Who I am

Hi my name is Samuil Iliev, but you can call me Sam.

My interest in agriculture came from the fact that my parents used to leave me with my grandparents every summer at a very early age. Those days turned out to be some of the freest times of my life. Most of the time I was left to do whatever I wanted, which was usually to hang around with some of the neighboring kids and try to eat whatever fruit was hanging out from people’s fences. 

Sometimes I would have to help my grandpa and grandma around the house and the garden. And as I was getting older the work of course became much harder, but it did not bother me at all.

As most kids I had two sets of grandparents. Lets call them grandparents A and B. 

Most of my vacation was with grandparents A, mainly because they were only 20 min away by car. But sometimes I would spend a few weeks with grandparents B. They were pretty much at the same economic level, but as I was growing up I started to notice a big difference in the way they were managing their land and animals. 

Grandparents A always had more food, animals and crops but my grandpa was relying a lot on my father for help. Both physical and financial because he was trying to farm the “modern” way which requires a lot of input, which costs money.

On the other hand Grandparents B had less animals and crops, but not because they received less help, but because they did not need them. They were working with the land and did not rely so much on external, “modern” inputs. And whenever we were visiting them there was plenty for everyone.

This contrast between the two farming methods was what made me think that maybe there is a better and easier way to grow food.

As I was getting older my visits were not as long but something about growing things stayed with me. I remember that my friend and I used to go around the neighborhood to collect house plant cuttings from people’s terraces and the common areas in different apartment blocks and then we grew them at home. We had a pretty big cactus collection at one point.

After I graduated high school I thought of attending an agriculture university. But when I found out that I will be learning about synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides etc. I decided that it is not for me. Also when I spoke with some people that had graduated from such establishments it felt like they were brainwashed into believing that without chemicals you are doomed. But because of my experience with my grandparents I knew that there has to be a better way. So I continued educating myself on the side.

Around that time I met my future wife whom I knew from high school and we have been together ever since.

I went to an university and then transferred to another, but in the end I realized that I am not going to work what I was studying, so I dropped out. During those years my wife and I participated in a work and travel program in the US where for the first time I tried an American cheesecake. 

Later I worked as a merchandiser and in a call center. Not the worst jobs in the world. 

Somewhere around 2015 I decided to start a business. A year before that I became interested in baking cheesecake ( I still remember the one I tried in the US). So I developed my own recipe and everyone that tried it loved it. My wife encouraged me to try selling them. So with no business experience and not enough money I opened a cheesecake bakery.

The bakery was struggling for more than four years. I was barely getting by. The cheesecakes were very good. Judging by the fact that most of my sales came from word of mouth. And after the fourth year things kind of started to improve, but then covid came. And since most of my sales came from companies that were ordering treats for their employees, my profits took a big hit. About the same time my wife received an offer from her job to transfer to France. Taking this opportunity was the obvious choice. And in the beginning of August 2020 my wife, our two kids and I moved to France. 

In France I got the opportunity to take a permaculture design course that I had my eyes on for years. I graduated and now I am a certified permaculture designer. 

Later the same year I took a Landscape Design Course from New York Institute of Art and Design and graduated.

This gave me more confidence and is one of the main reasons to start this blog. 

My desire is to show people that creating a space where we can prosper with nature’s help is not that hard. And to inspire others to try and see for themselves.