By Juan Manuel Larrieu ([email protected]) – Special for I EAT
In the difficulty, take refuge in the simplein the roots. Change courseseparate the green shoots from the weeds, take a deep breath and move forward. This is how the “Happy Cows” venture was born. in the farm Natural roots from Rio Colorado.
Gisela Zon along with her partner Agustín Nuñez decided to make a resounding life changefrom the daily life of demanding jobs in the city, to generating a different, relaxed space, with awareness and respect for the environment to produce in a different way.
When you taste the drinkable yogurt that happy cows produce, it involuntarily takes you to those roots that we have dormant in unconsciousness. To the complex of the simplest, to childhood, to remember that complex flavor that only simple things have.
What is the business you run with your family like?
– The project is called “happy cows” we are dedicated to small-scale artisanal milk and dairy production, all familiar and we love it because it is something that the four of us enjoy. All born from a health problem of one of my children, was diagnosed a few years ago with lactose intolerance that leads us to try all types of milk. One day We tried milk from a Roca producer and saw that I could consume itit was there that we decided to return to our town, Río Colorado, and settle on a farm that my grandparents owned. We wanted to buy a cow for the baby, so that he could drink freshly milked milk. and we had to buy three because they couldn’t sell us less (today they have 16 cows), so we started selling the extra milk that we milked and that’s how Happy Cows was born.
Do you know why freshly milked milk does not cause rejection and industrialized milk does?
– I was doing a lot of research and I read that it has to do with the pasteurization and hydrogenation process carried out on industrial milk, in which they kill all the good and bad organisms in the milk, which takes away its properties, and then add them chemically. So the rejection of some bodies is not towards the milk itself, but towards those chemicals.
How did you decide to go for yogurt?
– Well, with my son’s problem I had to make recipes for him and make everything he consumes based on the milk that is available in supermarkets, including yogurt. I saw that he was very tasty and I knew that he had to do so that more people could try it, because he couldn’t make just one liter at a time, he had to make several.
Did you find a way to make it red without using strawberries?
– Kids generally look for strawberry yogurt because they see it red, the color is what catches their attention more than the flavor. We tried with strawberries and it didn’t work and to avoid falling into industrialized coloring, one day making beet salad I saw that it was the perfect shade and it worked. It almost doesn’t modify the flavor, it’s just a little sweeter.
We were able to see during the visit that neighbors from farms come to buy your products…
– And, We have a micro economy that works well, we all supply ourselves. The guys from the farm take the milk for tea, coffee or smoothies, those from the Trina winery too, for their preparations or incorporating them into their menu. It’s a local economy system that strengthens entrepreneurship and it is also very good for tourism because they can access local production first-hand.
Also, are they producing a special variety of apple?
– And to fuji variety. It is not known commercially for its external characteristics; it does not have a striking red color, which is what is usually looked for in apples. It has a faded appearance, just some red streaks, as if it needed to mature. You see it and it doesn’t seduce you, but it really is an apple that has some implicit characteristics which is that it is harvested in the cold season. This means that it can be preserved without the need for a refrigerator. You can leave it in a dry place in the patio and it can last up to one or two months, preserving its characteristics of firmness, juice and sweetness. Because it was in the plant for so long, it retained many natural sugars.
You can be heard speaking with great confidence about these topics. Did you already know it or did you have to learn?
– We had no idea, the truth is I am the granddaughter and great-granddaughter of producers, I learned by researching. With the support of the neighbor who is my paternal uncle and a production genius. He produces fifty hectares of fruits and variety, he even made a graft of apricot with plum called pluo.
Was it difficult to make the decision to change your environment so much?
– It’s a bit of a difficult routine. Many things depend on us, like animals, plants need you every day, there is no weekend or holiday, there are no vacations, but Relaxed living is what we do now, we don’t really need to go on vacation. Many people don’t believe us, but it really is like that, the difference between the life we used to live and the life we live now.
Currently Gisela varies between farm activities and the new challenge she took on in the Secretariat of Economic Development, Production and Tourism of the municipality of Río Colorado.