Soulful and Warmhearted

In the Section for Agriculture’s summer newsletter, Cristina Lieberherr reports from the Biodynamic farm Potutory near Lviv, Ukraine.


Women and children from bombed cities find refuge on the farm and assist with work. Cristina Lieberherr offers an exemplary account of Natasha Zhazdova, a ‹temporary housemate›: of her four children, the eldest has gone to Switzerland to care for Ukrainian children. The eldest brother died in an accident and is «always with Nathalie and the family.» Stepan, the third child with Down syndrome, surprises with his immediacy. He is «like a being from another world.» Mattwey, the youngest, is mathematically gifted and has mastered the colorful Rubik’s cube. Every day at five o’clock, Natasha holds a peace meditation in the courtyard, which, according to Cristina Lieberherr, shows that she would be a good priestess. More than that she is a ‹true mother: soulful, warmhearted and providing security›.

Natasha enthusiastically tells stories about her childhood and youth, which she spent in the Soviet Union. It was an ideal world with good teachers who exemplified interest in the world. Natasha’s mother Sina described a ‹good life› during the last years of the Soviet Union. Natasha says: «I wonder what the Russians are doing on our Ukrainian soil? There is no answer. Today I collected medicinal herbs in the forest. How beautiful, free, quiet. Why did the Russians come here to drop their bomb? Probably because their country is small and there is too little to care for there? I don’t understand. There are no small people – everyone’s thoughts have meaning. Nearly everyone in their country supported the war. Why do you Russians need all this? If you wouldn’t support and send thousands of people here to do all this, what would happen? What will you Russians do afterward? How will you live? I don’t know. Russians have only emptiness in front of them. Only fine threads remain connecting relatives and friends with each other, as well as our countries. Thin threads that tremble under the effort of trying not to tear, but they still break – inside. My heart is filled with immense pain. I strive to protect these threads, with all the strength in my soul.»


From Cristina Lieberherr, ‹Insight Into Everyday Life On The Biodynamic Farm Potutory›, in the Section for Agriculture’s newsletter of No. 121

Translation Simone Ioannou

Images Fields, plots und people on the farm Potutory. Photos: Cristina Lieberherr

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