"I want our villages to live." Like onion cake saves local tourism

Under Kaliningrad, a resident of a tiny village bakes onion cake to collect money for the repair of an old German building. The project was supported in social networks, Kaliningraders began to actively buy pastries. They almost collected for the repair of the roof.

In the cozy kitchen of Natalia Dobrovolskaya there is no free space: on the tables, on opponents - everywhere a golden onion cake. A new party is fried in the oven. Natalia and her assistant Irina work all day - there is no end to orders for the corporate cake.

They wanted to make him out for a brick, and so sorry for him!

Natalia Dobrovolskaya - local entrepreneur. In the village of Dmitrievka, the Nesterovsky district, 150 km from Kaliningrad, she has her own small guest house, surrounded by fields and forests.

Natalya looked at the old building in the neighboring Krasnolesya for a long time - strong, standing in a good place, but unnecessary to anyone falls apart. 20 years ago there was a store there and baked buns, and now in the village there is nowhere to eat tourists. And two years ago, Dobrovolskaya decided - and bought an emergency "abandonment".

- I took it in vain. I will not say how much I bought, but very inexpensive, ”says Natalia. - They wanted to make him out for a brick, and so sorry for him! It is solid, so well and correctly, it is turned to the sun.

A few years ago, a roof burned in the building, only at least 170 thousand should be for its repair, Natalya counted. She did not have that kind of money, and she decided to make money on building materials with her talents.

- Everyone says that I cook well. And I thought: why not? I have already baked a onion cake to my guests, many know it. For two years the building simply stood, I had no idea what to do with it. The idea came recently: I studied under the program for the tourism industry entrepreneurs. And we had to come up with an earning project in a few days. At first we had the idea of "pancakes and pancakes." But I woke up at four in the morning and thought - we won’t earn much on pancakes, we need to sell onion pie online. After all, it is necessary to close the roof, rains are going on for two years, it stands without a roof.

Natalia threw a cry in social networks, created a business card site. And the matter went - it was literally covered with orders. The secret of the onion of the onion from Natalia Dobrovolskaya is only natural products from the "reserved zone of the Vishtynets Upland", writes a culinary specialist on his website. The average price of the pie is about one and a half thousand. You can order its different sizes.

For four days of the project, Natalia raised 59 thousand rubles on her pies. And the photos and reviews of the happy eating are filled in social networks .

"Awesome pies, we are waiting for the sizes of Prussian cuisine !!!"

It is very tasty and patriotic

"Well, God sees, I honestly wanted to take a girlfriend to Riga to try, Natalia Dobrovolskaya-Zayets ... apparently not fate)))) The delicious are awesome !!!! It can always be ordered, it always, year-round))))" users write .

" I am ready to sign a petition for entering a list of specialties, along with Stroganina and Sea buckthorn tea, onion cake Natalia Dobrovolskay-Zaets). This is very tasty and patriotic."

There are those who simply donate money for repairs, without requiring any baking in return, says Dobrovolskaya:

- These are Kaliningraders, who, most likely, will never see a restored building - too far. But they also transfer money. And local residents, recently, we transferred our pensioner. People trust me, they know that I will not go on vacation with this money. And everyone wants to see that the village is alive. In the meantime, we can’t say that everything is fine with us.

I went to him, I say: "Volodya, will you supply cabbage?" - "Yes!"

In a restored building, Natalya dreams of opening a cafe and a farm shop with local products for residents of the village and tourists.

- Our place is good, tourism is developing. Buses come, but there are no cafes or restaurants. And I cook at home. And I realized that it was necessary to make a cafe and a farm shop. Moreover, there are farmers. There, the cabbage grows eight species and complains all the time that they buy a penny, wants to close. I went to him, I say: "Volodya, will you supply cabbage?" - "Yes!". We have a local lamb, they make cheese there, there is honey. And they began to support me everything, ”says the entrepreneur.

So far, the gloomy "abandonment" cannot be used. The entrance here is open, and inside - old mattresses, empty bottles, garbage. Work here is 5-9 million, Natalia wonders.

“So many pies I’m not drinking,” she laughs. “But we will definitely pick up the roof.”

"Everything is dying"

The places in the east of the Kaliningrad region are very beautiful, hilly, which is not characteristic of the region in general. It’s good even in the offseason, when there is no greenery. But there are few people too far to the center. Once or twice a week, agricultural tourism lovers come to Natalia. Recently, the XIX century Kirkh was restored here, there is an old railway bridge, however, abandoned, and other architectural monuments. The building of Natalia is in the very center of the Krasnolesye, next to a small Orthodox church, clearly built. Immediately - a monument to those who died during the First World War.

The Germans called the village of Gross-Romintin, about 1,200 people lived here. A few kilometers from here was a wooden hunting castle of Kaiser Wilhelm II, where he came to hunt. Residents of Koenigsberg traveled to the east by rail, relax in these beautiful places, says the director of the local museum Alexei Sokolov . The museum exposition covers the entire history of the village, from the Stone Age to the present day.

The fact that the tiny village has its own museum is a clear indicator that there is still life in Krasnolesya, says Natalya. Someone holds a chocolate shop here, someone sells honey. But from a large village, the villagers are now slightly left. Now less than 400 people live in Krasnolesya. In 2006, the school was closed, and now the local children are traveling to study in neighboring villages for 20 kilometers. There are practically no work for adults, young people are leaving.

And everything is dying out. All the authorities did it, no one else

- Where are the locals work? Yes, where it got. Someone in the agricultural holding, someone in Gusev travels for 30 km, to Ozersk, ”says local resident Sergey Kuznetsov , which He volunteered to help Natalia make the roof.

Once Krasnolesy was the best village of East of the region. In the Soviet years, and until 2006, a leshoz worked here, where up to 250 local residents worked in the season, he recalls.

-Once everything was spinning, but as soon as the forestry was bombed in 2006, the Government of the Russian Federation decided to transfer the forest fund to tenants-everything was covered. And everything is dying out. All the authorities did this, no one else. The road section since 1946 can not make. For 15 years, no one even planted a Christmas tree; no one has been engaged in the reproduction of forests. And tenants only saw and carry, ”says Sergey.

- With work in the village, one might say, nothing. Someone works in the store by sellers-well, this is one or two people, ”says the assistant to Natalia, Irina. She and another local resident work in the guest house of Dobrovolskaya.

According to her, if it weren’t for a project with a pie - when work in the kitchen is not in the kitchen - now in the offseason Irina would sit without work, like many local residents.

A onion pie is, first of all, a social project, workplaces for local, says Natalia:

So I want our villages to live. To make something to the children

- I was offered - organize the stove pies in Kaliningrad. What is the point? I want local women to work. Now Ira helps me, there is still a girl from the village. Another girl wants to work.

Natalia rides me on country roads. We drive past the old mill - or rather, what remains of the building.

“If there was Europe here, there would be a lot of tourists, you can make a chic hotel,” says Dobrovolskaya. - So I want our villages to live. So that something remains for the children. You come to Nida in Lithuania, to Poland - well, beautiful, good! But we can also!