How a Certified Lawyer Started a Dairy Herd and Became a Popular Rural Blogger

"Good evening, everyone! This is Edward and my native village of Soly" — this is how many posts by Edward Lukyanets, a blogger from Smarhon district, begin. His second video garnered a million views. BelTA paid him a visit and found out why a law school graduate moved from the city to the countryside and what opportunities exist in the countryside for those who aren't afraid of hard work and responsibility.

"Literally everything in the countryside brings joy"

— I confess, I never liked living in the city. Even now, such trips tire me out greatly. A trip to Minsk is a disaster altogether. It's easier to unload train cars," the interviewee admitted and clarified: "I was always drawn to the countryside. I dreamed of starting my own farm and living in my grandmother's house, where I was actually born and raised — that's where my childhood passed. Now I've done exactly as I planned…

It so happened that even after moving to Smarhon with his parents, the boy spent all his holidays at his grandmother Lyudvika Yanauna's house. Her yard wasn't particularly large, but it was very busy and demanded attention: a cow, pigs, and chickens. Plus a garden with an allotment and acres for potatoes. So, Lyudvika Yanauna was busy with the farm from early morning until late evening. At first, young Edward wasn't much of a helper. But as he grew older, his grandmother would increasingly give him "orders": "Help me sort the potatoes, grandson," "Wouldn't you feed the chickens?" and so on. His grandmother's requests were not a burden for her grandson. He loved her, as he did the simple rural lifestyle and the slow pace of village life. Although, of course, he dreamed of spending more time with his peers, for whose games there was also time. It can be said that the foundation for our hero's return to the countryside, who graduated from Yanka Kupala Grodno State University and was fully capable of becoming a prosecutor, judge, or lawyer, was laid almost at a genetic level.

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Edward's wife, Alena, recalls how her husband initially traveled to Soly alone. She understood that he was strongly drawn to his roots — to the romance of rural daily life. Then they began to come there as a whole family: mom, dad, and two children — elder daughter Yulia and son Kiryl. Soon, the Lukyanets couple moved to Soly permanently — as an entire family. And they began to live in their grandmother's house.

Today, the Lukyanets couple already has three children. Their youngest, Eva, was born in the village. Edward Viktorovich managed to instill a love for their small homeland not only in his wife's soul but also in his children. Everyone is delighted with life in Soly.

— I, a person who doesn't like big cities, am literally delighted by everything in the countryside. Take the beginning of the day. In the morning, with a cup of coffee, I go from the porch to the yard — to breathe fresh air, talk to the dog, play with it. Can you imagine the state of mind I feel doing this? — exclaims blogger Edward Lukyanets, admitting that from the first days of returning to the village, he couldn't imagine his yard without all sorts of livestock. So he suggested to his wife to get two cute Vietnamese pigs and a few chickens. She agreed. Although initially, she treated Edward Viktorovich's idea of dedicating his life to agriculture with caution: maybe he would change his mind? Soon, the couple transitioned from Vietnamese pigs to traditional large pig breeds. They bought a cow, then another. Thus, gradually, personal farming became a fateful choice for the Lukyanets couple.

— Of course, at first it was difficult, and it's still not easy," the blogger admits. "Those who know what farming is not by hearsay, but from experience, and also know that there are moments when you're not in the best shape or mood, but there's the word "must." And you go and do everything that's required.

Edward Viktorovich's and Alena Anatolievna's workday, like that of all village residents, begins early.

— At six in the morning, we're already on our feet. I return home at half past nine in the evening, after the evening milking," says the interviewee.

"Received many good tips from experts"

We couldn't help but ask the couple: how did their friends and acquaintances react to their move to the countryside? Didn't they warn that working the land is often a risky, unpredictable business?

— Undoubtedly, agriculture is a series of constant risks. It's unknown what the weather and harvest will be like, how much milk this or that cow will give, what the health of the pig and cattle herd will be. But we knew this ourselves," Edward Viktorovich agrees. "Yes, some condemned me and continue to do so now — you can't escape that. As they say, you can't tie everyone's tongue… But most of those we interact with support our choice, meaning they treat Alena and me well, with understanding.

Incidentally, the blogger admitted that he learned to run a farm using the experience of professionals — veterinarians, zootechnicians, agronomists, who were always ready to help the novice farmer with words and deeds.

— I received many good tips from them, as well as from experts, on social networks. They often offer advice when some problem arises in the field of zootechnics or veterinary medicine. In other words, getting good advice is not a problem: if only there's a desire to organize a successful farm," the interviewee asserts.

He himself doesn't hide from his TikTok audience how he runs his small business, sharing recipes for meat delicacies made from pork. For example, here's his recipe for making dry-salted farm lard:

— I take homemade smoked lard, salt it according to my grandpa's and grandma's recipe. Then I roll it in linen fabric and place it in a wooden box. The product eventually matures there. The lard turns out perfect — it literally melts in your mouth!

