Ten villagers from Bela Rechka tell about their contact with nature throughout the years. Here you can read their stories and memories of:

domestic and wild animals, birds, lizards and snakes, fish,
plants and herbs, mushrooms, forest fruit and trees

The stories were collected by Radmila Mladenova, the design is by Raycho Stanev, photography by Boris Velkov. The booklet was created on the initiative of New Culture Foundation and will be published in 2009.

We decided to make it for several reasons. First, we were curious what animals and plants can be seen in this part of Bulgaria? Which creatures are visible to the local people while remaining invisible to us, the city dwellers? How do the villagers from Bela Rechka communicate with the natural environment? How do they name it? What is their attitude to it? At the same time, we wanted to show the richness of Berkovski Balkan and its fragility, the need to take care and be personally involved. So, this booklet is also a sort of an ecological guide which – through the past – raises many questions about the present.

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