Pumpkins and zucchini grown in the garden of the Small Family Home in Ledići ended up exactly where we are especially happy to see them – on the table of the children at the KJU Home for Children Without Parental Care Sarajevo. Using the vegetables grown on Bjelašnica, chef Nedžad Mešić prepared a delicious soup that the children thoroughly enjoyed.

The garden surrounding the Small Family Home in Ledići has long been much more than simply a place where we grow vegetables. It is an integral part of our vision for children's stays at the Home to be filled with experiences that connect them with nature and teach them patience, hard work, responsibility, and the value of food grown through their own efforts.

Throughout spring and summer, the garden is planted, watered, weeded, and harvested, with children, young people, and other beneficiaries staying in Ledići taking part in various activities.

Among this year's harvest were pumpkins and zucchini.

After growing from seedlings into ripe produce in Ledići, their journey did not end with the harvest. They were collected by the Home's chef, Nedžad Mešić, who gladly took on the task of turning the vegetables from Ledići into a meal for the children.

The result was a delicious, warm soup, and the best review came from the children themselves – they ate it all.

A Small Circle with Great Meaning for Us

At first glance, this story may seem to be simply about a few pumpkins and zucchini. For Second Foundation, however, it represents much more.

The Small Family Home in Ledići is a place where children from institutional and alternative care have an opportunity to step away from their everyday environment, spend time in nature, socialize, learn new skills, and take part in ordinary everyday activities that many of us often take for granted.

The garden is part of that experience.

Children have an opportunity to see where the food we find on our tables every day actually comes from – from preparing the soil and planting, through watering and caring for the plants, all the way to the harvest.

This time, we also had an opportunity to complete the final step: what was grown at their Small Family Home returned to the children in the form of a meal prepared in the kitchen of the Bjelave Home.

From the soil in Ledići, through the hardworking hands that cared for the garden throughout the season, to Nedžad's kitchen and the children's table in Sarajevo.

A small but beautiful circle was complete.

Ledići Is More Than Just a Place to Rest

From the very beginning, we wanted the Small Family Home in Ledići to be more than just a house where children come for a day trip or a few days of rest.

We want it to be a place filled with life.

A place where children learn to cook, tidy up, plant, and care for a garden. A place where they can harvest their own vegetables, discover nature, care for animals, socialize, play, and gain experiences that remain with them long after they return to Sarajevo.

That is why it makes us especially happy to see that what is created and grown in Ledići can continue its journey and benefit others.

This time, that journey was only a few dozen kilometres long – from the garden on Bjelašnica to a large cooking pot in the kitchen of the Bjelave Home.

And from the pot – straight to the children's table.

We would like to thank chef Nedžad Mešić for turning the produce from our garden into a delicious meal for the children.

The garden in Ledići is now slowly being prepared for winter, while we are already thinking about the next season – new seedlings, new little helpers, and new produce that, God willing, we will once again be able to share.