pricelessland

Upper Lusatia offers delicious insider tips that are worth discovering. A large number of small businesses produce healthy, fresh food and specialties in the Görlitz district. At Team Day 2024, the ENO team wanted to gain a personal insight into the production and working conditions of selected manufacturers in the south of the Görlitz district. 

Franziska Kusche and Anja Nixdorf-Munkwitz from the Structural Change Task Force put together a varied program for this purpose. In the Haase family gardening business, Sabine and Robert Fritsche provided a clear insight into their production conditions, where they rely on natural support such as diverse crop rotation, the use of beneficial insects and short transport routes to ensure sustainability. Mr. Hartmann, the chairman of the former horticultural association, explained the centuries-old horticultural tradition. In order to make everyone aware of the freshness and quality of locally grown and directly marketed vegetables, the Fritsches had prepared a basket full of vegetable happiness for each team member. 

The second station gave the ENO employees a clear impression of the craft tradition of Upper Lusatia. The Bertholdmühle in Oderwitz moves with the times and actively develops niches. “The highest quality in cold milling and the transparent origin of the grain we process are our motto and our customers appreciate that,” explained Jürgen Berthold, the seventh-generation master miller. He looks to the future with confidence, as the eighth generation will soon take over the business. With the numerous challenges, he and other entrepreneurs would be happy to receive active help and support. 

A culinary discovery package also accompanied all team day participants from the Bertholdmühle. Ideas and recipes were diligently exchanged when we sat down together for an organic & regional lunch in the Beckenberg hut. André Meyer runs the only organically certified catering business in the district and is committed to expanding the network and good cooperation between producers, processors and customers. Education for the youngest is one of André Meyer's many honorary positions, who works to bring the slow food idea to life with children's cooking courses and a citizens' market initiative in Eibau. “Good, clean, fair – regional food contributes to quality of life and health for all of us. “But we need customers who demand these products out of conviction,” he says, summing up his desire for better networking and educational offerings. 

Regional food is still in vogue, but producers from Lusatia don't always find it easy to win customers and successfully market directly. Henry Poppitz calls Team Day 2024 a real “eye opener,” because who can just come to the company or take a look at production live? “Conscious enjoyment and knowledge of the qualities of our region are important to people,” says Anja Nixdorf-Munkwitz, who supports the encounter formats with the “A Basket of Happiness” project. “I am therefore particularly pleased that the team accepted this day with such openness and curiosity. We are multipliers for the entrepreneurs and are needed.” The team day was able to combine many building blocks through cooperation with the Neulandgewinner project, which is carried out under the sponsorship of the Dreiländereck adult education center.