One of the activities such people can engage in is baking homemade bread and other delicacies, especially if the flour is homemade, produced with their own hands and ground in a local mill.
Fanika and her husband Janez are very modest and simple people who do not like to expose themselves. That is why I was all the more grateful that they agreed to participate. It is right that their kindness should be written about and known. By doing what they have been doing for many years, they are showing respect for Slovenian traditions and for the people around them, and they are building a more cordial local community.
On the Zevnik farm, they grow their own cereals, which are then milled into flour in their own mill. They use wheat, which produces wholemeal, black and white flour, and also grow rye, spelt, some maize and buckwheat. All this takes a lot of work and dedication. There is intergenerational help on the farm because there is a lot of work to do, but working together makes it easier, faster and better.
Fanika and Janez love to bake homemade bread. They use several types of flour and make their bread without recipes; by feel. That's why every loaf of bread is something special, and you can hardly get a recipe from them, even if you ask for one. They bake the bread in moulds, resulting in loaves of about two hundred kilograms.
The best part is when they share this still warm bread among their neighbours, sometimes offering it to people from the next village and to acquaintances; without being asked. Most of the time, they decide in advance who they will visit on Monday, who on Tuesday and so on. Sometimes John gets on his bicycle and delivers bread, and sometimes he walks to bring it to his neighbours. You get your hands on the bread, nicely wrapped in paper, still a little warm, and smelling before John even rings the doorbell.
Fanika also occasionally delights people with other homemade delicacies; croissants, noodles, croissants, biscuits... Their eyes shine with genuine kindness, for which they never expect anything in return. They also wish everyone a good day and say they are available if anyone needs anything. Actions like these restore faith in people and create a cordial environment where trust and warmth prevail.
My deepest respect to Mrs Fanika and Mr John. May their kindness continue to bind the village community together for a long time to come.
Andreja Bakšič Grozdina, 25. 1. 2026
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