Craft business from scratch. Lichtenfeld

The stories of Ukrainians who, despite the difficulties, continue to develop the Ukrainian and support the Ukrainian economy, inspire, amaze, sometimes surprise, but definitely do not leave you indifferent.

Lichtenfeld Organic Farm is an Odesa-based family brand that has been producing "royal" cheeses for about 9 years. Its owners, spouses Oleksandr and Olena Dobrozhansky from Odesa, moved to the village of Kudriavka in Odesa region after the war in Donbas broke out, where they later founded their own mini-farm.

The name for the brand was not chosen by chance. Until the early 20th century, German colonists lived in this area, and their village was called Lichtenfeld. The neighbouring village has a modern name - Yasnopillia, which is Lichtenfeld in German.

Many factors contributed to the start of the organic farm. The birth of their daughter prompted the couple to reconsider their conventional lifestyle and realise that the quality of food and the environment they lived in did not meet their expectations.

The husband had worked for a long time in marketing and grocery chains and was well aware that consumers have no way of determining the quality of a product by its packaging or taste. As the business owner noted on his website, product manufacturers had reached such perfection that professional tasters were unable to recognise fakes.

After returning from the frontline in 2016 to a peaceful life, Oleksandr became even more determined to raise his daughter in an environmentally friendly environment and feed her food with a known origin. And so, the story of the Lichtenfeld brand has unfolded since then.

Since the business was established, the owners have mastered

• a full cycle of production of hard cheeses of the main schools - Alpine, Flemish, and English,
• breeding rabbits and musk ducks,
• winemaking (growing Cabernet, Chardonnay and other table grape varieties),
• formulation of teas based on Chinese or Ceylon teas with the addition of local fruits and medicinal herbs,
• honey production.

The couple's plans include opening a full-fledged apiary and producing raw dried and smoked meat products.

According to the manufacturer's website, all products are handmade and do not contain any preservatives, vegetable fats or flavour enhancers. Only a cheesemaker, a cauldron, a paddle, milk, experience and inspiration of the master are used to make cheese.

The product contains only the ingredients listed in the ingredients. The owners of the farm make cheese exclusively from fresh milk, sourdough starter, veal fat and salt. For example, Lichtenfeld cheese contains whole milk, Emmentaler starter cultures, natural rennet, and salt.

So, the main product on the farm is cheese. Cow's cheeses are made using various technologies of varying complexity and recipes from European schools. There are 10 varieties of cow's cheese, including: "Cheddar, Ramses, Mont Blanc, Lichtenfeld, Cabernet, Yaroslav, cheeses with mould, Combazola, Albion, Vinekaas and others. The farm also produces 5 varieties of goat cheese made from natural goat's milk.

In addition to cheeses, the store offers natural butter (spun, nutritious Ayurvedic malo ghee made from whole milk, healthy and rich in probiotic cultures sour cream butter), alcoholic and non-alcoholic spirits (absinthe, bourbon, gin, schnapps, etc.) and May honey produced by the farm.

Prices start at UAH 41 per 100 grams of cheese.