By the way, in terms of recipes, Edward Viktorovich's colleagues — other bloggers — also help him. For example, their idea of using pickled tomatoes when preparing shashlyk turned out to be simply amazing!

— Shashlyks marinated this way turn out simply wonderful! — Edward Lukyanets admits and clarifies: "By the way, many of our clients have already appreciated this dish made with the new recipe."

Yes, trade is going successfully. The farm's products, according to Edward Viktorovich, sell out instantly:

— Because we make lard and meat delicacies from our own raw materials.

As for the milk from the 12 cows located on the new, second farm in the village of Belyuny, the Lukyanets family supplies it to "Smarhon Dairy Products," a branch of the Lida Dairy and Canning Plant.

For one base unit — a dacha or a launchpad for a farm

By the way, the village of Belyuny appealed to the couple for several reasons.

— We really liked this quiet, pleasant place — and we bought a house there for one base unit (a symbolic fee)! — Edward Viktorovich says about the family's second industrial-dacha plot, clarifying that the house also came with a plot of land.

Later, the villager was leased another 5 hectares — for grazing cows.

— The fact that the state provides the opportunity to buy vacant houses for a symbolic fee is a huge plus. Yes, with minimal investment in repairs, there is an opportunity to use them as a dacha or a starting ground for organizing a farm — as we did.

In Belyuny, the Lukyanets couple keeps their cows — feeding, watering, and milking them twice a day. The couple intends to further develop their dairy enterprise.

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— Since buying a good cow elsewhere is problematic and expensive, and our cows are high-yielding and healthy, we will keep the heifers born from them. I consider this path of economic growth for the farm to be the most reasonable," the interviewee is confident.

Incidentally, the house purchased in Belyuny inevitably became a place for our interviewee's creative inspiration. A relaxation area has already been organized there — with a banya (traditional bathhouse) and other charms of rural life.

— This season, we furnished one of the rooms," says Edward Viktorovich, who, by the way, borrowed the idea of styling the interior to look antique from another blogger online, who explained how to decorate a home using inexpensive, untreated boards. "The modest project budget also supported this idea. It turned out beautiful, cheap, and reliable — such an interior will serve our children too.

Second video — 1 million views

We asked Edward why he suddenly became a blogger.

— I'm one of those who prefer a bird in the hand to two in the bush, so I wanted to show by my own example that people can live in the countryside, working decently, within the law, and at the same time lacking nothing. To accomplish this simple task, I filmed my barn, where we raise our pigs, showed how one herd is raised, then a new one replaces it. That is, from the "meat and lard" that we raise, a homemade, natural, delicious product eventually comes out.

Edward Viktorovich's second video, in which he showed how his smokehouse operates, garnered 1 million views.

— There were many positive reviews, and new useful online acquaintances became possible. I'm glad that my blog turned out to be useful to someone, as it was to me. I've gained many good, adequate acquaintances who are involved in work similar to mine. I am 100 percent sure that simple human interaction, including online, brings much more benefit than unreasoned criticism from haters. Yes, I also received a lot of negative comments," says the blogger. "I admit, they slowed me down a bit, but looking more closely, I wasn't upset and remembered the advice of a familiar blogger who said: 'Well, if you don't like a channel, you don't smash your TV and go to the store to buy a new one, do you?' I would like to say to my haters: 'Be kinder! If you don't like what I'm talking about, then just scroll past the page!' To bloggers who share their experience in various fields, I would advise not to pay attention to negative reviews. That way, they will help others develop — in their desired direction.

"Our children don't turn up their noses at difficulties and smells"

The success of any venture, especially one tied to a personal subsidiary farm, depends on every family member. Edward Viktorovich and Alena Anatolievna explained this simple truth to their children. As a result, all the heirs are involved in working in the Lukyanets family's yard and house. Essentially, only fourteen-year-old Kiryl remains the main helper for dad and mom; elder Yulia only lends a hand during holidays — she studies to be a pharmacist-provisor at Vitebsk State Medical University.

Павялічыць

— Our children don't turn up their noses at the difficulties and smells that accompany dairy and meat farming, and other work in the village," says the head of the family, who immediately notes that his son's interest in agriculture is no less than his own was at that age.

And to make Kiryl's work more fun, his father promised to buy him exactly what he had long dreamed of by the end of the summer. And what will this gift be? The father didn't tell the journalists, but his son knows well!

The parents don't predict how their enthusiasm for rural life will continue, but they very much hope that Kiryl will remain a pillar in all the farm's affairs, which is currently developing on two sites: in Soly and Belyuny. Distance is not an obstacle for the mobile Lukyanets family. Already owning a small van, the couple recently acquired a Lada Largus on lease. Edward Viktorovich intends to increase the dairy cow herd, make homemade cheeses, and smoke them.

— The understanding that you are working for yourself and for people gives you the strength to overcome the most serious problems and solve any tasks. The main thing is to have enough health, and for there to be order and peace in the country and the world," Edward Lukyanets said at the end of the conversation.

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