The two-day festival "Eco-basket, please!" presented producers and processors from the region in the town of Elhovo who grow, process and use healthy local and organic foods. The event is part of the project "Eco-basket, please!", in which LAG - Elhovo - Bolyarovo is a partner.

On September 6 and 7, the city hosted culinary demonstrations with regionally produced products, children's workshops, a concert by folk singer and Bessarabian Bulgarian Lilia Semkova, songs and dances by children's folklore ensembles.

The opening of the holiday was at 11:00 on September 6, and immediately after that the participants in the exhibition were introduced.

From 11:30 to 12:30 on September 6, the concert of folklore singer Lilia Semkova was held. The angel-voiced singer performed some of her most beautiful own songs, as well as some of the eternal songs of Bulgaria such as "Izlel e Delyo haidutin".

The exhibition was attended by producers and farmers from both the territory of the LAG – Elhovo – Bolyarovo and the LAG – Tundzha – Sliven – Tundzha Valley. Some of the producers are hereditary farmers, but there are also young families who, after many years of living abroad, have decided to dedicate themselves to farming and the production of clean, natural foods:

• Sitos Dairy from the village of Sitovo in the Bolyarovo municipaliry, ET "Dimo Dimov", produces various cuts of cow's cheese and yellow cheese, including the handmade yellow cheese "gyobek".
• "Elhovo mes" EOOD produces Strandzhansko dyado from beef and pork, "Elhovo" sausage and babek (ground meat with red pepper).
• Agricultural producer Yani Isipirov - organic cultivation of rose hips on the territory of both municipalities.
• The dairy "Arachievi" EOOD, village of Kirilovo, municipality of Elhovo produces yellow cheese, butter and whey curd.
• Farmer Todor Penev Gospodinov, village of Pchela, Municipality of Elhovo - dairy for the production of white brine cheese - sheep, cow, buffalo, goat, from own milk - high quality and natural, without artificial additives.
• Farmer Georgi Georgiev, beekeeper, town of Elhovo - produces various types of honey - Dracaena honey, acacia honey, bouquet honey, as well as bee pollen, glue tincture, propolis ointment, beeswax candles and other bee products.
• "SIS" EOOD, village of Granitovo, municipality of Elhovo - owns and manages a pig complex in which pigs for fattening and sows of the Topix and Danube White pig breeds, which are highly productive, are raised.
• Agricultural producers Petrovi from the village of Galabintsi, Tundzha municipality: The farming family Desislava and Petar Petrovi produces tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, chorbadjii peppers, parsley, potatoes, carrots, zucchini and eggplants.
• Vegetable farm for regenerative agriculture and ecologically clean food Nordig farm of Iva and Georgi Sabevi from the Tundzha village of Hanovo grow seasonal vegetables using technology that protects the soil - without plowing, digging, processing, milling, without pesticides and chemical fertilizers.
• Agricultural producer Gabriela Gecheva, village of Granitovo, municipality of Elhovo - a small agricultural holding of 22,882 sq. m, produces various varieties of plums - Chachanka, Stanley and green Ringlotta, apples - Zlatna and Chervena preveznova, and pears - Santa Maria, Popska and Kasna zimna.
• Stoyan Moldovanov is a veterinarian who has been engaged in beekeeping for 50 years and currently has 50 hives in the land of the town of Elhovo. He produces "Bouquet" honey, honey with pollen that the bees collected from coriander and dracaena, as well as honeydew honey.
• The vegetable farm of Minka and Georgi Todorovi is a family business, as the farm is in the land of the village of Malomirovo and produces potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage and salads.

Each of the participating producers was introduced by Uti Bachvarov, who praised the quality local products.

At noon, culinary demonstrations were held, with Uti Bachvarov setting the tone:

• Chef Petar Petrov from the village of Galabintsi cooking traditional village kavarma with fresh pork produced by "SIS" EOOD and local vegetables;
• Chef Georgi Sabev from the village of Hanovo prepared blini with local cheeses and amuse bouche - a more modern interpretation of local products.

In the early afternoon of the first day, there was a quiz with questions about traditional local productions and foods, and everyone who answered received a local product.

On the second day of the festival "Eco-basket, please!" - September 7, the program began at 10 a.m. with a concert by the vocal group "Elhovski salvei".

At 11 a.m., workshops for children - culinary and applied arts - began for the children's entertainment and new knowledge.

• In a Bulgarian folk embroidery workshop, master embroiderer Stanka Nikolova taught children to sew traditional embroideries for the Elhovo region - hand embroidery with folk Bulgarian motifs.
• Radost Kukova is the craftswoman who showed the children how to make hand-knitted flowers from colorful yarns.
• Ivanka Koycheva is a master of contemporary cards and showed her craftsmanship during the holiday by teaching children to make cards decorated with hand-cut paper elements, ribbons, pearls and crystal stones.
• There were also 2 culinary workshops for children – for making bread with the masterful help of Iliyana Dragneva from the village of Izgrev, and for making balls from a bouquet of local cheeses - tasty, healthy and very fun.

Dozens of children participated in our workshops on Bulgarian folk embroidery, knitted flowers from yarn, cards, as well as in the culinary workshop on kneading bread and making cheese balls. Thus, our two-day festival "Eco-basket, please! - Elhovo also became a holiday for children!

At exactly 12:00 p.m., a raffle "Eco basket, please!" was held among the participants who purchased products from the exhibition, and the prizes in the raffle were fresh fruits and vegetables, honey, sausages, cheese, yellow cheese and rose hips, produced on the territory of Mig Elhovo Bolyarovo by Sitos Dairy, Trake Bee Products, Elhovo Mes, Arachievi Dairy, Eng. Georgi Georgiev - beekeeper from the town of Elhovo, Yambol region, Todor Gospodinov's dairy in the village Pchela, the agricultural holdings of ZP Gabriela Gecheva", ZP Petrovi, Vegetable Farm 'NorDig', rosehip producer Yani Ispirov, beekeeper Stoyan Moldovanov. The grand prize - an eco-basket with products was won by 9-year-old Tervel from Elhovo.

The holiday ended with a concert by the children's and youth dance ensemble "Yanitsa" from the town of Elhovo - with beautiful folk songs, dances and rhythms.

The project "Eco-basket, please!" is for joint actions for transnational cooperation and is implemented in partnership by three Bulgarian and five Slovenian local initiative groups. Partners from the Bulgarian side are LAG Tundzha (lead organization), LAG Elhovo-Bolyarovo and LAG Balchik-General Toshevo. Slovenian partners are LAG Gorna Savinja and the Shalek Valley, LAG From Pohorje to Bohor, LAG Obstolie in Kozjansko, LAG Raznolikost podezhela, LAG Spodnje Savinskie doline. The project is aimed at involving producers, processors and other stakeholders in the goals of the EU strategy "From Farm to Fork", supporting the development of a fair, healthy and environmentally friendly food chain.