It’s time to introduce myself. ❤️
I’m Olya — a mother of two wonderful boys, an agronomist by profession, and… who knows what else.
When something inspires me, when I believe in a cause, or simply discover something I love doing — I dive in headfirst. Completely.
And somewhere between agronomy, motherhood, my love for nature, and wanting children to learn not just from books but with their own hands, Svetulkovi Gradini (Firefly Gardens) was born.
So why gardens?
Because I believe we should know where our food actually comes from.
From one small seed.
How it sprouts. How it grows. What the root, stem, and leaves are. What a tuber is. And why, when we eat a potato, we’re actually eating a modified underground stem — not just „a potato.“ 😉
I want children to ask these kinds of questions.
To dig in the soil. To get their hands dirty. To not be afraid of a little mud. To plant something, take care of it, and finally pick what they grew themselves.
That’s one of the reasons I created Svetulkovi Gradini.
But Svetulkovi Gradini didn’t start as a business idea.
It started at home.
With my kids.
They love planting seeds, watering them, watching something small slowly turn into a plant. And the best moment is when they pick something they grew themselves and put it on the table.
And that’s when I started asking myself a question:
What about children growing up in the city who don’t have this chance?
No yard.
No grandparents with a garden.
No one in the family to show them how to sow, how to water, and where food actually comes from.
That’s how the idea for Svetulkovi Gradini slowly took shape.
I wanted to make growing plants at home easier and more accessible. So you wouldn’t need a yard, special knowledge, or ten different bags of supplies just to get started.
But over time, I realized I wanted something more.
I want to create experiences around growing things.
Workshops. Gardens. Meetups. Educational activities.
I want children not just to read in a textbook how a carrot grows, but to plant it, care for it, and one day pull it out of the ground with their own hands.
I want to create small gardens in the places people least expect to find them — on balconies, terraces, in offices, schools, and kindergartens.
And one day — to bring people together around shared gardens that outlast us.
Because I believe we can do good while growing something that gives fruit.
This is Svetulkovi Gradini.
We started small.
But we have big plans.
Olya
Founder of Svetulkovi Gradini