Solange Olszewska: They mocked under their breath that I was going crazy for the sun. Today no one laughs anymore
Solange Olszewska, a Polish entrepreneur, thanks God every morning that she is able to get up and act. As the co-creator of Solaris says, over the years of living on the run, between airports and gas stations, she strongly felt the pace of that world. Her life changed 180 degrees when her husband became seriously ill. Today, instead of a bus manufacturing company, he is developing the Happy Animals Farm and teaching people the difference between food and food and sharing secret knowledge about natural fertilizers with farmers. – I am fulfilled, I live more peacefully, but I still work hard, but in a completely different way. I feel that I am part of a project that brings real value to people, animals and the environment – he emphasizes in an interview with “Wprost”.
Agnieszka Niełościowska, “Wprost”: 30 years ago, together with your husband, you created a giant – Solaris produced low-floor buses known all over the world. Later you sold everything and invested the money in a 36-hectare Happy Animals Farm in Greater Poland. An agritourism farm, a farm, a hotel and an organic food store were established. How many hectares is that today?
Solange Olszewska: Including the leased areas, we have over 200 hectares. It started with the Farm in Białęgi, then we started working on the “Folwark Trojanowo” investment. This is an international research project, a project that has a chance to become an important point on the European map of modern and responsible agriculture, and it involves, ironically, taking a step back. We are developing modern agriculture, taking into account the plan to rebuild topsoil. In the past, there were wetlands in these areas, but today the land is increasingly faced with severe drought. One of the professors at the University of Agriculture in Poznań told me: “You won’t grow anything on this sand.”
And today it’s green. How did you do it? I heard that you even brought scientists from Germany and Switzerland.
It wasn’t so easy at the beginning, the earth was dead. We devoted part of the farm to field plantings that retain water, and after a year the birds appeared. Such miracles do happen, but so far there are not many of them – the process will take years. We want to rebuild this land to be what it used to be, to produce crops, and to create a self-sufficient ecosystem. In place of the old farm, we are building a modern, large barn and infrastructure for birds, just like in the Happy Animals Farm. In addition, we also have five hectares of real paradise in Kowanówek, where there is a house where I once lived with my husband.
No one had stayed there for years and the land lay fallow, but I decided that this place must live again. I started renovating it, piece by piece.
What will happen here?
