Lucia (L) and Filip (R) own the Vegget microfarm. (source: SME - Jozef Jakubčo)
The Vegget microfarm is located on a cooperative in Bratislava's Vajnory locality. We are meeting with Filip in a hoop house. The former filmmaker and producer-turned passionate grower now sports a thick beard, his hands smeared with clay.
It's February and the soil is still sleeping. However, the hoop house is lit with bright green. "We are currently testing whether [the plants] will survive the winter," Filip points to lettuce. "Almost 40 percent of the harvest fails, but that's mainly because we experiment a lot."
Together with his wife Lucia, the two own one hectare of land, on which they grow more than a hundred varieties of vegetables and herbs. Upon tasting the first Roman cumin leaves, we begin to understand why their plants appeal to the best Slovak chefs.
Non-traditional herbs from all over the world, as well as candy-sweet varieties of tomatoes, carrots and radishes are grown here. The best chefs cook with them. Most recently, a Hungarian restaurant with two Michelin stars noticed the microfarm.
However, the microfarm's main clientele are households, to which a box of fresh crops is delivered every week along with instructions from chefs. The latest addition is an application that advises people on how to best process their delivery.
The young couple have settled their eyes on a new vision called the Vegget 2.0 project, which will elevate their farm to a tourist attraction.
What is the main idea behind the Vegget microfarm?
Filip (F): To remind people how great vegetables can taste when grown organically and fairly. Our slogan reads "We nourish and enrich". On the one hand, we have nutritious vegetables, on the other, people get to know new species and varieties, and we advise them how to work with them. For example, a carrot can have five colours and each one will taste slightly different.
Lucia (L): Diversity is important to us. We never wanted to grow potatoes on a large field. We prefer do it on a smaller scale, but in an interesting way. Our generation still vividly remembers tasting fresh crops from our grandparents' garden when we were small. Now, we are creating a new memory for our customers' children. They will not get this from generally available vegetables.
What makes your vegetables special?
L: Whoever tastes them will understand. We warn customers that once they taste fair organic vegetables, there will be no turning back. It's like sourdough bread. There is a big difference between this and an industrially made one. Our vegetables are loaded with a huge number of different bacteria, sugars, vitamins and minerals. These are all the elements that support immunity, digestion and regeneration of the body. Vegetables extract these elements from our living soil. We cultivate the soil first.
