History of our NGO

In a Community house in Freiburg Germany 2008 we started the idea of saving the Carpathian Buffaloes and supporting small scale farming in Western Ukraine. Our new NGO was born and created 2009 the Arc-&Rescuestation Saldobosch. With donations we bought every Buffalo in Ukraine that was about to be butchered. Later we could rent the Bulls to other communitys and started to milk the often very traumatised Cows. A close and permanent living with the growing animal family and local shepherds in the ruins of a giant Kolchos, made us be recognised by locals and nation white. Soon after we were flooded with tourists and volunteers. With international support we tried to save other breeds too but it was only buffalos and horses that can be seen as partly successful. We could only document the extinction of the Rishka cattle, the Polonyna goat and most of the Mangaliza pigs died at a mysterious Afrikan virus on our Rescuestation. But even the Buffalos still face several existential problems. There is still no recognition of breeds, the Carpathian buffalo will face inbreeding problems soon and the amount of farmers willing to keep them is extremely low and there is no income to gain with Carpathian Buffalos in Ukraine. The Hucul horses we collected got rewilded on an island, but this can not be visited because of the war now. With the beginning of 2022 we moved to the mountains and took permaculture aspects into consideration. We realised that the main problem is the absence of motivation for young people to do self sufficient farming. The replacement of community structures with industrial farming and mechanical process causes the vanishing of old breeds and diverse varieties. We realised the importance of community building and creating of opportunitis for other people. Sustainable structures need to be interconnected in all dimensions. Holistic thinking leading to subsistential microfarms with biophile attitudes. some people tell me it is a new time without cows and domestication. But here we have a huge problem that changed by simple people, I can simply say yes to a suffering creature and help him to survive. The interesting thing is what this does to you is creating deep meaningful friendship as respons to your empathy. And when you learn to talk to them as Konrad Lorenz was doing, not to a slave but to a partner, this can seriously enrich your life. At least for our little family it means stability and simplicity. I think it makes a big different, working with old breeds than modern once. For me for example horses play a main role in my life since I am 13. But the warm blood high breeds I experienced at the beginning are extremly problematic compared to mountain ponnys called Tarpan-Hucul horses. They are breed to fight Wolfs and carry breastfeeding woman down the mountains. So this old breeds lead you to the source of their beauty. The mountain people in Carpathian Ukraine are still quiet authentic to be honest. This is a shepherd culture with 6000 year old roods As Marija Gimbutas describing Old Europe. They designed an extremely divers, resilient and productive ecosystem we may call forest gardens. This once all over Europe from Arcadian to south Sweden well known tradition uses the Oak as the main source. With old grown individuals every 50 m. This are forest people and the english garden is a well known rudiment of it. Even the Red Beach (Fagus Silvatika) has an importand part in this system as for fire wood or for the extracted people living with pigs. The richness of this land is beyond our imagination. The rivers are full with fish and till today you have the oldest forest of Europe in this part of the Carpathians. The horses are released in spring to eat the fresh green around the house, they lift the leaves with the nose to make the gras grow. They follow over the summer the greens up the hill where on 1600m there are no flys nor moskitos, but the stony ground makes running to risky, so they do not panic, they stand and fight if necessary. Stallions are still selected when they protect the herds.With the snow they return home where they are greeted with flowers in the hay and a warm stable. This type of horses on a sledge in deep snow in the mountains is the most fun I ever had. Pasture fields are everywhere in the forest and you have soft Sahel effects. Orchards are close to settlements except a few pears to keep the young bears outside. The variety of fruits is way beyond understanding. Everything between Blueberries and Aprikose. The close forest line is a thik belt of Hazelnuts. Many people are hunting and everybody is picking mushrooms. The land is divided in community’s and often the commons are shared. Shepherds once have been very respected people because you can not underestimate the value of the herbivores for the family. And the shepherds are there to protect them and the local plantations. All year round he is outside wandering around in nature, designing and playing music with here. He eats cheese and salt. When sheeps are only eating nuts in outam, the milk becomes so fatty that it does not get bad. Animal cruelty is seen as a brain disorder, mostly because of alcoholism. Businessman, valley people or people without a cow are seen as lazy and unpredictable. On every mountain you have a slightly different dialect and locals do not shift the time. The religion is called orthodox but looks like Druid priesthood to me. All in all people are friendly and very deep loving. Charls Eisenstein describes the deep connection to nature as inter being and I believe it is a beautiful way back to sanity.