emiko’s florentine grape bread. Although I over rose the dough, it tasted delizioso!

This weekend seemed like the perfect weather for organic farms visiting. On Sunday we visited two farms in Fülöpjakab, in the Southern Great Plain region of Hungary.

One of them was the Nemes Eco Farm (with the two lovely owners, Mátyás and his wife, Marika). On the farm horticultural activities are carried out all the year round, by applying the methods of vegetative growing in green-houses of foil with minimum heating, and cold forcing of the plants in green-houses of foil. Hardy plants are grown on the fields from early spring to late autumn. Some 70-80 plant varieties are produced in a year. The garden is open for visitors any time. For groups of visitors, lectures or presentations on organic horticulture can be arranged.

The other farm we visited was the Organic Mushroom Farm. The owner is Sándor Gyöngyösi and he has been engaged in growing the mushroom variety oyster mushroom (+ shitakee) for 15 years. He also produces the famous ganoderma – a genus of polypore mushrooms. By taking ganoderma mushroom as a herbal supplement (only organic), you will get long-lasting reserves of energy, feel better and stronger and notice that your body is functioning more effectively and efficiently.

Autumn radish…