Dacha Idylls: Living Organically in Russia's Countryside

I enjoy reading non-fiction esp about people and cultures I love. This was a great book to read while waiting to live vicariously through Russian friends and the dacha season. I found myself shaking my head in agreement, giggling at the antics knowing fully where some of these conversations were going ... It just brought it alive in my hands, thank you. My only wish would to be to have footnotes on same page bc I am lazy and hate foot notes at the end ... searching and the back and forth motion is not what I want when I read.

Dacha life provides an essential rhythm to urban existence for many Russians. When I visited St. Petersburg, I was surprised to find horticultural products and bow-hunting supplies for sale in the middle of one of the most densely populated urban sections of the city. Later, I visited dacha enclaves an hour's drive from the Peter and Paul Fortress. On the other hand, less than 10 km outside of Moscow, the landscape becomes dotted with every kind of country cabin, from shacks to millionaires' mini mansions. For decades dachas provided vacation homes with small plots of land which produced supplemental and essential food during times of shortage. Today, they are a source of relaxation and a means of getting the most nutritious organic food imaginable in a country where many people have turned to highly health-conscious lifestyles. This book is a good introduction to the profound love many Russians still feel for cultivating the land, and cherishing the nurturing embrace of Mother Russia.

Anthropologist Melissa Caldwell admits to having had a hard time convincing professional colleagues that it was "field work" to follow Russians to their dachas, relax with them in the banya, drink tea on the porch and hunt for mushrooms and berries. But, the reality, she says, is that there is no rest at the dacha. It is all work, but an exhilarating, rejuvenating work, and one that is central to Russians' sense of self, community, leisure and nature"Dacha life, and the natural settings and qualities with which it is linked, are both microcosms of and conduits for fundamental issues in today's Russia: the politics of national identity and nationalism, the transition to capitalism, projects of social transformation, and the legacies of socialism, among others."Most of Caldwell's fieldwork focuses on a dacha community outside Tver. And she explores the full range of issues related to dachniki and dacha life, from historical perspectives to defining true dachniki, to the wave of dacha gentrification, to the masochism of banyas, to the peculiary Russian approach to regulations and freedom, to the hilarious irrationality of food beliefs:"Russians describe local soil as being packed with unique nutrients that give Russian food a taste that is not only distinctive but also preferred by Russians. A university student argued that Russian taste buds preferred foods grown in Russian soil."This is a very personal, up-close portrait of dacha life that should not be missed by any lover of Russian culture. And it is hard not to take away from it, in agreement with Caldwell, how central dacha life (and nostalgia for it) is to Russian culture. Indeed, Caldwell shows that dacha life is the most outward manifestation of that "deep, abiding, even spiritual appreciation of nature" which is "a fundamental quality of Russianess itself."As reviewed in  Russian Life

A fairly accurate account of Dacha life in Russia.Sadly more families are not following the lifestyle, finding it easier to shop at the local Supermarket.The experience of being able to grow your own vegetables is especially rewarding, and time does seem to stand still when you live in rural Russia.Neighbours do help you and are extremely generous when any problems occur.