In and around Bryansk, we visit Tyutchev's estate at Ovstug, a home & garden, and a school |
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Mark (Georgia), Shoshana,
Romie, Dave, and Arline at
the entrance to the estate
of Fyodor Tyutchev, a
renowned 19th-century
poet-diplomat
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Romie at the nearby
folk crafts museum.
Her grandparents came
from Russia!
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Katya, her mother, and
her aunt graciously
hosted us to olad'i,
Russian pancakes similar
to ours, homemade jam,
and tea after showing us
their GROW BIOINTENSIVE
garden |
The Ecocenter at the
school of which Viola
active member Oleg
Zavarzin is principal.
Biodiversity displays,
GROW BIOINTENSIVE
info, and seed
collections are
displayed on the walls
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Oleg (left) and Viola member
Albina Samsonova who
attended a Willits workshop in
1996 (front, center) pose with
our entire group at the school.
See Shoshana's site for photos
of the school's fine ecocenter!
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Ludmila Zhirina conducted Jill Slocum and Carol Vesecky on a tour of the Bryansk region's radiation zone |
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We visited the city of
Novozybkov, known as the
"radiation capital," where
the Valetsky family
conducts experiments
showing that Biointensive
reduces radiation in
vegetables.
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GB compost and doubledigging
reduce the
radionuclide content of
vegetables by 30%,
according to VIOLA's
experiments in this and 5
other gardens. |
We visited Novozybkov's
Agricultural Teachers' College,
where Ludmila spent a year as
a young student
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All the trees were cut
down after the
Chernobyl nuclear
accident, as they were
radioactive. These
young trees were
planted later
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The college president,
Ludmila, and art prof
Svetlana Gorbacheva
pose in front of
student-produced
frescoes. The college
holds GB trainings by
VIOLA and has an
ecocenter |
Our radiation zone tour concluded with an early evening visit to Mglin, at the end of a long dirt road |
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Our wonderful
welcome to Mglin.
(No car driver could
do that....)
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The first peonies of
the season, along the
side of the
Ryzhakovs' home
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The Ryzhakov son and
daughter with their
GROW BIOINTENSIVE
experimental beds,
and the horse-drawn
plowed fields
beyond
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Zoya Ryzhakova proudly
displays the fine
taxidermy work of
another son, who is
away at college
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Sergei Ryzhakov holds
up his home-distilled
vodka; milk from the
family cow and
wildcrafted mushrooms
are on the table. We
only tasted, as surely
they were radioactive!
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From Bryansk, we also visited Domashovo, where VIOLA member Natalya Karyagina is school principal |
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We (Romie, most of all)
were deeply touched to be
greeted by costumed
students offering the
traditional Russian greeting
for honored guests, bread
and salt, at the Domashovo
school. Principal Natalya is
in striped shirt at left
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Next came a
delightful puppet
show by the children
featuring riddles
about veggies
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Each of us was given a
potholder, handmade
by the students,
appliqued with a fruit
or vegetable and the
year 2005. Oleg and
Mark pose here with
theirs |
Students and guests pose in
front of an Earth Flag that
the children made for Earth
Day 2002 and Natalyaa had
brought to Novo-Sin'kovo
(near Moscow) for our
workshop there that year
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Our next stop was
Nikolaevka, the village
where Natalya has her
dacha. This elderly couple
still grows most of their
food (see their field in next
photo), despite his stick
and her crutch.
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