Join our project and help bring organic herbs from Bosnia to the world to heal this war-torn country.
Support us on Facebook"We grow pure, organic herbs on land leased to us by the people of Bijelo Brdo and export our products to European markets. With love for the land and the people. For growth and prosperity of the region."
With your support we clear the fertile lands, lent to us by bosnian families, from overgrowth and ruins.
We cultivate pure and organic Herbs according to the highest quality standards defined and certified by Bio-Suisse.
The lands of local families are returned to them cleared from overgrowth and more valueable at lease´s end.
The project team consists of people with extensive knowledge and experience in agriculture, marketing and sales.
Ivana Stjepanovic is a child of Bosnia, source of the initial idea and the project´s founder. She brings with her her vision, love for the land and it´s people and experience in strategic branding and product management.
Jan - M. Müller is the CEO of HerbaPack Deutschland, an internationally reknown and successfull producer of organic teas and spices. He supports the project with his experience and knowledge of production processing and sales.
like Birgit Schattbacher. She is a passionate organic farmer and produces delicacies based on roses and herbs. With her agricultural expertise, she will act as a project mentor.
Ivana Stjepanovic - 34 - Project Initiator & Daughter of Bosnia
The Idea
Three years before: We are returning back to Austria from our vacation at our grandparents, who now live in Split. My two sisters and I are chatting about how we now have to return to our jobs and studies. We start debating what we would really like to be doing. Josipa: „It was lovely growing up in the Bosnian countryside. Remember? Marija: “One day when we go back we´ll have sheep and goats to graze in our fields. “ And what crops shall we plant? Josipa:“ Herbs, medicinal herbs! I´ll quit my medical degree one year before becoming a doctor and become a witchdoctor instead! “ We all laugh but the thought of medicinal herbs remains with me. Somehow they could heal this economically underdeveloped and war torn country. A recently read statistic about supply and demand of such herbs comes to mind; high demand for medicinal herbs! Ivana; „But if we do this then it must all be organic. Just the way it was back then on our farm. No chemicals, just pure nature. “
I am thinking about not having been to Bosnia in a long time. It´s been more than twenty years since we had to flee the country. I recall running through the corn fields as a child and stealing an ear of corn every now and then. I remember the scent of the lime trees, which filled the air throughout town in June and how it enchanted me even then. It is the scent of my home. We used to collect those lovely lime blossoms with our grandmother and lay them out to dry and use them to make tea. I also recall the scent of rosemary. According to local belief, rosemary not only possesses the power to heal, but also to drive away evil spirits. We could grow rosemary again! The evil spirits and the hateful memories of the war need to be driven out. The people must learn to forgive each other find a way to live together again. Maybe working together on an interesting and fulfilling project would help them reunite…I feel a spark ignite inside of me. The idea is born.
June 2016: With a shovel in hand, I stand together with my father in an overgrown field. We have cleared a small path into an overgrown field in order to take soil samples. Tests need to be done to determine which herbs would be most suited to grow here. We spoke to a lot of people about my idea that day and many agreed to lend me their abandoned plots of land in order for me to clear it from overgrowth and housing ruins and plant my by now already beloved herbs. I explained to them my conviction that organic farming would not only yield a more marketable crop, but would also increase the value of their land over time. They smiled at my vision of an ecological village in which organic farming is powered by renewable energy and all activities are run with the utmost respect for the people involved and the natural resources at hand. A village where all the ethnic groups can once again find a common ground through my project and put their differences behind them.
My vision is clear to me: people enjoying our organic Bosnian products worldwide- all the happy and satisfied customers who know that they are consuming purely organic products which have helped heal the people and the land of its origin.