Statok Dubina

Statok Dubina lies on flat land between the villages of Horné and Dolné Zelenice. The farmstead covers eight hectares of arable land that was used for intensive agriculture for 60 years. Since 2012 farmer Stanislav has been restoring the soil by grassing it over, green manuring and grazing a herd of horses.

According to the farmer, at Dubina they are trying to combine natural, permaculture and biodynamic design with a good dose of farmer's common sense. „Many people want a beautiful plot by the forest for their family homestead, but a plot like that „doesn't need“ people. Nature looks after it. It is exhausted and damaged soils that most deserve kind and gentle treatment that will bring them back to life.“ says the farmer. Statok Dubina has a planted food forest that serves many purposes. It shelters the land from wind (as a windbreak), prevents soil erosion, shades the soil and, last but not least, provides tasty fruit to live on. Vegetables are grown on the homestead using a no-till system with horse manure and straw. The farmer's main goal is to create a family homestead that is self-sufficient in food and energy.

Comments from members of the Krajina živá expert panel after visiting the farm:

Mgr. Dobromil Galvánek, PhD.:
“Horse grazing, meadow restoration and the creation of small wetlands have brought life back to an intensively used landscape in the Váh floodplain near Hlohovec.”

Ing. Jaroslav Jankovič CSc., agroforester:
“Statok Dubina was created on a field that had long been farmed intensively by conventional methods. Most of the area has been grassed over and is now used for grazing horses. A number of trees have also been planted, both forest and fruit trees, which can already be described as agroforestry practice. After 9 years of changed management, a clear recovery of soil organisms and a higher proportion of organic matter in the soil can already be seen.”

link to video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R2YE3UC5I0