Have you ever been to Asia while it is winter here in Europe? Our .pepper. team regularly travels to Kampot in Cambodia. But not for sun or relaxation, rather for work. However, work that brings joy. To our farmers, to you, and of course to many others. Because year after year you write to us asking if you could experience a day on the pepper farm. And we are always happy to accommodate you. This year we took several travelers with us who are not afraid to get their hands dirty and experience a day completely different from what they are used to at home. Experience one single day with them. Through their eyes and words of our co-founder Klára, who accompanied them.
We're heading out to the farmers in Kampot
We all put on .pepper. t-shirts because our farmers can always tell that a visitor from the Czech Republic belongs to us by them. We arrange motorcycles, take scarves, and go. The group is full of enthusiasm – finally reaching the very heart of Kampot pepper!We ride through the orange landscape, dust swirling around us, palms, huts, waving families who already know us. We turn off to the fields. In front of the hut, the whole family welcomes us. Mother, father, older members, the children are at school, one stayed at home. We greet each other warmly, after all, we haven't seen each other for a year. We hand out gifts – this year we brought Czech games for the children, like 'Ludo' and 'Don't Get Angry'. And since Cambodians are a nation of musicians, we have Czech musical instruments for the farmers, mostly wooden ones. They shed more than one tear, mainly thanks to the harmonica.
" Sit down, we’re opening a coconut! " The husband climbs the palm and knocks down a whole bunch.We chat for a while about how we are doing." The children are at school – one studies agriculture in Kampot, the rest are at university in the capital," says the farmer's wife.
We finish the coconut and the husband with the family takes us to the farm. The group sets off cheerfully, but after an hour in the pepper fields they already feel tired.
Under the scorching tropical sun
" This heat is unbearable! How can they work in this?"
I admire the care in planting each little plant and the tirelessness in watering them. We get the task of tying the growing pepper vines that climb the poles. The group tries to come up with a more efficient way of watering so that the farmers don’t have to work so hard. Enthusiastically, they nibble on the first peppercorns, which are still unripe.
" When we collect them now, either we soak these green berries in salt flower, and we have fresh green pepper in salt brine, or we dry them into black dried Kampot pepper in the sun," I explain which stage of pepper ripeness we are currently at. If they came in March, some would already start to turn red.
Lunch! “But you will cook it nicely our way!” our farmer says cheerfully. We go straight from the field into the house. The kitchen is dark and full of large pots, the huge fire is already blazing. A slaughtered chicken awaits us – the greatest honor you can receive. We cook poultry, gathered vegetables, and morning glory – a type of Cambodian grass that everyone loves with chili, garlic, and soy sauce. We complement all the food with fresh Kampot pepper on the stem, which we really enjoy.
After the meal, we wash the dishes. And the farmers smile at us because it is exclusively women's work, while with us men have taken it up as well. For a while, we play Ludo and get to know the group and the surroundings of the farm and how it operates.
“Everything here is organic, and that is thanks to Kampot pepper. We only fertilize with bat and cow dung. Other fruits, vegetables, and trees are the same. When the water comes and there would be chemicals somewhere, it would wash them into the pepper fields, and that is not allowed.”
“Lea heuy!”
Fatigue overwhelms us, so we say heartfelt goodbyes – with a deep bow and a handshake, some embrace in emotion.
We leave because we still have a long and dusty road ahead and tomorrow awaits us another beautiful day. Already at the next farm. :-)
