Home » Women's section » Prize for women's creativity in rural life » Laureates 2011 » Romy SCHMIDT

Romy SCHMIDT

EUROPE · Switzerland

A creative countrywoman and writer about farm life

Celebrating the WWSF 20th anniversary, we are happy to have among our 2011 prize winners, a creative Swiss farm woman.

30 years ago, Romy Schmidt moved to the Bergün village (1367) near the Albula Pass in Switzerland, married the Swiss farmer Marco, learned to adapt to local customs and embraced the raw life in the Bündner Mountains with much humor, joy and enthusiasm. Together they manage their medium-size farm. As mother, wife, farmer, daughter-in-law, and grandmother, Romy is with heart and soul a farmwoman, who never loses hope, always finds a way out, and is also connected outside the country. Besides raising five children, Romy also took care of her parents-in-law who lived with the family till their end.

Romy did not miss the opportunity she saw in her mountain village as an important tourist attraction in the summer and a great sledging spot in the winter, and began producing meat specialties and a variety of sweet products, all produced in her farm, which she offers to tourists in a “self-service” shop. She serves hot drinks and sandwiches all day long and is always ready to bring help wherever there is a need. Romy is a passionate direct–sales woman (Vermarkterin) and also produces a large quantity of foodstuffs for sale via her Internet website www.bioberguen.ch. She offers specialties for cooking and raw consumption as well as liquors, preserves, dried meats, yoghurts and cheese.

But beside being a passionate countrywoman, Romy also has a passion for writing, which was already her favorite subject in school. She actively contributes to the newspaper, ‘Die Landfrau” (The Country Woman) of the ‘Bündner Country Women’s Association’ and expresses her views in an open and charming way with contributions for reflection. Her articles touch on everyday farm life and to the point topics concerning family farm life, which gathers many readers. Her joyous character and fun writing style have made the newspaper very popular. (writings are only in German). On her personal website you can find articles on topics such as ‘A presentation of her family farm’; ‘Suddenly one is 50’; ‘Family blues’; ‘Highlights from Bergün’; ‘Romy’s Diary’, etc. Her articles are a source of inspiration from a countrywoman who loves life, gives everything, and brings a positive spirit to the farm work. As soon as her articles are published in the newspaper, Romy publishes them on her own homepage www.bioberguen.ch. Romy also does research for other newspapers on subjects focusing on farm life.

Romy deserves the WWSF award for creativity in rural life and we honor her on the International Day of rural women -15 October 2011.

Rano KOSIMOVA