A woman who set out to live her dream

A woman who set out to live her dream.

Growing up on her parents' farm in Lower Austria, it was clear to Karin Schabus even as a child that this farm would become her destiny. But nothing came of it, her brother took over the farm and Karin's dream was shattered. However, this was no reason for the young woman to simply put her passion for farming aside: "I thought to myself at the time that if it wasn't going to be the farm, then at least an agricultural profession." Thought, said, done. Karin's journey initially took her to Vienna, where she trained as an agricultural teacher at the University of Agricultural and Environmental Education. And as life goes, she met and fell in love with her husband Konrad there. Konrad, a true Carinthian and a farmer by conviction, soon asked her if she could imagine spending her life with him on the farm in Bad Kleinkirchheim and her answer was not long in coming: yes.

Full of zest for action

"Of course, saying goodbye to my father and the farm in Lower Austria was accompanied by tears, but I was warmly welcomed by Konrad's parents in Carinthia," she recalls. The grandparents handed over the farm and said to the young couple: "Tuat's anfoch, this is your challenge now". The two gladly accepted. It was to be a healthy division between agriculture, forestry and Farm holidays. Their first son was born in 1990, two more children soon followed, in 1993 they became an organic farm, the farmhouse was transformed without further ado, the name organic was also to permeate the walls and floors, not just the farming itself. "We insulated with paper shavings and opted for oiled wooden floors. Everyone was a little taken aback at first, but the house has now become a third skin for us," says Karin proudly. And the guests also appreciate the natural style in the vacation apartments: "Many ask us how they can replicate and implement this in their own homes."

Questions of faith

In between all the harmony, there were of course the odd challenges. When Karin came to the farm in Carinthia, she found a house with a Protestant character; she herself had been brought up Catholic. "Various customs, such as smoking at Christmas time, were not common, but were accepted and we exchanged ideas. Today, my mother-in-law likes to ask me for a consecrated palm branch for the blessing in her house."

"Early riser? No."

Karin may be a farmer's wife with heart and soul, but there is one thing she is definitely not: an early riser. "Konrad does the morning work in the barn. I'm responsible for breakfast." And it's precisely this time, when the new day dawns, that she doesn't let anyone take away from her. It belongs entirely to the family. At eight o'clock sharp, the breakfast baskets with the cow-warm milk are placed in front of the guests' room door. After that, the work schedule is based entirely on the seasons. "No two days are the same, that's the beauty of being a farmer. In summer, haymaking awaits, the cows and horses on the alpine pastures want to be visited, in autumn it's time to harvest and go stalking on the alpine pastures, in winter it's barn work and feeding the game, and in spring the seeds are sown." Where possible, they produce their own products: Curd cheese, yoghurt, milk, freshly processed meat, teas and jams, bread rolls from their own winter rye, whatever is possible and time permits is homemade.

The power of the forest

A large part of the work at the Seidl organic farm is forestry. Here, too, Karin was looking for something special. This culminated in the vacation apartments being designed according to different types of wood. "There are larch apartments and rooms made from spruce and Swiss stone pine. Swiss stone pine in particular, with its essential oils, provides a great sense of well-being and has been proven to lower the heart rate." And when Karin starts talking, the tips for every conceivable situation in life just gush out of her anyway: "A grain mill made of Swiss stone pine wood keeps pests away, inhaling formic acid clears the airways and Cleopatra is said to have believed in the healing powers of the inconspicuous spirea plant, which only grows here in the Nockberge mountains."

Time out

For quiet moments, Karin and Konrad like to take a bottle of wine with them to the mountain pasture: "The most beautiful place for me is our mountain pasture. When the hustle and bustle gets too much, the best place for me to switch off is at the top. Then I look down on the hustle and bustle and get a different, wider perspective on things. The gentle Nockberge mountains and the drifting clouds are calming. I try to pass this on to our guests by saying: ground yourselves, go up into the mountains." Whereby guests at the Seidl organic farm are allowed to be everywhere anyway: When baking bread, when a calf is born, during the hay harvest or when hiking up to the cattle on the mountain pasture - hospitality is not just an empty phrase here, but a way of life.

Passing on knowledge

Karin is passionate about ensuring that knowledge about nature is not lost in the process: "It's a big challenge. Many people are simply no longer sensitive to nature. You can see this problem on the mountain pastures, for example. Mother cows are not evil, attacking cattle, they are just trying to protect their calf. A healthy distance of respect is necessary here. More honesty in advertising would help a lot. The ideal world that is portrayed there has nothing to do with reality." And this is precisely why Karin appreciates the basic idea of Farm holidays: "It allows us to show how we really live. Guests can see where our roots are, how things are created and grow and suddenly the connections are no longer complicated, but simply logical." To convey this, to recognize the course of nature, this message is paramount for her.