Wild Meadows

The organic farm Upmaļi is rich in untouched meadows of European significance, located in the river valleys of the Īvande and Mērgava.

Our meadows provide habitat for wildlife, including undisturbed nesting cranes and corncrakes. From the herbs growing in these meadows, we produce our teas, tinctures, and special herbal pillows.

Why are these wild meadows so special?

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Because species-rich, unmanaged meadows are disappearing across Europe. In Latvia, they now cover only 0.7% of the land. It takes at least one hundred years for such a meadow to develop — which makes them exceptionally valuable and worth protecting.

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Because the biodiversity of Latvian natural meadows is comparable to that of tropical rainforests. Only here do corncrakes and many other birds, insects, and animals thrive. Only on these meadows do medicinal herbs and colorful wildflowers still bloom in summer — plants that have vanished elsewhere, replaced by vast fields of grain and rapeseed.

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Because unploughed natural meadows can store even more CO₂ than forests. They play an important role in mitigating the climate crisis.

In our meadows, we gather a wide variety of wild medicinal plants — St. John’s wort, yarrow, meadowsweet, and oregano.

In August, when flowering has ended and young birds have fledged, the meadows are mown. The hay is especially fragrant and valuable.

Healing Gardens

Along the banks of the Īvande stream, where the historic Kroņrenda manor once stood, the fields and gardens of Upmaļi spread out around our home.

Alongside beds of Rhodiola, roses, and catnip, grow special trees with healing properties, rare medicinal herbs, and many varieties of fruit.

Even the old apple tree “Winter Caville”, one of the earliest cultivated varieties grown by our ancestors, can today be found only in a few European collections.

These are our Healing Gardens.

Here, we invite our seminar participants to experience and feel the power of plants.

The gardens are accessible exclusively to seminar participants.