An American who lives in the Russian outback

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Dairy products and spiritual values

- Justas, how did you end up in Russia?

- In 1994, when I was eleven years old, my parents came to Russia to engage in spiritual work, to start planting Protestant churches. We lived in the countryside. When my parents finished their work in 2000 and left, I stayed in Krasnoyarsk. I spent most of my adult life in Russia.

- How did your future life develop?

- For four years I lived in Krasnoyark, was engaged in sound recording, participated in organizing concerts, worked in studios. In 2004, the niche began to fill, and even my level was not the same, and I didn't really like the city. I myself lived in the States until the age of eleven on a farm, village life was always closer. From 2004 to 2009 I was engaged in woodworking, I had a small sawmill. Then he sold the business and turned into an agricultural producer.

In 2009 he got married, his wife Rebecca is American, but speaks Russian. At the end of the same year, our first child was born, and I realized that I needed a job where I could be at home with my family. Which would combine spiritual, family values and allow you to earn money. It seemed to me that in Russia it is agriculture that provides such an opportunity today. Living on earth, I can watch children grow up, they can participate in the work. Now I have two girls and one child "on the way."

- It is believed that only a large farm allows you to live in prosperity. This is true?

- In Russia, a small farm is enough for a farmer to live with dignity. My goal was to produce a high quality product for a select number of consumers. The client base today is about 50 regular customers. My task is not to earn mountains of gold, but to be able to be with my family, provide a decent life and make good goods with my own hands. Through it, people will indirectly receive a particle of the values of our family, love for God, for one's neighbor, for nature.

- What do you produce?

- We mainly make short-aged hard cheeses, mozzarella, fresh milk and two types of yoghurts. We also want to make butter and other cheeses. We have no cows - a herd of 12 milking goats, I want to bring the livestock up to 16-20. We focus on the nutritional value and usefulness of the product, because in products made from goat's milk, calcium is absorbed better, there are no lactose, and they do not cause allergies. We keep five more rams, I want to produce meat products, but for now we are raising for ourselves.

- Who are your clients?

- Most of them are acquaintances, acquaintances of acquaintances, found through professional contacts. For example, my wife had complications with pregnancy, we went to a private clinic in Krasnoyarsk. We met with the head physician, the staff became interested. This is how a narrow circle of consumers was formed.

We supply only to Krasnoyarsk. I also want to take them to Kansk, because it is closer to the farm. I myself visit Krasnoyarsk once a month, and we send the goods by passing cargo once a week or two.

Cheerful milkman Justas Walker on sanctions))

"I produce what I enjoy myself"

- Is there something unusual in the product line?

- We produce yoghurt with organic enzymes brought from the States. The ones I find here are thinner and taste different. Mozzarella was also made from American enzymes, and now we are experimenting with Japanese ones.

I do what I like myself. In Russia, yogurt is liquid, but in America it is like sour cream - it costs a spoon. It should be like a pudding so you can spoon it. I ate and dined. In the west, liquid yoghurt is called drinkable.

- Does the state support you as a farmer?

- Not. All I want from the authorities is not to interfere. I'm not asking for anything. So far, it is much easier for a small producer to work in Russia than in almost any Western state. In Russia, 16 goats is what I need to live normally, and in the States - about 40. Therefore, I am not looking for state support, just to simplify the process of obtaining land. The legislation is loyal, but the local authorities are not very versed in farming. For those who start with a small capital, like me, this is a small paradise.

- Does a small farm mean that there is little work?

- This is, let's say, a feasible job. At five or six in the morning I get up, milk all 12 goats, filter the milk, put it on yogurt and cheese. Two o'clock in the morning and two in the evening - such a working day. And some people wonder how I can do it alone. The wife does the kitchen, it takes her three to four hours a day. For two, seven to eight hours of the working day, only in summer more - mowing, a vegetable garden. We work less than if we worked for an uncle.

"I want to work where there is a need"

- How are relations with local residents developing?

- In general, it is normal. In the Russian countryside there is a division into friends and foes. I am still amazed: you ask - where are you from, - says: "I am arriving, I arrived twenty years ago." If the Russians themselves have such an attitude, then the American is always a stranger. At first there were clashes, but now we live normally, we try to help each other. I have a tractor, I mow to someone, and they help me with something else. I'm the only farmer there.

- Why Boguchansky District?

- The main reason why I started farming in the Boguchansky region, and not in the favorable region of Khakassia, is spiritual work. Besides agriculture, we plant churches. When you have a parish of ten people, you do it for the soul. God put this burden on his heart to help in those villages where there is no spiritual work.

It would be more convenient for business to drive a hundred kilometers in any direction from Krasnoyarsk, take 12-15 hectares and work - this is your market, close by. But here, not far from a big city, and without me there are priests in the villages. The Apostle Paul set the task of preaching Christ where He was not called. I don’t want to plow someone else’s field, build on someone else’s foundation. I want to work where there is a need.

- Do you have a house of prayer?

- Yes, a small chapel. When we arrived in the village, I came to the administration, I say, I want to work and open a church, I asked for help. We were given an abandoned house, I made an extension to it in our tradition, in one half we pray, and in the second we live with our family.

Small livestock, big income

- What do you like to cook for a family holiday?

“Our Sunday festive meal is simple. Rebecca takes our chicken, butches it up, stuffs it with apples and then adds our onion and garlic. Whole pieces of cabbage are also taken, and with chicken, all this on a baking sheet is sent to the oven. The potatoes are fried separately. Here is such a simple dish - a favorite of the whole family. My wife steams vegetables in the fall and freezes them, so we eat them all year round.

I also brought a love of wedge syrup from the USA, sometimes it is sent from there. It's good to eat with pancakes. I also love peanut butter.