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But the real reason to take this weekend trip is to get your own garden plot where you will prepare the soil and plant your own vegetables and berries while your Halychanka hostess, Olha Khariv, who also happens to be mayor of the villages of Rizdvyany and Stary Martyniv, will help to tend it through the garden season.

Arrival day

The ideal time to come for your first planting weekend is spring from late April to May. First of all, meet Ms. Olya, her friends and like-minded people who want to turning Rizdvyany into an interesting settlement full of life and bright events. Visit the local Gaiman estate. In the past there was a mill, life was boiling. Now it is a cosy zone. The estate’s courtyard is fine for a cup of coffee while the children play in the yard. In the winter, you can fill the tiled wood-burning pich stove and enjoy a crackling fire with a glass of wine.

Day 1. Take the earth in your hands

Please do not forget that the main reason for your arrival is gardening. So take vegetable seeds or berry seedlings from the hostess and… a name plate. Ms. Olya will give you a separate plot in her large garden planted with flowers and vegetables. The favorite crops in Rizdvyany, as in most of Halychyna, are corn, potatoes, beets and other vegetables and especially berries. These plants root well in the rather rich soil and produce abundant raspberry and strawberry bushes. Your plot will be marked out along with a name plate for you or your family, so as not to be mistaken when you come a second time. If you come in the fall, you’ll get a harvest basket in which to gather beans, beets, carrots and potatoes. Olha knows that the earth will thank you with a bountiful harvest if you nurture it with rich organics like chicken and cow manure, organic compost from her pit. All you’ll need is a small wheelbarrow, shovel and rubber gloves. If making your own fertilizer seems unpleasant because you are still too far removed from rural realities, other methods can be used that may be closer to your everyday life, for example crushed eggshells, sand, ashes and used tea leaves to feed the garden. Physical labor will be especially joyful when, during breaks, you contemplate the majestic Dnister river. You’ll be especially impressed at sunrise and sunset.

Day 2. Rural leisure time

When gardening is done, you’ll have plenty of choices for how to spend your time. Go to other interesting spots or take quiet rest in Rizdvyany. Go cycling or hiking along the Dnister banks (minimum 15 kilometers). The road stretches to the village of Novy Martyniv where a beautiful holiday beach is laid out on a flood plain. The Dnister at Novy Martyniv forms a shoal, making it safe for swimming in the summer, even with children. According to historians, from the 13th to 17th centuries, where Old and New Martyniv now stand, there was a thriving medieval city replete with fortress walls. Echos of ancient life are found in misplaced boulders in the shores, small chasms with traces of ancient steps. Follow the tracks of fascinating Galician history. Enjoy an idyllic rural pace that prevails here among meadows of grazing geese, old village homes lining the banks, gardens well-tended or gone wild. Don’t forget the afternoon opportunity to fish in the Dnister. In calm and quiet Ryzdvyany, there is nothing to scare the fish from your hook. You may even catch a catfish for evening soup. You might prepare a delicious fish soup called yushka on a campfire at a specially equipped picnic spot on the river. The secret in these parts is, at the end of cooking the soup, you throw in a burning wooden ember which gives the soup an especially aromatic flavor.

To Grandma’s Garden